I must be
blunt. There is an answer to ending gun
violence. Here is what I mean. It is not the gun in the hand that kills, it
is the hate in the heart, "All those who hate Me love death" (Proverbs
8:36b NASV).
The first murderer
killed his brother, but he did not use a gun (Genesis 4:8). A gun was not used to kill the male children
of Israel during the murderous reign of Pharaoh (Hebrews 11:23). A gun was not used to kill the prophets God
sent to the unbelieving (Matthew 23:37).
A gun was not used to kill our Lord Jesus (I Thessalonians 2:15). A gun was not used to kill Stephen (Acts
7:59). Nevertheless, they were all killed.
In fact, a gun was
not used to kill anyone until perhaps sometime in the middle of the 10th
century. By that time countless millions
had been killed by hands, rocks, knives, swords, hangings, drowning, burning, and
many other murderous methods. It was
never really the hand that killed, it was the heart, "For from within, out
of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries" (Mark 7:21 NASV).
There is a lot of
talk these days about mental health.
Mental health is important, but at its core, gun violence is not about
mental health, it's about spiritual health.
The mind devoid of the Word of God cannot be healthy. "My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep
them in the midst of your heart. For
they are life to those who find them And health to all their body. Watch over
your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life"
(Proverbs 4:20-23 NASV).
The problem is not
guns in the hands of the mentally ill.
The problem is evil in the heart of the spiritually depraved who are in
turn mentally ill by reason of their depravity.
The fact is, sin can drive a person out of their mind!
Should a nation
that formerly declared "In God We Trust," but which has turned that
trust into a meaningless motto, and has driven that very God from them be
shocked when sin-driven individuals commit horrible crimes in the belief that
there are no consequences after their own death?
We have long ago been
warned what would happen when God is driven from the heart. "The fool has said in his heart,
"There is no God." They are corrupt, they have committed abominable
deeds" (Psalms 14:1a NASV).
You, and I have the
answer to ending gun violence. We have
the answer that can end the hunger for violence that is motivating the hate and
evil around us. The answer is the
radical transformation of the human heart by the power of the Holy Spirit in the
instant of personal salvation. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (II
Corinthians 5:17 NASV).
Do I think for an
instant that anyone who is genuinely "in Christ" would take a gun in
hand to willfully and wantonly kill innocent people? No! I
say again, No!
If everyone in the
world turned over their guns to the civil authorities would that end the
killing? No!
On the other hand,
if everyone in the world turned over their heart to the Supreme Authority would
that end the killing? Yes! Will everyone? Sadly, no.
But, that does not diminish the answer or our responsibility to tell it
plainly. As it is written, "How
then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they
believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a
preacher" (Romans 10:14 NASV).
You and I have both
the answer, and the authority to end gun violence, and we have it on the
highest Authority. "And Jesus came
up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age'" (Matthew 28:18-20 NASV).
The end of the age
may be near, but it has not yet come. Therefore,
we are still called to "make disciples of all nations." That's the answer to "evil thoughts,
fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries" (Mark 7:21 NASV), and gun
violence!
However, as you
know, the real fight is much bigger than even the battle against gun
violence. Much bigger! "For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces
of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places" (Ephesians 6:12 NASV).
That's why at
Master's International University of Divinity we are, and we will continue to
provide high quality Christ-centered, and Bible-based ministry education so
that we can "entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach
others also" (II Timothy 2:2b NASV).
That is the plan of God, and His plan is always embedded in the nexus between
the temporal and the eternal.
Men and women of
God, we must without fear or apology promote the only answer to ending all
violence, of having life, and having it to the full ( John 10:10), "so that, as sin reigned in death, even
so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord" (Romans 5:21 NASV).
Dennis D. Frey, M.Div., Th.D., President
