Heart problem

This morning, as I read Isaiah 26:9-10, my thoughts went to the latest tragedy that has sparked an old controversy. People are screaming for gun control. Others are saying it won't work. Isaiah 26:9 -10, tells why. "My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You. When Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD."

The Las Vegas shooter had so much to be grateful for. He was a successful businessman, had people who cared for him, and pretty much seemed to live the life some people envied. It seems like everyone is asking why he did such a horrible thing. All the grace that God showed him in giving him the intelligence and skill to go from the son of a bank robber to a millionaire prior to turning killer
is exactly what Isaiah 26:10 is saying. All that grace and look what happened. There's been nothing on the news about his training spiritually. Who knows what he was taught when he was a child? Righteousness must be learned. He didn't.


Yes, I know full well that the religious can be evil, too. I knew an elder in my church who killed another man in cold blood over a business dispute and said it was OK with the Lord. NOT. His actions stated loud and clear that he did not regard the majesty of the LORD. What that man claimed and what he was is known only to God. I have no right to judge his spiritual condition, but I do have the right to say that his actions were anything but Christian. The reason gun control will not work is that the problem is not with the weapon. The problem is with the heart of the person holding the weapon. I've been around guns all my life and have no fear of them because I know and trust the sanity of the ones holding them. Sane people cannot understand the actions of the mentally sick or minds deranged by a chemical. A quote that turns my blood cold every time I hear it, "The heart wants what it wants." It's usually used to excuse illicit sex, but it's appropriate for killers, too. Or anyone determined to do evil, for that matter.
Maybe how he got rich also points to a heart problem. How did he become a millionaire on a mailman's or an IRS employee's salary? Certainly saying he'd like to kill his mother points to a wicked heart.

On the news yesterday, a Congressman mentioned several weapons of mass destruction that won't be affected by gun control. He even mentioned one I never thought of: drones. Gun control won't stop the person determined to kill and destroy. It didn't stop people who burned others alive, drowned them, stabbed them, beat them-the picture is clear. Guns don't kill. People do. Someone posted this morning that over 84 million gun owners did NOT commit murder.

For all those gun control advocates, please rethink this. Both the head and the heart must be in the right place. All heart is selfish emotion. All head is cold disregard, but when the heart chooses to do evil, God gave us a mind to control those selfish hearts that wants what it wants. Regarding the majesty of the LORD is the only answer.