House of Horrors

As I went to bed last night, everyone was talking about the horrific discovery within a house in Cleveland, Ohio.  With Breaking News alerts regularly appearing on the bottom of my television screen, the title House of Horrors became the obsession of cable news networks.  Like the Weather Channel drooling over yet another named winter storm, Fox News made it seem that nothing else in the world mattered.  Surrounding the house like vultures, scanning the area for another neighbor or friend of Ariel, Onil and Pedro Castro to interview live, this event became the latest media feeding frenzy.

While the full story is yet to be told, any case of child abduction, rape, sexual abuse and torture is one too many.  These 3 woman have been stripped of their innocence, violated beyond what anyone should ever endure and had their mind filled with nightmare images of this decade long ordeal.  Though the media is still looking for answers into the moral depravity of these 3 brothers, Hollywood has left a trail of bread crumbs to follow.

Copy cat crimes are nothing new, a pattern law enforcement have tackled for over a century.  At first glance, this appears to be similar to the case in Germany, exposed 2 years ago.  However, when you consider Americans have become like Romans 1:21-27, exercising freewill to chase after sexual fantasy’s, the actions of the Castro brothers don’t appear as irrational as first thought.  When you add increased sexual content within movies, immoral television shows and pornographic videos to this equation, 3 sexual predators are born.  In addition, George Michael pleaded for your sex in his lyrics of a song, Madonna crawled along a set like a pussy cat hoping to arouse you and modern day hip hop / rap stars continue to degrade women in their music videos.

For now, what’s done is done.  Nothing can take back the years stolen from these 3 women.  Yet, there are proactive steps one can take to help heal these wounded souls in Cleveland.  First, pray for Amanda, Michelle and Gina by name, asking God to cleanse their minds from the living hell they endured.  Second, you can fast for a day, going without food to either donate the funds you would have spent to these girls or seek the Holy Spirit for further areas of prayer each so desperately need.  Finally, keep your eyes open locally, so that something similar never happens again.  Follow the words of Colossians 4:2-6, staying alert so that future plots like this House of Horrors will be foiled before they ever begin.  Just do it!

by Jay Mankus