The Tragedy of Ferguson

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”  The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians

The tragedy of Ferguson continues to grow. At the beginning of last week’s legislative session, two innocent police officers were shot while protecting the citizens of Ferguson and were hospitalized with serious injuries. The mindless, hateful shooter was caught after an exhaustive investigation and tireless police work. News reports and interviews with Ferguson residents and protesters too often suggest that many are ill-equipped for the spiritual warfare they face to bring reason and understanding into every confrontation or conflict. The banning of prayer and the Bible from public arenas of learning with the accompanying breakdown of the family has left some feeling hopeless. Senseless violence, unopposed by reason or charity, is the result.

A Senate colleague who resides near the Ferguson area attributes the Ferguson unrest and violence in large part to Missouri’s failure to provide her constituents with genuine education, via the area public schools. A school board member and already an advocate of education reform, this state senator has begun teaching local civics classes to enlighten minds to choices that go beyond riots and violence. Political opposites, she and I are nonetheless united in our belief that for learning opportunities to abound, the focus must be on individual student success rather than just the education factory.  It is well documented that a large percentage of Missouri’s prison population attended the three unaccredited and provisionally accredited school districts in the St. Louis area. The costs of these failures are borne by every Missouri taxpayer.

In America’s early history, when states faced crises, it was common for the governing official to call the people to prayer. Those in positions of authority acknowledge the limits of their political power and recognized the verity of spiritual warfare.  These historic proclamations of prayer were not from pastors or priests, but from public officials. Where are those calls today, and is Ferguson not evidence of the challenges that supersede politics and demand divine intervention? I hope all who read this report will fervently pray for Ferguson – not just for the wounded officers and their families, but for Ferguson and for Missouri. I can’t speak for everyone, but if my God is big enough to create the heavens and the earth, He can heal Ferguson.
Someone once said that everything in life is either physical or spiritual. When we ignore either jurisdiction, our reasoning will be incomplete and our solutions ineffective. I hope the governor is already considering a call to prayer for Ferguson. The warfare we face as a state is not about race relations or municipal courts or law enforcement methods. It is about how we can take our thoughts and imaginations captive; it’s about the golden rule; it’s about seeing each other as God sees us. The enemy is not a race of people or a symbol such as a uniform. It is bad thinking, incomplete thinking, wrong thinking that leaves out the divine intervention of an omnipotent God.

Thank you for reading this legislative report. You can contact my office at (573) 751-2108 if you have any questions. Thank you and we welcome your prayers for the proper application of state government.