Bible Baptist Church

THE VIRGINIA TECH. MASSACRE

Pastor James J. Barker

INTRODUCTION:

1. In am going to speak this morning about the terrible massacre that took place on Monday at Virginia Tech, a university located in Blacksburg, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia.

2. Thirty-two people were killed by a student named Cho Seung-Hui. There have been countless articles and reports in the newspapers, radio and TV. Students and professors have been interviewed. Various opinions and explanations have been put forth.

3. Predictably, the liberals are arguing for more gun control. But the school was referred to as a “gun-free zone,” meaning students could be disciplined and even expelled if they carry a gun on campus. Last year there was an effort in the Virginia Assembly to correct that policy but unfortunately it failed.

4. I say this is very unfortunate because had the bill passed, things might have turned out differently, though we will never know now.

5. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker praised the Virginia legislature for allowing the school to disarm lawful gun owners on the faculty and student body, saying: “I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

6. Not everyone agreed with that view. Writing last year about another dangerous killer who had been loose on the Virginia Tech campus, graduate student Jonathan McGlumphy wrote: “Is it not obvious that all students, faculty and staff would have been safer if (concealed handgun permit) holders were not banned from carrying their weapons on campus?”

7. I think of how my brother was shot on the LIRR. If only one person was carrying a gun on that train, things may have turned out much differently. But Colin Ferguson knew that NYC has very strict gun control laws, and so six innocent people were killed and nineteen were wounded in his slaughter back in 1993.

8. Gun control means only police and criminals will carry guns. Law-abiding citizens will be sitting ducks for criminals and deranged school shooters.

9. Police usually arrive at the scene after the crime has been committed. By then it is too late for the victims. I saw footage of the Virginia Tech shootings on TV. Some of the policemen were so fat they could hardly run. Others were hiding behind their cop cars. By the time police entered the building, the killer committed suicide and 33 people were dead.

10. Gun control is another delusional liberal plan, like raising taxes, promoting abortion and homosexual marriage, etc. And it goes against the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which defends “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

11. This morning I will not want waste time refuting gun control laws. I would like for us to move on and look at this Virginia Tech massacre from a Biblical perspective.

I. VIOLENCE COMES FROM HEARTS FULL OF SIN.

1. The first time we see violence in the Bible is way back in Genesis 4:8, where we are told that Adam and Eve’s son Cain killed his brother Abel.

2. First John 3:12 says Cain, “was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.”

3. Notice the contrast between “evil” and “righteous” (cf. Psalm 11:5). I will say more about this later.

4. Violent murder began immediately after the fall of man. The first time we find the word “violence” is in Genesis 6:11-13.

5. Psalm 11:5 refers to the man “that loveth violence.” There are many like that today. Some of the most popular movies are extremely violent.

6. Here is a review for a movie that is now out in the theatres: “Rated R for horror violence (shootings, stabbings, beatings, zombie attacks, automotive mayhem and explosive mayhem), graphic gore, strong sexual profanity, strong drug content (toxic chemicals, marijuana use and hypodermic needles), simulated sex, vulgar gestures and humor, female nudity, and use of racial epithets” (“Grindhouse” review by Jeff Vice, Deseret Morning News).

7. People who fill their minds with this Hollywood garbage have mental problems and spiritual problems. Only God knows, but I would not be surprised if this killer was demon-possessed.

8. The killer sent digital photographs of himself in various violent poses to NBC News. One of them shows him holding up a hammer with an angry scowl on his face. Police investigators have noted that this looks exactly like a scene from a violent 2003 film entitled “Oldboy.”

9. The shooter also made some strange and blasphemous remarks about the Lord Jesus Christ: “You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I died, like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people.”

10. In another video clip, the shooter said: “Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon a cross and left to bleed to death for your amusement?”

11. This shooter was apparently involved with violent video games and violent heavy metal “music.” Researchers say that violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor.

12. You may recall that the Columbine High School killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, enjoyed playing violent video games, and many have speculated that these games played a role in their violent acts at in Littleton, Colorado in April of 1999.

13. Furthermore, the Columbine HS killers were also hooked on Satanic rock music, like Marilyn Manson.

14. By the way, the Virginia Tech killer referred to the Columbine killers in his video and called them “martyrs.”

15. All throughout the Bible we are told that hatred and violence come from hearts full of sin (cf. Mark 7:21; Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:19-21).

16. This shooter at Virginia Tech was bitter and full of resentment toward others. In the videos he sent to NBC, he blames everyone else for the murders. He was whiny and self-absorbed.

17. I have net Christians that are selfish and whiny. And even Christians can be consumed by bitterness. Speaking to Christians, the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:31, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.”

18. Hebrews 12:15 says, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

II. OUR FOUNDATIONS ARE BEING DESTROYED (PS. 11:3).

1. Churches are not preaching the Gospel. Families are being torn apart by selfishness, adultery, and divorce. And schools are pushing an agenda that is diametrically opposed to the Bible. God has been shut out of most schools.

2. On Tuesday there was a big memorial service at Virginia Tech. President and Mrs. Bush were there.

3. The first speaker was a Muslim. He invoked the name of his god Allah and he quoted from the Koran.

4. The second speaker was a Buddhist, who declared that mankind is basically “good.”

5. The third speaker was a lady rabbi.

6. The fourth speaker was a liberal Lutheran minister who talked about healing, and how everyone needs to come together. He said nothing about the Gospel or salvation or sin or judgment or heaven or hell. He did not mention Jesus.

7. In fact, there was not one Bible-believing speaker at the service. From the reports I read, the Lord Jesus Christ’s name was not mentioned even once, even by President Bush, who claims to be a born-again Christian. It was a godless ceremony at a godless school.

8. Let me say that the foundations are being destroyed here in America (Ps. 11:3). Noah Webster, said, “Education is useless without God and the Bible.” If Noah Webster were alive today, I think he would add: not only is education useless without God and the Bible – IT IS DANGEROUS!

9. Martin Luther said, “I'm afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of youth.”

10. The great 19^th century theologian and educator Dr. A.A. Hodge from Princeton Theological Seminary, said, “A comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”

11. Another great professor from Princeton, J. Gresham Machen, said, “An education that trains the mind without training the moral sense is a menace to civilization rather than a help.”

12. Dr. Machen eventually left Princeton Seminary because of the terrible apostasy that had corrupted that great school.

13. This Virginia Tech killer, like millions of other students at secular colleges, was not getting a Christian education. How tragic that no one was able to teach him the Bible. But when God is shut out, the devil comes in.

14. Cho wrote horrible, violent plays, full of hatred and rage.

15. Some of his teachers and fellow students were worried about him. In 2005, he got in trouble for stalking female students. The judge said, “He presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness.”

16. However, the judge eventually sided with a psychologist who called only for outpatient treatment. The psychologist said, there was “sufficient cause to believe that he’s mentally ill, but he does not represent an imminent danger to himself or others.” So this dangerous psychopath was allowed back on campus. Oh, the folly of modern psychology!

17. I would never send my son or daughter to a school like Virginia Tech. Co-ed dorms are nothing but brothels. There is promiscuous sex, rock music, drugs, drinking, and all sorts of wickedness going on in these schools.

18. According to an organization called, “Security on Campus,” “Surveys by rape crisis centers have concluded that rape and sexual assault are commonplace on many campuses. One in 10 women will be raped during their years in college. Studies have revealed that 80 percent of crime is student on student. Alcohol is involved in 90 percent of college crime. Date-rape drugs are creating thousands of victims.”

19. God is not welcome in secular colleges today. There is no Bible and there are no prayers (except to “Allah”). In stead there is left wing politics, evolution, drugs, drinking, promiscuous sex, and even rape, murder and mayhem.

20. The foundations are being destroyed.

III. YOU ARE EITHER RIGHTEOUS OR WICKED (PSALM 11)

1. I was listening to the radio the other day and they were discussing the problem of evil. The radio talk show host said you are evil if you hurt other people. His guest, a theology professor from a RC college, apparently agreed with him.

2. While some good points were made, neither one of these RC men understands what the Bible says about sin and evil. Romans 3:10 and following says, “There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

3. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

4. In Psalm 11, we see a vivid contrast. The Psalmist (David) describes two groups of people – the righteous and the wicked.

5. The righteous are those who trust in God. “In the LORD put I my trust” (Psalm 11:1; cf. Psalm 1).

6. This contrast is seen throughout the whole Bible. Our Lord said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). You are either saved or you are lost.

7. John 3:18 says, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

8. You are either not condemned or you are condemned.

9. First John 5:12 says, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” You either have life or you do not have life.

CONCLUSION:

1. The foundations are being destroyed. These are days of violence, days of lawlessness, and days of apostasy. Demonic activity is on the increase.

2. But we can say with David, “In the LORD put I my trust” (Ps. 11:1).

3. If you have never trusted the LORD, let me encourage you to do so today.

4. Unsaved friend, what if you were at Virginia Tech on Tuesday? What if you were to leave this world unexpectedly? (Cf. Ps. 11:6).