It's sickening. As our heads are reeling over yesterday's Fort Hood Massacre, we're hearing about this guy in Orlando, Florida who has killed a bunch of people in a high-rise office building. 

Whose fault is it really?

As I peel back the onion skins on the issue of workplace crime, it becomes crystal clear to me where the blame lies.

It falls upon us.

You and me.

The Church.

Professing Christians everywhere. We MUST get tired of these stories and DO something about them. We've already been given everything we could EVER need to effect change everywhere God places us. 

Why don't we?

Whether it's a soldier in the U.S. Army who avows "Muslims shouldn't be fighting Muslims," or a disgruntled employee, perhaps part of the nation's 10.2% unemployed (that's 16 MILLION people without jobs, 190,000 losing theirs in October alone), I contend it falls squarely upon the shoulders of the Followers of Jesus Christ all across this so-called "Christian nation."

On what do I base this conclusion? To begin with, we have so little understanding of Spiritual Warfare (the recent lack of response of the Churches regarding Caelum Moor in Arlington, Texas in contrast to the response of witches and neo-pagans are proof of that). As I listen to the TV "experts" regarding what causes these people to act out their frustrations, all I can say is there's no natural answers to spiritual issues. We seem to have very little time and concern for the hurting, frightened, lonely with whom we rub shoulders at work on a daily basis. Even in the Church, we don't REALLY appear to want to know that your life is falling apart. Instead, we prefer you look good, smell good, sing along and say 'amen' at the right time. In addition, most Christians have not embraced the concept of the Gospel of the Kingdom, preferring instead to get people "saved" through any number of our denominational techniques, all the while longing for some glorious day when they'll be jettisoned outta here and can kiss this place good-bye.

It comes down to poor training. Christians call it "discipleship." It's pathetic. We are proving to be an ineffective, impotent, irrelevant army of slothful, do-littles, possessed by a Religious Spirit who hungers for rituals and ceremonies over the needs of others. Sure, there are exceptions, but it's obvious to me, those who are "hearers of the Word" far outweigh those who are "doers."

In Jesus' day, whenever a Jewish boy would talk about his wonderful rabbi, others were intrigued and desired to meet that rabbi because of the one telling them about him. What if an individual who is entertaining a workplace massacre encountered Christ in a coworker? What if it were Christ in YOU - your rabbi - whom this person met, experiencing His love, His grace, His wisdom, His compassion and concern? What if all that person needed was someone to listen to and "vent" with?

If I were to have an encounter a beer truck today, my life would be forever changed. Likewise, one who encounters the living Christ SHOULD be forever changed. In other words, there should be some evidence that we have met the Lord. Too often, we settle for meaningless, even unbiblical, methods that exhibit no fruit. 

WORKPLACE FIRES

Where these horrible massacres are concerned, far too often, we settle for putting out fires when we should be STARTING them. Here's what I mean: We have an army of chaplains, therapists and counselors unleashed upon every grizzly workplace massacre scene. God bless them in their efforts. What I believe we SHOULD be doing is to launch an army of Christians - TODAY - into the workforce, people who have had their minds renewed to the workplace ministry each of us actually has. Instead, the vast majority of Christians settle for church attendance, if that. Most church leaders haven't grasped the concept of preparing their congregants for the Workplace, themselves too often seeing their own church services as the pinnacle of weekly spirituality.

In the words oh Mr. Spock, "Illogical."

We spend up to 70% of our lives on the job, co-mingling with hurting people in the marketplace just as Jesus and all His disciples did.

It's been my experience that far too many business owners are being intimidated by the infamous "Separation of Church and State" deception ( http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=95900 ). In addition, most Employees are intimidated by the same. They're afraid of being fired, ostracized, passed over for promotion. In addition, we're all-too-often being fooled by the masquerade party we call "the workplace." It's a facility loaded with mask-wearing men and women, hiding behind one veneer or another that keeps them from having to "get real" with anybody.  

Truth is, the place is a house of pain, a place we go to trade time for money as we miss one Divine Opportunity after another, day in and day out.

"IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE...CAN IT?"

Don't you dare think your community is immune.

Not your platoon.

Not your school.

Not your office complex.

We've already proven we don't have a clue where a homicide or suicide will strike next. One thing that IS certain, we - The Church - have the answer to every problem known to man. His Name is Jesus.

We already HAVE an answer and it MUST be implemented NOW!