A horrific story comes out of Duncan, Oklahoma, where yesterday three young blacks decided that they wanted to kill someone because they were bored with life. Their target - a 22-year old Chris Lane, an Australian athlete attending a nearby college on a baseball scholarship. Lane was jogging down a street when a car with the three teens pulled alongside and one shot ended Lane's life. The three teens, ages 15, 16, and 17, were arrested as they sat in a car. According to Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford, "the teens had no motive other than to 'make a name for themselves,' and were on their way to another house to murder a second, unrelated victim when they were arrested. I think they were on a killing spree. We would have had more bodies that night if we didn't get them."
As the authorities examined the Facebook pages of these three teens - James Edwards, Chancey Luna and Michael Jones - they noticed photos of Black Power, and references to rappers such as the 17-year old rapper Chief Keef from Chicago who is known for relentless references to guns, violence, drugs, and sex in his popular music videos.
Friends, violence has become an epidemic in America. One of the breeding grounds for violence lies in America's inner-cities. Just look at a typical weekend in Chicago - 6 to 10 murders per weekend. Mostly it is blacks killing blacks. The music of the inner-city culture stimulates this violence. Listen to the words of today's favorite rap songs and violence and death are central themes. The is a lack of parental authority in most inner-city homes; fathers have abdicated their responsibilities. Oh they know how to impregnate their girl friends, then slap them around or push them down the stairs and threaten their kids, but don't ask them to be a dad. They don't know how and they don't care to know. So the children of the inner-cities of America grow up with an anger that often finds expression through violence.
But wait, this killing of Chris Lane did not happen in inner-city America. It happened in a town of 24,000 - rural Oklahoma. Friends, what has characterized the inner-cities of America for decades has become, unfortunately, the new culture of rural America as well. The music and entertainment from Hollywood glorify sex and violence and disrespect toward one another. We no longer respect someone's home or life. And the video games that are most popular glorify those same themes.
I admit that violence has been a part of life since the time of the fall. We have to only reach the fourth chapter in the Bible and we find an act of violence - Cain rising up and murdering his own brother Abel. And from that point onward, violence became cultural. David's family was troubled by violence: brother raping sister, brother killing brother, son violating father. Yet the Bible commands that we are to respect one another. Jesus said that we were to "love our neighbors as we love ourselves." But here is where the difficulty lies: we have no respect for ourselves any longer, therefore there is no respect shown to another. And why is that? It is because we have failed to teach people that God loves each of us. When the message of the Gospel is removed from culture, all that remains is anarchy, violence, hatred, and ruin. It is the Gospel that holds a society together. It is the principles of truth found in God's Word that guide a society toward a common goal. Take away those principles and we become like the nation of Israel during those dark days of the Judges, where "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
Friends, if we are going to reclaim America, we have to begin reclaiming one home at a time. We have to focus on reclaiming the presence of fathers in the home. We have to focus on teaching young men today to have respect for women, beginning with their mothers, sisters, and then girl friends. We have to teach them skills of being dads: how to discipline their children without provoking them; how to love their wives as Christ loved them; how to serve their family, yet be the head of the family. Inner-city Chicago needs this. Rural Duncan, OK, needs this. Small town Buffalo, MN, needs this. Any-town, America, needs this. It is not going to be easy. In fact, it will be a battle because Satan has had control of the family for decades. Yet, this is a biblical battle. It is God's will that families be His ambassadors.
Another story I am still processing is the account of Syrian forces using chemical weapons against rebels and civilians. Reports vary as to the number of casualties - from "tens of people" to over 1,100. There has been no confirmation yet from any credible source. If the report is verified, it has the potential of swinging international opinion in favor of the rebels. Syria is still a country we need to keep our eyes on.
We also need to do the same with Egypt. Interesting that former President Mubarak might soon be released from prison. Don't expect him to become engaged in the politics of Egypt as he is now 85 and in very ill health. The deposed President Morsi is now in prison awaiting charges. How the tide does turn quickly in the Middle East. Joel Rosenberg quotes an interesting article, written by Bret Stephens of the "Wall Street Journal." (You can link to the article through Joel's website: www.flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com.) According to the article: "restoring the dictatorship-in-the-making that was Morsi's elected government is neither desirable nor realistic; bringing the Brotherhood into some kind of inclusive coalition government in which it accepts a reduced political role in exchange for calling off its sit-ins and demonstrations is not realistic; what is realistic and desirable is for the military to succeed in its confrontation with the Brotherhood as quickly and convincingly as possible. And it beats the alternatives of outright civil war or victory by a vengeful Muslim Brotherhood; and politics in Egypt today is a zero-sum game: either the military wins, or the Brotherhood does. If the U.S. wants influence, it needs to hold its nose and take a side." Will keep an eye on Egypt as well.
Keep looking up, my friends, Jesus is coming...and I hope soon!
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