WHEN EVERYTHING HAS SPOILED
Ps. 96:2/Isa. 61:1-3/2 Co. 4:5-7

As its name implies, the Pacific Ocean that day was tranquil and smooth. The sky was blue. The air was calm. The sun was bright.

The "Sea Mate," an old fishing boat, carried 16 tons of frozen tuna that day. "Since we can't sell our fish here in Samoa" Captain David Dowie told his crew, "let's take it to Hawaii."

On the trip to Hawaii the refrigeration system broke down, and in a few days the fish began to spoil. The odor was so bad that one sailor after another abandoned ship. Soon it was lethal gas, produced by the decomposition. Some days later the "Sea Mate" was found adrift within sight of Hawaii. Everything in the boat was completely destroyed. Captain Dowie and machinist Martin Ferguson, overcome by the deadly fumes, were the only ones found aboard.

This 20th century, so scientific and technical, so proud and arrogant, is like the "Sea Mate." Little by little its load of "humanism," "free thinking," "amorality," and "religious indifference" has started to spoil, and the odor that escapes is unbearable.

The lack of a true moral compass has taken us off course, and the moral and spiritual putrefaction has become intolerable. Sadly, like the two last crewmembers of the "Sea Mate" we find ourselves impotent to get rid of the nauseating load, or to escape from it.

Will this world continue to destroy itself by fumes of moral and spiritual decay? Will its lethal gas of incredulity and ungodliness consume it completely?

Jesus gave a description of conditions in the last days with this opening: "As it was in the days of Noah." Here’s the story: "The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:5-8)

There is one thing in this century that is absolutely uncontaminated. It is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is pure and it has power to purify everyone it touches.

Let’s ask God to help us be a light in this dark world. Christ is the only hope.

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Please pray today for Radio Festival in Usulután, El Salvador. A MESSAGE TO THE CONSCIENCE has been broadcast on this secular station for the past 5 years. Please pray for the two listening audiences that will be hearing the program today as it is broadcast two times each day.