Swift Creek Baptist Church
Warm Hearted Church with a Heart Warming Message
Sermon notes prepared by Steve Felker, Pastor of Swift Creek Baptist Church; (c) 1999
Intro. [Begin with a skit of a husband driving.] The wife speaks up and says, "Honey, I think you made a wrong turn back there." Husband: "No I didn’t. I know where I’m going." "OK, if you say so." [After a while]. "Honey, didn’t we pass that Walmart just a little while ago? I think we are just going in circles. You better stop and ask for directions." Husband: "I don’t need directions. I know where I’m going."
Does that sound familiar to some? We men are accused of being bad about admitting we are wrong, and not stopping to ask for directions. Well, I believe a few decades ago, our nation took a wrong turn. Since 1960 there has been a 300% increase in teen suicide. Since 1950 there as been a 1000% increase in depression in children. We are heading down the path of self-destruction. Jesus warned, "… wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby." And what’s really bad is that so far, many people just refuse to admit that we made a wrong turn. But after the massacre at Columbine High, some are beginning to admit that something has gone wrong in America. The politicians are giving political solutions without fully understanding the real cause of the tragedy. School administrators are beefing up security, installing metal detectors, adding more school counselors, and offering other suggestions that will increase the cost of public education even more. And until we have a major, spiritual reformation in this country, I suppose many of these measures will have to be taken.
But I stand here today to tell you that it is past time that we stop, and ask for directions. And we need to stop looking to the so-called experts of the special interest groups. When you’re lost, you need to pull out the right map. The road map to life is the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible is not only the road map to heaven, but it is the road map for life, for raising well adjusted children. We need to get back to learning the Bible, and following the pathways prescribed in the Bible.
So with that background, let’s begin with my message on "What and Why at Columbine High." I want to start out first of all by pointing out:
What a contrast there was that day recently at Columbine High. First of all, there were the:
A. Killer Students - It was Free Cookie Day in the cafeteria, and there were hundreds of students draped around the tables and waiting in lines at the 11:30 lunch hour when the sounds of the firing erupted outside. Students saw two boys in trench coats and masks firing at kids; one tossed something up onto the roof of the school, and it exploded in a flash. Some kids thought it was the long-awaited senior prank. Surely those are firecrackers, they thought. Surely those guns are fake. But could the blood be fake? Then the young killers entered the lunch room. "Get down!" the janitor yelled. "Get under a table!" They dove for cover, then began crawling under furniture, over backpacks, slithering toward the stairs. Many ran as the shots came again. Bullets clanged as they bounced off metal lockers. Some tried to run upstairs, to the safety of the library. But there was smoke everywhere, the fire alarms had gone off, and the sprinkler system was turning the school into a blinding, misty jungle.
Business teacher Dave Sanders was in the faculty lounge when he heard the trouble, and he raced toward the cafeteria. He took charge, yelling at students to get down, & directed them where to go. Then, one student saw Sanders running toward them, and saw him get shot twice in the back, with a jolt and spasm. He was spitting up blood. He stumbled into the room, blood streaming from his chest, and collapsed over the desk.
Elsewhere, up and down the halls, students locked themselves in closets and classrooms. Some could hear sounds of laughing in the hallways, as the shooters prowled through the smoke. They heard the jeering. "Oh, you _____ nerd. Tonight's a good night to die." Many of us can still visualize the student who escaped out the window. He was desperate to get out. The SWAT team members got to him just in time as he went out head first. The boy, with gunshot wounds in the head and foot, was so much in shock that he could barely say his name. It turns out his name was Patrick Ireland. He had taken two bullets to the head. Last week the 17-year-old was in serious condition, suffering from impaired speech and damaged motor skills to his right side.
All the while the killers were still inside, going about their business. And in the end, they did their deadliest work in the school's quiet place, the best place to find people in a school when finals are looming and term papers are due. A teacher made it into the library a few steps ahead of the killers. First she called the police. Over the phone the dispatcher could overhear the teacher desperately trying to warn the kids. "There's a guy with a gun!" she yelled, bleeding. "Kids, under the table! Kids, stay on the floor!" The gunmen came in. They were laughing, excited. "Who's next?" they said, "Who's ready to die?" The two moved through the room, calling out: "All the jocks stand up. We're going to kill every one of you." The killers went round the room, asking people why they should let them live. Students heard one girl pleading for her life, then a shot, and quiet. They told wounded kids to quit crying; it will all be over soon, you'll all be dead. They approached another girl, cowering under a table, yelled "Peekaboo!" and shot her in the neck. Anyone who cried or moaned was shot again. When the killers walked by, they saw Isaiah and called him "nigger." He pleaded with them not to shoot, just let him go home, he wanted his mom, and they pulled the trigger. The murderers were utterly without pity. Survivors said they treated it like a video game. After killing 8 students in the library, they fired their last two shots into their own heads, and went to hell.
After it was over, they found propane tank bombs in the cafeteria. The killers, Sheriff John Stone said, "were going to destroy the school." The diary of one of the killers showed they had been planning their actions for a year.
So you’ve all heard about the killer students. But in contrast to them, you’ve probably also heard about the:
B. Courageous Students - As Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris prowled the school with their guns and bombs, some students demonstrated a great contrast in character. A girl named Cassie Bernall was in the library reading her Bible. She was asked by the gunman if she believed in God, knowing full well the safe answer. "There is a God," she said quietly, "and you need to follow along God's path." The shooter looked down at her. "There is no God," he said, and he shot her in the head. Just two years prior to this, she was a rebellious teenager who dabbled in witchcraft and the occult. But her parents took charge; forced her to a new school, and in the process of time she was converted to Christ. She was faithful unto death, a martyr for Jesus, who will receive a martyr’s crown. Then there was Seth Houy, who had come to the library to hang out with his sister and a friend; they ducked under a table and he lay on top of them so he would be the one to be hit. "Honestly, I think that God made us invisible," he told the Denver Post. "We prayed the hardest we'd ever prayed, and God put an invisible shield around us." Craig Scott had hidden under a table with his friend Matt. Then they shot Matt. Craig, covered in his friends' blood, lay very, very still. As he told Katie Couric two mornings later, he began praying for courage. "God told me to get out of there," he said. So he got up and started to run, yelling to others to come with him. One girl pleaded for help. "She had a chunk of her shoulder blown off with a shotgun… her bone was showing" Craig said. "And I helped her get out. She was bleeding all over the place." They got out of the library, out to an exit, down to the cops, where Craig told them what the shooters looked like, where they were. He gathered students together, and led them in prayer for brothers and sisters who were still inside. Later, he rejoiced that everyone they had prayed for came out alive! In another room, many students spent hours trying to save the life of their teacher. They made bandages and administered first aid. When he said, "I can't breathe," they kept talking to him, and they pulled his wallet out of his pocket and held up the pictures of his daughters. "Tell us about them", they said. Others didn't want to leave their dying teacher when the SWAT team finally came: Can't we carry him out on a folded-up table?
There's an arch over a hallway in the Columbine High School engraved with a motto: "The finest kids in America pass through these halls." In many cases, I’m sure that’s true. But what happened to two of the boys? The slaughter at Columbine High School opened a sad national conversation about what turned two boys' souls into poison. Easy access to guns has been a prime target of blame. But my purpose is to go deeper. For over 100 years young people have had easy access to guns, but they didn’t go shooting people in their school for no good reason until the last year or so. So what are the real causes? We must begin with:
A. Satan (John 8:44) – In our secular society, people are once again beginning to acknowledge the reality of evil. And the Bible teaches that there is a personal devil who is the spiritual force behind much of the evil we see in our world. Notice what Jesus says about the devil in our text. First of all, he is a:
1. Murderer – Satan loves death and destruction. He gloats over every murder. Every unsaved person that is murdered goes to hell, and every Christian that is murdered is a victory to him. As a result of the influence of Satan, the culture of death flourishes. One evidence of this is the wide-spread use and defense of abortion as a so-call right. Abortion is readily available for young girls, often without a parent's knowledge. If we can legally kill our unborn children, while are we so surprised by the killing of our other children?
2. Liar – Satan knows that if he can get people to believe his lies, he has won the battle for their soul. So Satan deceives and spreads lies in every way he can. The prevailing notion in the overwhelming majority of Americans is that there is no such thing as absolute truth. The absolutes of the Judeo-Christian ethic have been replaced by situational ethics, moral skepticism and anti-Christian dogma. One fundamental cause of the disregard for human life in the hearts of our youth is the teaching of evolution. Children are taught that they are higher forms of animal life, created by chance -- not by a Divine Creator. And so folks, without truth there are no restraints except in the hands of those who have the greatest power.
B. Sin Nature – For much of this century, many have believed the lie that man is basically good. But the Bible teaches that we have a sin nature. Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, we have a sin nature that is capable of the worst of sin. Turn over to Gal. 5:20-21. These verses describe the works of our sin nature. They include the following: hatred, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, and murders. Some of these were especially manifest in some of the people at Columbine High:
1. Envy – Mankind wasn’t on this earth very long before Cain killed his brother. Why? It was because of envy. There was envy in the hearts of these murderers. Hockey player Chip Dunleavy, said, "They hate us because we're like the social elite of the school." That rivalry had been smoldering for months. Some students say even the teachers picked on the Trench Coats, blaming them for things they hadn't done and letting the jocks get away with anything because they were the crown princes. It's a cliche that jocks and cheerleaders rule, but it is largely true. While others plod through high school, they glide: their exploits celebrated in pep rallies and recorded in the school paper and in trophy cases. "They get out of punishment--even with the police. The star quarterback gets busted, and he gets a lighter sentence."
2. Cliques - Schools are split into many cliques, and there is often animosity and even hatred. In the ’50 there were the frats or preppies on one side, and the hoods or greasers on the other. Today there are the jocks, preppies, skaters, bikers, those in the band are in another group. Then there are the so-called nerds. Finally there are the Trench Coat Mafias of the world--the kids on the margins. They dress up differently. Their guys wear makeup such as face powder and black eyeliner, dress in feminine ways, & wear black leather and chains. Some of these are in white supremacist cliques. One athlete in particular liked to taunt them. "Dirtbag," he'd say, or maybe, "Nice dress." Others called them "faggots," inbreeds, harassing them to the point of throwing rocks and bottles at them from moving cars. By the way, there is no place for cliques among God’s people! That is a manifestation of the old sin nature.
3. Hatred – You can imagine that the jealously, and divisions into cliques, was a breeding ground for hatred. These boys openly talked about whom they hated, whom they would like to kill. The graffiti in the boys' bathroom warned: COLUMBINE WILL EXPLODE ONE DAY. KILL ALL ATHLETES. ALL JOCKS MUST DIE.
C. Society – The Bible warns of three enemies of all that is good and righteous: the world, the flesh (sin nature), and the devil. So the negative influence of society, the world, has had a major impact upon what happened at Columbine High.
In modern society, first of all there are:
1. Family Problems – Since the early 1960s divorce has had a dramatic increase. There is more and more domestic violence. Can we seriously doubt that the breakdown of the family has had a major negative impact upon our children & Youth?
But the two boys who murdered their schoolmates in Littleton were from seemingly good homes. They lived in nice, expensive houses. Their parents were the types that went to all the Little League and soccer games. They even came to practices. Well I want to point out 2 major problems that were likely the case in these two home:
a) Lack of Parental Involvement - I suspect that by the time the boys got into their teenage years, parental involvement waned greatly. In an article in Time magazine, it was pointed out that the average youth today spends 3.5 hours/day without any adult supervision. Mom and dad are both at work. It also pointed out that today parents spend 11 fewer hours/week with their children than they did in 1960. But still, how could these parents not know their garage was a bomb-making factory? The kid down the street was aware of it, and he's 10 years old. Is it possible for parents to miss homicidal rage? I can't help asking: Where were the Harrises and Klebolds when their sons were watching Natural Born Killers over and over? Did these "educated professionals" take a look at the hate-filled website their kids created? We know that these two high school boys sent up flares advertising their anger and alienation, but these signs were either ignored or dismissed for the most part.
b) Lack of Church Involvement - I know of no evidence that the families of these boys went to church. I doubt if there was any prayer in the home. They were so void of spiritual training that the boys professed a disbelief in God. And then they got lost in a sea of dark seduction.
2. Godless Schools – There have been about a dozen school shootings in the past year or so. And I believe I am correct that every one has taken place in a public school. Do you realize that there is a conspiracy between the public schools and the government run health departments? They will takes your sons and daughters to the Health Department to get contraceptives without you even knowing about it! Schools are teaching moral relativism, contraceptive sex education, many courses reinforce unbiblical views about the family, evolution, and so forth. What has happened? Back in 1962 the Supreme Court ruled that a teacher cannot lead their class in Bible reading & prayer in public schools. Today, one of the most atheistic places in America is the public school. That’s not necessarily the intention by many, but when children spend 30 hours/week in a place that is deathly silent about God, Jesus, prayer, and the Bible, the government is implicitly endorsing the religion of atheism!
But you know what? There was certainly plenty of prayer at Columbine High on the day of the massacre! One student, Lexis Coffey-Berg, said, "In a world where there are so many religions, everyone was praying the same way." One friend made a vow. "If I ever get out, I'm going to be nice to my little brother." Many students were barricaded in the choir room. Someone in the choir room whispered, "Who's religious? Anybody in here religious?" The huddled students started to pray, very, very quietly, lest they be heard by the killers.
3. Influence of the Entertainment Industry – Kids have also been desensitized to violence and death through multiple levels of the entertainment community. "Gothic" music and "death rock" is dazing and confusing our young people. Marilyn Manson, the self-proclaimed "Anti-Christ Superstar," and similar groups corrupt the innocence of our children. The very titles of some of their songs sends chills down one's spine -- Love Like Blood, Christian Death, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Switchblade Symphony. Movies such as "Natural Born Killers" glorify random violence and desensitize young minds. I read that by the 6th grade, the average kid has seen 8,000 murders in all media. Hollywood is absolutely devastating the minds of our nation's youth. And they seem to care less as long as the money keeps rolling in. In addition, games such as Dungeons and Dragons that open the shadowy world of occultic role playing, steer kids into demonic domains that are difficult to escape.
Furthermore, video games such as "Doom" and "Mortal Kombat" teach children that violence has no consequences. Kids can kill and kill again on video machines, but what is this repeated violence doing to their innocent minds? Children exposed to all of these evil elements subsequently harbor an arrogant disdain for life itself.
And some of you aren’t going to like it, but TV wrestling has become more and more violent, and kids are imitating what they see every day. These adults who promote such violence on TV for the sake of greater profits need to stop and think what they are doing to the children & youth of America!
The real crime, however, is that many parents allow their children to be lured by poisonous music, barbarous movies and savage games. When are Christian parents going to stop allowing their kids to go see PG-13 & R rated movies? And young people, if your parents don’t make you get rid of that stuff, do it yourself. Anything that glorifies death and murder, and rebellion, and premarital sex should be burned or destroyed!
4. Influence of the Internet – Within the past 5 years kids have had access to all kids of spiritually harmful influences, such as pornography. Sex predators have lured their victims in chat rooms. Kids can learn how to make pipe bombs right off the internet! The ACLU has hindered every effort to provided legislation to limit kid’s access to harmful internet sites. And here again, kids are spending hours upon hours on the internet, without any adult supervision. Clearly, this is one of the contributing factors in what is happening to many of your youth and children today.
A. Repentance – Again and again, the Bible preaches repentance as a starting place in getting right with God. Repentance is a change of mind. We must acknowledge that we made a wrong turn. We must repent of our sin of putting material prosperity ahead of the needs of our children. Our nation need to repent. Psalm 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
B. Revival & a Spiritual Awakening – Back in the 1700s France experienced one of the bloodiest and most violent revolutions in the history of mankind. But Christian historians have pointed out that England was heading toward a similar revolution. But revival and a great spiritual awakening took place in that nation, and England was spared. America need revival!
1. Saints Get Right – We need to stop following the world. While the obvious answer is a return to the Bible, most of us have never been in the Bible in the first place. We have become cultural Christians, taking more and more of our world into our lives and even into the practice of our churches. 1 Peter 4:17 says, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God…."
2. Sinners Get Saved – Jesus said in John 3:3, "…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." When sinners are born again, hate is turned into love, darkness is turned into light, death is turned into life. You can’t change people with laws. You can only change people by the transforming power of Jesus Christ! 2 Cor. 5.17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Folks, the church needs to do more to reach those who are without Christ. I wonder if anyone had witnessed to Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris? Think of how many lives would have been spared if these two boys and allowed Jesus to become Lord of their lives? We need to fully support our revival next week, and reach out to others in our community.
C. Restoration
1. Restore the Standard of Truth – Christians must first decide what they believe about truth. "Why is it wrong to kill another human being?" "Is it wrong because we have a law against it? Is it wrong because most Americans say it is wrong in a recent poll? Or is it wrong because there is an eternal standard of truth which God has given? Next, we must adjust our behavior to meet the demands of the truth. We need to be working together, as never before, to return moral sanity to our nation!
If we do not restore a widespread acknowledgement of an absolute standard of right and right, and of truth, then we are going to loose more and more of our freedoms. Schools are going to look more and more like prisons. But Jesus said in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Freedom comes as a people widely accepts the absolute standard of truth in the Word of God.
2. Restore the Family –
a) Commitment to Marriage – Parents need to make their marriage a priority. They need to put the needs of their children above their own selfish desires, and make their marriages work. And if we do not stop this effort toward homosexual marriages, we are going to reap devastating consequences.
b) Parental Love, Authority, & Discipline – Parents, get involved in your children's lives. We need to start while they are young, teaching them right from wrong, taking them to a church where God’s standard of truth is honored. And we need to stop substituting material things for what our kids really need: love and discipline, and a positive example. And as our kids get older, look for those warning signs. Does your child show an unusual interest in guns? Does he have violent fantasies? Does your child seem sad or depressed? If so, he may be in trouble, and a parent should intervene immediately. Most teenagers exist in a state of near constant mortification at the prospect of supervision by their parents. But surely a parent can risk his child's embarrassment, and his own discomfort, to get in his or her face a little bit. Surely we can manage to love them a little louder. Parents, we need to find out what our kids are listening to, what they’re watching, and what their seeing on the internet. I can't even begin to report what diabolic forces are yearning to seduce and destroy your children. We can't depend on our schools, the media or our government to ensure our children's well being. It is up to us to protect, guide, pray for and nurture our children! That should be each parent's personal commitment.
3. Restore Religious Education – We need to find a way to restore the presence and respect for God and moral authority to the classrooms of America. We have allowed a few atheists to rob the rest of us of millions of dollars in tax money which is used to support an educational system that is void of God, prayer, Bible reading, etc. The intent of the first amendment has been twisted to mean something it was never designed for. The first amendment was written to limit the power of the Federal government. It was not written to prevent local communities from having respect for God and moral authority in the classrooms. For the sake of our children, let’s empower our parents to provide the kind of education that will reinforce what they are teaching at home, not work against it. For years now Christian parents have been forced to make decisions about opting their children out of objectionable classes. It’s time to turn that around, and let the atheists opt their children out of what they find objectionable! At the very least, we need to accommodate parents who want moral and religious teaching for their children by offering elective classes in Bible & Christian doctrine.
If America does not wake up and reform public education, then Christians must do more to establish and financial support Christian schools and home school alternatives.
Conclusion: Cheryl received a copy of an E-mail from a Jennifer, the niece of a pastor. She reported that John Tomlin received Christ as his Savior at "Pure and Sure" youth conference last Fall. Just the other week he was gunned down and killed at Columbine High. Unlike his killers, he was prepared to meet God in eternity. Are you ready? Last Friday 1/3 of the student body at the Middle School stayed home from school. There was fear. Only Jesus was victorious over death. Trust Him as your Savior today!
(Sources: Steve Felker; Falwell Confidential, April 23, 1999; Time Magazine, "The Littleton Massacre", By Nancy Gibbs, & "Where Were the Parents?" by Amy Dickinson, & "The Curse of the Cliques," May 3, 1999; Gene Mims (Thursday, April 29, 1999 Baptist Press). To find out how to order more of Pastor
Felker's sermon notes or cassette tapes of his messages, please write to Pastor@SwiftCreekBaptistChurch.com.
or P.O. Box 235, Colonial Heights, VA 23834
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