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