Witnesses: Texas Church Shooter was Depressed and Adamant Secular Atheist

On November 5, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. I pray for the families of the victims. And I thank God for the hero, Johnnie Langendorf, an exemplary citizen that was able to stop the killer's illegal gun from killing more people by using his own legal gun. There is not a lot of info coming out in the MSM about the Texas shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley. But alternative news sites are offering witness accounts by acquaintances. These witnesses outline the shooters life, beliefs, and habits. It's helpful to look deeper into the subject of gun violence in America and to try to understand not only the shooter's motive but also what formed the basis of the shooter's motive. If anything, this will help us as Christians to better respond to this problem in society.

Chris Cuomo asked a Texas pastor about the Christian response to mass shootings.

"Why do people find their end in the murder of others?"

And then he goes deeper:

"There's something in the hearts of men here all too often. ...You can't just write it off as mental illness."

The Texas pastor interviewed by Chris Cuomo outlined his biblical understanding of a proper response to the Texas church shooting:

"Our job is to respond to hate with love. And we need God's help."

I agree that we do need to act with God's love and that we need help in more ways than one. 

  

Chris Cuomo hit upon a truth of scripture, that the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart:

"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." (Ephesians 4:18 NIV)

There are many scripture verses that outline the "heart" as a summary word for the center of a person's will and moral condition. When people in society become more corrupt and violent in their beliefs, this is the main problem, not guns.

Rep. Maxine Waters is an example of today's charged and violent rhetoric. She is the Democrat Party congressional representative of California. In a speech in New York City in October 2017, she said: “I will go and take Trump out tonight.” Then you have pop musicians like Snoop Dogg suggesting that President Trump being dead would be an improvement, with a photo of him standing over a corpse image of President Trump in a morgue.
   

I personally know people that believe reactionary impulsive violence is an acceptable form of political expression. On the one hand, this is surprising to me. And on the other hand, the mind and thoughts outside of the knowledge of God leave plenty of room for strange ethical beliefs. People are stepping even further over into an ethical Twilight Zone. Despite their violent rhetoric, both Waters and Snoop Dogg actually suggest that they are for an “anti-violence” movement:

In 2013, Rep. "I will ...take Trump out” Maxine Waters and rapper Snoop Dogg joined in L.A. for an anti-gun, anti-violence push...



Rather than decreasing violence, Waters and Snoop Dogg are really promoting it. They apparently believe that only violence against their own tribe and race should be stopped. This is a racist position. When public figures promote assassination at one moment and anti-violence campaigns the next, it only adds to the notion that liberalism is a mental disorder. Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoon creator, explains this type of illogical behavior as political cognitive dissonance. According to Adams, when Trump didn't turn out to be literally "Hitler" and the monster that they all claimed he would be as president, there was a choice to admit that they were not very wise or to double down on believing that he must be even more clever and evil than thought:

1. Reinterpret their self-images from wise to clueless. or…

2. Generate an even stronger hallucination. (Cognitive dissonance.)

Due to the wanton violence against Trump supporters in California, Adams said that he feared for his life after he had publicly announced his support for a Trump presidency, and he publicly changed his position: “I’ve decided to endorse Hillary Clinton for President, for my personal safety.”

The irrational behavior by progressive secularists, on many levels, is explained by scripture: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers," (2 Corinthians 4:4a NIV). There is illogical behavior and also the brute fact that secular-atheist shooters often behave like zombies with no moral conscience whatsoever. Devin Patrick Kelley was killing all of the people, even babies, at point-blank range in the Texas church. On top of the moral cognitive dissonance, possible demonic influences help to explain a sense of deep hatred against Christians.

It is precisely this type of environment when people are targeted as fair game for violence simply because they are not like you, that people sense a need to buy a gun for self-protection. It is a natural tendency for people to want to defend themselves and their families. It's ironic that those often calling for dramatic gun control are often the ones calling for unqualified unethical violence against others.

Vintage American gun ads show a time when gun use was widespread and popular in the U.S., yet attacks on groups of innocent people were extremely rare. The images show that there was no stigma attached to owning guns at the time. In today's society, movies, music, and public figures normalize violent rhetoric and promote unethical and unjustified violence, while gun ownership is stigmatized by the left. And Since 1984, there have been over 50 mass shootings in the U.S., with many victims being simply random people. What was the main cause of this transformation? If there's any one thing that stands out, it seems to be the fruit of an increasingly depressed and violent atheist society that has come to fruition through intentional indoctrination in education.

John Dewey, sometimes referred to as the “father of American education,” and one of the creators and signers of the first Humanist Manifesto of 1933, was enamored with atheistic-communist schools he saw when visiting the Soviet Union and he viewed school mainly as a place of radical atheistic transformation in America:  "The great task of the school is to counteract and transform those domestic and neighborhood tendencies … the influence of home and Church.” ~John Dewey (Dec. 5, 1928). Dewey was a deceiver intent on slowly changing personal worldviews: “Change must come gradually,” he wrote. “To force it unduly would compromise its final success by favoring a violent reaction.” The creators of the first Humanist Manifesto of 1933 defined Secular Humanism as a religion until they decided later that this approach would be opposed: "FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created."

Secular Humanism is ultimately a dark religion that offers no real hope. Secular Atheism logically leads to pessimism and Nihilism. We are seeing the fruit of this dark religion that has a monopoly on the values taught in the public education system. In their book, What Are the Results of the Establishment of Secular Humanism?  Michael and Mary Findlay underscore: "Those believers in Secular Humanism who are not in positions of privilege and power oscillate between irrational optimism and deadly despair." Why are mass shootings on the rise? The chickens of John Dewey and Secular Humanism are coming home to roost. The increase in mass shootings appears to be directly related to draconian promotion of atheism in school while denying any other possible expression of opinion.

The Right Scoop and Daily Mail offered testimonies of the shooter as an aggressive atheist.

"Patrick Boyce, who attended New Braunfels High School with the killer, told DailyMail.com: ‘He had a kid or two, fairly normal, but kinda quiet and lately seemed depressed.

He was the first atheist I met. He went Air Force after high school, got discharged but I don’t know why.

‘I was just shocked [to hear the news]. Still haven’t quite processed how he could have done that.

Nina Rose Nava, who went to school with the gunman, wrote on Facebook: ‘In (sic) in complete shock! I legit just deleted him off my fb cause I couldn’t stand his post.

‘He was always talking about how people who believe in God we’re stupid and trying to preach his atheism

Christopher Leo Longoria replied: ‘I removed him off FB for those same reasons! He was being super nagtive (sic) all the timd (sic).

Michael Goff added: ‘He was weird but never that damn weird, always posting his atheist sh** like Nina wrote, but damn he always posted pics of him and his baby – crazy.’

Apparently, Devin Patrick Kelley's Facebook page was deleted within hours after the shooting, which is odd. But based on facebook witness testimonies, we can see that Kelley was generally a depressed person with animosity against Christians. And a short video shows clips from Devin's facebook pages offering interest in atheism and CNN, among other interests. The continual problem of sensationalized fake news by CNN often triggers people into irrational states. Though meant mainly as derogatory humor, the phrase Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is actually based on a real sense of trauma that is aided by MSM lies:

"The secret recording of a CNN producer by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas catches the producer saying that CEO Jeff Zucker relentlessly pushes stories on Trump’s ties to Russia even though, the producer says, the subject is “mostly bulls–t."" The CNN Russia lies against Trump may have motivated the leftist gunman that tried to kill Republicans on a Virginia baseball field in June. Hodgkinson called Trump a "Traitor" apparently based on such misinformation.
   
The anticonservative CNN rhetoric is even worse on their website. CNN has irresponsibly published a list of "The Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups" that labels organizations with traditional values as hate groups. 52 organizations that support traditional family values are defined as an "Anti-LGBT" hate group, as shown on a pie-graph image. There is no caveat whatsoever by CNN that perhaps SPLC's labeling of groups that support traditional family values as 'hate groups' is extreme or questaionable. CNN recreated their own image of the biased SPLC 'hate map.' If Christian organizations are defined as "hate groups" simply for professing traditional biblical values, this gives unhinged leftists such as Devin Kelley all the more motivation to go to a church and kill random Christians. On the same page that CNN defines The Family Research Council as a "hate group," it acknowledges that CNN is itself causing an unnecessary threat to Christians, based on a historical armed attack:

"Some critics of the SPLC say the group's activism biases how it categorizes certain groups... They also say the list compromises their safety, citing an attack by a gunman at the Family Research Council five years ago. The gunman had chosen the organization as his target after finding it listed as an anti-gay group on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center, according to court documents."

Even on the left, The NY Times, CounterPunch, Daily Kos, The Nation, The Progressive all have web pages that show the SPLC is untrustworthy. One example is Antifa. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes how Antifa advocates aggression, promotes preemptive violence, and the use of weapons. And how they define their enemy with a broad brush: "Antifa have expanded their definition of fascist/fascism to include not just white supremacists and other extremists, but also many conservatives and supporters of President Trump." The FBI, Homeland Security, and many public figures define Antifa as domestic terrorists, but, amazingly, the SPLC does not define Antifa as a hate group. And neither does the SPLC define Islamic groups in the US as hate groups, even though they may adhere to anti-LGBT Sharia law. The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), for example, is not on the SPLC "Hate Map" even though its leaders promote Sharia law and declassified FBI memos have shown it is was labeled as a Muslim Brotherhood front. Sharia law promotes wife beating, the killing of ex-Muslims and the death penalty for LGBT people.  ISNA’s magazine promotes the gradual and deceptive enforcement of Sharia law globally. This type of selective bias underscores that the SPLC is mainly fomenting anti-Christian hate.

In today's reactionary climate, to continue to define peaceful and compassionate Christian organizations such as the Family Research Council as a "hate group" is unconscionable, especially when neither Antifa nor Muslim groups are identified as hate groups. Christians should probably boycott CNN. Kelley's actions do not imply that all secular atheists are necessarily depressed and aggressive people and that all progressives are triggered by CNN hatemongering against conservatives. But there is actually a pattern connecting secular atheism and mass killings.

The infamous Columbine shooting was a pronounced example wherein a young secular atheist actually asked his victims if they believed in God before he shot them. If the answer was "yes" then the shooter said, “Then go be with him,” before firing the fatal shot. The mass killing at Columbine was in part motivated by social Darwinism: "There cannot be the slightest doubt that Harris was a worshiper of Darwin and saw himself as acting on Darwinian principles. For example, he wrote: “YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE??? Natural SELECTION! It’s the best thing that ever happened to the Earth. Getting rid of all the stupid and weak organisms . . . but it’s all natural! YES!”" And comments by Richard Dawkins on the nature of his ethical views help to understand the logic behind such warped thinking.

President Trump outlined his opinion that "This isn't a guns situation," and "This is a mental health problem at the highest level. It's a very, very sad event."

Statistics show our increasingly secular society is becoming more unhinged and violent.

There is a myth propagated by secularists that there is less violence in the world today. The fact is, the U.S. has the highest prison population in the world by population percentage. And despite the high incarceration rate, violence is still increasing in society:

"Violent crime increased in many of the nation’s largest cities in 2016, the second year in a row that metro areas saw jumps in homicide, robbery and aggravated assault."

In Europe where gun control is common, knife stabbings are dramatically on the increase and considered by many a normal aspect of life. A 2016 report showed that global violence has reached a 25-year high:

"The 2016 Global Peace Index, which measures 23 indicators, including incidents of violent crime, levels of militarization and imports of weaponry, said conflicts in the Middle East were mostly to blame for the rising levels of global conflict." The irony is that secular atheists in the name of politically correct "tolerance" are the ones distributing hardened terrorists and violence throughout the free world through forced immigration policies. There seems to be no rational explanation as to why progressive politicians with secular relativist values are promoting unqualified immigration with no serious vetting that results in unbridled rape, robbery and terrorist attacks in their homeland. Based on Paul Bruckner's description of Islamo-Leftism as a "battering ram" of political change, the reason for this self-destructive plan appears to be an exploitation of Islam in order to create chaos towards the larger goal of totalitarian secular global governance.

Secular atheist belief corresponds historically to mass murder

Conservapedia outlines it's a historical fact that secular atheists have committed more mass murder and gun violence than any other group. It's too bad that militant atheism won't disappear with a new law:

There is an empirical basis as to why secular atheism is more linked to mass killings.

"The degree to which atheist society is authoritarian vs. wedded to a democratic process also has a bearing on whether it will engage in mass murder. Other factors Christian philosophers and theologians explain that there are causal links between mass murder and atheism. Atheism, lack belief in God, have the following characteristics that can lend itself to mass murder and can explain why the greatest mass murderers were atheists:[21]"

1. Lack of recognition of an ultimate judge of moral actions and a judge who sets injustice aright in a last judgement, and thus do not recognize the immorality of murder.

2. Lack of seeing the importance of human beings as images of God and so easily discarding them as merely material things, products of mere chance.

3. Lack of acknowledging an external standard of moral perfection, thus ending up with self-created standards which can include killing for political survival.

4. Absence of guidance by divine revelation of the moral law, such as "Thou shalt not kill".

5. Following an ethic of atheistic evolutionism that is based on the survival and victory of the fittest, which is ultimately a bloodthirsty ethic—an ethic that is eager to kill and to maim.

6. This ethic is about conquering others rather than self-conquest.[22]

7. The intolerance of many atheists (see: Atheism and intolerance)

Scripture predicted that evil and violence would increase in the last days.

During the time of Noah, there was rampant evil. Because the mind is the seat of all behavior, this is important to understand:

“Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5 NIV)

Constantly thinking evil thoughts would make anyone depressed, as the Texas killer apparently was. And the extreme lack of conscience probably led President Trump to declare that this was "a very deranged individual." A mental diet of hatred and evil naturally leads to violence:

“Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

And note that Jesus predicted that in the last days, society would mirror the time of Noah:

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37 NIV)

On a wider scale, there appears to be a correlation between the late stages of widespread atheism in society and the resulting depression and violence that naturally occurs. This is why extreme moral relativism leads to totalitarianism. When people act like animals, the government takes more and more control. The main problem in mass killings is not the method, whether it's guns, bombs, or rental trucks, it's the inner depravity that comes with opposing the true God of scripture.

You cannot legislate a healthy and logical personal worldview. The main problem is that the weight of the moral scale of society has been tipping more and more towards the irrational worldview of secular atheism and extreme moral relativism. This is why many Christians emphasize that after a certain point only a spiritual awakening would make a difference.

The main solution to violence is not more secular-atheist education, therapy, gun confiscation, or drugs, it's in getting to the heart of the matter. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. Instead of more gun control, the Bible outlines that we need more heart control:

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23 NIV)

The decision of a Christian to own a gun or not is a personal decision that should be based on prayer. Defenders of this pro-gun position often take 1 Timothy 5:8 as a key support verse. Those that believe no Christian should own a gun usually make the argument that anyone that is killed as a perpetrator will probably die in their sins towards eternal damnation. However, it is possible to stop an attacker without killing one.

Our life as Christians is based on our personal relationship with Christ. That is our core from which we can both act in love and to speak the truth in love. And we most definitely do need God's help in order to do all of these things and to act wisely today. No amount of hatred and darkness can overcome the light of God. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5)

Link to the CNN Chris Cuomo interview of a Texas Pastor

Tags: Texas church shooter background, How Christians respond to mass killings, Christians, and gun control, facebook testimonies of Devin Patrick Kelley as depressed atheist and hateful, mass murder and atheism, clips from Devin Patrick Kelley facebook pages, testimonies of acquaintances, interviews of witnesses of shooting, Why do mass shooters kill? What motivates mass shooters? Why are mass killings on the rise? Worldview of shooters, CNN labels "Christian Identity" as a hate group