THURSDAY STUFF: AWAKE YOU WHO SLEEP - XII - B

AWAKE XII: - B

Signs of the End Times

Even some of our national leaders exhibit this behavior, of being distasteful of moral laws and obligations. Evident not too long ago in the scandalous sexual behavior of President Clinton followed by a widespread acceptance of his adulterous sin by the American public. And we are seeing the results of that reprobate mind with the increase in homosexuality, lesbianism, abortion, euthanasia, drugs, crime, rebelliousness in youth, and every evil imagined by the heart of man.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. - Romans 1:28-32

As people become ever more brutal and Godless, gang violence has increased, drive-by shootings and other random violence have become standard fare as our streets become asphalt jungles, becoming unsafe even in the day time. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote in the American Scholar, "The amount of deviant behavior in American society has increased beyond the levels the community can 'afford to recognize' and that, accordingly, we have been re-defining deviancy so as to except much conduct previously stigmatized, and also quietly raising the 'normal' level in categories where behavior is now abnormal by any earlier standard." [Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "Defining Deviancy Down," American Scholar, Winter 1993, pg. 17.]

We as a Society have a Preoccupation with Crime:

What in the world would motivate an 11 and 13 year-old to take up a weapon and murder their fellow students? Was it the availability of guns? Or maybe an overabundance of violence produced in Hollywood? Or was it the environment these children were raised in?

Many outraged Americans are saying that crime is their No. 1 concern and politicians gladly respond by talking tough, but not talking much sense. Congress responds by pouring more money into old, failed answers - more police, more prisons, tougher sentences - quick fixes to persuade constituencies that we're "getting tough" on crime. The American dream is fading into a shadowy nightmare. More and more people are haunted by a loss of safety and hope in a world where stability and certainty are vanishing. Every day, all across America, carjacking, drive-by shootings and random violence have shattered the security families once had of being safe in their own cars and neighborhoods. People are accosted at traffic lights, when they're pumping gas, and when they're bumped and pulled over. Schoolchildren are no longer sure which of their classmates may be carrying a gun. American youths are being swept up by a wave of violence. Gang violence, rapes, murders, and violent crimes make even our nation's capital one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer said, "A new generation of killers, feeling no blame and no shame."

“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power.” [2 Timothy 3:2-5]

The Apostle Paul said that in the last days man would be "brutal." The Greek, 'anemeros' literally means "untamed, savage, or brutal." He also said that in the last days man would not be lovers of the good - possibly better translated as "haters of the good."

Why are so many people suddenly preoccupied with crime? Well, for one thing, anxiety hates a vacuum. With worries about the cold war and the economy evaporating, the fear of crime has reared up in their place. A second reason is it has become so common. Every few weeks the headlines re-supply our worst imaginings. Randomly, irrationally, crime pounds at the door of a slumber party. It pulls up beside a tourist at a highway rest stop. It catches the 5:33.

Consider the following:

In Washington, D.C., a 16-year-old boy guns down seven youngsters at the National Zoo.

A 30-year-old gunman shoots two men dead and wounds two others at his former workplace, a Seattle shipyard office.

Seven co-workers are gunned down in a Xerox office building in Honolulu.

Five people are wounded at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, followed by the fatal shooting of a Filipino-American postal worker.

A frustrated investor kills nine people and wounds 13 at two brokerage firms in Atlanta, then kills himself. Prior to the attacks, the shooter killed his wife and two children.

Four employees of a Las Vegas grocery store are shot to death by an ex-Marine and part-time nightclub bouncer.

Six students at Heritage High School in Conyers, Ga., are wounded by a 15-year-old sophomore.

Two high-school students kill 13 people and then themselves at Columbine High in Littleton, Colo.

In Killeen, Texas, 23 were killed and 19 others were wounded at Luby's Cafeteria in the deadliest gun
slaying in U.S. history.

I can go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Even some of the churches in this country are telling their parishioners to DISOBEY the immigration laws of our country, when it comes to reporting or turning in illegal immigrants. When a church tells us to violate our country’s laws, then you know that we have sunk to a new low.

Violence in American homes and in the streets is increasing steadily, has reached epidemic proportions, and now disrupts millions of lives. For many children, no place is safe. Kids are victimized at school, on the streets, and in their own homes. Children are beaten, maimed, molested, and murdered by parents’, relatives and baby sitters.

The Spirit of lawlessness is breaking out across America and has spread to younger age groups. Teenagers have lost all respect for authority - they are becoming hard-hearted, sensual and violent. "The increases in violence we're observing are among very young people and they are very dramatic," said Glenn Pierce, the director of Northeastern's Center for Applied Social Research. Stripped of a vision of something greater than themselves, which even humanist Norman Lear concedes is vital to society, they become wards of the state and its surrogates, the schools and the media. And we are surprised when they behave like animals? Here is some shocking actions by our young people:

In New York City a 16 year-old boy was shot and killed by his 15 year-old best friend. The 15 year-old killed him and then stole the coat and shoes from the corpse. Worst of all, the teenage killer had no feeling of remorse.

Another 15 year-old boy sprayed bullets around the parking lot of a convenience store, killing a teenage boy. When questioned later, he had not even a tinge of guilt or sorrow. Instead, he displayed hatred and a desire to do it all over again if he had the opportunity. He had no remorse whatsoever.

14-year-old Marcy Conrad of Milpitas, California, had been raped, strangled to death, and left lying off the road in the hills outside of town. According to the local paper, at least 13 students went out to look at her body. One girl picked up the murdered girl's jeans, cut off a patch, and threw the jeans down along the side of the road. One student tried to cover the body with leaves. Another took his eight-year-old brother along to see the body. One boy went twice. Those who saw the body went back to class or to the pinball arcade. One went home to bed. Another student said he only cared about collecting the marijuana cigarette he had won on a bet that the body was real. As the newspaper reported: "The shock is the shock of the of the encounter with icy indifference, the indifference of the kids in the first instance, but much more importantly, of the culture that produced them... The depersonalization did not begin yesterday; it is not unique to this moment, yet it seems more complete - and they seem more alienated and isolated - than we have ever known before."

14-year-old Tanisha Lee was stabbed in a hallway fight at Wichita's East High School and later died.

Because we have rejected objective truth and the foundation of all that is good, we no longer even know the difference between good and evil. Our consciences have been so seared we are no longer offended by evil but tolerate it.

Since virtually all perverted behavior people engage in is now categorized under "natural behavior," a door is now opened for more wicked sins. Just thirty years ago we would have been appalled, even outraged, by the decadence and debauchery that daily fills our streets, TV shows, movie screens, music and art, video games, businesses, and political bodies. But today we rarely give it a second thought. In fact, we often give it our approval, or a least fail to speak out against it. We have gotten used to it all, even though it is not a good thing to get used to. As a society, we have gotten used to illicit sexual relationships, adolescent promiscuity, abortion, cheating, lying, stealing, prostitution, rape, divorce, and even murder. We have gotten used to financial mismanagement on both civil and personal levels. We have rejected personal and social responsibility and learned to blame anyone or anything else for our problems and failures. We have traded in our infinitely valued divine image for a nickel-plated pagan shrine erected in honor of self-interest, immorality, and social apathy. The American ideal today is me first to do what I want, when I want, to whom I want, regardless of who or what it may hurt. These are the signs of a society gone wrong.

NEXT WEEK:

Where Does it All Lead?