Moment in the Word

Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompence; to comfort all that mourn... Greek Septuagint

Earlier this afternoon, I finished watching the #1 movie currently showing in this country - Sound of Freedom. As I suspected, I nearly had to leave the cinema several times on the verge of tears.

Much like the Passion of Christ, the Sound of Freedom genuinely impacted my emotions to the point of possibly never being able to see the heartbreaking film again. However, the experience was profoundly valuable by making me question, "What am I personally doing to heal the broken hearted and to set the captives free?"

During the movie's closing credits, the statistics starkly appeared for global human trafficking. The illegal industry generates billions upon billions of dollars annually and currently enslaves more people around the world than when the institution of slavery was legal.

Although Americans claim that they live in the greatest country on the planet, yet the United States is the BIGGEST CONSUMER of the enslaved child-sex trade of any other nation on earth (engaged by some of our own priests, ministers, celebrities, and politicians). Sadly, there is absolutely no way that we are the best people on earth... while being a grinding BLACK HOLE of UTTER EVIL that devours the most helpless innocent individuals among us - our precious children.

Today, as the screen turned black to leave me in darkness, I remembered a passage from the Revelation about end-time Babylon, the Great Harlot, who "glorified herself and lived deliciously" (Revelation 18:7) while trading "slaves and the souls of men" (Revelation 18:13).

Having received the anointing of God's Holy Spirit to promote Christ's Gospel on earth, I wonder again, "What am I personally doing to heal the broken hearted and to set the captives free?"  

In Matthew 25, Jesus said that a time of Great Judgment would occur on Earth when men would plead with their heavenly accuser, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick... or an imprisoned captive, and did not help you?"

Consequently, Christ will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did NOT do for one of these little children, you did NOT do for me."

Then they will go away to eternal punishment in everlasting fire.

Did you notice that Jesus was NOT referring to the "sin of commission," that marks human traffickers and vile pedophiles for their despicable evil deeds? No, in this parable Jesus referred to the "sin of omission," committed by ordinary everyday individuals who simply look the other way and ignore the horrific plight of children trapped in a hellish nightmare of abominable abuse. The individuals who burned in the eternal Lake of Fire at the end of Jesus' story were people who could have made a difference in the hopeless lives of helpless victims... but simply did not because of neglect.

Once again, I hear the hollow echo of a desperate constant plea, "What are we personally doing to heal the broken hearted and to set the captives free?"