I have been thinking I should make some comment on this topic. Now, my friends in Christ, at REFUGE KJV BAPTIST CHURCH, have sent in a very pointed and biblical perspective on the Colorado murders.
I will not graphically display before you the various details of the horrible murders and suicides that recently took place in Colorado. Some of you depraved perverts will have to go back to your morbid “entertainment” (sorry,...um,..“news”) to get more of that. In fact, YOU are part of the problem. Christians need to repent of their own worldly flirtations! Those two boys did not think murder was all that serious.
In response to this, Christians should soberly repent of their own laxity and lightness toward some of God’s commandments and warnings. Sin leads to more sin and holiness leads to more holiness. Every commandment that is ignored must of necessity take out a row or two of other commandments built upon its foundation. Since Christians are the light of the world, we share some degree of responsibility for the state of this country. This is why we should let diligent, zealous repentance in our own life be the nucleus of our response to these tragedies.
True, there are many, many factors in this whole thing. What exactly the problem is depends on how deep one desires to dig. Yet, adult, depraved perverts are certainly a big part of the problem! There are many ways in which even Christian parents are helping to destroy the minds of today’s youth. Let us note some of these ways in hopes that some will be moved to repent:
“And in his America Online profile, Harris wrote that he liked to play Doom, a violent computer killing game.” (Denver Rocky Mountain News )
“They always wore trench coats and black sunglasses at school, [and] listened to German industrial music...”
“LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) - They are called the `’Trench Coat Mafia,' a group of about 10 students who wear long black coats, keep to themselves and follow shock rocker Marilyn Manson....”
“When he formed the then-titled Marilyn Manson And The Spooky Kids in 1989, he named himself after Marilyn Monroe and infamous murderer Charles Manson. The other members of the band also have names which mix glamour and horror - for example Twiggy Ramirez is named after the British model and serial killer Richard Ramirez.”
“Cult rock star Marilyn Manson, whose violent lyrics may have influenced the teenage gunmen, has condemned the killings. ‘It's tragic and disgusting any time young people's lives are taken in an act of senseless violence,’ he said.” (BBC News)
Perverts like Manson make money off of corrupting young children and then pretend that they are really only making some deep, symbolic point; they are only ridiculing something in society, etc. and that is why they have all the kids imitate Hitler, etc. Baloney! They are taking advantage of lazy, carnal, disinterested parents by seductively preying on the undeveloped minds of their children.
It is at this time that so many in the media, etc. (for entertainment purposes only, of course) will stupidly ask whether or not sicko-degenerated entertainment contributes to the increase of sicko-degenerated kids. Now what (other than the desire to sell an entertaining, emotional debate to lazy people who will watch it) could possess grown-ups to be so stupid that they would ask such a question? When rock musicians and movie stars glorify unlawful sex, a whole generation follows along. Now, I wonder what will happen when movie and rock stars start glorifying DEATH? Can you guess?:
“Suicide has increased 300 percent since 1950. The teenage suicide rate in America is the highest of all industrialized nations. And according to the National Education Association, ‘. . .teenage suicides are linked to depression fueled by FATALISTIC MUSIC AND LYRICS.’
In 1988, Dr. Mark Rosenburg, addressing the American Society of Suicidology, said, ‘It was thought that the way to prevent suicides was to treat depression . . . It's not the case with these kids. Rather than being clinically depressed, these young suicide victims are impulsive, acting out fantasies.’ Where are the fantasies coming from these young people are acting out? Time after time ... the culprit — ROCK MUSIC!...WHAT ARE THE ROCK STARS PREACHING? Elton John, sings, ‘Think I'll buy a forty-four/Give 'em all a surprise/Think I'm gonna kill myself,/Cause a little suicide.’...Metallica sings, ‘I have lost the will to live,/Simply nothing more to give/There is nothing more for me/NEED THE END TO SET ME FREE.’...”
(“It's Only Rock'n Roll ... But It Kills”, Terry Watkins)
Why in the world would any adult have to ask whether or not rock music and Hollywood, etc. are enticing multitudes of youth to murder and violence?! The main reason is that the majority of adults are addicted to sicko-perverted entertainment themselves! Modern man is supposed to be able to enjoy the experience of depravity in a setting as close to reality as modern technology can make possible (i.e. “it’s just like being there”) without “really” becoming depraved and morally desensitized! Yet, he can’t do it. (And those who would benefit from individual Americans losing their freedoms know he can’t do it).
It is an obvious fact that a person who likes depraved fantasies is already depraved to some degree to begin with, whether or not he or she ever gives in to the urge to further act them out in life. Yet, the issue is not whether a person can resist the urge to “really” live out his or her dark fantasies; the issue is whether there is a strong power there to urge a person to do so in the first place! If this is clearly admitted it will at once manifest the culpability of the majority of adult Americans for allowing network television, rock music, godless videos, etc. into their own homes. It would prove that they have been daily “tempting” their children (and themselves) to follow the depravity of their heroes acted out in song and film. The question then would not be to ask what is wrong with the children; it would be to ask what is wrong with the adults!
Yet, not many will come even this far in their reasoning; to go any further would be to have to do something like start a national movement that encourages everyone to smash the family TV and throw it out beside the road with a big sign posted that says, “FOR THE CHILDREN”. Oh what a blessed revival such would begin to bring across this country! There could be T-shirts with daddy and mommy smashing the family TV with Junior’s baseball-bat, with “FOR THE CHILDREN” written in bold letters at the top, with a Bible verse down at the bottom. Of course, the media elite (right or left) are not about to encourage this. They are not about to help adults get too close to the root of the problem! They are all in the “entertainment” business. They must find a way to discuss the problem without dethroning the national “god”.
But what about Christians? Why don’t you take a stand? Why don’t you separate from worldly entertainment totally? Haven’t things gone too far? Be a holy example for the children. Teach them that some things are so dangerous that they can’t be used at all: a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Throw all worldly entertainment (all forms) out of the house. Give up the TV and movie “god”. Stand like the early Christians:
Ac 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
Here are a few Bible verses that command you to protect your soul and the soul of your children:
Ps 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
Pr 14:7 ¶ Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
Pr 22:24 ¶ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious
man thou shalt not go:
25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
[Notice how all of the preceding verses prove that what you or your children listen to or watch is very likely to affect behavior.]
Mt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Ro 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
I constantly hear Christians complain about the depravity of worldly entertainment; yet I hardly ever hear any leader encourage people to disconnect worldly programming altogether! I believe one reason is that these same leaders would then have to do the same!
Others perhaps feel that if they preach too much against worldly entertainment (pluck it up by the roots!) laws will be created that not only censor music and movies, but Christians themselves. Yet, note the terrible error in this thinking. It is a fact that when people manifest that they are not able to govern themselves it causes many to easily consent to someone else doing it for them! Liberties are taken away: “You can’t keep Junior from murdering his class mates? We must then limit all forms of speech not approved by our newly appointed, special ‘council’. If we do not, no school children in the country will be safe.” NOW where did your freedom of speech go? You don’t have it anymore. Is that what we want? If not, then it follows that hell-fire-and-brimstone holiness must be thundered from pulpits and airwaves across the country. We need to learn about the fear of God.
“But that is legalistic...” Oh poor thing. You say will not have the preacher convict you about your TV and movies? Then you will have the policeman convict the preacher! If you will not have law from the pulpit - you will have it from the state! (The “founding fathers” warned you about that more than once.)
Years ago I completed Charles Upham's (19th century) history on the Salem Witch Trials. From what I can remember the author was perplexed at how young children could ever consent to telling “stories” that would result in the murder of so many innocent people. Do those strange, sinister, male voices that the girls were able to speak in hold a key to such evil? The girls had also daily experimented with divination and various occult games with their house-keeper. Upham concluded his unresolved ponderings with a sharp warning to future generations about the great tragedies that seem to always result when people flirt with the occult. Was there a connection in Salem between the murders and the African divination? If so, what evil tragedies would one expect a nation to reap when MILLIONS of its children are DAILY delving into the occult through the means of music, movies, computer and fantasy-role-playing games?:
“..Sixteen-year-old Steve Boucher put a gun to his head, pulled the trigger and blew his brains out. His parents blame their son's suicide with his obsession to AC/DC's song ‘Shoot to Thrill.’ He was sitting under his AC/DC poster when he pulled the trigger. In February 1986, eighteen-year-old Phillip Morton, hung himself from a closet door in Delafield, Wisconsin. Pink Floyd's album The Wall, which includes such songs as ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ and ‘Waiting for the Worms,’ was playing continuously in the background...In October 1984, Nineteen-year-old John McCollum shot himself in the head, while listening to Ozzy Osbourne sing ‘Suicide Solution’: ‘Evil thoughts and evil doings/Cold, alone, you hang in ruins/Thought that you'd escape the reaper/You can't escape the Master Keeper/ . . . /Where to hide, suicide is the only way out.’
He was still wearing the stereo headphones when his body was found!..The McCollum's attorney says he has received ‘at least 20 phone calls from parents indicating their kids committed suicide — not just listening to rock music but specifically to Ozzy Osbourne.’ John McCollum's father said, ‘THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE PUTTING OUT . . . there are people who are out there trying to make money, and THEY HAVE NO HESITATION TO SELL YOUR KIDS DOWN THE DRAIN . . . You see a perfectly normal kid there who doesn't show any signs of depression at all — happy.
Then six hours later, he's dead. Nobody can explain it. The only thing we know is that he was listening to this music.’...In December 1985, eighteen-year-old Raymond Belknap and James Vance after listening to Judas Priest sing ‘Beyond the Realms of Death’, climbed out the bedroom window, and went to a nearby church playground. There Belknap put a sawed-off shotgun to his head, pulled the trigger and literally blew his head off. As Belknap lay dead on the playground, Vance took his turn. He said, ‘There was just tons of blood...I reloaded it and then, you know, it was my turn, and I readied myself. I was thinking about all that there was to live for, so much of your life is right before your eyes, and it was like I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CONTROL . . . MY BODY WAS COMPELLED to do it and I went ahead and shot.’ Vance survived the gunshot wound, but slipped into a coma in November, 1988 and died a few days later. The bereaved parents brought legal action against Judas Priest. The lawsuit stated, ‘The suggestive lyrics combined with the continuous beat and rhythmic non-changing intonation of the music combined to induce, encourage, aid, abet and mesmerize the plaintiff into believing the answer to life was death.’..”
(“It's Only Rock'n Roll ... But It Kills”, Terry Watkins)
“When the gunmen burst into library, Bernall was there studying, as usual. Soon, eyewitnesses said, she came face-to-face with one of the gunmen, who asked her a fateful question: ‘Do you believe in God?’ Bernall, who friends said belonged to her church's youth group, answered ‘Yes.’ And then she was shot. ‘The gunman shot her because she is a Christian,’ said Kevin Koeniger, a Columbine junior and one of Bernall's close friends. ‘It is just so hard to understand.’... ‘When those guys walked into that room, they were hunting for three types: Christians, athletes and people of a different color,’ said Palfer, senior associate pastor at Orchard Road Christian Center. ”
(Washington Post, Friday, April 23, 1999)
Adults are responsible for allowing their young children access to such poisons. Pastors are responsible for not preaching that parents should not be letting their children have access to such poisons. Why do so many children have the opportunity to get involved in the occult?
We are moving nearer to the bottom of the barrel. Adults not only allow all kinds of evil into their homes to corrupt their children, they go further and leave them at home (or with someone else out of their sight) unattended. One will not hear this issue hardly brought up by those gathering together to discuss the “whys” of the school shootings. If they ever briefly stumble onto it, they will leave it as fast as they can. They can’t discuss it. The practice is too widespread.
Society has attempted a stupid social experiment. They left Biblical, traditional models and decided that they would not walk in the boundaries of the old landmarks.(Prov.23:10) “Why is this here? Remove it! We want liberty! Away with patriarchal legalism!” Fine ladies. But haven’t you forgot something? Who is going to watch over the children? Not a serious issue? You say you have some nice relatives or friends that will raise your children for you? But didn’t you hear the verse?:
Pr 29:17 ¶ Correct *thy* son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
Notice it does not say “Have thy son corrected everyday by someone you trust”. No. YOU are to raise up your own children if you will have them. They need you.
But you will not have such legalism? You mothers will argue against the need to stay home and watch your precious children who need you so badly while their minds are forming? Then sit back, and observe what you shall purchase for yourselves: Now you will have laws passed appointing the GOVERNMENT to watch your children for you! I can hear them now, “When children are not watched they get into serious trouble. There is no way to ‘train them up’ the old fashioned way (that is, with parents doing the raising instead of the state); this no longer works. Today all the modern mothers are working (you know, getting out of debt, etc.). And since SOMEONE has to watch over the children, we the state have decided that you are incapable of doing it since so many children are killing one another all across the nation.” Again, you call old-fashioned preaching “too legalistic”? Then enjoy your liberty from it as you settle down under the heavy chains of state regulations!:
"...‘We do know that we must do more to reach out to our children and teach them to express their anger and to resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons,’ Clinton said.”
And how are “we” going to make the time to do this since in most homes both parents work full-time jobs? Are we going to form movements across the nation to encourage mothers (who are able) to use their God-given skills and creativity to find ways to make additional income out of their homes? (Prov.31). It is doubtful! The world is certainly not going to follow the Biblical model (Titus 2:5) if Christians despise it.
One last problem should be mentioned. America has made a shift from a Bible-based view of man, to a psychological one. Even now, as everyone struggles for answers to what is happening, it is the psychologists and sociologists who are looked to. People will not think any longer for themselves. They have to get a “professional” opinion. This is due to the fact that psychology has been masquerading as a “science” so long that everyone has started to believe the myth. These “professionals” come in and turn everyone into “victims”.
They encourage “high self-esteem” instead of individual responsibility. They draw wisdom from the cess-pool of their own imagination instead of submitting to the final authority of God’s Word. And now, after a century of watching the whole framework of society start to fall apart due to this modern idolatry, what does everyone do? THEY APPEAL TO THE PSYCHOLOGISTS TO HELP THEM STRAIGHTEN IT ALL OUT! Christians are the most guilty. Multitudes have bought into the psychological nonsense and now even their churches are guided by these new “priests” instead of the Bible. If Christians do not believe their own Bible is sufficient, why should the world?
Let all Christians respond to this perilous situation around us by separating from worldliness, and radically preaching this separation. May the preaching of salvation to the world, and the preaching of holiness to Christians be our only focus. Any response less than this is futile hypocrisy:
Re 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth.
BACK TO THE TITLE PAGE