(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, so James chapter 3 beginning in verse 4 the Bible reads behold also the ships Which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds yet are they turned about with a very small helm? where there so ever the governor listeth even so the tongue is a little member and Boasteth great things behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth and the whole and the tongue is a fire a world of Iniquity so what James is saying your course? This is a passage that you would turn to when you're talking about The tongue and the use of the mouth and things like that. That's not really direction I'm gonna go this morning in fact this might take you by surprise. It's it's kind of a different sermon It's not something I've heard you know a whole sermon dedicated to but kind of in light of things that have been going on I thought it'd be Appropriate and that is the sin of arson the sin of arson and we'll get to that in a minute But I turn to James chapter 3 because he's saying there in Verse 5 the tongue is a little member and Boasteth great things in a previous verse he talked about how a Ship is turned about by a very small helm and how something so small behold how great a matter as it says in James 5 King a little fire kindleth of course every great fire that has ever been started started out as just a simple flame Maybe even just a spark. That's how every great big fire has ever taken place No fire just you know is immediately just this giant problem So what he's saying there is you know a small member creates big problems even so You know the greatest of fires has begun by just a small spark So I wanted to turn there just to use that analogy that James used about a fire Spreading and become something very big when talking about the sin of arson this morning And it's it's I don't know that it's a coincidence I certainly didn't have anything to do with it But I didn't know if you noticed this morning that mount lemon is actually on fire right now So I'm driving down here this on the 10, and I look and I think well That's nice with a perfect illustration for my sermon money while just you know hundreds of acres thousands of acres burning up Hopefully doesn't get over into people's homes and things like that. I didn't have anything to do with that Okay, all right. I didn't come down here to you know set that intentionally and just for a sermon's sake all right But you know I did think that was interesting But that's the kind of thing we see happening all the time now whether or not that was arson I don't know that could have been a lightning strike someone something could have gotten out of hand who knows I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of it but the sin of arson is something that the Bible does talk about it's something that we we see a lot of examples of arson in the Bible and You know it's something that we have to deal with in our world in fact I was just going to read to you here for a minute some statistics You know and I know that statistics sometimes and a preacher starts going on can get kind of dry And you know but stick with me, okay, and I'll try to make it as exciting as I can But remember we're talking about we're talking about Arson this morning, okay the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property somebody going and Maliciously trying to destroy the property of others by setting it on fire. That's what our arson is and the FBI has Just some statistics you're going back to 2017 I really couldn't find a lot of stats on this, but you know this gives us a general idea of Why arson you know is something that you know could stand to be preached about and against it says in 2017 law enforcement agencies reported 41,000 171 arsons in the United States 41,000 you would think you know arson yeah, it happens does it happen that that often well It happened over 40,000 times in 2017 according to a lot these law enforcement agencies So it's something that takes takes place quite a bit The average dollar loss per arson okay, so they took those 40-plus thousand cases of arson And they determined how much money was how much you know money was lost how much monetary damage was? Suffered you know and they added it all up, and they averaged it out. Okay that came to $15,573 so the average case of arson comes to $15,000 you think well, that's I mean that's a significant amount of money You know if you don't believe me cut me a check for 15,000 and look at my face, but Here's the thing you know Arson we often think about just buildings right we just think about large buildings getting set on fire things like that But it also includes cars So you know that might bring that number down a little bit because you have a lot of people just you know Somebody wins a championship or somebody wins some stupid sports game And what's that? What do they do they go out and they set cars on fire in the streets to celebrate? You know I don't think the owner of that car is that excited you know they might even maybe they were even rooting for the same team, but when they come out the next morning to go to Work and find their car. You know just a crispy critter with no rent. You know no tires on it They're probably not going to be that excited. So maybe that's part of why that number is a little bit lower I was anticipating to be much higher But arson of industrial and manufacturing structures result in the highest average dollar loss, and this is where it climbs up when he started getting into Industrial manufacturing manufacturing structures they averaged to fifty four thousand five hundred dollars So you can see how that goes up now of course you would say who would light a building on fire well You know there are we're going to look at some people today who are just you know They're they're not right in the head. You know basically and they're they are just wicked people that light fires But people also do it in terms of theft you know there's there's what's called insurance fraud And then you know insurance companies have a whole Team of people that will go out in instances of fire Where a claim is being made on the loss of a building or whatever and they'll examine You know they'll get with the fire department And they'll study what happened and they'll look at the person's bank statements and see if they had any motive to do this and a lot Of times they do find out that it wasn't just Accidental that in fact somebody intentionally lit a fire just so they could get an insurance claim Which really isn't that hard to believe when we have people today that are throwing themselves in front of cars To get insurance claims have you seen this? Or they're just they'll they'll kind of walk in front of your car They just jump up on the hood and be like oh you hit me You know and then you got to get the dashcam and everything so people are into this kind of thing that you know you know Stealing committing fraud and one way they do it is through arson Arson had gone up 1.7 percent from 2016 to 2017 nationwide there were 13.3 arson's Arson offenses for every 100,000 inhabitants How about this why would I preach about arson well? How about because some of the current events we've seen just in these last Couple of weeks this last week or so all the different riots that we were seeing take place all over the country You know we could even look back into history and let me tell you something you study the riots of the past These kids today don't know how to do it. I mean they're weak. It's weak sauce They should look back I mean you want to get serious about some riots go back to the Detroit riots back in 1967 Where 43 people were dead? 342 people were injured 2,509 businesses reported looting or damage 388 families were rendered homeless or displaced and 412 buildings were burned or damaged enough to be demolished So people are just like I mean the Detroit riots were I mean they got to the point where they actually had to call in The Army National Guard and start shooting people to get them to stop looting and burning You know their own homes and businesses down The dollar losses from that riot went from were estimated from from 40 to 45 million dollars That's back in 1967. That's a lot of money. Especially back then You know and then you could talk about the next the two years previous the LA and LA the Watts riots, right? Those were another one where they had 34 deaths they had 40 million in property damage and but you know today this would apply we could think about the fact that arson is a sin when we see These George Floyd riots taking place now. Let me just clarify That I think what happened to George George Floyd was an atrocity and that those men should be punished those officers that are involved Should be and are going to court and they're going to be tried and I think they should be punished appropriately But that is no excuse to see to To see what we see taking place today now. I'm all for protests I mean I think people should be able to exercise their their freedom of speech and if people want to assemble somewhere You know during the day in a place that makes sense and express their their you know Their disapproval of things that are happening in our government by all means do so But when people are assembling at night, you know late at night and shopping areas, that's not a protest that's just rioting Okay, and there's a difference there and hopefully we all understand that and we see this taking place That's what these George floor. These aren't the George Floyd protests. These are you know, there are protests, of course We've also seen a lot of rioting, you know And of course we all have to deal with it now because of the fact there's a curfew that's been issued You know They finally let us outdoors after the COVID-19 and now it's like you could come out but only for a little while now You got to go back home at eight o'clock So these things affect us, you know, I didn't light any fires I didn't throw any bricks I haven't looted anything There's no new there's no, you know brand new giant appliance in my house You know, I don't have any fresh duds on or anything like that But we do see these riots taking place and what happens a lot of these riots is there's fire now Thankfully here in Arizona. The fires haven't gotten that out of control But in places, I believe it was in Minneapolis, isn't that where that first started? Is that right Minneapolis? I mean they're burning entire, you know department store target, you know AutoZone just burned to the ground You know all the loss of the merchandise and structures and the jobs and everything else, you know here in Tucson They worked up to a dumpster fire. I think they maybe a trash barrel or something like that What's really isn't that bright when you're living in a city in the middle of a desert I mean everything's dry You know, it's it's not a good idea to be lighting fires So the sin of arson is what we're talking about this morning Of course, you know, this would have something that we need to talk about because the fact that we've seen it in the past You know in the form of riots and even in our in you know As late as this last week people are doing this type of thing And That's probably where most people's minds go when we talk about arson is the riots But a lot another form of arson that we see often is in the form of wildfires A lot of wildfires are lit intentionally and they blaze out of control and even those, you know We could talk about all the fires in California that have taken place and you could see the devastation And that that takes place when fires just rage out of control and just burn people's houses to the ground if you would go over to 2nd Samuel chapter 14 2nd Samuel chapter 14 So wildfire arson is the felony act of maliciously setting fire to wild lands uncultivated land Comprised a forest brush or grassland according to the US Fire Administration Not only does wildfire arson destroy natural lands But it devastates a significant number of buildings homes and other property in addition to taking Lives of firefighters and residents, you know, and that's something that we're familiar with here in Arizona What was that? I forget when I first moved here. It was a real big deal. They they lost several These these firefighters out on this it was Iron Mountain. Does everyone anyone know knows what I'm talking about? They lost several firefighters I believe was on Iron Mountain I could have that wrong, you know it's just I'm just now recalling it but You know men that are going out risking their lives to try to protect people's homes and property from to keep a fire from raging Out of control, you know, they're going out and they're losing the lives now whether or not that one was malicious or not Whether that one was arson, I don't know but there have been people that have set fires deliberately You know on wildfires to just gone out into some natural national forest or wherever and just lit a fire And then it spreads and it starts to threaten people's homes and men have to go out and fight this fire and sometimes they don't Come back So you can see how arson is a sin, you know, because it's malicious, you know Not only is it gonna cost people money, but it could actually end up costing people their very lives Needless to say wildfire Arson is no small threat six of the 20 most damaging wildfires in California in terms of structures destroyed were by arson So six of the 20 most damaging wildfires were caused excuse me by arson Let me throw some more stats at you Georgia records an average of seven hundred seven hundred arson fires Destroying over nine thousand acres Annually that's every year arson fires seven hundred arson fires Every year destroying thousands nine thousand acres annual It's crazy I had no idea that kind of thing even was going on is it really that it's a bigger problem I think that most people realize at least it is in Georgia. I don't know what's going on over there There's something in the water or the air or what but people are just lighting fires a bunch of pyros over there and over 240 wildfires no offense if you're from Georgia, by the way I'm sure you know just turning your matches or something, but it says and 240 wildfires were caused by arson in Florida Now you think it'd be hard to catch anything on in that Giants catch on fire in that giant swamp over there But they managed to do it wildfires were caused by 240 and between January 1st and April 14th That's just in a stretch of a few months Of the 58 most destructive wildfires in US history 16 are confirmed arson fires almost 28% so over a quarter of the most destructive arson fires in this country's history history were lit on purpose By somebody just being malicious These devastating 16 fires destroyed almost 6,500 structures homes businesses, etc They killed 50 people and burned nearly 1 million acres So there's 50 people that you know could you know lived you know lived out their days if somebody hadn't lit a fire And you know I want to get into it. You know why is arson a sin? I think just the facts here are enough for us to say you know arson is not you know It's not a laughing matter. I don't know what kind of joking here because it's kind of a different topic but here's the thing you know arsonists are wicked people at the end of the day a Person who would go out and intentionally light a fire is a wicked person knowing this could damage somebody's home This could ruin somebody's business This is you know this could you know cost somebody their livelihood this could cost somebody their life But hey, you know for my cheap entertainment for my you know just to get some kicks I'm gonna go ahead and light a fire It's wicked Look there in 2nd Samuel chapter 14. Let's look at some of the people that lit fires in the Bible Verse 28 so Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, so we all know Absalom right Absalom was the one who eventually rebelled against his father King David And he was a wicked man it says that he dwelt this is when he is returning after having killed his half brother over the the affair With Tamar the the rape that had taken place there. I don't want to get in all the backstory, but here comes Absalom He's in Jerusalem full two years and saw not the king's face therefore Absalom sent for Joab To have sent him to the kick to him to the king so he's saying look I want you trying he's trying to get a hold of Joab Because he wants Joab to bring him to the king so that he can see his dad King David once more I Look at verse 30 Excuse me. We'll continue on in verse 29 He says, but he would not come to him and when he was sent to him again the second time He would not come so he's sending for Joab. He's sending for Joab and Joab's not coming. He's ignoring him So what would be the reasonable response just keep bugging him? I don't know maybe send a You know an edible arrangement you know fruit basket Maybe try to move him over you know Maybe try to you know win him with your get into his good graces is that Absalom's approach You know trying to catch more flies with honey the vinegar no It says in verse 30 therefore. He sent his servants servants see Joab's field is near mine, and he hath barley there Go set it on fire Go and just light his field in fire. That'll get his attention, then he'll hear what I have to say This guy's a malicious person, and he's careless. He's reckless notice. It says that it was near mine So he's even risking his own property I mean this thing could have spread and gotten out of control now This is back when they didn't you know they didn't have you know the the big fire trucks and the hoses and hydrants on every Corner, I mean it would have been a big deal this thing got out of control I mean you probably back then the only thing you probably just do is wait for it to rain And just hope that you know that would put it out And Absalom's servants set the field on fire then Joab arose And stopped dropped and rolled right he arose and came to Absalom unto his house and said unto him Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? You know he's probably Expecting a real good reason why that took place There's got to be a reason behind this and Absalom answered Joab behold I said unto thee saying come hither that I may send thee to the king That's it he's like well you were ignoring I kept sending to you You know I left voicemails I sent you some emails, and you just weren't you just weren't replying so natural I mean what what'd you expect of course? I'm gonna come light your field on fire You know this is and then you know then we could talk about a lot of other things with it You know this this kind of you know vindictive malicious attitude that sometimes people can get when they're being ignored Okay, maybe they're not gonna light a field on fire, but they could do other things okay? But I don't want to get into all that but you know Absalom he wasn't just you know Gonna give Joab the cold shoulder you know That was a pun without even meaning to you right the cold shoulder. He was gonna. He was gonna heat things up right He was gonna get it hot over there. He said I'm gonna light your field on fire You're gonna take notice of me. You're gonna know I'm upset well that make you know Absalom's a wicked person You know what an Absalom was he was a rebel You know he's this guy who just Distains the authority disdains the powers that be and you know rebels against the king right and is that is you know it's no It's no coincidence that we see the same thing with these rioters You know and you can have whatever opinion you want about about the police And you know people want to it's like become this edgy thing I guess now to start talking about whether or not the police should or should not be but whatever your opinion is about the cops Let me just go ahead and clue you in on something. They're not going anywhere So you might as well just go ahead and adjust your attitude accordingly because the cops are here to stay until Jesus comes all right and What do we see people who have a problem with that do I mean not everyone obviously that has a problem with the cops is? Going to be an arsonist, but it's no coincidence that the very people you see you know rising up defying the curfews Gathering in places. They're not told to gather late at night and getting into all kind of criminal mischief are rebels that are lighting fires Because arsonists are wicked rebellious people Not only that arsonists. They're very vengeful and very angry angry people at times go over to judges chapter 15 judges chapter 15 You're going to judges 15 I'll remind you the story in judges chapter 12, and it says that the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together And went northward and said in a Jephthah wherefore thou passest thou over to fight against the children of Amnon Did not call us to go with thee so if you remember the story of Jephthah they asked him to go deliver them from the from these The children of Amnon they're being oppressed and eventually he goes over and fights this battle and he comes back and He's the guy that you sack you know opened his mouth and sworn to the Lord that he would sacrifice the first thing that came Out unto him from his house when he returned in safety and it was his daughter and he ended up following through on that You know that's the backstory, but you know then then these you know So he does that and then these guys show up, and they say hey, why why aren't we invited and Did not call us to go with thee and what was their response we will burn thine house upon thee with fire You know we're so upset about this. We're so angry. We're so vengeful We're so wicked that we're gonna go ahead and just burn your house with you in it So we see that arsonists are wicked people they're vengeful people and they're angry people often look there in judges chapter 15 The story of Samson now Samson obviously was a righteous man Samson is in the Hall of Faith Samson is a man that did great works for God He judged Israel, but Samson also had a lot of Drawbacks you know and Samson was a man of like passions like as we are So I'm not gonna you know I'm not trying to just bag on Samson But you know Samson's in that we have the stories of Samson for a reason And a lot of it is so we can learn what not to do Okay, cuz Samson made a lot of mistakes in his life didn't he and we could talk about the life of Samson's well one of them was you know after he got married to the Philistine woman and He was displeased because she revealed the riddle unto unto the Philistines there And he left her and it says in verse 1 But it came to pass within after a while in the time of harvest that Samson visited his wife with a kid So he said I'm gonna go back and pay her a visit And he said and I will go in to my wife into the chamber But her father would not suffer him to go in and his father said very I verily thought that thou hast utterly hated her They therefore I gave her to thy companion So is not her younger sister fairer than she take her I pray thee instead of her so you could see You know the set of morals these these heathen Philistines have these are pretty wicked people He says take her I pray thee instead of her and Samson said concerning them now I shall be more blameless than the Philistines though I do them a displeasure You know we could talk about the fact that it's it's nice that Samson thinks that but that's not always the case is it He's trying to justify himself. You know he's saying look they offended me now I'm gonna offend them and that'll be the end of it, and we know the story of Samson that it just continually escalates It says in verse 4 and Samuel went Samson it rather went and caught 300 foxes and took firebrands and Turned tail to tail and put a firebrand in the midst between the two tails and we had set the brands on fire He let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines and burnt up the shocks and also the standing corn With the vineyards and the olives so Samson you know amongst many other things that he was good and bad was an arsonist It's true. I mean what else is this what else could you possibly call this? God's righteous indignation, I don't think so this not points for creativity, okay I mean I mean I'm looking I read the story like good night. Have you ever heard of? Wood you know have you ever heard just rub some sticks together Samson and just you know throw the fire out there And they're just fine. He takes the time to catch 300 foxes I don't know that I've seen more than three foxes in my entire life in the wild you know very nocturnal animal I'm always impressed by the story that part of it That's one of the most you know a lot of all of the great feats that Samson did you know we were impressed by it That's when we kind of gloss over the man went and caught 300 foxes now I don't know if he was setting up traps or whatever, but man. He's catching these foxes and 300 of them, and I don't know how long that you think you know that would've been like the cooldown that the California cooldown period you Know when you when you buy a gun you got to wait 10 days or whatever to cool down I mean he you'd think if you were taking the time to catch 300 foxes You'd probably be like wait a minute this probably isn't a good idea You know let me just calm down here. You know I'm at fault here. I think he caught him pretty quick I think he caught these foxes or he was just so determined to make this happen But he writes this fire brand he ties them tail to tail right and he puts his fire Just turns them loose, and it's just like good night Have you not heard of a weed burner do you not know how to just start a regular fire like a normal person? But he's kind of I think he's kind of flexing a little bit Yeah, I let your field on fire, and I used foxes to do it He's kind of just trying to show off a little bit It's like come on Samson when he really I mean after everything else you've done You really got to show off like that, but I always impressed with that now. I'll be at what he did was wrong I believe that he had no business just lighting somebody's field on fire I mean was it was it just her you know was it his father-in-law's field that he lit him fire No, it was it was the Philistines fields that he set on fire, and they were wicked people so on and so forth But he does all this and it makes him an arsonist And what was he he was an angry person at this story point in his life. You know he was just trying to be vengeful He was just trying to get back So you can see that we know when we look at the scripture and see arson being committed It's being committed by wicked people. It's being committed by rebels It's being committed by people who are vengeful and angry, so there's never you know a good reason to commit arson okay? Unless you're the Lord all right when you when you light the whole world on fire to purge it of the iniquity then I suppose That's okay, but you know his ways are higher than our ways. He can it's his right. He can go ahead It's not it's only malicious when you're lighting somebody else's the property on fire You know the earth is the Lord's you know so he can go ahead and lay it on fire whenever he wants And he is going to do that one day But not only that but you know arsonists are all these things But what I want to kind of close here on this morning is the fact that arsonists are deeply disturbed people often And more so in our modern day when we look at people who are Notorious arsonists. They're very wicked and very disturbed individuals psychopaths reprobates often So if you'd look at first Kings chapter 16 go to first Kings chapter 16 I'm gonna read you about the story here in first King about Zimran verse Kings chapter 16 I'll begin reading in verse 8 of first Kings 16 It says in the 20th and 6th year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Tizra two years And his servant Zimran captain of the half of his chariots conspired against him as he was in Terza drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Terza So here's this guy Zimran He's captain of the half of this man's chariots and he ends up conspiring against him. Okay. So again, what do we have? We have a rebellious person Okay And he says in verse 10 and Zimran went in and smote him and killed him in The 20th and 7th year of Asa king of Judah's that and reigned in his stead So he takes the throne from him by conspiracy and murder Verse 11 and it came to pass when he began to reign as soon as he was sat on his throne that he slew all The house of Baasha and that he left not one that pisseth against the wall neither of his kin's folks nor of his friends Thus did Zimran destroy all the house of Baasha according to the word of the Lord Which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet now again, here's something just a side note. This is worth pointing out Okay, and I mentioned this on Thursday night We're going through first Samuel chapter 4 is that God uses wicked people to accomplish his will Zimran was a wicked man and God used him to punish This this king this king here Asa That's a whole nother story in of itself And it says in verse 13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Eli his son Which he had they had sinned in which they had made Israel to sin and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger with their Vanities now the rest of the acts of Elah all that he did are they not written the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel verse 15 and the 20th and 7th year of Asa king of Judah did Zimran begin to reign in Terzah and The people were encamped against Gibeon against which belongeth to the Philistines and the people that were encamped heard say Zimran hath conspired and hath also slain the king Wherefore all Israel made Omri the captain of the host king over Israel that day in the camp and Omri went up from Gibeon and all Israel with him and they besieged Terzah and it came to pass verse 18 when Zimran saw that the city was taken he Sees he seizes and coming Okay, they find out what he's doing they make their own king and they're going up to clean house They're gonna going up to punish Zimran. So not only that God uses wicked people, but then he also punishes those wicked people That's another story and it came to pass when Zimran saw that the city was taken that he went to the palace of the king's House and burnt the king's house over him with fire and died So again, you see a very disturbed person here Somebody I mean, I don't know what they were planning to do to this guy But I can't imagine that that burning to death is the most pleasant way to go, you know Maybe the hopefully you die of the officiation or whatever before you actually light on fire But I mean, he's a disturbed individual to think well, I'm gonna commit suicide. Let me light myself on fire Let me burn this house down upon me very disturbed guy. Okay, and what else do we see in his life? He's rebellious Right. He's he's a he's a conspirator. He's a wicked man, and he's very disturbed as well But I want to just read to you some actual if you would go over to Exodus chapter 22 But let's read about some modern-day arsonists We've looked at several in the Bible and I think just from that alone we can see that you know what people that are committing arson are in sin that Arseny is a sin this morning and it's one that's kind of you know plagued our country to a certain degree Is it the worst thing that's going I mean, is it the most prevalent sin that we we find in our country today? No But it is a sin that we find in our world nonetheless And it needs to be preached against and I'm going to read to you some stories about some face famous arsonists Okay, so stay with me. How about the story of John or okay? John or was a former fire captain and Arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. So here you have this guy who his living was fighting and investigating fires And he turns out to be an arson During the 80s and early 90s. There was a series of fires around LA that were going unsolved investigators noticed that the fires were started in areas next to major highways and Ironically while arson investigation conventions were going on nearby So this you could see how this guy is trying to get his kicks He's lighting fires near these conventions where there's arson investigation conferences taking place Alright, so he goes on he says here During the investigation police discovered an important piece of information a fingerprint and a time delay incinerator device from that 1987 fire in Fresno, California The fingerprint was linked to arson investigator John or in addition to the fingerprint evidence and seized Accelerating devices belonging to or there was an earlier incident that sparked suspicion or was one of the arson investigators assigned to a 1984 South Pasadena fire that destroyed a hardware store killing four people all of their arson investigators agreed that the cause was an electrical fire, but or insisted that it was arson or Was convicted and charged with three accounts of arson and is currently serving in life prison a life in prison. So Before they bust him They had already had their suspicions because of this fact when he burned this hardware store to the ground the investors Came to the wrong conclusion They said oh, it was electrical. He's no it was arson. No, it was our hate was arson I almost wanted to say I did it, you know, what he's trying to do is get credit, you know for what he had done You know whether or not indirectly albeit, but he wanted people to recognize that there was an arsonist on the loose and it's because he's proud, you know, why would a fire investigator and And a fireman captain of a fire department be like get involved in this kind of thing Why would you turn out to be an arson? You know because there's something wrong with your head because there's something seriously wrong with you. You're a disturbed individual Paul Keller is one of the most notorious serial arsonists in American history The Seattle man is responsible for at least 70 fires and three deaths in and around Seattle during the 80s and 90s With unsolved cases even popping up in recent years this polished looking advertising salesman an active churchgoer Was ruthlessly setting fires to homes churches businesses throughout four countries Making this one of the worst serial arson's arson cases in state history Finally in 1993 killer was found and sentenced to 99 years in prison You know, that's not the proper punishment when you're killing people with fire You are a murderer and deserve to be put to death according to Scripture Julio Gonzalez a Cuban immigrant was responsible setting fire to the Happy Land nightclub in Bronx, New York in 1990 which killed 87 people now this guy was not a serial arsonist Okay This is the one thing he did but he killed 87 people and I want you to pay attention as to Why he ended up doing this Why does the guy just all of a sudden decide to go light a bill a nightclub on fire and kill 87 people? The night of the fire Gonzalez was thrown out of Happy Land, you know Ironic name there after getting into a fight with his girlfriend who worked there So he's getting in fight with his girlfriend who's a bartender or waitress at this nightclub Gonzalez returned to the nightclub Intoxicated he's drunk. Okay. He doesn't have his senses. He's not thinking and that should be a warning right there You know when you drink alcohol you become very uninhibited So you start to think you might start end up doing things that you wouldn't otherwise do like Oh, I don't know light a nightclub on fire. Do you think this guy would have done that if he was sober? I really don't think he would I mean, maybe he was that kind of an individual But I think that was a big part of it the fact that he went out and got drunk at that Well, this little this little teacher, you know, this will show her He poured a can of gasoline along the club's only stairway and and started the fire most victims were trampled or suffered from a asphyxiation Gonzalez was charged with 174 counts of murder and You know just goes to show you that how what's going on in York? He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison 25 years to life for killing 174 people Known known for using fire to spread their message and this one's kind of funny I included this one because it's it shows you the depth of the liberal mind. Okay? Knowing this is this is a story about the Eco terrorist group elf The earth liberation front elf and their motto and their mascot literally was like a little green elf Not kidding known for using fire to spread their message against exploitation and destruction of the environment This is what they're this is what they're protesting the destruction of the environment Okay, the irony the eco terrorist group named elf caused millions of dollars in damage by setting fires around the world In 1998 elf caused to 12 million, excuse me 12 million in damage at Vail, Colorado by setting fart Setting fire to part of the ski resort. So it was getting they were getting ready to expand this a ski resort. Oh You know talk about snowflakes. I mean they're they're upset that someone's gonna chop down a tree Which you can grow another one. Hello, and they're all upset, you know that they're gonna be, you know imposing upon You know the wildlife or whatever so people go skiing Whatever you can go ahead and have an opinion about that and you go ahead and say well, I I don't agree They shouldn't be you know, you could take your your cause up against corporate greed all you want but when you go and light the thing on fire and cause millions of dollars of damage and the the irony that they think that that's actually going to change anything as If that's gonna people are gonna go oh you're right now that you've lit everything on fire I see the light, you know figuratively and literally, right? Yeah, what were we thinking? Thank you for bringing us to our senses by just burning our entire business to the ground. I appreciate you But the real irony is is that they're burning this right and they're they're an environmental protection agency That's destroying that's protesting the destruction of the earth and then they're lighting fires and they're releasing all that carbon monoxide and whatever The smoke into the atmosphere, you know And did they not realize they're just gonna cut down more trees and may have more buildings, you know Lumber come in and building supplies. I thought that was kind of ironic I mean it's we can laugh at it because it wasn't our ski resort But and I don't go to vale very often Never right, but you know, I thought it was funny. So I threw that one in there now Here's one that's not quite so funny And the point I'm trying to make here is that Arseny is a sin and that arsonists, you know in the Bible have been tip are typically are vengeful angry rebellious people quite often and You know what we're reading about here is that you know what we're seeing from real-life examples is that none of the rebels But they're also very disturbed individuals There was another story about another fireman Who also wanted you lit fires over the course of two years till they found out was an actual fireman that was doing it But how about this name, let's see who recognizes this name David Berkowitz Who recognizes date? We got one we got one taker a couple guys David Berkowitz who knows this name son of Sam Probably know that one, right? Maybe not He was a serial killer who was responsible for killing six people and injuring several others in New York City from 1976 to 1977 Berkowitz is most infamously remembered for murdering women But his destructive behavior first began by setting fires throughout the city So before he committed his first murder before he turned into this infamous son of Sam. He was an arsonist In an attempt. He was he was setting fires to buildings an attempt to vent his anger One of the fires that Berkowitz set was outside of Craig Glassman's apartment door in which firemen found 22 caliber shells in the ashes that didn't get hot enough to set off So he goes down on his and this guy was actually Glassman lived directly underneath Berkowitz and was a recipient of his hate mail, which was actually evidence that they used to link in the son of Sam later But so he's going down to his neighbor Well that lives below him out on his patio and lighting a fire and throwing 22 caliber shells in it hoping he'll go off and kill or frighten him and David Berkowitz we know went on to be you know, very disturbed person So Arsony, you know, it's a sin it's something that only Really disturbed people are doing you know and very vengeful and angry rebellious people and You know that you caught, you know, so what how do I apply this this morning? Well, you know if your child refuses to blow out their candles and the birthday cake, you might want to you know Seek help. I'm just kidding But here's the thing not all fire setting is arson, okay in the Bible not all fire setting is arson the Bible But it is punishable. Okay, you're there in Exodus 22 Let's look at incidents what I'm talking about where a fire is lit, but I don't believe this is referring to arson I believe the biblical punishment for arson would have to depend on what takes place If a person burns somebody's stuff to the ground and nobody dies, you know He's gonna make restitution be taught much like a thief my you know, four or five fold He would repay back if he was an arson and actually killed people you'd be put to death because you know if a man shed a man's blood by man's Hand shall shall man's blood be shed. I'm totally butchering that but if you kill somebody the punishment is death Exodus chapter 22 look at verse 6 It says if fire break out and catching thorns so that the stack of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed there With he that kindled the fire should surely make restitution So he's saying look if it breaks out Okay, cuz here's the thing. There are things that are called controlled burns Sometimes you light a fire on purpose even people who fight wildfires will do this They'll light a could have a controlled burn to burn an area that you know why they can still control it to prevent it from becoming a bigger disaster later and Even farmers practice this they'll go out and they'll burn fields and things and so forth And I believe that's what this is referring to you're saying look if you're burning thorns And then it breaks out from that and it and it goes to the corn and the standing corn or the field it gets into Somebody's actual farmland and burns up their crops You know if you start this controlled burn and you lose control He that kindled it shall surely make restitution. Look you're not just gonna be like, oh, well as an accident Well, we all know it was an accident. We know you're just trying to clean up your land or whatever But it happened. Okay, and you still have to make restitution. You can't just say oops Sorry, because you just burned up somebody's livelihood Okay If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep and it be stolen out of the man's house if the thief Be found he let him pay double. So it's in that same context of making things right Financially making restitution for you know lost property or in this case Damaged property. Okay. Now before I close, you know, you know Because I'm trying to make the point here that you know Not all Art all fire setting is arson and I have experience with this. All right, I want to share a childhood story I might have shared with some of you, but I've actually lit a field on fire when I was younger And I don't I'm not saying this, you know, like it's just kind of a funny story in hindsight You know we had this is an example of somebody lighting a fire and not being I don't think you would call it arson because it wasn't malicious and it wasn't intentional But across from my elementary, it's why I grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota We had a horseman elementary school then we had the i-90. I think it's the i-90 it goes through there I don't know the major interstate that comes through South Dakota on the south side there and right and then we so we had that the Elementary school the highway and then there was the overpass and once he got over there My grandfather owned like two blocks of land. We had all these rental houses and right on this side of it There was a large fielded area that he owned big field I had another road that ran by it and my father and uncle had built a pole barn Where they're doing a lot of their their work there So after school me and my buddy would go over there and we found that in this field there was this Culvert there was like a four-foot, you know drainage culvert that Rainwater just a big concrete culvert that ran underneath the road and when you're a kid, you know It's a really cool thing to you know, we're Mario Brothers had just come out, you know pipes jumping in pipes and stuff So we're thinking hey, it's really cool that we can go in this end and come out the other end on the other side of The road, you know when you're a kid, that's just fascinating, you know, it's like Ninja Turtle stuff, right? So we go there and we're going through it. We're thinking man. This is cool We should bring our other friend Chris We should bring him over here and show him this tomorrow after school and my friend Troy's like well Chris won't want to do it because it's dark and he's afraid of the dark, you know And I'm sure he's gotten over it since then but we're like, well, let's just bring something to light it up now Let's just bring something to show us the way through the tunnel. That was our intent So, what do you think we grabbed do we grab a flashlight no Would that have made sense yes But remember we're kids that are fascinated with going through a tunnel in the ground through a dirty old drainage ditch, right? We grab matches because that's what boys of that age think on they're like little matches will work, you know So we grab matches and we so we get Chris after school the next day we go over there. We got the matches We're standing at the mouth of this thing in this big, you know field with grass about that tall And we're like right let's go in and it's a kind of a windy day So Troy's light and the fight the matches and they keep blowing out. So he blows them out He just throws them up on top of the culvert right up there You know in the grass and we're lighting them and then we smell something kind of look at each other to keep getting blown out We throwing several up there and we look up and there's this little fire started I mean, it's only just you know, just as little fire. So of course in our I've already shown you how intelligent we are at this point, right? How far our logic Extends at this point. So we think well, we got to put this thing out. So, how do you put it out? well at that point, you know the most I've the fire I've had the most experience with is like birthday candles and how do you put out a birthday candle blow on it? Right, so we start blowing on this fire now anybody started a fire knows that's not how you put out a fire That's how you start a fire By feeding it oxygen right and helping it to spread You ever lit a campfire so we're blowing on it keeps getting bigger. Well, you just blow harder You got bigger. Well, let's get all three of us over here all start blowing on it next thing I know I mean this thing's started it's over the culvert and it's obvious It's getting out of hand and we have no idea what to do So we go taking off running over to the pole barn which is just across this little creek and my dad He tells a story later He saw us coming and he said I just knew just I just took one look at you guys and I just knew That something had gone horribly wrong And I'm running over there like don't tell my dad tell my uncle Chuck tell my uncle Chuck So we go over and he's watching us. Tell my uncle Chuck and Chuck gets this look on his face. He's going Chuck Chuck What is it? He's like they lit the field on fire. So, you know, what happens next is, you know, it's just uh, When you reimagine things, you know, this is all taking place in the mind of a child If this is exactly how I went down I don't know But I remember we all ran back over there And I remember just seeing my dad with like a big green army blanket like trying to put out flames taller than him like this Thing had just taken off and I don't know maybe my my child the brain exaggerates this part but I remember it getting all the way over had gotten all the way over to this little two-lane road and The flames are like licking that somebody's car that's going by and they're rolling up their window and I can hear the fire engines coming And my dad just turns he goes you you three go go back to the house and sit on the porch and stay there till I get there and he was mad obviously so we go back we go back over the overpass and we're going past our elementary school and by this time the fire has gotten so Out of control so many fire trucks have gone by That my principal and my principal and a few teachers had come out of the church or not the church the school And we're watching and they took one look at us And I said come here And we got called in the principal's office and next thing I know like they got the fire put out nothing bad happened It wasn't didn't get too out of control No one got hurt or anything, but I remember being in the principal's office and this this fireman I don't know if he was the fire chief where everybody he just full get up Comes in he just starts scolding us the parents all get called there. My two friends are just crying like just you know And I remember I didn't shed a tear, you know, maybe that's maybe there's something wrong with me I don't know, but I remember because I wanted to be a fireman when I was a little kid And I just remember thinking this is so cool. I mean like I'm third or fourth grade. I'm like I'd see fire trucks there's a real fireman like I was just excited about the fact that there was a fireman and Then I'll end the story but my dad basically, you know, he's being real stern and he takes me home And he's he's like you stay in this room and don't come out till I get back and I'm thinking great He's back in 45 minutes. Like hey buddy. How you doing? I'll look for you in the news tonight. That's what he said That was it. That's all that's that was my punishment 45 minutes in my bedroom And did me a lot of good, but I remember the real punishment was like the next day that weekend I went to find Chris and Troy and they're both grounded for like two weeks. I'm the next day I'm knocking on the door. Hey, you wanna go ride bikes or whatever. They're like, what are you doing? I'm like what and they're like we're grounded man. I can't leave the house for two weeks I was like what and that was kind of a punishment in itself. My best friends were were gone But I asked my dad years later, you know when I was an adult I said, why did you why did you take it so easy on me? He's like he said my dad had me burn that same field down on purpose all the time He said I'd go over there with a can of gasoline and burn it up just so he could control burn He's like and nothing really that bad happened. So I didn't make the news if you're wondering but That was it, you know and he's just so I told that big long story because it's a fun story to tell it's kind of amusing and This is one of those sermons and but it goes to show you that just because somebody is lighting a fire You know doesn't necessarily make them an arson sometimes there are accidents, right? Now I will close by saying this that committing arson, you know we've seen that it's it's very serious thing this morning and Actually in this and this is kind of what inspired this whole sermon Someone was had expressed this to me and I thought well, I'd make a good sermon maybe depending on who's preaching it but it says a Committing arson is actually something in Arizona that could get you shot and killed You know, I'm not a lawyer Okay so you want to just don't you can't just go plug in people every time they go to light up a Marlboro or something and Say well, you know brother Corbin said there. I thought he was an arsonist So I saw the BIC, you know and next thing I know I'm just heading to my sites But under ARS 13-411 Arizona permits the use of force from preventing the commission of certain serious crimes And I really don't want to go over all those crimes because of them are quite serious But actually let's go over it. I mean we're live in Arizona, right? We should maybe be good to know the law He says Arizona has specific self-defense laws that apply to preventing the commission of some serious crimes in these limited scenarios You can use a reasonable degree of physical force Even deadly force when it's reasonably and immediately necessary Now you have to keep that in mind when you're deciding I'm gonna use deadly force You have to make sure you're gonna be able to back up the fact that it was reasonable. Okay, that's kind of a Vague term, you know, there's some That's a that's a very subjective term what you might consider reasonable another person, you know might not well They were 400 yards away and they were headed right for me. So I dialed them in, you know, I checked the windage You know, I got him right between the eyes. That's not reasonable, right? You know when they're within striking distance and they have a knife that we have to use our common sense here But he says to apply you must be in a place you are lawfully allowed to be also you must reasonably believe that the force of level of force being you a force used as Necessary to prevent the following specific crimes armed robbery are aggravated assault. I want to put this delicately Carnal crimes those of you that know what I'm talking about Burglary arson kit so arson right there. That's what I was trying to get at arson is on that list You know if you see somebody you know if one of you went out to step out for instance to use the bathroom and you see a guy come around the corner with you know a Calent of gasoline or whatever and he's reporting on the front door and getting ready to put a torch to it You have it's within your legal right to plug that guy You know if you see somebody starting to start a fire an apartment building where there's people in it, you know quite frankly I think it's your civic duty to put that person away as quickly as possible to get them to stand down and stop what they're Doing because they're gonna kill and hurt a lot of people So that's something we should you know, maybe that's something some of these these rioters should think about Well that you know at least here in the state of Arizona that if someone knows the law well enough You know and in the right set of circumstances see them start to well I'm just gonna light this car on fire you could get shot you can get shot and killed over that and they would be legal to do so and Not to mention all these other things here and you know and if and if they're if rioters are gonna are going to be going around and lighting fires to buildings that Could potentially people kill people and hurt people and they end up catching a bullet for it. You know what I say? So be it that's my opinion if someone's gonna take the risk of killing innocent people just to express their anger just to express their rebellion and They're shot then so be it I'd rather see that person go down than a perfectly innocent person who had nothing to do with it And I think you know, that's a very reasonable thing to say But you know, what do we get out of the sermon this morning? You know, the arson is bad. Don't do it Yeah, I think we all I don't think anyone in the room this morning is struggling with arson Okay, but here's one thing we could take away for me if the importance of teaching fire safety to your children, you know I'm a perfect example of that. Someone should have taken the time to explain to me You don't throw lit matches in tall dry grass son. It just doesn't work You know teach them the importance of fire safety and respecting the property of others You know They should learn to respect the property of others That's the problem A lot of these rioters have is they don't they were never taught to respect other people's property They just think everything's theirs for the taking and they could damage whatever they want and it doesn't matter whether it's you know Arson or tagging things or graffiti or just you know Just just treating other things other people's other things poorly. We should learn to respect other people's property You know at the very least not to mention we shouldn't light it on fire, right? I think that goes without saying and here's the thing we should teach these type of things to our kids and learn them ourselves because You know, they could keep us from serious harm, you know or from harming others, let's go ahead and pray