, Wisconsin Christian News:
In Antigo, Wisconsin, a young lad shoots two students leaving the Junior Prom and is then shot and killed by a police officer. A Wisconsin EditorRapids father kills his two young children and then kills himself. In Wausau, police officers answer a domestic abuse call and are confronted by a knife-wielding man who is shot and killed by one of the officers. Such acts of violence may be routine occurrences in larger cities but not in smaller Wisconsin cities like Antigo, Wisconsin Rapids and Wausau. Similar acts of violence are erupting in cities all across America and much of the world.
What in heaven’s name is going on? Why these endless violent attacks on one another? Do we truly need more gun control and stricter laws as many suggest? Actually, no! We need more of God in our lives.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out a massive shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They killed 15, including themselves, and wounded 21 others. Darrell Scott’s son, Craig, was wounded and his daughter, Rachel, killed in the massacre. When asked to testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime in Washington D. C., Scott made it clear in his testimony that God, prayer, and the Ten Commandments -- not stricter gun control -- were the answers to stopping future school carnage. He summarized his testimony with a poem he had written just days before:
“Your laws ignore our deepest needs, your words are empty air,
You’ve stripped away our heritage, you’ve outlawed simple prayer,
Now gunshots fill our classrooms, and precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere and ask the question, ‘WHY?’
You regulate restrictive laws, through legislative creed,
And yet you fail to understand, that God is what we need.”
Scott made it clear that laws and gun control were not the answer. “The real villain lays within our own hearts that only God can change,” said Scott. His point was well made. As our Creator, who better understands the human heart -- it’s hurts and it’s cures?
Did Congress take a grieving father’s advice and seek God’s help? No! Has violence and senseless killings subsided in America? No! Does Congress or anyone have a plan for curbing such future carnage? No!
Has the time come to implement Scott’s recommendation of turning to God for help? YES! YES! A thousand times, YES! America has sacrificed far too many lives on the altar of political correctness and the infamous false cry of “Separation of Church and State!” It’s time we turned to the one Source who can actually alter this horrific trend -- our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
No politician or expert in any field can change what ails the human heart -- only God can do that. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God tells us: “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
It is time we faced the stark reality that we humans are helpless to change the troubled hearts that perpetrate this kind of carnage.
With this in mind, members of a Christian Men’s Bible Study I attend along with members of a monthly Christian Men’s Leadership Breakfast, have agreed to pray regularly for our deeply troubled country. Each Tuesday at precisely 1:11 PM, wherever we are or whatever we are doing, we have agreed to pause and ask God to heal our hurting country as only He can.
Are you willing to add your voice to ours? Please join us each Tuesday at 1:11 PM Central Time as we turn to God in prayer seeking His grace and mercy on America and the rest of this troubled world.
-Dave Koy, Rothschild, Wis.
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