Bible Questions Answered:
“...why all the shootings,
murders...?”
Ron/ Denver, Colorado U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Texts:
Our Lord plainly stated that such would
be the case, a certain sign that we were at the end of the age.
Genesis 6:5 KJV (Noah's day.)
And God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Jeremiah 7:21-29 NLT
21 This is what The Lord Of Heaven’s
Armies, The God Of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and
your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves!
22 When I led your ancestors out of
Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from
them.
23 This is what I told them: ‘Obey
me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything
as I say, and all will be well!’
24 “But My people would not
listen to Me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the
stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of
forward.
25 From the day your ancestors left
Egypt until now, I have continued to send My servants, the
prophets—day in and day out.
26 But My people have not listened
to Me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even
worse than their ancestors.
27 “Tell them all this, but do not
expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect
them to respond.
28 Say to them, ‘This is the
nation whose people will not obey The Lord their God and who refuse
to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer
heard on their lips.
29 Shave your head in mourning, and
weep alone on the mountains. For The Lord has rejected and forsaken
this generation that has provoked His fury.’
Matthew 7:21-23 KJV
21 Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 24:1-51 NLT
1 As Jesus was leaving the Temple
grounds, His disciples pointed out to Him the various Temple
buildings.
2 But He responded, “Do you see
all these buildings? I tell you The Truth, they will be completely
demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”
3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of
Olives. His disciples came to Him privately and said, “Tell us,
when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the
end of the world?”
4 Jesus told them, “Don’t let
anyone mislead you,
5 for many will come in My name,
claiming, ‘I am The Messiah.’ They will deceive many.
6 And you will hear of wars and
threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take
place, but the end won’t follow immediately.
7 Nation will go to war against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and
earthquakes in many parts of the world.
8 But all this is only the first of
the birth pains, with more to come.
9 “Then you will be arrested,
persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because
you are My followers.
10 And many will turn away from Me
and betray and hate each other.
11 And many false prophets will
appear and will deceive many people.
12 Sin will be rampant
everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.
13 But the one who endures to the
end will be saved.
14 And The Good News about the
Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all
nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
15 “The day is coming when you
will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious
object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.”
(Reader, pay attention!)
16 “Then those in Judea must flee
to the hills.
17 A person out on the deck of a
roof must not go down into the house to pack.
18 A person out in the field must
not return even to get a coat.
19 How terrible it will be for
pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days.
20 And pray that your flight will
not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 For there will be greater anguish
than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great
again.
22 In fact, unless that time of
calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will
be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.
23 “Then if anyone tells you,
‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t
believe it.
24 For false messiahs and false
prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to
deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
25 See, I have warned you about this
ahead of time.
26 “So if someone tells you,
‘Look, The Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go
and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it!
27 For as the lightning flashes in
the east and shines to the west, so it will be when The Son Of Man
comes.
28 Just as the gathering of vultures
shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end
is near.
29 “Immediately after the anguish
of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no
light,
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
30 And then at last, the sign that
The Son Of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will
be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will
see The Son Of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory.
31 And He will send out His angels
with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather His chosen
ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth
and heaven.
32 “Now learn a lesson from the
fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you
know that summer is near.
33 In the same way, when you see all
these things, you can know His return is very near, right at the
door.
34 I tell you The Truth, this
generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take
place.
35 Heaven and earth will disappear,
but My Words will never disappear.
36 “However, no one knows the day
or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven
or The Son Himself. Only The Father knows.
37 “When The Son Of Man
returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.
38 In those days before the flood,
the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up
to the time Noah entered his boat.
39 People didn’t realize what was
going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is
the way it will be when The Son Of Man comes.
40 “Two men will be working
together in the field; one will be taken, the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding flour
at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
42 “So you, too, must keep watch!
For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.
43 Understand this: If a homeowner
knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not
permit his house to be broken into.
44 You also must be ready all the
time, for The Son Of Man will come when least expected.
45 “A faithful, sensible servant
is one to whom The Master can give the responsibility of managing His
other household servants and feeding them.
46 If the Master returns and finds
that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.
47 I tell you The Truth, The Master
will put that servant in charge of all he owns.
48 But what if the servant is evil
and thinks, ‘My Master won’t be back for a while,’
49 and he begins beating the other
servants, partying, and getting drunk?
50 The Master will return
unannounced and unexpected,
51 and He will cut the servant to
pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 21:5-38 NLT
5 Some of His disciples began
talking about the majestic stonework of the Temple and the memorial
decorations on the walls. But Jesus said,
6 “The time is coming when all
these things will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be
left on top of another!”
7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when
will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are
about to take place?”
8 He replied, “Don’t let anyone
mislead you, for many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am
The Messiah,’ and saying, ‘The
time has come!’ But don’t believe them.
9 And when you hear of wars and
insurrections, don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place
first, but the end won’t follow immediately.”
10 Then He added, “Nation will go
to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be great earthquakes,
and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will
be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs,
there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into
synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and
governors because you are My followers.
13 But this will be your opportunity
to tell them about Me.
14 So don’t worry in advance about
how to answer the charges against you,
15 for I will give you the right
words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to
reply or refute you!
16 Even those closest to you—your
parents, brothers, relatives, and friends—will betray you. They
will even kill some of you.
17 And everyone will hate you
because you are My followers.
18 But not a hair of your head will
perish!
19 By standing firm, you will win
your souls.
20 “And when you see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its
destruction has arrived.
21 Then those in Judea must flee to
the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the
country should not return to the city.
22 For those will be days of God’s
vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be
fulfilled.
23 How terrible it will be for
pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will
be disaster in the land and great anger against this people.
24 They will be killed by the sword
or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And
Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period
of the Gentiles comes to an end.
25 “And there will be strange
signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will
be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides.
26 People will be terrified at what
they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be
shaken.
27 Then everyone will see The Son Of
Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.
28 So when all these things begin to
happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”
29 Then He gave them this
illustration: “Notice the fig tree, or any other tree.
30 When the leaves come out, you
know without being told that summer is near.
31 In the same way, when you see all
these things taking place, you can know that the Kingdom of God is
near.
32 I tell you The Truth, this
generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have
taken place.
33 Heaven and earth will disappear,
but My Words will never disappear.
34 “Watch out! Don’t let your
hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of
this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware,
35 like a trap. For that day will
come upon everyone living on the earth.
36 Keep alert at all times. And pray
that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and
stand before The Son Of Man.”
37 Every day Jesus went to the
Temple to teach, and each evening He returned to spend the night on
the Mount of Olives.
38 The crowds gathered at the Temple
early each morning to hear Him.
I Corinthians
10:6-12 NLT
6 These things happened as a
warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they
did,
7 or worship idols as some of them
did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting
and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”
8 And we must not engage in sexual
immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one
day.
9 Nor should we put Christ to the
test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.
10 And don’t grumble as some of
them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.
11 These things happened to them as
examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at
the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing
strong, be careful not to fall.
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
19 When you follow the desires of
your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality,
impurity, lustful pleasures,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility,
quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition,
dissension, division,
21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties,
and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before,
that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of
God.
Ephesians 2:2,3
NLT
2 You used to live in sin, just like
the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the
powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of
those who refuse to obey God.
3 All of us used to live that way,
following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful
nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just
like everyone else.
Ephesians 5:3-5 NLT
3 Let there be no sexual immorality,
impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s
people.
4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and
coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be
thankfulness to God.
5 You can be sure that no immoral,
impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of
God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of
this world.
Philippians
3:18,19 NLT
18 For I have told you often before,
and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose
conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 They are headed for destruction.
Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and
they think only about this life here on earth.
Colossians 3:5,6 NLT
5 So put to death the sinful,
earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for
a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Because of these sins, the anger
of God is coming.
I Timothy 1:9-11 NLT
9 For the law was not intended for
people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and
rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred
and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit
other murders.
10 The law is for people who are
sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave
traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that
contradicts the wholesome teaching
11 that comes from the glorious Good
News entrusted to me by our blessed God.
II Timothy 3:1-5
NLT
1 You should know this, Timothy,
that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
2 For people will love only
themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing
at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will
consider nothing sacred.
3 They will be unloving and
unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They
will be cruel and hate what is good.
4 They will betray their friends, be
reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.
5 They will act religious, but they
will reject The Power that could make them Godly. Stay away from
people like that!
James 4:1-4 NLT
1 What is causing the quarrels and
fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war
within you?
2 You want what you don’t have, so
you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have,
but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away
from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask
God for it.
3 And even when you ask, you don’t
get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will
give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you
realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I
say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make
yourself an enemy of God.
I Peter 4:3 NLT
You have had enough in the past of
the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and
lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their
terrible worship of idols.
II Peter 2:1-22
NLT
1 But there were also false prophets
in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will
cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny The Master who
bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on
themselves.
2 Many will follow their evil
teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers,
The Way Of Truth will be slandered.
3 In their greed they will make up
clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long
ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
4 For God did not spare even the
angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of
darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.
5 And God did not spare the ancient
world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah
warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah
when He destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.
6 Later, God condemned the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them
an example of what will happen to ungodly people.
7 But God also rescued Lot out of
Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful
immorality of the wicked people around him.
8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who
was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day
after day.
9 So you see, The Lord knows how to
rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked
under punishment until the day of final judgment.
10 He is especially hard on those
who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise
authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff
at supernatural beings without so much as trembling.
11 But the angels, who are far
greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from The Lord a
charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.
12 These false teachers are like
unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and
destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like
animals, they will be destroyed.
13 Their destruction is their reward
for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures
in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They
delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship
meals.
14 They commit adultery with their
eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable
people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under
God’s curse.
15 They have wandered off the right
road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to
earn money by doing wrong.
16 But Balaam was stopped from his
mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.
17 These people are as useless as
dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed
to blackest darkness.
18 They brag about themselves with
empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires,
they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a
lifestyle of deception.
19 They promise freedom, but they
themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to
whatever controls you.
20 And when people escape from the
wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off
than before.
21 It would be better if they had
never known The Way to righteousness than to know it and then reject
the command they were given to live a holy life.
22 They prove The Truth of this
proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A
washed pig returns to the mud.”
II Peter 3:1-18 NLT
1 This is my second letter to you,
dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your
wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.
2 I want you to remember what the
holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded
through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind
you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking The
Truth and following their own desires.
4 They will say, “What happened to
the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our
ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first
created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God
made the heavens long ago by The Word of His command, and He brought
the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.
6 Then He used the water to destroy
the ancient world with a mighty flood.
7 And by the same Word, the present
heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being
kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one
thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to The Lord, and
a thousand years is like a day.
9 The Lord isn’t really being slow
about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for
your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants
everyone to repent.
10 But the day of The Lord will come
as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a
terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in
fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve
judgment.
11 Since everything around us is
going to be destroyed like this, what holy and Godly lives you should
live,
12 looking forward to the day of God
and hurrying it along. On that day, He will set the heavens on fire,
and the elements will melt away in the flames.
13 But we are looking forward to the
new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God’s
righteousness.
14 And so, dear friends, while you
are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found
living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His sight.
15 And remember, our Lord’s
patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved
brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—
16 speaking of these things in all
of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and
those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean
something quite different, just as they do with other parts of
Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
17 You already know these things,
dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by
the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.
18 Rather, you must grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
All glory to Him, both now and
forever! Amen.
I John 2:15-17
NLT
15 Do not love this world nor the
things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have
the love of The Father in you.
16 For the world offers only a
craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and
pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from The
Father, but are from this world.
17 And this world is fading away,
along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what
pleases God will live forever.
Jude 1:3-17 NLT
3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly
planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I
find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the
faith that God has entrusted once for all time to His holy people.
4 I say this because some ungodly
people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s
marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of
such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only
Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 So I want to remind you, though
you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of
Israel from Egypt, but later He destroyed those who did not remain
faithful.
6 And I remind you of the angels who
did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left
the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in
prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.
7 And don’t forget Sodom and
Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with
immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were
destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire
of God’s judgment.
8 In the same way, these people—who
claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy
authority, and scoff at supernatural beings.
9 But even Michael, one of the
mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy,
but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when
Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’ body.)
10 But these people scoff at things
they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever
their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own
destruction.
11 What sorrow awaits them! For they
follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam,
they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their
rebellion.
12 When these people eat with you in
your fellowship meals commemorating The Lord’s love, they are like
dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless
shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing
over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn
that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up
by the roots.
13 They are like wild waves of the
sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like
wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.
14 Enoch, who lived in the seventh
generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said,
“Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of His holy
ones
15 to execute judgment on the people
of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things
they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have
spoken against Him.”
16 These people are grumblers and
complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly
about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.
Psalm 73:27 NLT
Those who desert Him will perish,
for you destroy those who abandon you.
Proverbs 15:29
NLT
The Lord is far from the wicked: but
He heareth the prayer of the righteous.
See also the blog posting: Moral
Bankruptcy
