Basic Instinct

Although this article should have been entitled the 'the basic instinct of the unregenerate man' it seemed a little too wordy to be a title. I've been trying to get this story out of my mind for over a week now to no avail. It has had a very disturbing effect on me for reasons I don't fully comprehend. Maybe it's all the talk of how evolved and forward thinking our modern day generation has become, how we have grown in love and kindness as a civilization, and then seeing something like this.
For those of you who haven't heard about it, let me fill you in. On what has been coined as black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, where people wake up before the crack of dawn and stand in the often freezing weather to be the first ones into the store, a young man was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers. The young man was doing his job, tending the door, and in their hearty quest to save ten dollars on a back massager, men and women of all ages and races, actually trampled this man to death. What struck me as even more brutal and telling was the fact that once his co-workers saw this young man laying on the ground breathing what would be his last breaths, they attempted to drag him out of the way of the rushing mob only to have the mob scream expletives at them for being in the way. Yes, we've come a long way, this is the pinnacle of civility and civilization.
Most people today like to think that as a whole, we are beyond such things, we have evolved into a climate of understanding and tolerance, one of peace and joy. Why to many it's surprising that most people aren't skipping down the street, with flowers in their hair humming the tune of their favorite song. The truth of the matter is that every unregenerate man, every unregenerate woman has the aptitude and often the compulsion to be unfeeling, uncaring, self centered and self obsessed. Keep in mind it was not hardened criminals that trampled a man to death, it was not murderers and gang members, it was housewives, and average every day folk. And for what? It wasn't like they were there to get the last of some miracle drug that would heal their terminal disease, they were there for trinkets and worthless things, for material trivialities that lose their luster as soon as one gets them home.
Civilized as we would all like to believe ourselves to be, what do you think would happen if let's say there was a real and tangible reason for being in front of a store at five a.m. like a shortage of food? If a group of people were willing to trample a man to death for a discounted sound system, what would they be willing to do for the last can of tuna?
I realize to some of you this might seem like a purely hypothetical situation, but the dark days of which so many have warned for so long are finally here. There are no limits to the depravity of the unregenerate man, there is no low he is unwilling to sink to, or action he deems too horrid to undertake. I think that's why this story impacted me so.
If you believe that such things are beyond the scope of possibility due to the fact that we've grown and matured as a race, well I submit to you that absent of the transforming love and grace of Christ Jesus man's basic nature has remained the same throughout the ages.
The time has come to watch and pray, the time has come to trust our heavenly Father in a measure never before experienced by many modern day Christians.
Some of you will wave the following comment off thinking I am making a mountain out of a molehill, taking one isolated incident and extrapolating it, but if we are to believe the Word of God, if we are to believe the messengers of God then we must prepare now rather than later, strengthen our faith and stand on the rock of God's promises.
Whatever you think or imagine the future holds, not only for this nation but the world as a whole, is nothing compared to the reality that will be evident. I do not say this to stir fear in the heart of any man, I say it because I must.
The children of God, those who have been born again and have learned to trust the heavenly Father at peace under the shadow of His wing have no reason to fear for they know that He is able. If there is still fear at the edges of your heart, if you still harbor trepidation concerning the future, then my dear brother, my dear sister, it is time to stand before the cross and lay your burdens down. It is time to look into the perfect law of liberty, and the love of Christ, for perfect love casts out fear. These are exciting times.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.