"WHAT WE'RE MISSING ABOUT MASS-SHOOTINGS - YOUNG MEN ARE IN CRISIS" - by John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, August 7, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/08/breakpoint-what-were-missing-about-mass-shootings/
That’s not to say there are no good policy proposals out there to address these issues, which really do need to be addressed. As a Second Amendment guy, I could buy into something like what David French proposed last year in National Review: a system for family and employers to report warning signs and separate unstable individuals from their guns.
But, as French admits, the best that policy would do is keep troubled young men from acting on their violent impulses. It doesn’t address the young men themselves, or the source of those impulses. And that’s exactly the issue we can no longer ignore. Yesterday, I highlighted the crisis of virtue across our culture, and how that will lead to the loss of freedom. It’s an historical inevitability. Today, I want to zero in on the problem of men in our culture, especially young men. They aren’t okay.
Writing at the LA Times, professor of criminology Jillian Peterson and sociologist James Densley offer a revealing look at America’s mass-shooters. They’ve studied every shooter since 1966, and the vast majority have four things in common: “early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age”; seeking “validation” in extreme communities, often online; openly admiring the work of prior shooters; and nearly all are longtime loners with an identifiable “crisis point” like getting fired or expelled from school. Oh, and by the way, they are men.
In fact, the young men who appear on CNN’s list of the “27 Deadliest Mass Shootings in U.S. History” have something else in common: almost all of them grew up without fathers.In other words, with few exceptions, the signs that a young man is headed down a dark road overlap noticeably with signs we see across our culture that young men in general are not doing well.
Lacking strong role models and healthy social groups, increasingly left behind academically and vocationally, and floundering for a purpose in life beyond video games, countless males have sought solace in the only communities they can find—usually online—where the foulest kinds of hate, conspiracy theories, and nihilism await them.
Of course, these factors don’t always lead one to become a mass-shooter. For every young man catechized into some toxic radicalism (like Dylan Roof or the El Paso Shooter) or into nihilistic unbelief (like Dylan Klebold and the Aurora theater shooter), and then chooses to act on it with a gun, millions of others do not.
Still, that doesn’t mean they’re doing well either. Quite the opposite: our society largely fails to cultivate young men, to teach them about their fallen natures, and to morally form them to choose love over hate and courage over violence. Thus, the epidemics of addiction, aimlessness, depression, irresponsibility, perversion, selfishness, victimhood, and low expectations continue.Until we face the fact that the root of our problem lies here, the fruit will continue to be bitter. Unless we rebuild the institutions of civil society that cultivate young men, there is no way forward.
We certainly won’t fix this problem through government policies or mindless distractions. Only the church, with its kingdom vision and distributed work force, has the necessary resources to target young men with truth, forgiveness, accountability, and hope.
And on today’s BreakPoint podcast ,[http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/08/podcast-young-men-in-crisis-how-does-the-church-respond/] Shane Morris and I dive even more deeply into the issues confronting so many of our young men–and how the church can and must respond.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
RESOURCES
"A Gun-Control Measure Conservatives Should Consider" - David French National Review February 16, 2018; https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/02/gun-control-republicans-consider-gvro/
"Op-Ed: We have studied every mass shooting since 1966. Here’s what we’ve learned about the shooters" - Jillian Peterson and James Densley Los Angeles Times August 4, 2019; https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-04/el-paso-dayton-gilroy-mass-shooters-data
"The desperate cry of America's boys" - Suzanne Venker Fox News February 18, 2018; https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/the-des
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"After the Shootings: Look to Culture, Not Politics" - Star Parker / @UrbanCURE / August 07, 2019; https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/08/07/after-the-shootings-look-to-culture-not-politics/
PRAISE GOD for the continuing recent successes againstISIS ! Pray that coalition forces will be able to fully destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS .
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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan
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“INTERCESSORS ARE THE RUDDER” – A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT - Wanda Alger, June 28th, 2017; https://www.getamericapraying.com/blog/I was recently given a word by my good friend, Bill Yount. His word greatly encouraged me as an intercessor. Working for Intercessors for America
James 3:4 talks about the power of a small rudder to steer a large ship. In this scripture about the power of our tongue, consider the power of prophetic intercession! In the Forerunner Commentary on this verse we read, “…rudders manipulate the course of immense ocean vessels with a slight movement of a pilot’s hand. Since it is underwater and aft, the rudder of a ship does its work UNSEEN. A passenger is ignorant of its movements most of the time. Yet, when it is in proper working order, the rudder holds more power over the ship than the wind. The wind will blow, toss, even destroy the ship’s rigging, but the rudder guides the ship exactly where it directs.”
This is God’s promise to the intercessors in this hour of national turbulence. Don’t stop praying! Your prayers have great power to turn the ship! Continue praying, interceding, and discerning the workings and movements of the Holy Spirit, being faithful to God’s commands. As we come together to declare God’s faithfulness, this nation will, once again, head in the direction that God intends. Don’t give up and don’t give in. Regardless of the winds of adversity and the fires of the enemy, God’s people have a power that cannot be matched. Let us join in faith and continue to pray and speak of God’s faithfulness in order to bring God’s people and this nation into the fullness of God’s plans. Note this additional encouragement from God’s word:
Colossians 2:15 – “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (ESV).
Psalm 33:8-11 – “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”
Wanda Alger, IFA Field Correspondent
PRAY FOR AMERICA : THANK GOD for His many blessings on America AMERICA America "but instead "God be merciful towards America
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS: 1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.
World-Wide Prayer Requests:
PRAISE GOD for the continuing recent successes against
*For believers in Syria
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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Monthly Focus | INDIA - For the first time, India entered the top 10 on the 2019 World
Monthly Focus | INDIA - For the first time, India entered the top 10 on the 2019 World
Watch List. Research indicates that in 2018, more than 12,000 attacks on Christians were reported (many go unreported). This month, we invite you to pray with us for our Indian
brothers and sisters.
brothers and sisters.
August 8 | COLOMBIA - The church in Colombia is under attack. At the beginning of 2019, two pastors were killed. Pray for comfort and provision for the families and churches of Pastors Estrada and Molina.
*Names changed to protect identities
*Names changed to protect identities
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