Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
On Thursday, April 4, 1968, regular programming on the television was interrupted to announce that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.
I was 11 years old and ran across the alley to our neighbor, Bessie Garwood, who was 81 at the time. She was a widow and loved to have me and my sisters come over for tea and discuss what was happening in the world.
Bessie had ridden in a covered wagon as a young girl in Nebraska and was full of wisdom. I knocked on her door and she opened it telling me to come in as tears ran down her face. We talked about how anyone could kill a man in cold blood just because of the color of his skin and beliefs.
“This old world is just not getting better,” she lamented. “The Lord Jesus needs to come soon!”
She went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus in 1982 at the age of 95. I wonder what she would think of our world 43 years later and the turmoil we are seeing today?
Her understanding of mankind was due to her daily study of the well-worn pages of her Bible. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.” In verse two it lists the traits of people in those days but one stands out: despisers of good.
From “Abraham, Martin and John” along with Bobby and now Charlie we groan at the brutality of the human heart. Christians are being persecuted around the world like never before with an estimated 12 dying every day by Open Doors. Antisemitism increases as tolerance of bigotry grows.
The verse in 2 Timothy could also be interpreted as “times of stress” in the last days. Let us pray for revival in these stressful times and hatred of truth. May we fall upon our knees before the Holy God of the universe and repent of our shortcomings and sins. Come, Jesus, Come!
Ken Locke is the retired corps administrator of The Salvation Army in Warsaw and director of the Greater Warsaw Ministerial Association. Have ideas for this column? Go to www.gwma.info.
