As of the date of this writing two persons are in custody in connection with a series of sniper killings in the Washington DC area and surrounding communities.

As could be expected, talking heads in the broadcast media are furiously competing in this event -- it's not so much a matter of reporting "late breaking news" as it is getting an edge on the competitors and holding captive a larger audience which always translates into greater revenue, larger pay checks, higher profiles, instant name recognition and all the stuff that an over inflated ego relentlessly pursues in the cut throat business otherwise known as "mass media" which permeates every possible realm of our society.

The suspects will be analyzed, disected, probed, and investigated as few accused persons ever have been. And it will be simply a matter of time until some greedy individuals decide to exploit the sniper murders by producing a film or two -- and don't forget, if you could see the film makers in person you would be impressed with the size of the dollar signs in the place where eyeballs are normally located!

Once again we are given a refresher course on how violence is ever expanding in a society which makes ancient Rome with its "fight to the death" gladiator events seem like a kindergarten class by way of comparison.

Violence in our present day culture is expressed in a wide variety of methods with shooting unsuspecting persons but one -- it can be an adult shaking an infant to death because it would not stop crying, beating a spouse for some perverted reason, stabbing someone in a fit of "road rage," shooting fellow employees due to disciplinary action, killing fellow school students because of social rejection, or one of a thousand other pressure moments that has pushed a person to the point of resorting to violence as the way of solving the "problem" which has invaded that person's life.

Certain things have to happen in order for a culture to reach the point where its members with increased frequency turn on one another with the viciousness of a rabid dog. Here is the "formula" by which a culture becomes increasingly violence "oriented" and its citizens of all ages in growing numbers turn to violence as the primary way (and in their thinking, the ONLY way) of relieving frustrations and resolving disputes in which they become involved.

You begin by persuading the people that God is not really relevant to the modern age, and anyone who claims to believe there is a God Who is the Author of absolute moral standards is a right-wing extremist and possibly homophobic. However, one can compromise a bit by professing belief in God, but one needs to keep it private and never make an issue of it publicly or in the presence of other people.

Within church ranks you spread the word that the Bible is a book of contradictions and recorded miracles didn't really happen. In connection with this you also need to question the Person of Jesus Christ and everything reported about Him, including the crucifixion, the purpose behind it, and claims about His resurrection. Skepticism is considered healthy and a distinguished quality in being an impressive intellectual -- that is, if you want to be really respected in this world, and particularly by a majority of persons who make up the mass media element in our society!

"Educate" the young into believing that they are products of an evolutionary process. At all cost avoid mentioning the fact that God may have something to do with our beginning, existence, and destiny -- after all, there is this separation of church and state thing which must be reverently observed! With an evolutionary philosopy at the heart of secular education in the public schools, colleges, and universities it will be easy to tranform the young into persons who become very self centered and who have been led to believe they alone are authorized to determine what is right or wrong in their personal conduct and relationships.

With God effectively dispatched and His word, the Holy Scriptures, written off as worthless fables and meaningless propositions, we are now in a position to fabricate our own value system. Morally and ethically each person determines what works best for him/herself. The focus in all that is desired and done is on the self -- I desire what I do and act as I do with the goal in mind as to how it will benefit me personally -- I'm first in line and everyone else has to get behind me, because I'm most important.

After this you flood your culture with entertainment which reinforces a self centered and self determined value system. For years the entertainment industry through many avenues has provided an abundance of:

visual images of violence and sexual immorality of every conceivable kind

recorded language of the most depraved and vulgar types

games that focus on violent and occult themes

music that dwells on vulgarity, sexual immorality, and violence

Remember that this is a powerful conditioning and educational experience for the young -- the next generation which will reproduce and pass its values on to its young -- as they get older, they will manifest certain distinctive characteristics -- selfishness, violent behavior, and a refusal to accept responsibility for their actions! It will always be someone else's fault and this is why many lawyers are getting super rich in the lawsuit business.

Certainly no where is the issue of refusal to take responsibility for one's actions more obvious than within the ranks of the television and movie industries themselves! Here is a bunch that has spewed out moral garbage for decades with a very negative impact on the young, and then (particularly in the case of major TV networks) exploit to the hilt an incident such as the sniper murders in the general Washington DC area -- usually the anchors and reporters use rhetoric that conveys how horrible these happenings are, blah, blah -- yet they are a part of companies whose business it is to produce in entertainment form the very kinds of violence that is a spawning ground for the real thing in the lives of real people! On the very eve that this commentary was written one TV station which is an affiliate with a major network featured a news report on domestic violence, how it is growing, and what can be done to prevent it. Not once in the report was it admitted that the same network, by offering a concentrated diet of violent "entertainment," is sowing seeds which will produce an undesirable harvest later on down the road! Is the word "hypocritical" appropriate here?

There it is -- how you grow a sniper or other individuals who come to the place of expressing themselves violently by taking the lives of innocent victims. There is no indication the trend will change -- too many members of the media culture thrive on reporting on violent happenings and at the same time are also profiting immensely in producing and distributing it under the guise of "entertainment!"

However, it also needs to be said that there are still a few (a distinct minority) in our culture who continue to believe there is a God Who gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, to redeem all human beings from all sin and its power -- that this Jesus underwent a brutal crucifixion in order to accomplish this objective and that He was literally resurrected from the dead after that crucifixion -- that this same Jesus is going to return to this planet at some future point in time as King of kings and Lord of lords and He will rule over His creation forever. (Revelation 11, 22).

Further, in spite of claims made by some in pure ignorance that any kind of religious expression is OK if you want to go the religious route, there are some few who still believe that forgiveness, peace with God, hope, and eternal life in the Kingdom of God are only possible exclusively through Jesus Christ. In other words, there are still those precious few who still believe the Bible means precisely what it says because God is the infallible Author of that volume through His Holy Spirit -- and that Book is the absolute authority on all matters that have to do with faith, practice, and all human relationships!

These are the ones in today's world who are dismissed as being radical fanatics, right-wing extremists, homophobic, religious nuts, bigoted, narrow minded, prejudiced, mean spirited and whatever other negative labels their enemies joyfully assign to them. Not a small number of influential people in the mass media arena have helped to paint such a picture of those who take God and His special revelation to us very seriously, and seek to implement that revelation into their personal lifestyles!

These constitute a group of all ages from small children to senior citizens sharing a common faith in a Savior and Lord Who is going to let the whole world know one of these days that He is precisely the One of Whom the Bible speaks so clearly.

The good news is this -- no one has to be victimized by the subtle and not so subtle forces in our culture that are in the business of producing violent people -- choose to be skeptical of those in the mass media business and give them as little time as possible -- it is far wiser to be giving large amounts of time to God and His holy Word -- you'll be all the better for it, and in the process He will help you to understand why our nation and world are in the chaotic and violent condition in which they find themselves at the present time!

Now then, some food for thought before you go on your way... Each of those days that a person was shot and killed by a sniper and the news made headlines nationally and internationally, there were between 3,000 and 4,000 unborn children violently assaulted in the womb, torn apart, and murdered on those same days -- a kind of "sniper" action of a bizarre kind! But this didn't make the news headlines -- do you ever wonder why? The answer is simple -- the majority of news media people sanction what you see below -- and at times they not only sanction it, but even are fond of stressing that it is a woman's "constitutional right" to do what you see below! Would you agree that the photo below of one victim of this kind of activity provides evidence of a very violent act -- you can only see the head of this particular victim -- its body is somewhere else -- probably in a garbage dump at some land fill someplace! Hmmm -- what purpose do you suppose God had in mind for this little one? And what do you suppose those who were parties to its violent murder will have to say to God at some point in the future? Would you want to be in their shoes at that moment?

Unborn Babies Killed since Roe vs. Wade January 1973

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October 24, 2002
by Clayton D. Harriger
Elder in Full Connection
W. PA Annual Conference
The United Methodist Church
and presently pastor of
Gipsy Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Gipsy PA