First of all, Clint Eastwood shoots make believe holes in make believe bad guys. Chris Kyle the American Sniper shot real holes in over 160 real life bad guys.
Now I do love me some Clint Eastwood. My old CB handle was Dirty Harry and I must have watched the final gunfight scene in Pale Rider a hundred times; but Clint Eastwood characters are among the tamest of modern day movies, and video games are even worse. On the Walking Dead our kids of today see brains blown out over and over and over and over, with no consequences. No wonder kids who are bullied to the limit go to school with a gun and shoot back. They are conditioned to do so.
Thank God for men like Chris Kyle who know the value of human life. The other two men who come to mind Sgt. York and Audie Murphy, like Kyle, when asked why they shot so many enemy combatants, said the same thing, "I wanted to protect my men". They shot to save lives, to stop the shooting, to end the suffering; their brains computed what was going on out there on the battlefield and they did what was needed to stop the killing. One man, the enemy, was at fault, while your own men had to be protected.
When the real Chris Kyle saw a young boy start to pick up a rocket launcher and point it at U.S. Soldiers, he said to himself, "don't do it, don't pick it up". He watched the boy through his rifle scope with the crosshairs right over the boys heart. When the boy pointed the launcher toward our Humvee, Chris had only milliseconds to decide whether to pull the trigger or not. "Don't do it", he said again, then gasped in relief as the boy threw the weapon down. Chris almost threw up, because he had been so close to seeing that young boys blood spattered dead body in his scope. Chris Kyle cared about human life.
He cared about human life because he had hunted with his dad, and felt the heartbeat of a newly shot rabbit, stop in his hand. He felt the warmth of the rabbit in his hunting pouch as it slowly cooled and he talked about killing with his dad. Kids don't get this opportunity anymore. Absent dads don't take their sons hunting. Absent fathers don't pray at the dinner table with their sons and daughters like Chris's Father did. They don't tuck kids in at night and they don't supervise what they watch on TV.
We have a whole generation of kids out there, with little or no human values. They have seen so many real looking brains blown out and spattered on walls that they can't separate real from fiction anymore. Pulling a trigger on a video game, over and over, makes it easy to believe you can do the same in real life. American History is no longer properly taught in U.S. Schools. Kids don't learn about the character and Spiritual beliefs of American Patriots. They don't think of our heroes as real men and women like I did when I read my History Text in the 50's.
One of the actual shooters in the Jonesboro, Arkansas School shooting several years ago, was a participant in a Nature Program I did at the School earlier that year. It was a bat program and I remember the young boy well. He was up close watching the bat I had brought to class. When I asked the class what they should do if they found a nocturnal animal like a bat out on the playground in the daylight, (the proper answer would be leave it alone, it might be rabid). But this boy shouted almost evilly, "Shoot it!!!". The incident stood out in my mind as I watched in tears as, my Friend Trey Stafford did the live coverage of the breaking story on National TV. Somehow I almost knew that that very boy was one of the two involved. He was.
What do we do? How do we instill values in a generation of young people who were never taught them at home? Our churches need to step up. Let me say that again; the people in our Churches need to step up. The pew sitters need to get off their butts and out in the Community.
Let me ask you a personal question Mr. or Mrs. American Christian. How many people have you led to Christ this year? Last year then? Ever? Do you even know what a great feeling it is to see the tears flowing on someone who just heard the plan of Salvation from your lips, and fell to their knees in front of you? Is it even something you have ever experienced?
Our American Kids and even men and women in their late 20's need Christian mentoring to teach them the compassion for others they never learned about at home. We have millions of Lost and needy out their and at the same time millions of butts glued to their favorite pew at Church.
A Pastor Friend of mine was once in the middle of a sermon at a certain First Baptist Church. He actually had people sitting on the edge of their seats as he taught about the importance of soul winning. People who hadn't been Spiritually roused in decades were thinking about soul winning. Then near the end of his sermon he said, "Now I'm not saying you need to go out on a street corner and start preaching." My soul cried out, "WHY????" He had given the Congregation an out. They didn't have to commit to anything. At the invitation call only a couple of duty led deacons came forward and prayed at the altar. It should have been so full a double or triple row had to be formed.
Now some say my particular form of street preaching is a little harsh here on my blog, Twitter, and Facebook, (I am limited by MS and a wheelchair now to how I can witness). Those who notice my posts calling for repentance on for instance the Rachel Maddow page, call me arrogant, rude, crude, a smart a**, and lots of names not so nice. They don't appreciate Bible verses being posted where they read and post. They scream "Get Out". Some people would question my methodology. So what does the Bible say about witnessing?
We find the answer in the little book of Jude, written by Jesus' half Brother Judas. It says, " And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."
Jude 1:22-23 (KJV)
Here clearly, some lost people need a gentle, compassionate approach. It will 'make a difference' in their lives and they will respond to the Holy Spirit's call. But the 'others'. Others have to be saved by fear, literally jerked by their necks out of Satan's grasp and then shaken, (by the Truth and the Scripture), till their nasty, leprosy stained, sin stained, 'filthy' clothes are shaken away, and they are clothed anew in God's Own Righteousness. These people in my own experience have to be shocked into the realization that they are sinners, they are Lost, they are needy for Truth and the Gospel.
My method may come off as arrogant, but it gets their attention. I do turn to compassion later when they are broken.
However the Word of God is used it will never return void, people do listen, even when they try not to. The point is, no matter what your style of Evangelism, get out there and do it. God has Commissioned you to do so:
"And he said unto them, (that is You), Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15 (KJV)
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