Living in the Last Days

Elliot Rodger

There are two things that will inevitably happen after 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed seven people including himself in the town of Isla Vista, California: (1) That Rodger will be described as a criminally insane psychopath and (2) opportunistic politicians will exploit the tragedy to scream for even more draconian gun control legislation.

First of all, Rodger wasn't a psychopath. Rather, he was evil. Psychopaths don't write elaborate, detailed 140-page manifestos that shout out their grievances against the world and lay out their plans to avenge those grievances.

Rodger's manifesto was easy to understand. Psychopaths aren't easy to understand. Their notes and letters are usually garbled, paranoid nonsense that resemble distorted mental graffiti. 

Rodger's manifesto was none of that. It described a selfish young man with an inflated opinion of himself who hated the world and particularly young women because they refused to associate with him. 

Rodger lamented the fact that he was a 22-year-old virgin who couldn't get a date because he believed that women preferred brutish slobs who treated them badly. Whether that's true or not is anyone's guess.

However what is true is the fact that Elliot Rodger was a product of a nihilistic, narcissistic generation that has been raised on the godless values of humanistic psychology and its gospel of self-esteem. The self-esteem gospel, that's even being preached in many churches, teaches that a person cannot be truly happy and love other folks until that person loves himself or herself.

That's not only unbiblical, it's a demonic lie. Nowhere does the Bible teach such a heresy. Rather, the Bible stresses humbleness and humility: "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:10) 

To the early church in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote this: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (Romans 12:3)

Rodger's problem wasn't that he didn't love himself enough--he loved himself too much and he was angry that others--particularly young women--didn't share that same opinion he had of himself. 

If Rodger really hated himself he would have rejoiced at being put down and rejected by women. Rather, he hated the rejection because it punctured a hole in his massive ego. 

How many other Elliot Rodgers exist who are infatuated with themselves and are angry with others who aren't? There are probably millions of them. Certainly, most of them won't resort to violence to punish those who refuse to worship them.

But some will. And tragically, now that Rodger's grievances have been aired, others may step out of the shadows and resort to violence to attack those who they believe have wronged them by ignoring, insulting or rejecting them.

The apostle Paul warned us 2,000 years ago that this sort of evil would prevail in the end times. In his second epistle to fellow apostle Timothy, Paul wrote that people would be "lovers of themselves" and "without self control". (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Elliot Rodger has become another fulfillment of end-time biblical prophecy. The antidote for this sort of violence isn't the passage of more gun control laws that won't accomplish anything, or better psychiatric screening for those who seek to purchase guns and ammunition. 

Rather, the antidote is found in the biblical gospel that implores everyone to turn from evil, repent from sin and be born again into eternal life through faith in the Son of God Jesus Christ for His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead.

There simply isn't any other way.