There has been an appalling lack of integrity in the past fifty years. We see it in business dealings. It rears its ugly head in our colleges and universities. It even infiltrates the youngest of minds on the playgrounds of elementary schools. The word means “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” I don’t know precisely when this happened, but the devil is very insidious in his work on earth. He doesn’t usually cause turmoil in a notable way. It often takes years of backsliding for him to accomplish his desires to latch onto us.

In ancient times – like the 1930s and 1940s, there was a love of country and patriotism which has not been matched since. Two world wars had occurred. The time was ripe for loving our country. Over the next few decades, we became aware of scandals in government – racial inequality – discrimination – hatred – sexual revolution. See how Satan manipulates minds over time, rather than knocking us over the head with his evil plans? In the current century, we have an almost upside-down set of principles – good is now evil – everything is offensive to someone, but no one talks about our offensive behavior towards our Creator, God. Sin has virtually been erased from our vocabulary. There seems to be no one in government that we can trust. Our churches are floundering. The internet has in many cases replaced our ability to communicate in person. Integrity has been replaced with dishonesty, deceitfulness and chicanery. Instead of working together, we are often looking out for numero uno.

The common thread here is the evil of our enemy, the devil. The truth is that he was defeated a long time ago, when Jesus shed His blood and died so we could obtain eternal life. The fact that He rose from death and conquered the hold of the grave, gave Him the victory over the devil. Even though he is still allowed to prowl the earth in search of souls, his defeat is assured. In the end God won and so do we who trust in Him.

“ONE STITCH AT A TIME“

The air chokes with death and the scent of it.
Deep in the bowels of the earth, the demons dance for joy,
Hatred, twisted minds,
Overtly wounded souls disperse the winds of time,
Testing of integrity,
Questioning,
Doubting,
Past sins,
Guilt,
Repentance,
Reputations at risk,
Life is filled with this,
The ugliness of sin and the greatest liar ever,
Breath is snuffed out like a waning candle,
In an instant and without warning,
This is our reality,
Yet within that reality is small glimmer of hope,
A tiny fracture of light in the distance,
A light that gains strength as you draw near it,
A brilliance that never dies,
Hope remains intact,
It is our God,
Who never changes,
Though the world is slowly being devoured by evil,
Though it seems impossible to understand,
Though nothing is sacred anymore,
Though Satan seems to have the upper hand,
Even when life takes a back seat to death,
We must hang on to that glowing ember,
It is the only beacon in a blackened world,
For without it we will be swallowed up,
Trust in God, not man.

KATHY BOECHER©