Sunday June 21, 2020

“And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you. And said therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.” – Jeremiah 42:21-22

Truly speaking, the Denver metro area and the South metro area where I live is extremely disobedient to God’s word and commandments ESPECIALLY when it comes to poor and homeless among us. And the homeless and poor aren’t helping themselves out much either because they often live a willfully disobedient life as well. So much human tragedy, sin upon sin everywhere 🙁

And because of this willful disobedience, God WILL judge the Denver metro area by sword (upcoming civil war?), famine, and pestilence (another wave of even deadly viruses). Sadly, just as in Jeremiah’s day 2500+ or so years ago this horrific judgement is and was completely avoidable.

The Denver metro area is absolutely weathy beyond measure. Most folks drive modern good condition cars and trucks and live in nice comfortable homes. Meanwhile on nearly every major intersection around the city are impoverished hungry homeless people begging for enough change to buy a meal, and hopefully afford a run down motel room for the night if they get enough money. The run down motels on Santa Fe, Broadway, and Colfax currently are $65 per 24 hours which is $1,950 per month…for comparison, the average Craigslist room for rent at an actual house is $600 to $1000 per month. Wow. Let that sink in.

Ron the older gentleman shown below and Andrew the younger man shown below have been panhandling at Littleton Boulevard and South Broadway for the last year. They are wonderfully delightful human beings who have suffered an unbelievable amount of hardship in their lives. At the same token, both men have made terrible choices in life falling victim to the deceitfulness of sin. To be fair, so have many of the rest of us.

Ron is retired, homeless, and has a wife who is in a wheelchair who suffers from terrible pain. She desperately hopes to get surgery to address her chronic pain but, she has no home in which she could recover from surgery. Her husband Ron can walk but only barely with a cane. He suffers from old age and a laundry list of health problems yet he takes an RTD bus everyday from West Colfax in Lakewood to come to Littleton to beg for enough money to pay for that slum motel room each night. Ron was an accomplished cabinetry carpenter and autobody man in his younger years but now his whole life revolves around begging for change to keep him and his wife in their run down motel room. Ron and his wife do have a monthly modest retirement income from Social Security which could afford them to rent a small house out in a farm town somewhere but he has no idea how to make such a humble dream come true…where would he even start unless someone helped him? On top of all that, he and his wife are deeply addicted to smoking cigarettes….the devil has old Ron and his wife in an absolutely vicious trap of poverty, addiction, bad health, and hopelessness. As you read this you may wonder why doesn’t he just move to the country? But ask yourself how someone with no car or truck who can barely walk or any savings to speak of could undertake such a move? This man and his wife need help, they need another family to show mercy to them and help untangle the knots the devil has tied! Most importantly, he needs Jesus to intercede and get involved in his life.

Young Andrew is in his early 30’s and believe it or not has 10 years experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant which is a good paying job! But Andrew is now far from his Indiana home, homeless, separated from his wife, had his ID stolen, and is stuck in Colorado with no friends, no family, no way to get on a Greyhound bus (which requires an ID) and no way to get back to Indiana. Andrew came to Colorado for the legal marijuana like so many other homeless young people his age ..but once here in Colorado his troubles began to quickly overtake him…getting robbed by other homeless people he partied with and having his ID and wallet taken, losing every earthly possession from subsequent thefts, losing his wife to other men who seduced her with drugs and promises of a better life…now imagine for a moment how discouraged and depressed this young man is…truly the devil comes to kill our hopes and dreams, steal our opportunities and potential, and destroy our marriages and stable home lives….the wages of sin including the unholy smoking of marijuana seems so innocent to so many but look at the real human wreckage of young Andrew’s life here….Andrew just wants to go back to Indiana and start over.

Let no man deceive you, the Denver metro area is filled with wickedness and wicked people. Both Ron and Andrew are walking examples of what the wickedness and sin of Colorado brings to a man’s life…and on top of all their misery and grinding poverty they both experience on a daily basis, the middle and upper class ignore them and let these men starve in the streets. I have fed these two men countless times and watched as hundreds of cars passed them by at this intersection with their vehicle windows rolled up.

But God…but God is merciful to those who confess their sins and repent.

Today, instead of visiting the homeless camps, I stopped and bought both of these hungry panhandlers no expense spared lunch at Chipotle burritos. I have known them awhile so they accepted my offer without any hesitation. As we enjoyed our lunch on the outside patio, each man recounted various mistakes they had made so the confession piece of what Jesus said to do is taken care in their lives…. While we were eating and talking I also sent some emails to people I know about starting the process for untangling the mess of their individual deeply knotted problems mainly about Andrew needing a replacement Indiana ID so he can get on a Greyhound Bus and go back to Indiana but I emailed a Landlord I know who owns country houses out on the eastern plains on behalf of Ron and his wife June…. But most of all these men NEED prayers, they are both heavily addicted to cigarettes, and both freely admit they love to smoke marijuana. These two precious souls are both deeply deceived and blinded even now by the devil. But our prayers can pull down and destroy the fallen angel and demon strongholds of poverty, addictions, and foolish life choices that have cursed these two men’s lives.

Please take a moment and just petition the Heavenly Father in Jesus name and pray against the unseen forces of evil that keep these men in perpetual slavery to poverty and addiction. Pray that they repent and turn from these bondages so the curses can be lifted forever…If more of us prayed even short prayers, God can and WILL turn his attention to these men.

We as christians have to pray for the lost sheep to come to the Great Shepherd Jesus…if we don’t… these precious lost sheep will be lost forever. And trust me, if you won’t pray nobody else will. Pray for these men! They deserve a chance to get to heaven as much as you do.

-your humble servant and neighbor – dutch