On August 16, 2013, three Oklahoma teens allegedly shot and killed Christopher Lane because they said that they were bored. The nation is in complete shock over this senseless crime. If these teens would have only read and trusted in the Bible, this crime could and should have been avoided. Solomon wrote as recoded for us in the book of Proverbs that children should not give in to the enticement to do wrong. “My, son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious good, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse’ - my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back you foot from their paths, for their feet fun to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors,” Proverbs 1:8-19 (ESV). These teens did exactly what Solomon said not to do.
If these teens and their parents would have only read the Bible, they would have seen God’s divine plan for them. “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” Ephesians 6:4. “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” 1 Timothy 2:4-6.
Why study our Bible? Listen to Paul, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,” Romans 1:16. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” 2 Timothy 2:15. Listen to the Hebrew writer, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world,” Hebrews 1:1-2 (ESV). Know God’s plan for all men by studying your Bible.
Mckinley Pate