Pray for our small town

Although I am from St. Louis, I grew up listening to country music. One thing I love about living in Cape Girardeau is that we have a strong sense of community. People from this county and surrounding areas tend to share common values. When I heard about the controversy concerning Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town," I was surprised.

If you watched the music video, you would have seen news footage of riots, robberies, disrespect of police and the desecration of the American Flag. Networks forced Aldean to remove these news clips from his music video. Obviously, Aldean's point is that we typically respect law enforcement, government property and our fellow citizens in small towns.

Everything is political nowadays, but it should be common sense that we do not kill, steal and destroy other people's property. Such values seem to be disappearing in our large cities. Crime goes unpunished, while law enforcement is defunded. We see more people strung out on drugs and homeless in our cities.

Was Aldean's song racist? If you watched carefully, most of the violence in the videos was perpetrated by people of all races. Country Music Television was quick to cancel Aldean for his music video. As a result, CMT is facing a backlash as most people do not find fault with the song. Apparently, the critics associate lawlessness with only one race.

I love the diversity of Cape Girardeau. My church has diversity. We have all been created by God. According to the Bible, the entire human race has common ancestors. We value righteousness and abhor evil. Loving one's neighbor, can also mean defending your community.

If you missed it, that is the point of Jason Aldean's message. In most small towns, people care about others in their communities. Do not expect them to sit by idly as people attempt to tear down their neighborhoods. Not everyone is a pacifist, some will fight back.

The problem in our large cities is that they are conditioned to let the government take care of them. The citizens are disarmed, and the gangs rule the streets. People are too afraid of retaliation to cooperate with police. The bad guys outnumber the good guys.

We need a spiritual great awakening in our country. In many ways, the threat of retaliation is a deterrent to crime. Criminals choose gun free zones knowing people cannot defend themselves. If all law breakers expected to do hard time, they would be less attracted to a life of crime. Removing negative consequences for criminal behavior only leads to increased lawlessness because humans are sinful.

What if people feared the wrath of God?

We read about God's judgment in Revelation 20:11-15:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

As our society rejects biblical values, we see criminals rewarded and innocent people punished. Be forewarned, God will condemn the wicked and vindicate the righteous on Judgment Day.

Aldean also featured a video clip of a neighbor who received help from his community. In times of crisis, many people from these small towns volunteer to help those in need. People are fed, clothes are donated, and homes are rebuilt. Local churches are always involved.

Pray for our community and take a stand against evil. May God have mercy on our nation.