A Statement on the Answer to Ending Gun Violence

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

Master's International University of Divinity