Key Scripture:

Psalm 1.6 – For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous:  but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 Hosea 4.2, 6-14 – (v.2) By swearing, and lying, and stealing, and killing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.  (vv. 6-14) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:  because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me:  seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me:  therefore will I change their glory into shame.  They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.  And there shall be, like people, like priest:  and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their doings.  For they shall eat, and not have enough:  they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase:  because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.  Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.  My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them:  for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone awhoring from under God.  They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good:  therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.  I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery:  for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots:  therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

 Romans 6.23 – For the wages of sin is death…

 Romans 13.14 – Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

 It was the worst school shooting incident in United States History.  A young Korean Resident and a student at Virginia Polytechnological and State University went on a shooting rampage in the early morning hours of April 16^th, 2007, killing 32 other students before shooting himself in a little under two hours.  This incident is heavily reminiscent of the Columbine High School shootings of 1999, and occurred nearly 8 years later to the day.  Many people, experts, crime investigators, and psychologists are pointing fingers at a myriad of problems and possible causes for this shooting spree which has left so many people dead, hurting, and grieving.  What is the cause for this?  Why is this kind of violence becoming the norm rather than the exception in the United States of America?  Perhaps the Bible can help us sort this one out…

 First – It Isn’t the Gun…

In a situation such as this, many, many, many people are quick to blame guns, and their availability in the United States, as the chief problem in this kind of violence.  However, this gut instinct and knee-jerk reaction is in error.  As other incidences within the United States (and in other countries show), gun control is not totally effective.  In Japan, the same day as the shooting at Virginia Tech, the Mayor of Nagasaki, Itcho Ito, was gunned down by a revolver-wielding mob boss.  Further, in Japan, violent crime is on the rise, the weapon of choice being an edged weapon of some sort or another.  Coming one year after the Columbine High School shootings was the mass-stabbing of 23 people at an Osaka elementary school, in which 8 children were killed.  In 1995, the AUM Shinrikyo Cult, led by Shoko Asahara, initiated a Sarin Nerve gas attack in the Tokyo Subway system, killing 12 and injuring 5,500 people.  Guns and Gun Control measures are not the answer to situations like these, as the weapon of choice can be varied and numerous.  As many who defend the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution say, “It isn’t the gun that kills, but people.”  This statement, though hotly debated, is essentially true.  People kill people, the weapon merely being a chosen tool.

 Second – God and the Culture of Death…

One may ask:  “Where does the culture of death come from?  How does it begin?”  The answer, really, is quite simple.  The Culture of Death begins with the rejection of God.  As the Bible clearly states time and time again, God is the giver of life, not death.  When God created the universe, he did it with the intent that nothing would pass away, nothing would die.  In Genesis 1, God, time and time again, declares that everything he created “was good.”  Death, however, entered when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  Ever since that time, the nations and the cultures and the peoples who reject God ultimately end up dying away.  Death is assured when God is rejected, and again, the Bible states this fact clearly time and time and time again.  Many in Christian circles will blame certain ideas and practices as the origin of death in any culture, but the fact of the matter, quite simply is rejection of God brings about death.  In the United States, the progression of the signs that God is being or has been rejected in day-to-day society is easily seen. 

 Third – Evolution:  The First Sign of Rejection…

In 1925, Darwin’s “Theory” of Evolution was ushered to the forefront of American Culture with the Bryan-Darrow case.  Since that time, Evolution has not only become a part of education, but has come to monopolize Scientific teaching of any kind.  So much so is this fact that no other frame of reference for scientific thought is allowed to be introduced.  Up until the mid-point of the 20^th Century, the Creation Story was accepted as fact, but with the emergence of Darwin’s “Theory”, little by little Creation has been relegated to being taught in church only, or at Christ-centered Universities (and even in these cases, it has to compete with Evolution).  Now, in the 21^st Century, those who hold to Creation as being literally true are labeled “fringe” or “fundamentalist” and certainly not welcome any longer in the practice of science.  The sad result of this is that since Evolution became the majority “Science”, generations have been inundated with the idea that life – being precious and ordained by God as told in the Creation story – is a chance, human life on earth no different than plant or animal life, and that as such, there is no special significance to life.  Since life is a chance, and human life treated no differently than lower life forms, the seed that is planted makes killing a person really not much different than killing a mosquito.  The words of society stating that human life is precious is trumped by what is taught over, and over, and over again in the classroom.  Human life is, effectively, de-humanized by Evolution.

 Fourth – Sorry, Jesus Christ, You are No Longer Welcome at School…

The next step in this process of rejecting God comes in the form of excising God from the classroom.  This happened in the United States, starting in 1962, when prayer was effectively banned from public school.  Such is the case with Christianity and public school, that teachers and students are discouraged from bringing Bibles to school, and the difficulty in student-led Christian groups being allowed to use school property for their meetings and events.  In some cases, teachers have been fired by their schools and sued in court for reading a Bible at school in their planning period and/or break time.  Jesus Christ is no longer welcome in public school, and what is being taught as a science fully rejects the fact that God had a hand in the formation of life, including human life.  As the Bible states, again and again, rejection of God brings about death, and Jesus Christ, the Bible, and prayer being rejected from public school is just another step in the path towards the full realization of the culture of death. Statistics also show that crime, violence, and decadence have skyrocketed since the 1960s, when school prayer was outlawed.

 Fifth – Entertainment:  The Second Sign of Rejection

Since life has no meaning, really, according to Evolution, and since God is cut out of the picture with regards to the formation of life and no longer welcome at school, the next signal that the culture of death is becoming stronger is in entertainment.  Not coincidentally, in the 1960s Hollywood began producing more and more terrifying and graphic films, especially in the Horror/Thriller Genre.  Many deem the “groundbreaker” to be Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, a movie centering around a “disturbed” hotel owner who ends up murdering several people, the initial murder being shown and performed in a shower.  Through the years, the graphic and bloody nature of horror films has gradually become more and more pronounced, with Friday the 13^th series, the Halloween series, the Saw series, and single movies, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (including the recent re-make and prequel), pushing the blood, gore, and violence further and further.  Just as Ancient Rome demanded more and more blood from the contests and games, so people today are watching (in droves) movies with such violence that 50 years ago would never have been thought to be filmed, let alone shown to a viewing audience.  Even historical fictions such as Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, and Blackhawk Down, as well as many others, have such grotesque violence that many are given “R” ratings.  Further, villains are more and more being portrayed in some heroic fashion.  The character of Hannibal Lecter has been portrayed in at least two films as being somewhat heroic in helping police officers capture serial killers.  The characters of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers in Friday the 13^th and Halloween are given most of the screen time, or are heavily referenced in each of these films’ series.  Even television programming has become more and more explicit with violence, with even cartoons such as Beavis and Butt-head and South Park showing blood and gore. Many modern video games, as well, are horribly violent, the player using computer-generated replicas of guns, knives, and other weapons to dispose of human targets.  Music, further, has cultivated the Culture of Death by “stars” who proclaim killing police officers a good thing, and violence towards women and children to be acceptable.  All this has further led to cases such as we see today, where human life becomes a toy rather than a treasure.

Sixth – Abortion and Euthanasia:  The Third Sign of Rejection

The 1976 Movie, Logan’s Run, centers on the story of a man who is required by the laws of a futuristic society to kill himself to “better humanity and avoid overpopulation”.  This popular film give cause and subject to another glaring and dangerous sign concerning the Culture of Death:  Euthanasia and Abortion.  There is no more wretched sign of the culture of death than the enactment of laws allowing – even demanding – Abortion and Euthanasia.  Just eleven years after the Supreme Court Decision to initially reject God from Public School, Abortion on Demand was ruled an inalienable right by the Supreme Court, despite public opposition to that decision ever since.  More than a generation has passed sine this “landmark” case, so much so that upwards of 50 million babies have been killed, the vast majority for the sake of convenience.  Life in the womb has become precarious, and since this is now the case, euthanasia as well is becoming more and more on demand in the world.  Many countries in Europe now declare “mercy killing” to be acceptable, and doctors – going against the Hippocratic Oath – are encouraged to take courses and training in order to facilitate this form of legalized murder.  In the United States, several states, including Oregon, have either passed or placed on ballots, initiatives calling for the legalization of euthanasia.  Dr. Jack Kevorkian became a leading and famous (or infamous) figure in the American Euthanasia movement due to his multiple counts of assisted suicide.  These two cases, Abortion and Euthanasia, are merely windows into the view of the Culture of Death.  Both of these further devalue human life, lowering it to a decision of convenience for those involved.

 Seventh – The Sad Result

All of this rejection of God and the signs of the emerging Culture of Death lead to the sad  fruit and tragic harvest:  the full realization of the Culture of Death.  The reason for the rise of school slayings is simply because of the points listed above.  When human life is devalued to the point as we have it today, this is what we, as a society, a world, and individual nations receive:  mass murders, school shootings, and the tauntings by the killers on film, in print, in photographs, or all three. Further, and more to the point, when God is rejected in any form and from any part of life, death is always the end result.  Spiritually, the Second Death is the ultimate result, with those rejecting the offered Salvation of Jesus Christ being cast forever from his presence, into eternal torment.

Conclusion – The Wages of Sin IS Death…

As our Scripture references note, rejection of God is always an invitation to death, both spiritually and physically.  The reason for dreadful attacks and mass murders of the sort we have seen in the last few years and decades, such as the AUM Sarin Gas Attack, the Columbine Shootings, and the recent Virginia Tech Massacre, is primarily because of society’s growing and pronounced rejection of Jesus Christ, and the life that he gives to those who will receive.  Who is to blame for such actions by people such as Shintaro Asahara, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and Cho Seunghui?  The blame for these peoples’ actions specifically lay on their shoulders for rejecting the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  But the societies that universally reject God from the public forum must also shoulder much of the blame.  When we as a people, a nation, a society, and a world reject God, place Jesus Christ on the cross once more, and turn and embrace something else, we are really and truly embracing the Culture of Death, and not only will we be in terrible danger, as we have seen in recent days, but our children will be in even worse danger, just as the verse from Hosea 4 speak of….and we, too, will also hold the blood of those children on our hands.  Instead, we should turn to Jesus Christ, and receive the offer of life both eternally and physically, and enjoy the life that he has promised to give to all those who will receive.  There need not be any more school slayings or tragic murders of the young of this world.  We truly do have a choice in front of us today:  Accept Jesus Christ and life, or continue to reject him, and continue to embrace death.  With Jesus Christ, life – ABUNDANT Life – is assured!  But with rejection and the Culture of Death, there will be more and worse slayings such as we saw this past week at Virginia Tech.

Prayer – Heavenly Father, we thank thee and praise thee today.  Lord, we pray for those at Virginia Tech who have lost loved ones, and for the family and loved ones of Mayor Itcho Ito, that you would pour out your comfort on them today.  Assuage the grief, Lord Jesus, and bring peace to these hearts that are broken with grief.  We pray for the city of Nagasaki and the community of Virginia Tech and the city of Blacksburg, Virginia, that you would help these people in these areas to pick up, move forward, and carry on.  We thank you, Lord, today, that you offer life, and offer it more abundantly.  Please help us, Lord, as people, societies, and nations, to turn to you, and accept the gift of Life.  Give us revival and Great Awakenings, Lord, such as we have not seen in a generation.  Help us all to reject the culture of death, and turn to you.  We pray all of this in the wonderful and matchless name of Jesus Christ, Amen.