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Gun Control is not the answer; only God is

Gun Control is not the answer; only God is
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
Feb. 20, 2018

Another school shooting has happened and again the knee-jerk reaction is ... gun control!

Politics cannot solve the problems which plague America. America is sin-sick. America is spiritually decrepit. America is morally bankrupt. America faces spiritual problems that politics cannot remedy.

Even with radical fire arm management, including stringent gun laws, the repeal of the Second Amendment and the dismantling of the National Rifle Association, that won't make a difference to America's weaponization problem because there is a deeper untapped level.

For years ... decades ... Americans have sown in the wind and are now reaping in the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7) And yet they are surprised that another school shooting has happened.

The progressives wonder "What has gone wrong?" They point to all the things that should make a person happy and content: equality in marriage ... same-sex church blessings ... transgendered bathrooms in stores, schools and eateries ... lewd Gay Pride parades ... priestesses and bishopettes ... lesbian priests and gay bishops ... activist bishops ... test tube babies ... three-parent babies ... surrogate pregnancies ... late term abortion ... sanctuary cities ... cohabitation ... Confederate monuments removed ... gender reassignment surgery ... redefining the Holy Trinity ... civil rights ... ecumenism and interfaith worship ... the feminization of men ... removing God from the marketplace, statehouses, the courts and education ... full transgenderism ... all the Sacraments for all baptized ... unbaptism ... gay couple adoption ... feminism ... multiculturalism ... total inclusion ... and a host of other activities designed to throw off the fetters of responsibility, accountability and reasonable common sense.

No, gun violence is not the problem. It is only a symptom of the greater problem -- the failure to acknowledge God and live according to Biblical principles. This leads to decadence, violence, immorality and murder -- albeit in the womb or through the halls of a Florida high school.

When a vulgar comedienne displays a severed, bleeding head representing the sitting president, it is called "art ... self-expression ... Freedom of Speech ..." When a crucifix is plunged into a jar of urine it is called "imagination ... artistic creativity ... beauty ..."

When a nativity scene appears -- other than on church property -- it is deemed "offensive ... a violation of one's sensibilities ... proselytizing ..."

The sitting vice president is called "mentally ill" because he gets answers to his prayer and that helps to form how he lives out his personal and political life.

"It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called 'mental illness,' if I'm not correct -- 'hearing voices,'" recently said Joy Behar about Vice President Mike Pence's -- a committed Christian -- prayer life. She is a co-hostess on ABC's liberal daytime talk show "The View."

The Vice President styles himself as a "born-again, evangelical Catholic." He also attends a Bible study group in the White House with other top administration figures, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Agriculture Secretary Sunny Perdue, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, just to name a few of the regulars.

The Washington Times reports that the Wisconsin-based "Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling the Bible study group 'disturbing, scary and maybe even an illegal use of taxpayer funds.'" FFRF is trying to shut it down all because some government officials, who are believers, come together for prayer and Bible study. Something they need to get them through the political tangle of life in Washington.

The White House Bible study has also drawn the ire of American Atheists, the American Humanist Association, the Center for Inquiry and the Secular Coalition.

Anything to do with God has got be scrubbed from the political scene, but honoring Satan in the public square is not necessarily prohibited. Posting the Ten Commandments is deemed as a violation of church and state. A big no-no.

In July 2015, a statue of Baphomet (a depiction of the devil) was unveiled in Detroit. Originally it was to be placed at the capitol in Oklahoma City where a granite Ten Commandments monument was on display. The Christmas crèche is mocked, but Satanists put up a "Snaketivity" on the Michigan state house grounds in Lansing and it was not seen as a "religious" expression, but rather a "different way to celebrate the holiday season."

Little by little, the Christian message is being cleansed from the American culture, starting in the schools. Children no longer take a Christmas vacation from their studies but rather a Holiday break and the very mention or depiction of the Baby Jesus is verboten in December school plays where Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman now have pride of place.

The indoctrination of the American child begins in grade school. A Christian boy is ridiculed and mocked and even shamed for his innocent faith. He is taught that "Heather has Two Mommies" and is encouraged to explore his gender. He is told that he might actually be a "girl tapped in a boy's body" so his elementary school will help him "discover" his true identity as a transgirl with the help of "The Gender Unicorn" and "The Genderbread Person." These transgendered teaching tools are designed to have the child -- the younger the better -- question their God-given biological sex that they emerged with from their mother's womb as a baby boy or baby girl.

Bruce Jenner, a 1976 Olympic gold medalist, is championed as being true to his inner self when he came out as "Caitlyn Marie" and "she" graced the cover of Vogue in women's foundational garments.

And all of this is politically acceptable. America embraces same-sex marriage, (the Supreme Court says so and the White House was bathed in rainbow colors in celebration of the 2015 ruling); LGBT rights (New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade has fallen to Gay Pride pressure); and transgenderism (Target endorses transgendered bathroom usage).

An Episcopal woman priest states that abortion is a "blessing" and many female priests endorse the procedure, some have even undergone it and shame those who carry an unexpected pregnancy to term. The new mothers are accused of being "anti-abortion" rather than "pro-family."

Guns have been a part of the American scene since Colonial days. But public gun violence has steadily increased since the days of Roy Rogers, Hop Along Cassidy and the Cowboy-and-Indian Westerns of 1950s TV and especially since the turbulent 60s which saw the shooting deaths of a president, his brother and a civil rights leader.

When Roy Rogers was riding Trigger, most children had a two-parent family: a father and a stay-at-home mother who were married to each other. The family was the nucleus of the child's life. It was from a secure home that a child ventured out into the world -- to church and to school and to the playground. While in the home, Baby Boomer boys had a strong father figure to give them much needed guidance and direction, and to teach them to throw a baseball and shoot a gun. The mothers and grandmothers taught them their prayers and prayed in earnest for them. It was a time when there were stated cultural norms and strong societal prohibitions.

Nowadays boys and young men -- Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, The Millennials -- are being given a steady diet of violence -- many times gun violence. They see it 24 hours a day on TV and on the Hollywood movie screen. They drink it in on the Internet and in video games. They witness it through street gangs and road rage. And nothing is done to curb it. They are subliminally being taught that violence is the only way to deal with their problems and guns work the best -- the kill is sure and permanent.

If television show writers and Hollywood film makers are told to tone down the violence, they cry that their First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech is being curtailed. This would be an infringement of their personal rights to do what they want, when they want, and how they want it without any confines or consideration of others or resulting consequences.

"I have my rights and you have no right to tell me what to do or not do," comes the cry. Absolutes have gone out the window. Common decency is gone. The line between right and wrong is blurred or even nonexistent. Multiculturalism and liberal political correctness are the new gods. No one is to be offended or corrected for their thoughts or actions -- other than conservatives, Christians and mass shooters.

So, when a young man shoots up a school leaving 17 of his fellow students dead in the halls the knee-jerk reaction: "Something has got to be done! We need more gun control. Let the politicians solve the problem with controlling the access to and use of guns."

Episcopal bishops protest and march and call for action -- the banning of various types of guns -- but they haven't called for a churchwide day of prayer and fasting to curb gun violence. They haven't en masse humbly fallen to their knees and led their people in intense prolonged sacrificial prayer seeking God's face so that He will hear from heaven and heal the land. Even though one of the school dead is an Episcopalian -- Carmen Schentrup, 16, was a member of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs, Florida.

On Ash Wednesday, how many bishops and priests went into their church and fell on their face before the altar and wept for their flock pleading with God to "Spare your people, Lord." (Joel 2:17).

Instead, the bishops attempt to seek a political solution to the spiritual problem.

"Contact your elected representatives and ask them to support legislation banning assault weapons such as the AR-15, which is the gun used in most of the recent mass shootings in our country; high-capacity magazines; and bump stocks, the equipment used by the killer in the Las Vegas massacre that allows semiautomatic weapons to fire dozens of rounds in seconds," the Bishops United Against Gun Violence urge. "Enter into a period of discernment with us about how, through prayer, advocacy and action, we can make clear to our elected representatives that they must vote in the interests of all Americans, including law-abiding gun owners, in passing life-saving, common sense gun policies."

Yet these same bishops champion same-sex marriage, LGBT rights, and all manner of perversion by setting them in stone through the Episcopal General Convention to change canon law. What is next on the Episcopal agenda is to removal male pronouns for God from liturgies and prayers. This proposed action is compliments of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC.

Violence has become the mindset in America. Young Americans, usually young men and boys, are so schooled in this way of thinking that they have no idea how to properly channel their frustrations. Very few girls resort to gun violence, although there are a few. The boys have not been taught self-control or self-discipline or delayed gratification. They have not been taught to consider their actions and think about others. All they know to do is what they feel like doing at the time with no reflection or deliberation of how their actions will impact others. They have been raised to be spoiled brats with a short temper fuse throwing a temper tantrum, a good old-fashioned hissy-fit with a hair trigger gun. The results are predictable.

Morality cannot be legislated, but it can be taught, usually by the church. Look what happened during Prohibition in the 1920s. Bootlegging exploded while liquor continued to flow. In 1918, the18th Amendment, prohibiting the production, transport and sale of intoxicating beverages, was first introduced by Congress in response to the Temperance Movement. Upon its passage in 1919, with its accompanying Volstead Act, the 18th Amendment was summarily ignored once it became into force in January 1920. This led to the increase of the mafia and other organized crime organizations. In 1933, the 21st Amendment was instituted to repeal Prohibition which had been a colossal failure.

I know a priest in Wisconsin who is a hunter. He owns several guns. He would no more think of going down to First Lutheran Church and shooting it up than he would of flying to the moon and back. He would never consider taking out his frustrations walking the halls at the Normal School. Nor would he use those who are strolling down Lake Avenue for target practice.

He has been schooled -- trained -- in how to channel his passions, control his frustration, and daily deal with large and small irritations before they turn into uncontrollable violent urges. He turns to God in prayer. He humbles himself. He confesses his sin. And he patiently waits to bag his buck. Maybe next year.

The latest school shooter in Florida was, in part, violently reacting to a failed relationship with his high school girlfriend. He was not taught how to deal with his romantic disappointment.

The Amish, also, have had to deal with a deadly school shooting at the West Nickle Mines School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which has a large Amish settlement. The Oct. 2, 2006 shooting left five dead and five wounded.

The Amish passionately live out their faith. Their whole life revolves around God, so they naturally turned to Him to deal with the brutality which struck their tightly-knit community through forgiveness, grace and mercy. They forgave the shooter. They attended his funeral and reached out to his confused and grieving widow. They made no mention of instigating gun control measures at their one room schools. That was never even thought of. That is not how the Amish think nor act. What a powerful witness of Christian living.

"The Amish had, inadvertently, sent quite a message to our 'outside world' by the way they handled this tragedy, with great compassion and amazing grace," the Amish Country News reported in 2007.

This sort of gun violence will continue again, and again, and again, until Americans take God at His Word and humbly turn to Him, seeking His face, and turning from their wicked ways -- metanoia.

But even if every American fell on their face today in sorrow and heartfelt prayer, that communal plea will not immediately result in an instantaneous cultural change because it has taken many moons for America's unchecked violence to be created, In all likelihood, it will take many more moons for all the combined prayers to have a positive effect and draw down graces from heaven. But we must start somewhere by falling on our knees in prayer and pleading with God to heal America's sinful nature.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline

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