What about the 4400?

Friday, February 18, 2011

Murders are so frequent in our country that a singular homicide seldom grabs national concentration unless the perpetrator or the victim is already a celebrity. Even a double murder is not national news. It takes many murders to make the headlines, Cnn, and the network evening news.

The Oklahoma bombing of April 19, 1995, which monopolized the news for days, claimed 167 lives and wounded nearly 500. The Twa flight 800 disaster of July 19, 1996 snuffed out the lives of 212 passengers and 17 crew members. Of course, there's also the 3000-plus citizen who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Todays World News Headlines

When a disaster of this magnitude happens, the whole nation focuses concentration on the families of the dead and the hurting. Nothing seems more leading than to inspect why this occurred and what can be done to stop it from happening again.

Disasters elsewhere in the world can also claim our concentration for a few days, provided enough citizen have suffered death or injury. The Bhopal, India, disaster (Dec. 3, 1984) killed over 4000 and injured thousands more. The Pan Am Flight 103 explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland (Dec. 21, 1988), killed over 200, including 35 U.S. College students. And of course, most recently, there are the hundreds of thousands of victims of the tsunami of December 26, 2004. We hear of such disasters in shocked disbelief. We sympathize, we even weep, we pray for the victims' families.

Yet on each succeeding day in the U.S. Alone, 4400 human lives are ended by abortion. Yesterday 4400 died, today someone else 4400, and tomorrow 4400 more. Any disaster in any place in the world claiming that many lives in one day would command the center of the media spotlight. It would initiate congressional investigations, shut down whole industries for a safety inspection, or prompt relief organizations to initiate a immense fund-raising campaign. None of this happens for today's 4400. No one notices, few seem to care.

For each one of the 4400 there is a hurting mother, father, and grandparents. Doctors, nurses, condition workers, and others are affected by the tragedy. A host of citizen are whether grieving or becoming calloused to the hurt.

God has commissioned His saints to care for the weak and helpless, to defend those who have no other defender (Ps. 82:3-4; Ezek. 34:4; Acts 20:35). What are we doing for today's 4400? Are we concerned for their families? Does it matter to us what has happened? Tomorrow someone else 4400 will be killed. What of them?

What about the 4400?

See Also : todays world news headlines

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