Last week London, England was engulfed in riots. Stores were smashed into, goods were looted and buildings were burned. The riots then spread from London to other English cities like Liverpool, Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol. What was the reason for the riots?
Originally the protest centered on the alleged unjust police shooting of a man. But then as the riots escalated new reasons emerged. One was anger at rich capitalists. Some of the rioters interviewed by the news media spoke of “showing the rich what [we] can do.” But the local businesses that were burned and looted were hardly the bastions of those wicked, heartless international capitalists.
Other reasons included anger at the cut backs in the welfare system, college tuition hikes and other government austerity measures. But many of the rioters were not motivated by ideology or a righteous anger against an unjust government. The rioters were simply having fun taking what they wanted from others. One rioter said the day after the riot was “like Christmas” because he now had a new plasma television. The chaos in England was not a righteous protest against injustice, it was a manifestation of a godless society.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said, “There are pockets of our society that are not only broken, but frankly sick. When we see children as young as 13 looting and laughing, when we see the disgusting sight of an injured young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear that there are things that are badly wrong in our society…It is a moral problem…”
He is right. When a society is without godly moral values trouble lies ahead. James Madison, our fourth president and the “Father” of our U.S. Constitution said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of the government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” As a country we have moved very far away from Madison’s ideals - and there is trouble ahead.
England’s biggest problem and our own country’s biggest problem is not an economic or political one; we have a spiritual problem. Yes, we must improve our education system. Yes, we must have just laws and equal opportunities for everyone. But these things are truly accomplished by godly people, not by just passing laws or throwing money at the problem.
We must stop undermining biblical values in our society. And we must teach the truth boldly and with love. It is written in Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.” Without God we labor in vain and we watch in vain! Our only hope is to seek God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ.
We need to be aware of what's happening and yet remain confident in God's mercy and grace. In Nehemiah they worked to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem with the tools in one hand and a sword in the other. They looked to God for protection, yet were still wise about their spiritual enemies.
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