The shopping mall received a Christmas makeover but it still resembled a harlot. Rap music throbbed from one store while another peddled tarot cards and voodoo supplies. One little girl squealed with delight as she spotted the Harry Potter collection.
I searched two bookstores for an audio Bible on CD but found none. Instead, the religion shelves were stocked mostly with New Age books, including several on spell casting. Darkness permeated the mall. If the tattoo and body-piercing parlors didn't motivate you for the holidays, you could catch a showing of Elf or Bad Santa at the mall cinema. I found Jesus in one store, but He was for sale: a crystal figurine of Messiah hanging on a cross. In the middle of the mall I noticed a teenage girl sitting on a bench with her boyfriend. She looked crushed emotionally, her sad eyes staring blankly at other dispirited shoppers. Maybe she suffered from sensory overload from the unrelenting noise and eye pollution. Or perhaps she felt a deeper void – estrangement from a loving and merciful God who is only a prayer away.
When I got home I thought of Matthew 24:37-39. Jesus informs His disciples that in the end days, just prior to His second coming, people will carry on as they did in the days of Noah: eating, drinking and marrying, but blind to their depraved condition. God promised never again to flood the earth, but justice and judgment will be served when the Son of Man returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. As I look around me, that day can't be far off. Perhaps the Lord had this age in mind when He spoke prophetically in Luke 21:28 – "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
Posted by Jeff King at November 28, 2003 07:23 PM