By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Robert K. Ressler, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) behavioral sciences unit, studied serial killers and noted, “Murderers…very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids,” and he further observes, “… a fascination with cruelty to animals is a red flag in the backgrounds of serial killers and rapists.” The Humane Association agreed, reporting that 95% of serial killers abused animals.

The Chicago Police Department conducted a four-year study that “revealed a startling propensity for offenders charged with crimes against animals to commit other violent offenses toward human victims.” In fact, 65% of people arrested for animal cruelty or abuse also had a criminal record for violence against a human.

Donald Henry Gaskins claimed to have killed more than a hundred people. As a child, he was beaten by many “stepfathers” and did not even know his given name until his first arrest as a youngster! In a reform school, he was raped by fellow inmates, which happened during his future imprisonment. He tortured and mutilated many victims, trying to keep them alive as long as possible. He admitted to eating some of them! He killed the daughter of a South Carolina State Senator and was executed by the state of South Carolina.

Jeffrey Dahmer had an above-average I.Q. and killed 17 males, after which he had sex with them and cooked and ate them. In childhood, his hobby was torturing and killing his neighbors’ pets, and he even impaled a dog’s head on a stick and displayed it in his neighborhood. Dahmer also nailed bullfrogs to trees, collected animal roadkill, dissected the remains, and masturbated over the animals he had butchered.

Albert DeSalvo (the “Boston strangler”) killed 13 women and, as a child, trapped dogs and cats in a box and shot arrows through them.

Charming Ted Bundy killed 40 people and, as a child, watched his father torture small animals. Ted got his “kicks” by raping and killing women, and his final kick was from Florida’s electric chair.

Carroll Cole was arrested for murdering 35 people, and he told officials that the first time he was violent was when he strangled a puppy as a child.

Edmund Emil Kemper, as a child, killed cats that he found around the neighborhood and displayed their heads on poles. He ended up killing eight women, including his mother.

David Parker Ray was abused by his father and was bullied at school. He killed 60 people, including the torture and rape of many women. Tommy Lynn Sells is known to have killed 22 but is believed to have killed at least 70. Gerald Stano killed 41, Charles Cullen killed 45, and Coral Eugene Watts killed 40. Gary Ridgway confessed to 48 murders. Charles Manson was responsible for 35 ritual murders and tortured animals at satanic rituals. Albert Hamilton Fish was guilty of 15 murders and 100 rapes and setting animals on fire. Henry Lee Lucas, believed responsible for 100 to 200 murders, brutally tortured animals as a child.

Some serial killers become incredibly extreme mass killers.

Ludwig Tiene was an inmate with supervisory authority (often wrongly called an S.S. executioner) at Auschwitz, the Nazi prison camp, and was responsible for killing as many as 100 boys and young men per day! He “strangled, crushed, and gnawed” them to death while he often raped them.

Gilles de Rais lived in the 1400s and was a man of riches, rank, and reputation who fought alongside Joan of Arc. He was also a pervert and was executed after confessing to raping and killing about 200 (some say it was many hundred) children from ages six to 18. De Rais tortured, raped, and killed hundreds of boys (and some girls), after which they were cut apart and burned or eaten. This elegant pervert was devoutly religious (although he sacrificed to demons and made pacts with them), was brave in battle, loved music, and was a fastidious dresser. At his trial, he told the parents of his victims that he was their “brother in Christ.” Hundreds even wept for him as he swung from a rope by his neck. Such gullible fools are always among us, as are serial killers.

Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who died in 1614, was a bisexual serial killer who Guinness World Records labeled as the world’s most prolific female killer. However, the precise number of her victims is debated. Her family controlled Transylvania, and her uncle was the king of Poland.

Báthory and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young women between 1585 and 1609. The torture usually included severe beatings, burning, or mutilation of hands, biting the flesh off the faces, arms, and other body parts, and freezing or starving the victims to death. The highest number of victims cited during the investigation was 650. Because of her family’s status, she was not imprisoned but kept by her family in solitary confinement in a room with blocked windows until her death. Three of her servants who participated in the crimes were executed, and one was sentenced to life in prison.

Obviously, potential serial killers are tragic, troubled, and twisted individuals who need to be identified and helped while it is still possible to help them. Parents and educators are the first lines of defense; however, too many refuse to be sensitive to the problem. And we keep breeding more serial killers.

I don’t mean to be callous, cruel, or careless, but I am far more disturbed about the killer and his victims than I am about animals. Animals are not comparable to humans, as some animal rights fanatics declare. Animals were put on earth for our benefit. There is nothing wrong with using animals for food, work, or entertainment, although no one can defend their mistreatment.

Charles Darwin wrote in The Descent of Man, “There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties.” Darwin was wrong and made a fool of himself in an earlier book where he tried to show mankind evolving from a warm little pond. He had no proof of a little pond and no way to know whether it was cold, tepid, or warm. Or that any life evolved from it.

However, evolutionists keep looking for Darwin’s warm little pond.

God commanded that a beast should not be muzzled in Deuteronomy 25:4: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” In other words, if the beast provides labor, it is only fitting that it should be fed. Proverbs 12:10 declares, “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.”

When a child pulls the tail of a cat or dog, parents should caution the child and make an issue of the incident. It should be a significant teaching moment. Children should be taught to be kind, gentle, gracious, and thoughtful because it is right to be so. Parents should not say, “Don’t pull your dog’s tail; he may bite you.” No, he should not pull the dog’s tail because it is wrong to do so. Kids must be taught the difference between right and wrong in all situations.

Children must grow up with four-letter words that change a person and the world: love, kind, true, good, evil, etc. If children cannot recognize right from wrong, we will keep breeding serial killers.

Children who torture animals may unconsciously be following an ancient notion that they become more powerful by making others suffer. Cannibals believe ingesting another person transfers the victim’s power to the killer. In many parts of the world, torture has been used for millennia by many peoples for many reasons. Today, torture is used to punish people and to procure information and is being used as I write.

Dr. Peter Singer of Princeton University declared to CNN, “I think that a chimpanzee certainly has greater self-awareness than a newborn baby.” Singer also reiterated one of his most controversial positions regarding the right of parents to kill a newborn infant within 28 days of birth if the infant is deemed “severely disabled.” In my opinion, Singer is “severely disabled.”

Dr. Singer proves that all nuts are not on trees or in California.

Many of those same people say it is acceptable to have sex with an animal but not eat one! And, of course, it is permissible for animals to eat each other since there is no way to prohibit that, and that is “natural.” According to some, since animals are equal to humans, it is not only disgusting but criminal to eat them, even if they are bred for that purpose. That belief would sentence the world to starvation.

Many people who don’t believe the Bible use it to prove their point, such as those who tell us that God’s original plan was for mankind to eat plants. They are correct, but when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin came into the world, which changed everything. After the “curse,” animals were acceptable as food. Moreover, animals can be used in scientific experiments that can save the lives of millions of people. Again, one must be thoughtful without being a fanatic.

Children need to be molded, corrected, and guided into adulthood. When a parent sees a mean spirit, rebellion, anger, hatred, selfishness, etc., steps should be taken to resolve those destructive attitudes. If not, a Jeffrey Dahmer is in the making. But such an effort takes time, and most parents are too busy, lazy, or thoughtless to do proper parenting.

There are various and differing interpretations of Proverbs 22:6, but it definitely teaches that parents must talk, teach, and train their children if they want them to be honest, honorable, and hardworking. No parent wants to rear a serial killer or even a disruptive, dishonest, disagreeable, and disobedient child.

However, achieving that goal will require work—another four-letter word not heard much anymore.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 20 books, the most recent, Reflections of a Lifetime Fundamentalist: No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets! The eBook is available at Amazon.com for $4.99. Other titles at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don  Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support  his work with a donation.)

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”  John Bunyan, Baptist Preacher

Stockton, California police arrested Wesley Brownlee in connection with six unprovoked murders of men ages 21 to 54 over the last few months. Five of the six were Latinos. Brownlee is from a broken home and has a criminal record going back decades. At 14, he and friends sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. If found guilty of the murders, he will not be executed but live decades in California’s prison system watching television, lifting weights, and breathing, things his victims no longer do.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informs us that there are about 500 serial killers living among us at all times although most are inactive. Most of them are male and had an unusual relationship with their mother. However, a study reported in The New Yorker says it is 2,000! The tragedy is they could have been identified early if parents, teachers, and physicians recognized their problems.

Americans are always shocked, shaken, and often stunned when a serial killer is caught, followed by revelations that he captured, mutilated, raped, and killed many innocent victims. The question always follows: “Why would anyone do something so heinous?” Answers such as “he had been abused,” “he was on drugs,” or “he was insane” are forthcoming, and for sure, those are answers but only partial answers.

Every person on earth has an evil nature, capable of doing anything under the right circumstances.

In Romans 3, God built a case against man, proving his need for redemption. In Romans 6:23, Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And that is followed in Romans 10:13 with “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That is the answer to mankind’s major problems.

Man’s sinful nature is the short, sure, and simple explanation–but not an excuse or exoneration–for all sins, including serial killings. The real reason for human rape, murder, incest, theft, lust, and anger is that people are evil by nature; but why do only a small percentage of people commit serial killings? There are many secondary reasons for serial killings, and we must ascertain why only a few people become serial killers when everyone is evil by nature.  And we must be able to identify serial killers early.

According to the Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience, “A serial killer is someone who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with a cooling-off period between murders. The motive is usually based on psychological (often sexual) gratification, though the motives may also include anger, thrill, money, and attention seeking.” Furthermore, 40% of them will never be caught.

Michael H. Stone, M.D., in his The Anatomy of Evil, reveals the motives of serial killers generally fall into four categories: first is the visionary who feels compelled by God or the Devil or obscure voices to murder. The second is mission-oriented, seeking to rid the world of homosexuals, prostitutes, Christians, Jews, etc. The third is the hedonistic person who derives pleasure from killing. The fourth is one seeking control over others. The categories overlap considerably.

Is it nature or nurture that determines aggressive, deadly behavior? In other words, is “bad seed” a reality? Do some children inherit inappropriate, even criminal behavior (other than original sin) from their parents? A study that focused on a group of psychopaths who had been adopted as infants showed that their biological relatives were four to five times more likely to be psychopathic than the average person! Researchers note that it is easier for “bad seeds to blossom in bad environments.” Well, that is a given. I am convinced it is not nature or nurture but nature and nurture. This issue needs more in-depth research and goes to the heart of this issue. Whether nature or nurture, each person must be held accountable for his actions.

Serial killers have written gory biographies in blood that demand the attention of normal, decent people.

Dr. H. H. Holmes was America’s first serial killer in the 1890s. He confessed to killing 27 people but claimed that he could not keep from killing people anymore “than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.” Like most lawbreakers, he refused to take responsibility for his own crimes.

Dr. Harold Shipman is considered to be the most prolific serial killer in modern history. He was a British doctor who killed over 200 of his patients. He was arrogant and demanding of underlings at his hospital and never admitted any guilt, although the evidence was overwhelming. He finally hanged himself in his cell in 2004.

A common thread that runs through almost all serial killers is during their youth, they were cruel to animals. The Cohen study (Cohen, W., Congressional Register, 142(141), Oct. 3) confirmed that 46% of convicted multiple murderers admitted to torturing animals. Another study revealed that in every school shooting between 1997 and 2001, every perpetrator was a boy who had committed one or more acts of animal cruelty! More than 90% of serial killers are male.

A police study in Australia revealed that “100 percent of sexual homicide offenders examined had a history of animal cruelty.” Researchers consider this to be a red flag in the backgrounds of rapists and serial killers. FBI agent Robert K. Ressler declared, “These are the kids who never learned it’s wrong to poke out a puppy’s eyes.” Where were the parents of those children? Why would a normal child have to be told that it is wrong to punch out a puppy’s eyes?

Dr. Randall Lockwood reported that researchers, as well as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, have “linked animal cruelty to domestic violence, child abuse, serial killings, and to the recent rash of killings by school-age children.”

The American Humane Association reported in a study of 57 families being treated for incidents of child abuse that 88% had also abused animals.

According to The New York Times (Aug. 7, 1991), the FBI revealed that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appears in its computer records of serial rapists and killers.

Alan R. Felthous reported in his paper “Aggression Against Cats, Dogs, and People”: “A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well, including one patient who had murdered a boy.”

Harold Hovel, Ph.D. of the New York State Humane Association wrote, “Every year, 4000 kids under 18 murder others and 5000 more commit suicide. Virtually all of them were abused and began abusing animals by their teenage years.” The evidence seems to prove that all serial killers were abused as children, and practically all of them tortured animals!  That sounds to me as if serial killers are made in the home by lazy, unconcerned, careless, or thoughtless parents.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead declared, “One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it.” That’s one of the few times I agree with loopy Mead, and I disagree if she was referring to a rat. Killing a rat or similar creature is good, normal behavior; however, torture is always an ominous warning. Why would any sane parent even think of permitting a child to “get away” with cruelty? Such failure contributes to producing a serial killer.

Animal rights extremists teach children to rescue spiders from the bathtub while I teach children to swat every spider, fly, mosquito, and roach in sight. Children must be taught to discern, to debate, and decide between right and wrong based on biblical teaching. While it is acceptable to eat an animal, it is not right to abuse any creature.

The mass killings of 13 and wounding of 20 others at Columbine High School in Colorado by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris reveal that these boys did not wait until adulthood to kill. As teenagers, they progressed from animal abuse to killing their classmates.

The same is true for Kip Kinkel, 15, of Oregon; Kip killed his parents and 2 classmates and wounded 22 more. Luke Woodham, 16, of Pearl, Mississippi, killed his mother and 3 classmates.  Jose Hernandez, 17, killed his father, mother, 6-year-old brother, and 8-month-old brother. Jim Hardy, 17, and 2 friends beat a boy to death to see what it was like.

All of them were known to have tortured animals. No one did anything about it. The facts strongly suggest that all serial killers tortured animals as children after being abused themselves or observing violence in the home. That fact indicates murderers among us can be identified before they kill.

Various studies have consistently shown that mass killers are made in the home. If kids see a parent abuse a spouse, then the child may copy that behavior. In fact, statistics show that 30 percent of children who have witnessed domestic violence will act out a similar type of violence against their pets. If not recognized and treated, that aggression becomes more serious against other children and later against adults. Children who have been physically abused (not to be confused with loving, normal childhood discipline) often torture and kill animals.

There may be explanations for animal abuse by young children that don’t indicate a budding serial killer. Small or undeveloped children (as young as four and usually boys) often want to know “how an animal works,” thereby inflicting pain. Some children don’t understand that animals experience pain, considering them like toys. Others will abuse animals out of boredom which is a reason for children to be required to do chores, do their homework, be supervised, etc. Another explanation for abuse is peer pressure for gang membership. Others will try to identify with their abuser by abusing an animal or smaller child.

Although it is impossible to always predict if a child will grow up to be a serial killer, the three warning signs of future psychopathic behavior are animal torture, prolonged bed-wetting, and an uncontrollable urge to set fires. Criminologists call these symptoms, The Homicidal Triad. Some criminologists and psychologists believe that the combination of two or more of these three behaviors increases the risk of violent behavior in adulthood. While many children wet the bed, this behavior may be a sign of a deeper deviate condition when it continues beyond age 12. Shirley Lynn Scott revealed in What Makes Serial Killers Tick? that over 60% of serial killers were still wetting their beds as adolescents.

There is a common theme to all of the shootings of recent years,” says Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, director of the Child Study Center at New York University. “You have a child who has symptoms of aggression toward his peers, an interest in fire, cruelty to animals, social isolation, and many warning signs that the school has ignored.”

Serial killers are being produced by careless, clueless, and often cruel parents, and the parents, teachers, and physicians must make it a priority to recognize and mitigate the problem.

Potential serial killers don’t have to become killers, but it will require courage, commitment, and consistency to save them and their victims.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 20 books, the most recent, Reflections of a Lifetime Fundamentalist: No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets! The eBook is available at Amazon.com for $4.99. Other titles at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don  Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support  his work with a donation.)

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”  John Bunyan, Baptist Preacher

And it got worse, much worse.

Abundant evidence proves the James and Younger boys were horribly mistreated by many government officials, but mistreatment does not justify thievery and murder.

As the war was winding down, radical Unionists rammed through the Missouri legislature a new constitution that prohibited former Confederates and sympathizers from voting, serving on juries, holding public office, preaching the gospel, etc. That was throwing gasoline on a house fire. Such action was why Time-Life Books declared, “Jesse James (partly) turned to crime as a means of exacting revenge on all things Yankee.”

I found plenty of candidates in assessing blame for the banditry, butchering, and bushwhacking by the James boys. For sure, corrupt government officials, crooked local politicians, and evil relatives were vicious and illegal. Still, Frank and Jesse James became killers because they were raised that way in their “Christian” home!

The James family cannot be faulted for their genes or place in society since Jesse’s ancestors were blue bloods, having arrived early in the Jamestown Colony. Later they fought in the War for Independence, and some were in high political positions. Jesse’s father was a highly respected educator and pastor and provided the family with a good living from the farm and preaching engagements.

In The Rise and Fall of Jesse James, Robertus Love wrote that both the James boys were “schooled deeply in the old-fashioned religion,” and the family attended church regularly. Not remarkable since Dad was the pastor. Moreover, it cannot be argued that Pastor James was a “modernist” or doubter of the validity of Scripture. Furthermore, every indication is he was a good example for his family.

Pastor James loved people and wanted their betterment, as indicated in his being a founder of the William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and planter of various area churches. Some would add that he left the comforts of home to reach people in a westward wagon train and the California goldfields; a decision that cost him his life. I question his motives (which is always dangerous) for going to California.

Pastor James probably went to the gold fields to get away from an overpowering, oppressive, and obnoxious wife— Zerelda, known as Zee! Yes, even Baptists can have such problems, and leaving for the gold fields is never a wise move. Zee, who stood six feet tall, was known as a hard-working, strong-willed farm woman.

I have no problem with that, but the records indicate she was an arrogant, assertive, asinine wench. I do have problems with that as her husband did.

Children need parents to love them, lift them, limit them, lead them, and laugh with them. Robert left that for his wife to do. She failed.

The couple dated during Roberts’ college days, but by the time school ended in the spring of 1841, they were not speaking. It seems Zee was so outspoken that it shocked everyone.  In those days, there was a strong belief that a woman should be silent and not express her views, which was stupid; however, evidently, Zee was outspoken and obnoxious, although orthodox. Robert finally decided he could live with her assertive behavior, and maybe he could change her.

He learned it is not wise to marry with the expectation of changing your spouse.

I believe the historians have missed family and church records that strongly suggest that Frank and Jesse James were made rebels at the family farm by an intimidated (and absent) father and an indulgent (and angry) mother. Such mitigating circumstances are no excuse for rebellion and banditry.

Frank and Jesse watched their father flee the safety, security, if not sanctity of his home when they were 7 and 3 years old, although the record does not reveal major home problems. However, the pastor who preached Jesse’s funeral at First Baptist at Liberty, Rev. J. M. P. Martin, provided convincing evidence of major family problems.

After Robert James left home for the gold fields, Zee married a local dude who tried to discipline the children but was resisted by her. He left her when he realized the total mess of the family and was killed soon thereafter. Zee then married a local doctor, Archie Samuels.

Pastor Martin declared Zee James’ character was “so shady that her husband, himself a Baptist minister, had to leave her and that neighborhood and sought surroundings more compatible with his ministerial work in California. Mrs. James married a man named Samuels who lacked any force of character and was simply a chore boy about his wife’s place. Mrs. Samuels upheld her sons in their work and was, indeed, able to secure almost anything at her bidding under threat of having her much feared sons set upon her enemies.”

According to the pastor, Zerelda was “shady,” and her husband “had to leave her,” but that is not true. He was not forced to leave; he had promised to leave his father and his mother and “cleave unto his wife,” becoming one flesh.  Pastor James did not cleave, but he did leave an oppressive wife under convincing cover of “preaching to the lost miners.”

Pastor Martin referred to Dr. Samuels as lacking “any force of character” and was an appendage to the family. Dr. Samuels believed in the physical discipline of children, moreover, this is a major problem Zee had with her second husband. His “lack of affection for them and his use of corporal punishment, which Zerelda did not approve of, resulted in the failure of the marriage.” He quickly analyzed the family, took off, and had a fatal interaction with a horse.

Children growing up in a home without discipline are like animals in a corral.

Zee was quick to defend her boys from any criticism at the drop of a bonnet and conducted a personal public relations campaign about how the James-Younger Gang were Robin Hood figures taking from the haves (rich Yankees) and giving to the have nots (poor Southerners).

Martin declares Zee was known to use her notoriety to force her way on others. He reveals how she boarded a train in Kearney to St. Joseph and refused to pay the fare. When the conductor insisted, Mrs. James revealed “her maternal relations with the James boys and threatened to have him shot to pieces if he refused her free passage.”

Mrs. James (now Samuels) made Jesse’s funeral arrangements without consulting those involved with the funeral. A person needing a funeral will always ask the pastor if he is willing to preach the funeral in his church and decide on the day and time of the service. Not her. She informed the pastor when the funeral would take place only “a few hours before the time she had set for the obsequies.”  The young pastor was inclined to disavow any funeral at his church since he was “not accustomed to having his pastoral work dictated by those who were not even members of his flock.”  His church members convinced him to go along with her.

When First Baptist of St. Joseph refused to have Jesse’s funeral, Pastor Martin of First Baptist in Kearney agreed to do so at the request of Jesse’s mother. The Weekly Gazette reported “more than 350 packed the church and the preacher refused to mention Jesse’s name. He read from Job 14:1 ‘Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.’ He called on those present to repent, and they sang What a Friend I (sic) Have in Jesus.”

The casket was taken to the Samuels’ farm and placed in a bedroom where Jesse’s stepbrother John Samuels lay wounded in bed.

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that Zee said, “Johnny, my boy, look upon your sainted brother Jesse, your murdered brother Jesse. Look upon him, and then look upon your poor broken-hearted, shattered mother. He is dead. They have killed him, your poor brother Jesse. He is in heaven. He has gone to God, and God will judge him. He is taken from me, and I have no one now to lean upon. Johnny, live for your mother – your poor, heartbroken mother.”

The coffin was then carried outside and placed on some chairs in the yard. Zee approached the coffin and wailed, “My heart is broken, my heart is broken, broken, broken. Oh, my heart is broken. They have killed my sainted son.”

Jesse’s mother didn’t understand that Jesse, not she, was the main attraction that day, but she had to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. She wailed loudly, “My heart is broken, my heart is broken, broken, broken. Oh, my heart is broken. They have killed my sainted son.”

When visitors stopped at the farm to see his grave, Zee charged them 25 cents and sold rocks from his grave. Since there were only a few rocks on and near the grave, she replenished them from a nearby river. For an additional fee, she gave paid tours of the farm, a practice Frank continued in his final years.

One cannot be positive but after viewing the evidence, I am convinced the whole family was a victim of a wild, willful, and wicked time and location. However, others lived under the same circumstances and had a normal life. The James boys had the added problem of a self-centered, egotistical mother and a subdued, then absent father, and were unwilling to swim against the tide.

And went over the falls as many families are doing today.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 20 books, the most recent, Reflections of a Lifetime Fundamentalist: No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets! The eBook is available at Amazon.com for $4.99. Other titles at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support  his work with a donation.)

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

While Jesse was a member of a Baptist Church, he never experienced the New Birth, and he has been followed by other Baptists up to our day who were deceitful, devious, and despicable people.  Modern Baptists were often wicked and bigger thieves than Jesse, but they are still famous heroes of industry, education, public service, and the ministry.

But they never wore masks and carried handguns. I can think of a few rather quickly:

Some Baptists that swiftly come to mind are oil tycoon J. D. Rockefeller, Modernist preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, President Harry Truman (Democrat who was as clean as a hound’s tooth), and President Warren G. Harding (Republican who lived like a hound dog). Harding had a 15-year sordid affair and paid hush money to his mistress following his election to the presidency.

Other Baptists were Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid), an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch; corrupt Democrat Congressman Adam Clayton Powell (and pastor of a large Baptist Church in Harlem); adulterer and shake-down artist Jesse Jackson; Al Gore; Bill Clinton; Jimmy Carter; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Ralph Abernathy; and others. No need to comment on the last five named.

Even if Jesse had been a “Robin Hood,” it would not be commendable or mitigate his guilt. The mythical Robin was still a thief, and it is never right to do wrong to do right, and principled poor people would never accept stolen money.

In 1866, at 19, Jesse joined Mount Olive Baptist Church in Centerville, Missouri, with both names changed to First Baptist Church of Kearney, Missouri in 1872. As it appears in the church minutes of November 1867, his name was spelled Jessie. After his last name, the word excluded was added two years later, apparently at his request.

The evidence indicates Jesse was a church member in good standing when he led his James-Younger Gang to rob the Clay County Saving Association Bank in Liberty, a town about ten miles away, on February 13, 1866. Ten miles seems awfully close to home to rob a bank, but thieves don’t qualify for membership in Mensa (I.Q. requirement of 132). The gang made off with more than $60,000 in cash and bonds, more than a million dollars in today’s dollars. Tragically, an innocent boy was killed during their escape.

When the church members heard the next day that one of their members was moonlighting as a bank robber, they knew the Bible and church charter required Jesse to be confronted, followed by his remorse, repentance, and restitution. If he refused, he would have to be removed. The church minutes indicated they were fearful Jesse would burn down the church. The two appointed men never found time to visit Jesse with a Matthew 18 confrontation. However, they were armed with a Bible passage, and Jesse was armed with two Smith & Wesson .45 revolvers.

At the next business meeting, it was revealed that Jesse had not been confronted, and he showed up late for that meeting. He did not want to cause any embarrassment to the church and requested his name be removed from the roll, and the church obliged.

I assume he did not tithe on the loot.

In a church business meeting in 1869, the minutes reveal that the church sent two men to “visit Bro. Jessy [sic] James and ascertain his reasons for wishing his name withdrawn from our church book.” The men were instructed to report the results at the following business meeting, at which Jesse was removed as a church member. The motion was passed with no knowledge of any vote count or discussion.

The church was right and resolute, if not rash, in removing Jesse from the church membership; however, it was an explosive matter, so most people would advise them not to hurry.

Jesse James’ church cannot be faulted for its dealings with him. They did not defend him, nor did they consider him a hero or Robin Hood. Their present pastor takes the same position today.

First Baptist Church had done the honorable and scriptural thing and removed a member who did not live up to his profession. The church action was not one of anger, vindictiveness, or self-righteousness but an act of love. Had Jesse confessed his sins and faced justice, he would have been forgiven and continued in the church fellowship.

And died peacefully in bed rather than being shot in the head.

This is one of the major failures of most churches today: the refusal to deal with hypocrites who refuse to live as they agreed to live when joining the church. Many Roman Catholic Democrats are another excellent example of people who profess one thing and live another. Every politician in Washington should be removed from church membership if they refuse to follow the teaching they agreed to follow when joining their church.

Think, abortion.

And homosexuality.

And transgenderism.

It is outrageous to think Jesse and Frank could attend church on Sunday and rob the Liberty bank on Monday without spiritual repercussions. First Baptist of Kearney is to be commended for its willingness to do the right thing.

Pastor Harris of First Baptist in St. Joseph, where Jesse was killed, refused to host his funeral. Even so, Rev. J. M. P. Martin, pastor of First Baptist in Kearney (that had expelled Jesse), agreed to do so at the request of Jesse’s mother, a former member and Sunday School teacher.

As reported in the June 11, 1882, edition of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, Pastor Harris said, “Jesse James was not a member of any Baptist church [at the time], Baptists did not weep at his funeral, and a Baptist minister did not eulogize him.” Pastor Harris of First Baptist, St. Joseph, was taking the heat from unfair, uninformed, and untruthful Baptist critics.  Jesse was buried in the church cemetery after his original burial on his family farm, where his mother gave guided tours to paying customers.

My research indicates that Frank and Jesse, along with the Younger Brothers and other members, were doubtlessly killers and thieves. That is also true of Quantrill’s Raiders and “Bloody” Bill Anderson. However, some declare they were patriots who refused to recognize Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, choosing to carry on a guerrilla war against the Union. Their robberies were to finance an uprising of the Confederacy. That theory is as outrageous as the Robin Hood myth.

Cole Younger admitted in his autobiography that his brothers, Jim and Bob, sang in a church choir in 1870 and 1871. After 25 years in prison for a Minnesota bank robbery, Cole was paroled in 1901. During a hot August night at an evangelistic meeting, Cole kissed his niece on the cheek, raised himself from his chair, and walked down the church aisle while the choir sang the famous hymn Just as I Am, Without One Plea But that Thy Blood Was Shed for Me.

Cole Younger hit the sawdust trail on the 50th anniversary of Quantrill’s raid in Lawrence, Kansas, and spent the next 13 years telling people about Christ’s saving and forgiving power.

The ridiculous theory of the gangsters being patriots instead of thieves was woven out of whole cloth. But it gets even weirder as Jesse and Frank are said to have been dedicated church members, with Frank teaching a Sunday School class and Jesse even serving as pastor under an assumed name! With everyone in the county knowing who he was.

A highly qualified author and acquaintance of mine Dr. Edward DeVries took the above view in the January/February 2020 Barnes Review article. He even declares that Quantrill and “Bloody” Bill Anderson were “born again Christians.” Of course, all Christians are born again.

DeVries declares, “At different times, Jesse would pastor the New Hope Baptist, Providence Baptist and Pisgah Baptist churches that had been pastored by his father before him. He would also pastor the Samuel’s Depot Baptist Church in Kentucky and, for a time, even fill the pulpit for a Methodist church.”

Extraordinary charges require extensive evidence that the author does not give; however, it must be understood that Dr. DeVries had preached and spoken in the three Missouri churches. Moreover, his honesty and ability are without question, in my opinion.

Like many modern Baptists, Frank and Jesse were not held down long enough at their baptism, as I humorously say. The issue is not baptism but belief in a resurrected Christ.

Frank, Jesse, and their family discovered too late that it is better to have never been born than not to have been born again.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 20 books, the most recent, Reflections of a Lifetime Fundamentalist: No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets! The eBook is available at Amazon.com for $4.99. Other titles at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support  his work with a donation.)

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

On June 29, 1843, Robert James graduated from Georgetown College, the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains.  He later earned a master’s degree.  Robert was considered a skilled orator, faithful pastor, and educator. He was one of the founders of William Jewell College in 1849 in Liberty, Missouri.

As a pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Holt, he baptized as many as 60 converts in a day. Jesse James’ son wrote that when 60 people were baptized, his father (the future bank robber and killer) was 14 months old and was held aloft to observe the unusual ceremony. Jesse’s son also contends that his father was baptized near that spot when he returned home wounded in the Border War.

Robert James was not paid much by his congregation and supported his family by farming. Before leaving to do evangelistic work in the California goldfields, he had founded Baptist Churches in New Hope and Providence. In 1849, he organized Pisgah Baptist Church in Excelsior Springs. During his eight years of pastoring in Missouri, he was paid less than $100 for his service.

Robert’s sons may have been thieves, but he was not a thief. Robert and Zerelda whom he called Zee had two sons, Frank (born January 10. 1843) and Jesse (born September 5, 1847). A third child, Susan, was born in1849, and all were active in the church.

When Jesse was about three years old, his father was asked to be the chaplain for a wagon train to the goldfields of California in 1850. As his father left their small home, Jesse clung to his legs begging with tears for him not to go. His father died of cholera in a small gold camp and was buried in an unmarked grave. Who knows how Jesse James would have turned out if his father had been first a father, then a preacher?

The James family were slave owners and were known for being kind to them, even permitting slave children to sleep in the main house. When the war ended and slaves were freed, their former slaves remained at the farm for many years.

Zee James married two more times and she and the boys soon began attending Mount Olive Baptist Church in Centerville (Centerville would later be renamed, Kearney, and Mount Olive became known as First Baptist in 1872). In 1852, Frank and Jesse’s mother married a neighboring farmer who quickly left her, and before she filed for divorce, he died in a horse accident. The undertaker arrived before the divorce lawyer.  She married a third time to Dr. Archie Reuben Samuels in 1855, who took an interest in the family’s welfare and increased the size of the farm. He also took an interest in one of their female slaves and fathered a child by her.

After the start of Lincoln’s War of Northern Aggression in 1861, Frank joined the Confederate Army and was soon discharged. Eighteen-year-old Frank joined Quantrill’s Raiders, a guerrilla group known as Bushwhackers that harassed Union soldiers and sought to protect southern sympathizers along the Missouri-Kansas border. Most of Quantrill’s guerrilla fighters were teenagers, one only 13.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Eastern Kansas was settled by abolitionists who formed into merciless, marauding, and murdering anti-slavers called Jayhawkers and another group known as Red Legs, both supporting the North. As a young member of the Red Legs, Buffalo Bill Cody admitted, “We were the biggest thieves on record.”

The hatred between slaveholders (southerners) and abolitionists (northerners) along the Missouri-Kansas border was equally fierce. There was not much civil about the Civil War. Civilians were killed with impunity, prisoners were mutilated and slaughtered, crops were destroyed, stock animals killed or driven off, and homes were left ablaze. All because some states wanted to leave the union as was understood as possible when they joined!

For others, the issue was whether or not to permit slavery.

These “soldiers,” allegedly in the cause of the Union, attacked people in Jackson and Clay Counties in Western Missouri who  were mainly Southern sympathizers. Many towns were burned to the ground, and many slaves were freed. The Union marauders drove off cattle and horses, killed the men, and terrorized the women. In retaliation, the southern sympathizers fought back and were called Bushwhackers. Each man was known to have eight loaded pistols at all times. Their most infamous leader was Charles W. Quantrill, a drifter or dedicated southern leader, depending on whom you believe. Union troops often shot Bushwhackers on sight.

Seeking recognition and acceptance, Quantrill traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to receive a regular Confederacy command under the Partisan Ranger Act; however, the southern officials already knew his reputation for brutality, and he was denied a commission. Some southerners continued to defend him.

When Quantrill and his Bushwhackers attacked Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21, 1863, they cited the deeds of the Red Legs as their motive for their attack on the town. About 400 guerrillas attacked the town and killed about 185 men, robbed two banks, and burned most of the town. Frank James participated in the massacre along with future outlaws such as the Younger brothers who later became part of the James-Younger Gang. Jesse boasted that he had also been there, but his boast is suspect. All outlaws have a tendency to exaggerate and embellish the facts.

Quantrill himself said his motivation for the attack was “to plunder and destroy the town in retaliation” for earlier Union action in Osceola when nine leading men were executed by Union officials. Others say the retaliation was because Jayhawkers had taken wives and sisters of the Bushwhackers and imprisoned them in a weak, three-story building in Kansas City that collapsed, killing four of them.

Just three months after the Lawrence raid, a party of Union soldiers invaded the James’ farm looking for information about the location of Quantrill’s camp.  Fifteen-year-old Jesse was horsewhipped when he refused to answer the soldiers’ questions. Jesse’s step-father was questioned and then hanged from a barn rafter, although Jesse saved his life by cutting him down and then shot one soldier as the others fled. Jesse ran into the farmhouse and shot a soldier who was raping his mother. He killed two soldiers that day and fled into the woods to join Frank and the raiders. Dr. Samuels was feeble-minded after that event and died in an insane asylum.

Jesse, now 16, followed Frank as a Bushwhacker led by “Bloody” Bill Anderson, who decorated his horse’s bridle with scalps of Union soldiers he had killed. On September 27, 1864, in Centralia, Missouri, the guerilla group apprehended 24 unarmed Union soldiers from a train and executed them as they were going home on furlough. Pursued by Union troops, the Bushwhackers managed to kill more than another hundred Northerners. Frank and Jesse were involved, and Jesse was credited with killing eight soldiers.

When the war ended, Jesse and Frank, like many others, saw massive inequities as Northerners took vengeance against the southerners, and Reconstruction only magnified the sense of unfairness. Jesse and Frank, the four Younger Brothers, and others fled to the hills and continued to raid, rob, and kill. Many people defended these outlaws because of the persecution their families suffered during the war.

The war ended in April of 1865, and in May Jesse rode into Lexington, Missouri, with a white flag in an attempt to surrender to Union troops. A Union soldier shot him in the chest, but he managed to flee to safety and recuperate. This was often used by confederate sympathizers to excuse gangster activities. They were “forced” into criminal life by the victorious and still-vengeful Yankees.

When Jesse was 18 years old, the James-Younger gang of 10 or 12  robbed the Clay County Savings in Liberty in 1866, a few months after the Civil War came to an end. The Younger boys are falsely said to be cousins of the James. This robbery was only a year before Jesse’s name was added to the Mount Olive Baptist Church! Ironically, Liberty was the location of the college Jesse and Frank’s father helped establish. The young gang of thieves stole over $60,000 in cash and bonds, and an innocent teenage boy was killed during their escape.

When banks became larger, more protected, and got time-release safes, the James-Younger gang changed with the times and robbed stagecoaches and trains. Jesse, and especially his mother, promoted his criminal activities as a kind of Robin Hood, taking only from Northern banks—which only the mentally challenged believed.

In 1874, Jesse and Frank took blushing brides and tried to live anonymously, robbing, and killing periodically but moving frequently. They had been chased for years by the Pinkerton Detective Agency without any success. In 1875, a group of Pinkerton agents surrounded the James’ farm and threw a smoke bomb into the house, and Archie Samuels (Jesse and Frank’s half-brother) threw it into the fireplace where it exploded, killing Archie. Their mother’s right arm was injured, resulting in amputation below the elbow.

The media reported the device was a “bomb” which resulted in even more local sympathy for the James boys and increased hatred of government. It also gave some credibility to them being forced into criminal behavior. Years later, a letter by Pinkerton was found in the Library of Congress in which Pinkerton declared his intention to “burn the house down.”

Following a badly botched robbery of First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1876, the robbery spree came to an end. Two of the gang members were killed, and the Younger Brothers were injured and sentenced to life in prison. Frank and Jesse escaped unharmed back to Missouri.

Jesse’s wife had a baby, and he rented a farm in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1881 under the alias of Tom Howard. The governor and the Pinkertons announced a $10,000 reward for Jesse, dead or alive. Jesse, feeling a need for protection, hired Charles and Robert Ford to live with him not knowing they had bargained with the governor to betray Jesse.

After breakfast on April 3, 1882, Charles and Robert were in the living room, and Jesse walked in and laid his gun belt on a table, something he had never done. Looking at a wall picture, Jesse stood on a chair to dust (or straighten) the picture, and Bob Ford shot him in the back of his head, killing him. Jesse was dead at 34, and the song, “The dirty little coward shot Mr. Howard has laid Jesse James in his grave,” expressed the attitude of many.

Frank James surrendered to officials on October 5, 1882, was tried and found not guilty, and died at the age of 72 from natural causes at the James’ farm on February 18, 1915. During their 15-year crime spree, the James-Younger Gang committed 26 holdups taking more than $200,000 and killed more than 24 men from Iowa to Texas and Kansas to Huntington, West Virginia.

Jesse’s funeral was held at what is now First Baptist Church of Kearney, Missouri and where Jesse had been a member. The principled pastor refused to say a word about him but warned people that sin will kill, and Christ is the answer for every person’s need of salvation—a salvation that always results in a change of behavior.

Jesse and Frank were Baptists but were not genuine Christians, as is true of many church members today.

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 20 books, the most recent, Reflections of a Lifetime Fundamentalist: No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets! The eBook is available at Amazon.com for $4.99. Other titles at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don  Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support  his work with a donation.)

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

What many authorities overlook is that evil people don’t need a motive. They do evil because they are evil. Often, they think they are doing the world a favor by eliminating prostitutes, politicians, or perceived threats to the killer or to society.

While it is always shocking to learn of serial killings, they are going on all the time–usually done by men with women as their victims. Serial killers have an average I.Q. of 94.5; however, they come from all segments of society, even medical doctors.

A new report released this week in The New Yorker reveals “there are probably around 2,000 serial killers at large in the U.S.,” not the 500 as reported by the FBI! Researcher Thomas Hargrove has catalogued 751,785 murders since 1976. The FBI has 27,000 fewer in their records because some states do not report the cases to the FBI as required by law.

While the authorities want to apprehend serial killers since there are 1400 unsolved murders linked through DNA at present, I am interested in where those killers came from. The fact is, they come from our homes, and usually the future serial killers are nourished and developed unknowingly toward their future activities.

So, how does a family rear a serial killer–if one wanted to do such a monstrous thing?

It’s really not too complicated nor does it take much work to rear a serial killer. The secret is in what you don’t do. You don’t try to mold him; you don’t read the Bible to him; you don’t pray with him; you don’t show love and consideration in the home; you don’t discipline him; you don’t permit him to grow up with any structure; you don’t make him go to school and learn; you don’t make him work. In other words, let him grow up like a wild animal!

To raise a serial killer you will permit your child to do what he wants to do. Seldom let him hear the word no. Such a word can be frustrating to a young person. Permit him to do what he wants; after all, he is a person with as many rights as you. Who are you to tell him what to do? You are only a parent.

Furthermore, don’t ever discipline him. Let him grow up naturally, maybe like a weed. He will develop at his own speed naturally. Don’t try to guide, grade, and goad him. After all, natural is always best.

Don’t ever, under any circumstances, lay a hand on him, after all that is usually called child abuse. He should know that there are no rules, no regulations, and no requirements in his life. He can do what he wants when he wants to do it with no repercussions.

When he learns vulgar talk from older boys don’t show alarm, anger, or agitation. After all, it is only words and words can’t harm anyone, can they?

When he shows a mean streak, don’t try to force your sense of morality upon him. He can form his own standards of right and wrong. But really, who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Since there are no absolutes, there are no standards, so anything is right depending on the circumstances.

If he shows any interest in Sunday School and church, do not encourage him. In fact, forbid him to attend. It is coercion for you to get him dressed and take him by the hand to Sunday School and church. He may have Bible teaching forced down his throat, and you sure don’t want that, do you? Haven’t you heard about kids who were forced to go to church and it drove them insane?

If he goes to Sunday School and youth meetings he will learn to sing, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong.” He may even learn to sing the catchy ditty, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” He will learn from that song that God loves everyone; that people of all races are equal in God’s sight and are to be respected and loved.

Such songs suggest that Jesus is God and that may offend Muslim friends in the neighborhood or school. After all, Allah should have equal billing with Jesus and permit kids to decide whether they want to be Christians or Islamists. Your serial-killer-in-the-making is forming his life’s standards so don’t try to influence him in the “right” way because who are you to say what is right?

Moreover, at church he will no doubt be taught the Ten Commandments are to be obeyed by everyone at all times followed by consequences if they are not kept. That is too much stress for a kid to live with. If he hears much about the Ten Commandments, he may think he is expected to obey them. What kind of a life would he have if he thinks it is always wrong to lie? Everyone lies now and then. People are deceptive, disingenuous, and even dishonest every day. It’s a fact of life. What kind of life will he have if he believes he has to tell the truth all the time?

Another commandment that will surely frustrate and anger him is the one that forbids adultery. Now, no kid, especially a boy, should have to worry about that. After all, boys will be boys. A little fornication now and then is expected.

The one commandment you absolutely do not want to force upon him is the one that forbids murder, not if you want to raise a serial killer. So, he must not believe that life is sacred. He must not respect anyone. He must not be taught that murderers will be judged here and hereafter. His immediate desires are all that is important. If he shows rage and hatred, then those are precursors of violence later in life.

Keep him away from the Bible that teaches self-restraint, kindness, love, generosity, gentleness, and thoughtfulness. For sure, you do not want him to obey Christ’s command in Matt. 22:37-39, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Obeying such a commandment will not help you produce a serial killer.

So, you have been successful in keeping your child away from Christian influence; you have never disciplined him; he has never exercised self-control; he does what he wants, goes where he wants, wears what he wants, and says what he wants. He is selfish, mean-spirited, angry at the world, and determined to have his own way at all times, so you have prepared him to become a serial killer. But he has much further to go before he makes the big time, goes to prison, or is executed.

Since he has been reared in a home without perimeters, without love, and without discipline, he probably is insecure and has major personality disorders. He may be wetting the bed often even as he grows older and if he likes to start fires, you may have a very violent boy in your home.

Soon, you will notice that his rage and lack of control is taken out on his toys then small animals. Even as young as four he may show a lack of concern for a cat or dog. He will get pleasure in pulling tails and ears and throwing pets around. When he plunges a cat into kerosene or gasoline and sets them on fire, you have made a potential killer.

You are almost there.

When he is a teen, you will notice that he is angry, out of control, hates school, is a loner, and is a bully–depending on his size. By this time, you are getting concerned over the problems in the school and neighborhood so you are forced into getting him help. He will probably end up on a highly potent medicine that may accelerate his personality disorders that have developed over his short life.

With the addition of mind-altering drugs, you have a disturbed, dangerous, even deadly teen who can explode any moment. That moment could be when he puts on a trench coat, gets access to weapons, and explodes during the beginning of his math class making headlines as a teen mass killer.

Or, he will more likely seethe in abnormal, antagonistic anger and sexual frustration killing a fellow college student, more often than not, a woman. Seventy percent of serial killers’ victims are women. And, it will usually be a sexual killing. If he gets away with that killing, he may go on to more.

Bingo, you have produced a serial killer.

Boys’ book  Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! is available  here. An eBook edition is also available.

Furthermore, Europe has been pursuing the persecution of thought crimes for many years.

Recently, a man in England was sentenced to prison for 20 months for “publishing threatening written material…against Muslims.” Furthermore, any German who incites “racial hatred” even if there is no violence, can go to jail for five years! Has WW II been nullified? German jackboots are fashionable again and are stamping hard on the neck of free speechers.

All sensible, sane, and scared people are shocked about crime and want it punished and if possible, see the perpetrator redeemed, rehabilitated, and returned to society. But we are witnessing something I never expected to see: punishment for displeasing, dissenting, even disgusting speech! I thought Liberals believed in freedom–even freedom to be disgustingly abhorrent.

Hatred of persons is always a sin, and no Christian should be guilty of such a sin; however, we must never permit the government, courts, media, etc., to define “hate” or to criminalize it. I have been called a hater many times by homosexuals (because I teach that their lifestyle is a deadly sin) and by anti-death penalty people (who think it is all right to butcher babies in the womb but not execute killers) and by reverse discriminators who think minorities deserve special treatment (while I believe all people should be treated like people–made in the image of God). I’ve lost track of the Muslims who want to take me out.

Question for the haters on the left: is it possible to be critical of abortion, homosexuality, reverse discrimination, etc. without being a hater or bigot? I have often asked that question but never received an answer.

We are seeing crimes punished more severely if they are determined to be “hate” crimes; however, aren’t all crimes hate crimes? If they are not, what are they? Surely not “love” crimes. So people are being punished more severely because of what they thought and said! Speaking of the slippery slope!

Most common people want crime to be punished to the extent of the law taking into account any extenuating circumstances. For instance, a molester should go to jail if he fondles a woman in an elevator. If he is beaten by her husband, the husband should be fined or get probation, but not jail. Maybe a $10 fine or 45 minutes of community service.

A granddad that beats a pervert for trying to seduce his grandson in a restroom should be reminded that the law should take care of the offending pervert, but granddad should not go to jail. There are circumstances that require leniency. I wouldn’t have a parade for grandpa but maybe an honorable mention at the next city council meeting and make him “Granddad of the Year” but no punishment.

Yes, punish the criminal but don’t try to punish his thoughts; after all, who can really know what is in a person’s mind? Sure, if a villain yells epithets at his victim he reveals something of his mind, but what of those who have hatred in their hearts but never reveal it? No, let’s punish the person for his or her crime, not thoughts, speeches, and motives.

While I’m here, I must point out that the jerks in the media and government often refuse to call it a hate crime when a Muslim kills a few people shouting praises to Allah as he departs this life for parts unknown. Well, I know where he’s going and it ain’t Paradise and he won’t be spending any time with virgins on soft, green cushions.

Canada is a nation that has traveled this road where it is illegal to criticize homosexuals, transgenders, Muslims, and others in public. When I cross the border, I could be arrested or at least refused entrance because of some of my books dealing with homosexuality, Islam, etc.

Moreover, a comedian in Canada was fined $42,000 for telling a joke about a disabled child! All right, it was crass and cruel, but not criminal.

Recently Canada even passed a law making it a crime to use the wrong pronouns when speaking of people! You could be fined, jailed, and forced to endure an anti-bias training if you refuse to swallow the progressive gender nonsense.

Last week a Canadian landlord was fined $12,000 for not removing his shoes when he entered his rental apartment of a Muslim couple who owed him rent! He showed hate and was offensive by not removing his shoes!

Our friends to the North are making fools of themselves and European politicians stumble all over each other to see who can be more “progressive.”

Boris Le Lay is a French dissident and blogger who has been sentenced to two years in prison for being critical of Third World immigration into France! He also bad-mouthed his Black Muslim judge! Evidently, Le Lay may be the boldest, bravest blogger in the blogosphere but not the brainiest.

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Vals listed four limits to free speech. “There is a fundamental difference between the freedom to be impertinent and anti-Semitism, racism, glorification of terrorist acts, and Holocaust denial, all of which are crimes that justice should punish with the most severity.” Really, the death penalty? Moreover, who decides what qualifies for any punishment? After all, heroes on the left like Mandela and Arafat criticized Whites and Jews and did terrorist acts, yet they each received the Nobel Prize! Don’t the same rules apply to leftists, socialists, and Communists that apply to normal people?

Did you know that it is illegal in Germany to deny the holocaust? If you don’t believe what officials want you to believe, they will imprison you! Of course, Hitler killed Jews but is it a crime to not believe that? Did you know that you only have to suggest that six million Jews were not killed by Hitler, and you will go to jail? If you quote Jewish experts who agree that the six million figure was inflated, you can go to jail! In fact, well-known historians have been imprisoned for years for that “crime.” That is where we are headed in this country.

Twelve nations punish people who question Hitler’s slaughter of Jews: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Switzerland—have criminalized Holocaust denial as punishable with imprisonment! Holocaust denial may be inaccurate and insane, but should it be illegal?

It is incredible that Christians, no, just sane people, in Canada and Germany would permit speech to be criminalized. Many of them don’t even know it is going on. “But Hitler was a monster.” Of course he was, but if the six million number is inaccurate, do you want to perpetuate that error? Would Hitler be any less a monster if he killed “only” three million Jews?

It would also be interesting to know why almost all the people who call Hitler a monster, don’t feel the same way about Marx, Lenin, and Stalin! Stalin killed far more people than Hitler, and Stalin killed his own people!

But the Gestapo spirit still lives and rules in Germany but modernized since they have criminalized the internet. The President of the Federal Criminal Police said, “Our free society must not allow a climate of fear, threat, criminal violence and violence either on the street or on the internet.” Therefore, social media users face up to five years in prison for “inciting racial hatred,” even if no physical violence is committed. Ah yes, such laws would make Goebbels, Goring, and Eichmann stand up and cheer!

These laws are supposed to punish discrimination but anyone who reads English can see that those laws are themselves discriminatory! Whatever happened to the noble principle of freedom of thought and expression? Can’t civilized people discuss anything without bellicosity? Hey, we question religion, existence of God, age of the earth. wars, motives, vaccinations, so why not question and debate any issue? The truth has nothing to fear from doubt, discussion, and debate.

Regarding motives, it didn’t help “inferior” victims to know that Hitler wanted a “pure” race and that Stalin wanted to kill a few million only as a political decision. Nothing personal; the victims only lived in the wrong place or were of the “wrong” race. But they were all very much dead.

Teaching Bible truths is not hate, and I will never permit anyone to tell me what to preach or write. There are not enough federal agents with all their guns, badges, warrants, etc., to influence my ministry. Period!

Let me make it very clear: I don’t hate anyone. In fact, I’m a lover. I try to get along with everyone. While I don’t like liberals, I do love them. After all, Christ died for them also. And a few of them may be in Heaven!

Many U.S. authorities may be liberals and globalists, but they aren’t idiots. Well, all of them aren’t. They know there are millions of us who will not accept “hate crime” legislation, but they will get our children and grandchildren! They are working on it today!

Your children are being brainwashed through public education, music, television, and movies. They are being taught that they should never criticize anyone or anything–well, except those odd Christians. They should never make a judgment that any value is better than another. Voodoo worship in Haiti is just as acceptable as the worship of a holy, loving, sovereign God! They must not “demean” others by suggesting that their lifestyle is less honorable than another’s.

Unless God sends a sweeping revival and parents take control of their children’s total education, the next generation is gone. Even now, younger people nod their heads and say, “Well, after all, the Bible does say, ‘Judge not.’” And that’s about the extent of their Bible knowledge, and it’s twisted knowledge.

Federal hate crime laws are in the works and you will be pommeled by prosecutors if leftist Republicans and Democrats have their way. Our critics on the left are preaching tolerance as they prepare shackles and prisons for those who disagree with them! We Christians may go to prison for our convictions but we will never build prisons for those who disagree with us and criticize us.

Hypocrites on the left have no shame.

Boys’ new book Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! was published by Barbwire Books; to get your copy, click here. An eBook edition is also available.

The team played four games after the attack while the victim was agonizing in the hospital! Why didn’t the team return to Chattanooga immediately after the crime? After much discussion, debate, and dawdling, the remainder of the basketball season was cancelled. Many school employees are not sleeping well and some are “lawyering up.”

Preceding the rape, at least three other boys were kicked, punched, and thrown to the ground and hit with pool sticks but returned home with no injuries according to two mothers who spoke to the Times Free Press. They said the beatings were done “on a regular basis in the locker room.” Media reports have quoted family members of freshmen as saying there has been “an ongoing pattern of assaults allegedly committed under the guise of hazing.” WRCB-TV suggested that such beatings were a “ritual.” Others charged that beatings and hazing were common in other sports at the school.

There is no way the coaching staff could not know about such activities. Why were they not fired months ago or at least after this incident?

The school superintendent called this a “tragedy” but if reports are true then it was a crime. Three teens have been charged with aggravated rape and aggravated assault. One of the three thugs videoed the whole incident! In addition to the horrific rape, the asinine arrogance of the three criminals to record the attack on a cell phone is astounding! Could it be that such an atmosphere has been cultivated through the years by numerous staff, teachers, and students?

Hamilton County School Superintendent Rick Smith promised he was “going to work very hard and very diligently within our staff, our school board and the community at large to develop the kind of safeguards that will hopefully prevent this from ever happening again.” Hey Smitty, how about suggesting the prosecution of the criminals–as adults? What about firing incompetent adults?

Ooltewah athletic director Jesse Nayadley told the Times Free Press that the three players have been dismissed from the team and Superintendent Smith told the paper that they are treating this as a “very serious long-term suspension matter.” You’ve got to be kidding. You suspend students for shooting spitballs at the teacher’s back. (That sure dates me.) Or, for fighting in the cafeteria. Or, for pouring sugar in the principal’s gas tank. For rape, you expel and insist on jail time.

A Chattanooga attorney representing Ooltewah High School basketball coach said the actions of three team members should not diminish the coach’s reputation or his contributions to the school. That was a paid attorney talking and as long as money continues to be dropped in, he will continue to talk. If the coach is not responsible, then who is?

I was administrator of a large Christian school in Indianapolis for eight years with a big athletic program (as Christian schools go) and I expected the coach to be in total control. If things went astray he was responsible. But ultimately, I was responsible.

However, Smith says no adult was culpable, but how does he know? Someone was sure liable. When students are at school or a school function, school officials are responsible in place of the parents. How many students was each chaperone responsible for? Who was responsible for that cabin where the crime occurred? What was he doing at the time?

Heads should roll starting with the school superintendent, athletic director, coach, principal, and any responsible chaperone, and any others in administration who countenanced a hazing atmosphere. If that victim had been my son, I would demand that heads really roll! Moreover, all students who knew of the assault and did nothing should also be expelled and considered for criminal prosecution! That will get everyone’s attention and really teach accountability.

The administration permitted a culture to grow and flourish in which this could happen. They must be held accountable. That means fire all of those who were culpable.

It’s past time to rock the boat. It’s time to turn it over!

Boys’ new book, The God Haters was published by Barbwire Books; to get your copy of The God Haters click here. (An eBook edition is also available.)

James Elliot took his .38 caliber revolver with him to carry out a robbery in Long Beach, California and the gun failed to fire leaving his intended victim wild-eyed in fear. James then did something that will guarantee his entrance into the Stupid Criminal Hall of Fame. He looked down the barrel and pulled the trigger again! This time it worked. Jimmy is no longer with us but then he never was!

Recently a man walked into a gun shop and tried to rob it with a ball bat! The owner and customer used their guns to convince him that he was deficient in his planning. Just as an intelligent person does not take a knife to a gun fight, you don’t take a ball bat to rob a gun store.

In February of 1990, super dumb thief David Zaback entered the H & J Leather & Firearms gun shop near Seattle, Washington. The store was full of customers who were buying and looking at firearms! Remember that it was a gun shop. The thief walked around a police car parked out front then entered through the front door and directly in front of him was a uniformed police officer standing at the counter drinking a cup of coffee with the store owner. Not being intimidated by the crowd (in the gun shop) or the police officer, the thief announced that a holdup was in progress and told everyone to put their hands on the counter telling them he would kill anyone who moved. The police officer drew his Glock 17 at the same time a clerk drew his 10mm semiautomatic and fired at the thief. By that time several customers (did I mention that it was a gun shop?) began firing at the would-be thief. He was pronounced dead, graveyard dead, at the scene.

Crime scene investigators discovered 47 expended cartridge cases in the gun shop and a subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds. That number was about the same as his IQ! I assume the autopsy revealed that the thief’s brain had atrophied. A ballistics report revealed the shots were fired from seven different weapons.

A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and demanded all the cash in the register which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving his $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer was $15 so his crime cost him $5.00! Usually crime does not pay but in this incident it cost the thief $5.00. If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?

As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to provide the police a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, “Yes, officer, that’s her. That’s the lady I stole the purse from.” That’s another sure member of the Stupid Criminal Hall of Fame.

The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn’t open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren’t available for breakfast. The frustrated gunman walked away.

David E. Edwards a former middle school principal in North Carolina is accused of sexually assaulting a student while the boy’s unsuspecting parent was outside the room! Deputies say that between 2009 and 2011, Edwards molested at least three boys between the ages of 11 and 14. With such natural audacity, Obama might find a place for him in his waning, worthless, and witless administration.

A woman called the police to ask them to settle a dispute with her and her drug dealer! They settled it. She went to jail.

Sane people are thrilled that those dimwitted criminals are in prison so they can’t breed and contaminate the gene pool even more.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”