National tragedies continue mounting in America, and without the peace of the Lord in one’s heart, it looks like maintaining a civilized society is becoming less likely.
That’s where the power of prayer and community engagement come in.
Sitting down for an exclusive interview with Charisma News, host of “The Mondo Show” and co-host of “The Jim Bakker Show” Mondo De La Vega shares a deeper look into the spiritual battle taking place in America today.
After the horrific shooting at an Allen, Texas, mall left nine dead including the shooter, De La Vega breaks down the root causes of what is taking place in America.
“What we can say is our prayer and thoughts are with them, but at the same time, the question is, there’s got to be more. There’s got to be more to fix this, to solve these issues,” says De La Vega.
Having grown up in a violent part of Los Angeles, De La Vega shares that the shootings themselves are not new, but how they are reported is, and the numbers are now growing exponentially.
“We are close to 200 shootings, and the year’s not even over. And in ways we can’t even imagine, family’s lives have changed, our society is changing. And the hope we need, at the end of the day, it is the hope of Jesus Christ. The hope that Christ can change men’s and women’s hearts when it comes to continuing this evil that has been done toward humanity,” says De La Vega.
While activists, politicians, lobbyists and media personalities argue over the physical steps each side, left vs. right, believe will help curb mass shootings in America, De La Vega addresses the issue plaguing all aspects of society: the heart.
“When I study the way humanity operates, we operate from a place of darkness in our hearts, there’s no emotions, there’s no feelings,” De La Vega explains.
“We [don’t] recognize the troubles we’re dealing with as individuals in our mind [and] the heart. But I can tell you, as a former gang member, we didn’t deal with feelings and issues in our hearts, meaning the issues of feelings were detached from us…what happens is, we understand that men and women that deal with violence every single day, you get numb to the feeling of life,” he adds.
The spiritual sickness infecting American society is not relegated to the mass shootings taking place, either.
The lawlessness affecting major metropolitan areas across the country, the theft, promiscuity, violence and tribalism that are dragging down American morality all are based in the same spiritual decline that mass shootings are rooted in.
Yet, this was all prophesied in the Bible.
“This sickness has been in our communities for a long time,” De La Vega says.
“We’re witnessing what I believe the Bible talks about in 2 Timothy chapter 3, that we have become lovers of ourselves. Meaning that we want so much about us, and everything is about us. And a lot of these individuals, quite frankly, get inspired by other people that do this,” he adds.
So, what then is a practical solution to help heal the mental, emotional and spiritual wounds that are affecting people today?
“The church, along with hospitals that deal with mental health issues, need to come together and resolve the problems that are taking place in our community with individuals that need our help,” says De La Vega.
This merging of the church into its surrounding community has been done in certain parts of the country already, and has produced astonishing results.
Pastor Matthew Barnett, co-founder of the Dream Center, has impacted not just the neighborhood of Echo Park in Los Angeles, but the entire city with ministry outreaches providing services such as food trucks, neighborhood clean up crews, after-school tutoring, clothing and much more.
“We consider the church to be a hospital for sick individuals, right? We believe that the church is still the key to our community when it comes to dealing with our spirituality [and] when it comes to dealing with issues in the community. But we also have to recognize the hospitals and doctors and professionals are also there to help our physical needs and help guide us,” De La Vega believes.
It is this approach in which the church is present in every aspect of society that change can and will occur.
This is not an overnight solution, but it is a starting point with known and proven results to help heal the wounds of violence and mental health crises with the healing power of the Holy Spirit. {eoa}
James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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