As a funeral director by trade, I am reminded of the reality of death and the things that I have seen cannot be unseen. Respectively, I have seen photo and video evidence of the suffering of animals, something that I am perpetually intoxicated with and something I can never look past no matter how many corners I turn. It is so unjustifiable and excusable, I choose to emotionally suffer, as perhaps I feel it is the only way to even start to justify what " our kind " is doing.
Until I saw "cat-soup-11", I have never felt as intensely the feeling that God has left us. That face was the agony of one of US. It would be me, my dog, my husband, my neighbor, any one of US. It was the greatest realization of just how truly forlorn and lost I feel in this world, that I can't wake a day without looking at the shell I see in the mirror, knowing that my kind commits these atrocities. I truly feel as though God is not here and yet, I pray more now with each passing day that this will all change, no matter what it takes.
Thank you for everything. I feel true empathy for the individuals who had to be there to witness it.
Violetta
Reply from Frank and Mary Hoffman
Dear Violetta:
Thank you very much for opening you heart and emotions to us. We know exactly
how you feel.
We don't believe that God has left us, but rather He has allowed the world to
suffer in its human depravity until humans repent and truly seek to live in the
will of God. This is something that is very evident in the historic accounts in
the Bible.
As examples:
When will Isaiah's prophesy of 11:6-9 come true? When the earth is full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Which also tells us why
there is so much violence, pain, suffering and death today. The vast majority of
humans lack this knowledge, no matter how much they profess otherwise. All we
need to do is look at the way they live and act.
Jesus tells us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew
5:48), and to pray for our Father's heavenly will to be done on earth as it is
in heaven (Matthew 6:10), where there is no mourning, pain or death. Even though
most professing Christians pray this, they do just the opposite and prolong the
suffering.
Jesus also tells us that the true children of God are the peacemakers
(Matthew 5:9), and Paul picks up on this thought and tells us that the whole of
creation is groaning and anxiously waiting for the revealing of these children
of God to free it from its present corruption (8:18-23). The whole of creation
continues to suffer because there are relatively few true children of God trying
to end the suffering.
This is the challenge we face together, and we very much appreciate you
support and encouragement.
We look forward to hearing from you again, and hopefully finding ways we can work together to help bring God's heavenly will to earth as it is in heaven.
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank and Mary
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