Michael Devlin, cause and effect, and prophecy

Recent news has been abuzz about the sentencing of convicted kidnapper and child molester Michael Devlin. The horrific tales of his four-year imprisonment of one child and his related crimes have been told in courtroom after courtroom, as he has received multiple life sentences.

In all of this, we must remember that life is cause and effect. We are, in a very real sense, ruled by the choices we make and the consequences of those choices. Time and chance may play their parts (limited to the space on the stage that God provides them within His will), but it is our choices that generally act in the starring role.

That said, what series of choices did Michael Devlin make that took him down this road? The media will most likely focus on trying to dig up influences on him – family upbringing, abuse in his past, etc. – that could make his monstrous behavior more comprehensible to us. Yet, while such digging could be helpful and informative (though nothing "obvious" has yet turned up), being too focused on influences dilutes our understanding and appreciation of the cumulative power of cause and effect brought into play by our choices.

We seek evidence (reassurance) from the news reports that we could never become monsters, ourselves, like Michael Devlin – that our background is different, or that we didn't have the same kind of family, etc., and therefore there's no way to get there from here, so to speak. But the fact is that, like Michael Devlin, we are slaves to the results of our choices.

The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 6:7, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Sometimes we have to reap what others have sown, as well, but so far there is no indication that Michael Devlin is reaping much more than what he has sown, himself. But the reaping is more than the sentencing he is currently experiencing in our courthouses. The perverted life he led, itself, is very likely something he's reaped from a previous sowing.

Will that path of connected sowings and reapings be revealed in a future media investigation? Will we see a path walked from one obscene, pornographic pursuit to another? If so, where will popular culture decide he "crossed the line"?

Jesus prophesied that in the end times "the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12), and we see a terrible coldness present in the choices of Michael Devlin. But the reason that love will grow cold is also given by Christ in the same verse: "Because lawlessness will abound." No one should think here that Christ was speaking of the laws of man. The first step Mr. Devlin took toward becoming what he now is was his first step away from God's way of life.

Whether it was the so-called "harmless" pornography of cable TV or some other entertainment product generated by our sex-drenched culture that trains its participants to regard human beings as little more than objects and sources of self-gratification – we can be sure that in the path of choices and cause and effect that Michael Devlin walked, society will be very careful to define the step that was "too far" as being one that is far enough down the road to allow their own perversions of choice to continue.

People will judge their own brand of lawlessness to be OK because it is not as bad as Devlin's.

But cause and effect will continue their reign. And the love of many will continue to grow cold.

If you are interested in knowing the truth about a coming world that will be free of such monsters – a truth that you should be hearing in your churches but most likely have never heard – please request our free booklet Do You Believe the True Gospel? It is available without cost or obligation.