Dear brethren,

 

This week a Florida high school has dominated the news.   A nineteen-year-old gunman killed 17 people.  Authorities have said he had mental problems.  Authorities also said he had been traumatized by the death of his mother who died from the flu.  

 

One Broward County police officer said the shooter posted messages in media which focused on firearms.  This  should have been a red flag of concern.  I'm sure much more will come out during the investigation of the case.

 

We do sincerely mourn and pray for the families who have suffered this awful loss. They were robbed of the experiences they could have had with their loved ones in the years ahead.

There is something tragically wrong with our families in this country.  When we evaluate the evil society around us, it is easy to see why these tragedies occur.  

 

Living in a crazy place where moral values are compromised contributes to the kind of mind in which a person doesn't think anything of killing another human being. It is shocking to face the reality we have in America.  Every few months someone goes on a killing spree either in an American school or some other venue.

 

The problem must relate to what is being learned.  Obviously, some of our youth are learning things which cause them to have radical violent tendencies.  It is what is going into the minds of developing children which ultimately produces a killer.  

 

A terrible family life plus a wide variety of things in society; such as violence oriented music, video movies and games which glamorize killing, or even satanic cult ideas affecting the mind, could produce a mind which could turn violent.  

 

If someone has mental issues on top of these things they see and hear being pumped into their mind, we begin to see who some lose it and become violent.  A society which exposes its people to crazy-making media produces more who turn out crazy and violent.

 

No one has all the answers, but we yearn for the day when such things as this will never happen again.  Isaiah the prophet wrote about a world coming where there will be peace, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Isa 11:9)

 

"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."(Isa 2:4)

 

In the world tomorrow what is learned in society is going to change.  We won't learn violence, and there won't be killing anymore.  May God hasten the coming of Kingdom when we will learn things which will lead us to peace.

 

Just some of my thoughts.  Have a wonderful Sabbath!

 

Your servant in Christ,

Jim Tuck