Salvador Ramos approaches the school.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Genesis 6:11.
Welcome to the Rampage Republic. We live in a time when violent, uncontrollable behavior has become the norm. As these heinous, destructive murder sprees continue, more and more tragedies erupt. The cycle of violence in America is growing. As our society tries to make sense of the most recent, senseless act of terror – and there are many to choose from – peace, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are being severely undermined.
Whether it’s the senseless execution of people waiting for the subway [1] or the racist attack on people shopping in the supermarket, [2] we have created a society that is based on violence, pure evil, and mental illness. Everyone is suffering. We are fulfilling the very same description found in the book of Genesis 6:11. The earth back then was filled with violence, death, and injustice towards people. Today, this same culture of violence is alive and well.
Salvador Ramos was the perpetrator of the most recent incident. He killed 19 children and two teachers in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. [3] The majority of the victims were second to fourth graders (ages 7 to 10). After shooting his grandmother, Salvador Ramos entered the school and began murdering children at random. He was eventually killed by law enforcement officers in a gunfight.
There is a spirit of evil and godlessness that is pervasive, and it is having a significant impact on the children of this country. Because “iniquity shall increase” (Matthew 24:12), there are no safe places left. Violence exists everywhere. It’s in the cities as well as in the country. This incident occurred in a rural area of Texas.
According to reports, Salvador Ramos was a troubled adolescent who was bullied in school, had constant fights with his mother, played violent video games, and was bitter about not graduating from high school. [4] How many children in our country are in a similar situation? Because of the broken homes across America, we have lost our values and our culture is in deep trouble.
We can put armed police officers in our schools, install metal detectors, increase education funding, and hold more live shooter drills (not fire drills) in our schools, but when will we be willing to confront the state of our culture and address what is truly going on in our world?
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6.
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” Joel 2:28.
God clearly has a plan for our children and youth. He also knows the solutions to all of these tragic circumstances. Regrettably, our young people are being taught to live according to their own desires and needs rather than the ways of the Lord. In today’s society, bad behavior is rationalized and justified. We excuse and justify evil rather than teaching them right from wrong.
Kids today are being indoctrinated with violence through Hollywood movies, violent video games, and YouTube videos. When violence erupts in schools, the students upload those videos to YouTube for entertainment and “likes.” Today, the schools are teaching children to disrespect faith, family, history, morals, traditions, and God. They are being instilled with radical agendas that dehumanize people, instill hate towards them, push retribution, bigotry, hate, and negativity, and keep them in a constant state of apprehension about the climate crisis.
What we are seeing is contrary to everything that is in the word of God. No one wants to hear about the word of God. We want the government to save us. We want humanist philosophies, human wisdom, and secular solutions to the moral and spiritual problems facing our world. We have failed to recognize that the rise in violence is linked to a loss of values, a disregard for the sanctity of life, a lack of parenting, and a moral decline.
“Those who teach the people to regard lightly the commandments of God sow disobedience to reap disobedience. Let the restraint imposed by the divine law be wholly cast aside, and human laws would soon be disregarded … Life itself would not be respected” (Great Controversy, p. 585).
Then when tragedies strike, we wonder why these things happen. The perpetrators of these heinous acts of violence have no conscience or fear of God. We are contending with brute beasts and demon-filled murderers who have no regard or respect for life. The plague of violence that afflicts the earth is one that should not exist. We have been given the remedy to stop all of this insanity. Sadly, those who are removing God and His moral law from society are sowing seeds for a terrible harvest of death and destruction:
“Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweeping in upon us like an overwhelming tide…The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of life, the terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of every order and degree, should arouse all who fear God, to inquire what can be done to stay the tide of evil” (Great Controversy, p. 585).
Our civilized world has turned into a den of assassins and mass murderers. Peace and happiness are forfeited when men and women disregard the moral restraints of God’s word. When the principles of truth, righteousness, and justice are set aside, the door is opened for the prince of darkness to do his work. When God’s law and gospel are rejected, there is nothing left to stop the workings of radicalism, extremism, hate, violence, and terrorism.
Sources
[1] https://nypost.com/2022/05/24/suspect-in-nyc-subway-shooting-of-daniel-enriquez-surrenders/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/14/nyregion/buffalo-shooting
[3] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-respond-active-shooter-texas-elementary-school-rcna30339
[4] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10852875/Portrait-killer-Bullied-Call-Duty-loving-Texas-school-gunman-brawled-repeatedly-school.html
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Good article Andy. Jesus is the only true answer to ALL problems.
The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude. The agencies of evil are combining their forces, and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.—Testimonies for the Church 9:11. { ChS 52.2}
Our world is truly becoming a scary place. We need more of God’s grace and protection.
Our only safety will be the fact that we are under God’s protection.
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee, [Revelation 3:10.] is the Saviour’s promise. He would sooner send every angel out of Heaven to protect his people, than leave one soul that trusts in him to be overcome by Satan.” Great Controversy 560.
The heinous act ought to be condemned by any sane person, it’s soo sad,soo sad that a person can go out on a shooting spree.let’s pray and console the berieved family (s). surely we are living in the last days,we have set aside the divine statutes and embarrassed the teachings of men.how the can we stay the evil tides?
According to Ellen White, the first people to teach America that the Law of God was not binding on men was not the Atheists (mid to late 20th century) but the churches starting in the 19th century.