Why Is Violence Escalating In America?

Last updated on: September 27, 2016 at 5:44 pm by Jack Wellman

Why Is Violence Escalating In America? 2016-09-27T17:44:52-05:00 Jack Wellman

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What’s the reason for the increase in violence in America? What’s going on?

A Sign of the Times?

Is an increase in violence is a sign of the end of the age. I’m must tell you that I cannot remember a time in my 60+ years of life when protests, violence, looting, and murder rates have been this high. I was young when the so-called “race riots” erupted in the late 1960’s, and it appears to be headed the same direction today. What’s wrong? Why the escalation in violence? This is nothing new to humanity as we can look back in Noah’s day where “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen 6:5-6). That’s part of the problem. It’s a matter of the heart. Jeremiah the Prophet says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jer 17:9). In Genesis 6:11-13 we read that “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” It’s not just in America. We see this in all parts of the world.

Violence in the Streets

The headlines are filled with violence every single day; Dallas police, mercilessly and shamelessly shot down in cold blood; another mall shooting; and protests nation-wide are escalating in the U.S. and protests continue to spread. Protesters shut down interstates, burn and loot business districts, government offices, and even entire cities have been shut down! It’s becoming more violent than even the late 1960’s. In Chicago…enough people die that the entire population of our small town would be gone in one year! Over 500 homicides in just half a year have been reported in Chicago. In fact, over 2,300 people were shot in one year alone in the city of Chicago! The statistics in Detroit are very similar, and Milwaukee’s violent crimes have jumped by 73% over the previous couple of years, and 104 people were killed before summer was over, after 86 homicides in all of 2014. In Oakland, California, homicides are on the rise after two years of decline just as they are in DC. In New York, killings have increased by about 9 percent, to 208 through mid-August from 190 a year earlier. Today, there are some places in cities that even the police will go at night.

A Growing Danger

It isn’t my opinion that the nation is growing ever more dangerous. In fact, F.B.I. director James B. Comey recently said that the additional scrutiny and criticism of police officers in the wake of highly publicized episodes of police brutality may have led to an increase in violent crime in some cities as officers have become less aggressive, fearing a backlash of protestors, so some law enforcement personnel have backed away a bit in the wake of all of the police protests. All of the increased attention on the police has made officers less aggressive and emboldened criminals, however this doesn’t excuse violence by protestors. Protesters who shoot police are no longer protesters….they are terrorists! And protesters who loot and rob and destroy are no longer protesters, they’re criminals! According to FBI crime data just recently released, the number of violent crimes committed across the U.S. rose by 4 percent last year, and homicides increased even faster, at 11 percent, reversing years of declining violence.

Violence and the Last Days

Jesus said, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt 24:12), and to believers, He said, “you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt 10:22). The Apostle Paul puts the latter days like this: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people” (2nd Tim 3:1-5). Christians are supposed to be making a difference in this world…but protesting with violence isn’t one of them because we’re to be content in all things! The psalmist wrote, “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” (Psalm 11:5). God says the reason for the violence is that “pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment” (Psalm 73:6), so “Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence” (Prov 3:31-32). It is by “the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence” (Prov 13:2).

The Christian’s Duty

Christians of every age should seek to “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place” (Jer 22:3), but it’s not to be done through violent protests, but through change. I have no idea how close Jesus is to returning and neither do you or anyone else, as Jesus said, “concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:36-37). In Noah’s day, it was business as usual and dying in a flood was the last thing on their mind. It had never occurred to them that a flood of God’s judgment was coming, and so it is today. Not many people expect Christ to return to judge the world in righteousness, and the many that are setting dates only show that they too have no clue about when Christ is coming again. That’s why it’s impossible to know the day or hour of His return. We only know that Jesus said He will come when no one expects Him to come (Matt 24:44).

Why the Increase in Violence?

Why do these violent protests begin? Of course there are issues with some police, but the statistics show that this is a small minority of police, but change by violence is not the answer, so why does it appear people are so angry? They have no contentment with their lives because they’ve not learned to be content like Paul had to learn through experience, and where there is no contentment, there is no godliness (1st Tim 6:6). It is just as Solomon wrote, that the “man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good” (Prov 16:29). Then yet others join in, until even the police cannot contain it.

Conclusion

The problem is not gun control…or more police officers….it’s a matter of the heart. Unbelievers need a new heart, just as believers did at one time, but God gave those who trusted in the Son of God a new heart. In fact, they are an entirely new creation in Christ (2nd Cor 5:17), therefore, unbelievers need the Spirit of God to become more like the Son of God and become the children of God, but they cannot be a child of God until the repent and trust in Christ. If you have not yet put your trust in Christ, Jesus speaks this warning to you; “the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 24:50-51), and no amount of protests will ever change that eternal state you will find yourself in (Rev 20:12-15).

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