Theft Is Out of Control

Stores across the U.S. are grappling with a huge uptick in shoplifting that could lead to higher prices and closed stores if the problem persists, said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Most of the shoplifting is organized retail theft rather than petty theft. Most of the products targeted have a high resale value.

Walmart is having to lock up a growing number of items that used to sit openly on shelves. In the store in my town, I’ve noticed a growing number of cameras from various allies. The first camera I noticed was in the baby food section. I couldn’t understand why people would steal this product, but Infinity formula sells well on ebay.com.

Walmart isn’t the only big box retailer dealing with an uptick in theft. Last month, Target Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke said shoplifting has jumped about 50% year over year, leading to more than $400 million in losses in this fiscal year alone.

Many drugstore chains have had to cut their losses by closing hundreds of stores. Rite Aid is planning on closing 97 stores. The firm’s executive vice president of retail, Andre Persaud, said the day may come when all Rite Aid stores will be like a big vending machine with everything behind plexiglass to slow down thefts.

One woman who owned a high-end clothing store had to close her Business after it was broken into 17 times. Burglaries in St. Louis went door-to-door breaking into nearly two dozen businesses. DB’s Sports Bar owner Justin Gibson said this is the fourth time DB’s has been broken into this year.

“You’re taking food out of our mouths,” Gibson said. “It’s already hard times with inflation, and now we’re having to make these repairs constantly and hire extra security. We’re stretched very, very thin.”

Package theft in some areas is so bad that people can’t have packages delivered to their homes. I’m lucky to live in an area where I’ve never had something stolen from my doorstep. I recently watched a video where a guy did a funny prank on these thieves. He had a package next to his home on a long wire. When several thieves grabbed the box, he would chase after them, and they would be knocked to the ground when the length of the wire ran out.

The liberal media, always ready to defend criminals, said that soaring inflation is what triggers the crime wave. Richard Rosenfeld, a professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, told Insider that property crime would jump this year as rising prices push consumers into the black market.

The real problem is that many people have become extremely evil. They think they are entitled to take stuff that they didn’t purchase. One guy at Home Depot loaded up a cart with three power washers and began walking out the door with them. When an 80-year-old employee tried to confront him, he just pushed him into a wall, which led to the worker’s death.

A huge factor that is embodying thieves is the meltdown of our legal system. San Francisco encouraged theft by only having criminal prosecution of people who steal items worth my than $900. So people boldly walk into a Walgreens, load their bags with items worth less than the new limit, and walk out of the store. One woman was robbed by a man who had been arrested 50 times in recent years. Another woman was brutally beaten over her purse. The man who attacked her was arrested and only given a $500 bail.

I once watched a video of a man in Singapore demonstrating how much crime is related to culture. He was in a cafe and left his laptop on the table and went around a mall for about half an hour. When he came back, the laptop was still there. Crime is very low in Singapore because people are taught it’s wrong.

Fear can also be a motivator of morality. If you go to a gold jewelry shop in Saudi Arabia, the dealers will let you handle all the gold products. It’s well understood that if you get caught trying to steal from the shop, they’ll cut your head off.

The extreme criminal nature of American society is a strong indication that our nation is doomed. Unless we return to our moral foundation, we will die like a hundred other empires that lost their soul.

“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

–Todd

First Coming

One solitary birth is the basis upon which the future hangs for every person ever to enter this mortal realm we call planet earth. How each man, woman, and child who is old enough to understand the salvation issue views the First Coming determines where their home will be for eternity.

Many believe Jesus was sent by God to show us how to live a good life. Some believe He was a great prophet and teacher. Others believe He was a philosopher, right up there with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the rest. A few among the billions who have lived since His birth have believed Jesus is the Son of God, but perhaps one of many others in a created angelic order assigned to influence the affairs of humankind. Still fewer believe He was who He claimed to be–the only begotten Son of God; the way, the truth, and the life (John 14: 6).

No birth of anyone else has ever caused the excitement and controversy Jesus’ birth has engendered. Was this baby a stranger of an otherworldly order, sent to earth to provide moral guidance? Was Jesus sent to philosophize on the ups and downs of the human existence? Or, was this visitation something more?

Jesus came into the world through the Jewish race. Only those inalterably antagonistic to the truth of history will argue against that. So, we should examine this birth—this First Coming—through the prism of Israel and its dealings with the one called Jesus.

Although there are other histories about the era, the Bible’s account has, through archaeological unveilings, proven time after time to be accurate in details concerning matters surrounding Jesus, the Jews, and Israel. (One example is the relatively recent discovery of evidence that someone called “Pontius Pilate” ruled the area of Judea during the times attributed to Jesus’ crucifixion. Until the discovery, Pilate’s existence as an historical figure was seriously doubted, even denied, by many historians.)

We know the accuracy of how Israel–the religious Jews in particular—dealt with Jesus. We know with assurance that He performed miracles and claimed to be God, Himself, by using the Bible’s documented veracity as proof that Jesus was born exactly as foretold in detail by Old Testament prophets. These Jewish religious leaders’ treatment of Christ’s First Coming as a baby lays the groundwork for understanding what that first visitation means to the souls of all mankind. Understanding that First Coming also will help frame the vital importance of how each of us views Christ’s prophesied Second Advent.

Tragically, the pious Jewish leaders refused to accept that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah sent from Jehovah to be their King and their Savior. They rejected Him despite the precise prophecies He fulfilled in His coming and His ministry. They chose to have Rome rather than Jesus rule over them. The results of their rejection continue to reverberate—not only in the Holy Land, but throughout the entire world. Armageddon is building, its nucleus grounded in satanic rage against God’s chosen people.

Jesus wept over God’s people of Israel and the city, Jerusalem. He saw times ahead that would eventuate in calamity for them.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19: 41–44)

Christ’s First Coming was ignored and scoffed at by the religious leaders of the time. Their choice was their own way, rather than God’s. They preferred to do what was right in their own eyes. True to Jesus’ prophecy, Jerusalem was laid waste, the Temple was destroyed, and the Jews were scattered to every part of the world. Genocide was committed against them to the point that their very existence as a race was threatened.

Israel continues to pay the price. Anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and around the world. The nation is becoming marginalized, just as the prophet Zechariah forewarned in Zechariah chapters 12 and 14.

But there is a bright day coming for that people–those who accept the Messiah’s second visitation. Paul the apostle warned believers not to feel superior to Jews. He forecast a coming time when Israel would shine among the nations.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25)

God said, again through the prophet Zechariah, that believing Israel will yet recognize the Lord Jesus–upon His Second Coming to the earth.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)

The Apostle Paul said:

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. (Romans 11:26)

A parallel can be drawn between the ecclesiastical Jewish leaders of the time of Jesus’ first visitation and many among mainstream evangelical clergy today. Neither group has considered prophecies of Christ’s coming as relevant to their times. Their attitude is much akin to the one described by the Apostle Peter:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:3–4)

This sin-darkened sphere is on the brink of another visitation. Unlike the first, when He came as a humble baby, who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He will come the next time as the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords. Let us who claim Christ as Savior heed His words about His coming again. The first phase of that Second Coming will be unannounced, and in the twinkling of an eye—the Rapture!

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:35–37)

—Terry