The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:5, NIV (1978)

It happened again. Another mass shooting has occurred, this time being carried out by a boy who was only 14 years old. It turns out that he had been on an FBI watchlist as a dangerous person who had made violent threats since he was 13. But all of the watchlists in the world cannot prevent evil from happening, and this morning there are four families who are left grieving the loss of their loved ones.

People are rightfully angry and want something done. There are the predictable calls to do away with weapons, to increase security, to bring more regulation on people's lives. The sad truth is that none of these will work because they fail to address the heart of the matter. And what is the "heart" of the matter? It is the heart of the individual.

The world's most cataclysmic event happened when God brought the flood to cleanse the earth of its wickedness. Why did He wipe out nearly the entire world's population? The answer was given in Genesis 6:5, where it was revealed that every inclination of the hearts of men was only evil all the time. There comes a point in people's lives where they are so consumed by evil that evil becomes the only thing they think about. And when men's thoughts are only evil then lookout, for only wickedness can come from such a rotted state of the heart.

So, I hope that we can see from this that wickedness does not stem from the presence of weapons, nor does it originate from a lack of security or government regulation. When the wickedness of men's hearts becomes so dominant in society, giving one segment of that wicked society over another will not end the wickedness. It will just make it easier for the segment with the power to exercise their own brand of evil over the portion that has had the power to defend itself taken away.

No, concentrating power has never been a good idea, for absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, what is the solution? It's contained in the description of the problem. Men turn to evil when their hearts are evil. We have taken God out of our schools and have replaced Him with wickedness. You can't have a Bible supplied by the schools, but you can allow video games that teach people the joys of indiscriminate killing. You cannot teach God's morality anymore, but you can hand out supplies to allow children to participate in immorality. You don't believe that? Just check out the data on the phones that the kids are carrying. Just drop by the nurse's office in any big school and see what "goodies" they are handing out to "protect" our children.

The fact is that when you replace God's ways with Satan's ways you should not be surprised with the results. The solution is to go back to God's ways if we ever want to heal the hearts of our children. But, if we reject that path and choose the path of giving more power and more control to the very people who have been pushing for Satan's ways in the first place, then do not be surprised at the results. Weapons were readily available before we removed God's ways from the public square, but you rarely saw such acts of violence as we see now on an almost daily basis.

Why is that? When you remove God from the hearts of men, all you have left is a heart whose every inclination is only evil all the time. The solution to mending men's hearts has always been a love for God and a respect for His Word. Anything short of that will result in what we see today. What cataclysmic event will it take to bring us back? You don't have to wait for something that bad to happen. All you have to do is give your heart back to God and influence those you love to do the same. It will take time, but the rest will take care of itself.