From the Principal’s Desk
Dear Parents,
Another school shooting! This time in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten killed, ten more injured. Terrible crimes! Great destruction to the lives of these families, to communities, and to our nation! Sadly, I don’t see an end in sight any time soon. The reason is because we are not dealing with the root causes. Both sides of the school violence debate, the liberal side and the conservative side, are debating over the gun: should we ban all guns, should we ban assault rifles, should we ban bump stocks, should we install metal detectors, should we have armed guards in schools, should we arm the teachers, should we have a single point of entry, should we provide more mental health help, and the list goes on and on.
Some of these ideas, I believe, have merit. I believe that evil must be confronted, I believe that dangerous people must be identified and truly helped, and I believe that the threat of being killed in an attack generally acts as a deterrent to criminals. But what I am saying is that we are missing the root cause of all this. The root cause is not the gun; the root cause is sin. And mainline people in society are not talking about this. I do not hear CNN talking about this, FoxNews, the NRA, or politicians. We are breaking God’s laws (His moral laws) in society in an unprecedented way, and we are suffering the consequences. And it will continue to happen until we change.
How do we stop the killing? People need to be saved. They need to hear the gospel and turn to Christ for salvation. This happens through preaching His Word and evangelizing the lost. Another factor that leads to salvation is accountability to God’s divine standard, the Ten Commandments. God’s Word not only teaches, but it also restrains and convicts. When we teach the Ten Commandments, we actively inform one another of what is right and wrong, and then hold each other accountable to a moral standard. The violation of these commands also points out how sinful we are and how much we need a Savior.
The Ten Commandments are God’s moral laws for every society. They are written on our hearts, and they are confirmed, expounded upon, and heighted in the Scriptures. They guide a society in how to behave toward God and how to behave toward man. However, we have pushed God out of society. His Laws are not taught in public schools, they are not promoted in the public sector, and they are not allowed in courts of law. We have essentially said that we can live however we want, and that God will not rule over us, that He will have no restraint in our lives. And that is exactly how people are living today.
If we start teaching the Ten Commandments as a society, then we admit to an absolute moral standard and absolute truth. But that is not what we want. We want to live how we want, including gratifying our flesh in rampant, perverse ways. We have become a sexualized society, with no regard for “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” It is no wonder that we also have become a violent society. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at how it was in the days of Noah—the imaginations of man’s heart were evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
So many things feed this problem: immorality, divorce, evolution, relativism, violent movies and video games (“mine eye affecteth mine heart”—Lam. 3:51), ungodliness in social media, drugs, and I believe even false worship in churches. What we are looking at is the result of pushing God out of our society and not submitting to His Word. It has been a long time in coming, but now we have it, and metal detectors are not going to fix it.
What is happening is terrible. My heart goes out to these families. I can only imagine the pain they are suffering and will continue to suffer. But what is the ultimate solution? It is the Lord, turning to Him, receiving Him, loving Him. What can you do? Make sure you are saved, preach the gospel to others, worship God in spirit and in truth, and talk to others about the necessity of submitting to God’s laws. When we love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we will love our neighbor as ourselves.
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton
Dear Parents,
Another school shooting! This time in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten killed, ten more injured. Terrible crimes! Great destruction to the lives of these families, to communities, and to our nation! Sadly, I don’t see an end in sight any time soon. The reason is because we are not dealing with the root causes. Both sides of the school violence debate, the liberal side and the conservative side, are debating over the gun: should we ban all guns, should we ban assault rifles, should we ban bump stocks, should we install metal detectors, should we have armed guards in schools, should we arm the teachers, should we have a single point of entry, should we provide more mental health help, and the list goes on and on.
Some of these ideas, I believe, have merit. I believe that evil must be confronted, I believe that dangerous people must be identified and truly helped, and I believe that the threat of being killed in an attack generally acts as a deterrent to criminals. But what I am saying is that we are missing the root cause of all this. The root cause is not the gun; the root cause is sin. And mainline people in society are not talking about this. I do not hear CNN talking about this, FoxNews, the NRA, or politicians. We are breaking God’s laws (His moral laws) in society in an unprecedented way, and we are suffering the consequences. And it will continue to happen until we change.
How do we stop the killing? People need to be saved. They need to hear the gospel and turn to Christ for salvation. This happens through preaching His Word and evangelizing the lost. Another factor that leads to salvation is accountability to God’s divine standard, the Ten Commandments. God’s Word not only teaches, but it also restrains and convicts. When we teach the Ten Commandments, we actively inform one another of what is right and wrong, and then hold each other accountable to a moral standard. The violation of these commands also points out how sinful we are and how much we need a Savior.
The Ten Commandments are God’s moral laws for every society. They are written on our hearts, and they are confirmed, expounded upon, and heighted in the Scriptures. They guide a society in how to behave toward God and how to behave toward man. However, we have pushed God out of society. His Laws are not taught in public schools, they are not promoted in the public sector, and they are not allowed in courts of law. We have essentially said that we can live however we want, and that God will not rule over us, that He will have no restraint in our lives. And that is exactly how people are living today.
If we start teaching the Ten Commandments as a society, then we admit to an absolute moral standard and absolute truth. But that is not what we want. We want to live how we want, including gratifying our flesh in rampant, perverse ways. We have become a sexualized society, with no regard for “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” It is no wonder that we also have become a violent society. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at how it was in the days of Noah—the imaginations of man’s heart were evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
So many things feed this problem: immorality, divorce, evolution, relativism, violent movies and video games (“mine eye affecteth mine heart”—Lam. 3:51), ungodliness in social media, drugs, and I believe even false worship in churches. What we are looking at is the result of pushing God out of our society and not submitting to His Word. It has been a long time in coming, but now we have it, and metal detectors are not going to fix it.
What is happening is terrible. My heart goes out to these families. I can only imagine the pain they are suffering and will continue to suffer. But what is the ultimate solution? It is the Lord, turning to Him, receiving Him, loving Him. What can you do? Make sure you are saved, preach the gospel to others, worship God in spirit and in truth, and talk to others about the necessity of submitting to God’s laws. When we love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we will love our neighbor as ourselves.
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton