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Fifty dead .... nine dead ... five dead ... Lord, have mercy

Fifty dead .... nine dead ... five dead ... Lord, have mercy
Gunfight at the OK Corral plays out on Dallas streets

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
July 8, 2016

It seems like every time I turn on the computer in the morning, there are new headlines screaming out the moral decay of this country.

Friday morning headlines exploded about a shootout on the streets of Dallas which left five police officers dead and seven others clinging to life.

Five officers fatally shot during police protest in downtown Dallas and Deadly police ambush in Dallas (YAHOO! News) ... Dallas sniper attack: 5 officers killed during protests against police and Dallas shooting: Deadliest attack on police since 9/11 (CNN) ... Dallas sniper attack: 5 officers killed during protests against police (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) ... Dallas police tweet photo of innocent man: 'This is one of our suspects' (Washington Post) ... Standoff in Dallas and Dallas Police Ambush Suspect 'Wanted to Kill White People' (NBC) ... Dallas police shooting: Five officers killed, seven wounded by gunmen (The Marketplace) ... Dallas Police Department Was Posting Pictures of Peaceful Protesters Before Shooting Started (The Slate) ... Dallas police shooting eyewitness: 'It's been an emotional night' and 'Heartbreaking': Dallas police shooting victim recently married (TODAY) Law Enforcement From Around US Reacts To Dallas Police Shooting (CBS) ...Five Dallas police officers shot dead at anti-violence protest (The Guardian) ... AMBUSH! and Gov. Abbott, other political leaders pledge support for officers after fatal attack in downtown Dallas (Dallas Morning News) ... Massacre in Dallas (Politico) ...

It tears the heart out of me, driving me to my knees in tearful prayer: "Lord, have mercy" ... "Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do" ... "Oh, Lord: Dallas!"

But it's not only last night's incident in Dallas which has generated heart wrenching headlines during the past few years, but other similar events: the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando last month, which left 50 dead, including the shooter ... the Mother Emmanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston last June, which left nine dead, including the pastor ... the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting in Connecticut, which left 28 dead, including the principal ... the 2011 Tuscan, Arizona shopping center shooting, which left Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords permanently disabled ... the 2006 Amish school shooting in West Nickel, Pennsylvania, which left 10 young Amish girls either dead or clinging for life and left the non-violent Amish community reeling in the face of such violence ...

And, recently, there has also been rioting in Ferguson (Missouri), Baltimore and Salt Lake City. Even Donald Trump events are turned into madness and mayhem with violence breaking out at his political rallies in Dallas, Las Vegas, New York, Birmingham, Miami, Richmond, Chicago, Anaheim ...

It's not about guns. It's not about Gay Pride. It's not about Muslims. It's not about racism. It's not about _____ fill-in-the-blank. It's about GOD and ONLY God! Gun violence is a symptom of the problem. Drug abuse is a symptom of the problem. Unwed mothers are a symptom of the problem. Nationalized gay-marriage is a symptom of the problem. Rioting in the streets is a symptom of the problem. The rise of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the race to the White House is a symptom of the problem. Christian-bashing is a symptom of the problem.

The hard core fact is that America has lost her moral foundation ... she has jettisoned God from the market place, from the schools and from the American conscience and the results are clearly evident. Look at what happened in Dallas last night. Citizens now readily turn to violence, rioting, and shooting, rather than seeking God on their knees with prayer and fasting.

Episcopal priests wearing orange vestments to focus on gun violence and Episcopal bishops marching last summer with locked arms in Salt Lake City protesting gun ownership, does not change the culture. The Orlando nightclub shooting happened after Episcopal priests wore orange as a liturgical fashion statement and rioting broke out in Salt Lake in February following the shooting of Abdullahi Omar Mohamed.

Preaching Jesus Christ from the pulpit and living up to biblical principles on all counts, however hard that might be, will eventually reshape the deformed culture, thus slowly helping to turn America's citizenry back to Jesus Christ as Lord and help reweave the Judeo-Christian ethos back into this country's moral fiber. Without it, America dies: one ... five ... ten or fifty persons at a time.

And entire generations of young people have been raised without God as their absolute moral compass. For them, Christmas is about Santa Claus and Easter its about colored eggs hidden in brightly colored artificial grass. They have no clue who Jesus is and what He has done and why.

They have been taught from the pulpit, if they even go to church, that anything goes ... that the Bible and biblical truths are irrelevant in the post-modern society. And, in many ways, the leadership of The Episcopal Church has led the way -- gay bishops, a left-leaning General Convention, the embrace of abortion, the celebration of transgenderism ...

Is there any wonder why people turn to guns and violence to deal with frustrations and solve their perceived problems? God has been left out of the equation. Even TIME magazine, at one time, asked on its cover: "Is God Dead?"

It's time we took God at His Word: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline

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