Down through the centuries, each person makes their appearance on the stage of history then passes into oblivion after his allotted time. Few leave this world better than they entered, and few are prepared to die taking care of their finances, insurance, and personal relationships. A few wisely follow the adage of “when it comes time to die, be sure that’s all you have to do.”

In 2016, I wrote about the deaths of many pampered, privileged, and predictable entertainers known for their talent—and their choice of drugs. George Michael, Carrie Fisher, David Bowie, Prince, and many others passed into eternity prematurely because of a lack of wisdom in how they entertained themselves. They permitted themselves to be duped, deceived, and destroyed at a young age.

This calls to mind country singer Hank Williams, Sr., who held the world in his grasp then lost it all in the back seat of his Cadillac, dying from a drug overdose on New Year’s Day, 1953. He was age 29. His long-time manager Merle Kilgore called him “the most cocky, confident man I ever met in my life.” Yet, he was a small man with a very average appearance.

Hank had a string of hits, including “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry” in 1949, and the haunting “Cold Cold Heart” in 1950, and “Your Cheatin Heart” in 1952. It seems that Williams could massage a song to get the most from it and was proficient with his guitar, but he couldn’t handle fame, money, and life in general. He was often drunk or drugged, even on stage.

With all his advantages, as is true of other entertainers, he lived a shameful, sorry, and sinful life and died a lonely death surrounded by toys, trinkets, and treasure.

His songs reveal that Williams had some exposure to the Gospel. One of his songs shows his knowledge of salvation: “How Can You Refuse Him Now?” The chorus asked: “How can you refuse him now, how can you refuse him now, how can you turn away from His side, with tears in His eyes on the cross there He died, How can you refuse Jesus now?” Hank obviously refused Him.

He wrote his famous “I Saw the Light” in 1948, although the melody was exactly the same as the Chuck Wagon Gang’s 1935 country gospel song, “He Set Me Free.” Williams often sang that song as if he was a man facing the end, desperate to believe in a salvation he didn’t think existed. Was he trying to convince himself of the reality of the Gospel? He sang: “I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn’t ask my dear Saviour in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night; Praise the Lord, I saw the light! The chorus went, “I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness; no more night. Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”

But Hank was not happy but hopeless and hapless.

The second verse: “Just like a blind man I wandered alone, Worries and fears I claimed for my own. Then like the blind man that Jesus gave back his sight; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”

The third verse: “I was a fool to wander astray, For straight is the gate and narrow is the way. Now I have traded the wrong for the right; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!” But Hank apparently never saw the light! He usually closed his shows with this famous song.

Near the end of his life, he was doing a show in San Diego but stumbled drunk off stage after only two songs. His friend, country performer Minnie Pearl, tried to sober him as they rode around town in the back seat of his Cadillac so he could do his second show. She got him to join her in singing “I Saw the Light,” thinking it might help sober him, but after one verse, Hank put his head in his hands and said, “O Minnie,  Minnie, I don’t see no light. There ain’t no light.”

But there was light, but Hank refused it.

On January 1, 1953, Williams died in the back seat of his Cadillac near Beckley, WV on the way to a concert in Charleston, WV. He was to do a show the next day in Canton, OH, in the Memorial Auditorium. Williams’ Drifting Cowboys band opened the Ohio show with a spotlight on the curtain after the packed crowd was told that Hank Williams had died the previous day. The band behind the curtain sang, “I Saw the Light.”

More than 20,000 people attended his funeral on January 4 at Montgomery’s (AL) Municipal Auditorium, where an overflow crowd listened via loudspeakers. Roy Acuff sang, “I Saw the Light,” as Hank’s body lay in front of him in its silver casket. Acuff was joined by Bill Monroe, Little Jimmie Dickens, Carl Smith, Red Foley, Webb Pierce, and others. Dickens began weeping uncontrollably during the song. It seemed appropriate to this massive crowd of fans that Hank’s “closure” song was used to end his last public appearance—his funeral.

Williams is buried in Montgomery, and across the front of his vast tombstone are the words, “Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light.” What a tragedy that a man could talk, write, and sing about seeing the light and apparently never see it. His last release was a single titled “I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive.”

We are on this earth for only a few years, and it is foolish, freakish, and fatal to destroy our health by drug and tobacco addiction, riotous living, and undisciplined eating and drinking. Hopefully, in this New Year, we will be more disciplined, dedicated, and determined to live a life that is honorable with no dependence on illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and gluttonous eating.

We only have one life, and we are fools to waste it. There is no second chance, and it is useless to think, talk, write, look, and sing about the Light. Or, to stare at the Light.

One must accept the Light! Then walk in it.

(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.)

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.

This calls to mind country singer Hank Williams, Sr. who held the world in his grasp then lost it all in the back seat of his Cadillac dying from a drug overdose on New Year’s Day, 1953. He was age 29. His long-time manager Merle Kilgore called him, “the most cocky, confident man I ever met in my life.” Yet, he was a small man with a very average appearance.

He had a string of hits including “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry” in 1949; and the haunting “Cold Cold Heart” in 1950; and “Your Cheatin Heart” in 1952. It seems that Williams could massage a song to get the most from it and was proficient with his guitar, but he couldn’t handle fame, money, and life in general. He was often drunk or drugged even on stage.

With all his advantages, as is true of other entertainers, he lived a shameful, sorry, and sinful life and died a lonely death surrounded by toys, trinkets, and treasure.

His songs reveal that Williams had some exposure to the Gospel. One of his songs reveals his knowledge of salvation: “How Can You Refuse Him Now?” The chorus asked: “How can you refuse him now, how can you refuse him now, how can you turn away from His side, with tears in His eyes on the cross there He died, How can you refuse Jesus now?” Hank obviously refused Him.

He wrote his famous “I Saw the Light” in 1948 although the melody was exactly the same as the Chuck Wagon Gang’s 1935 country gospel song, “He Set Me Free.” Williams often sang his song as if he was a man facing the end, desperate to believe in a salvation that he didn’t think existed. Was he trying to convince himself of the reality of the Gospel? He sang: “I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn’t ask my dear Saviour in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night; Praise the Lord, I saw the light! The chorus went, “I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness; no more night. Now I’m so happy no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light!” But Hank was not happy but hopeless, and hapless.

The second verse: “Just like a blind man I wandered alone, Worries and fears I claimed for my own. Then like the blind man that Jesus gave back his sight; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”

The third verse: “I was a fool to wander astray, For straight is the gate and narrow is the way. Now I have traded the wrong for the right; Praise the Lord, I saw the light!” But Hank apparently never saw the light! He usually closed his shows with this famous song.

Near the end of his life, he was doing a show in San Diego but stumbled drunk off stage after only two songs. His friend, country performer Minnie Pearl, tried to sober him as they rode around town in the back seat of his Cadillac so he could do his second show. She got him to join her in singing “I Saw the Light” thinking it might help sober him, but after one verse, Hank put his head in his hands and said, “O Minnie, Minnie, I don’t see no light. There ain’t no light.” But there was light, only it seems Hank refused it.

On Jan. 1, 1953, Williams died in the back seat of his car on the way to a concert in Charleston, WV. He was to do a show the next day in Canton, OH in the Memorial Auditorium. Williams’ Drifting Cowboys band opened the Ohio show with a spotlight on the curtain after the packed crowd was told that Hank Williams had died the previous day. The band, behind the curtain sang, “I Saw the Light.”

More than 20,000 people attended his funeral on Jan. 4 at Montgomery’s (AL) Municipal Auditorium where an overflow crowd listened via loudspeakers. Roy Acuff sang, “I Saw the Light” as Hank’s body lay in front of him in its casket. Acuff was joined by Bill Monroe, Little Jimmie Dickens, Carl Smith, Red Foley, Webb Pierce, and others. Dickens began weeping uncontrollably during the song. It seemed to be appropriate to this huge crowd of fans that Hank’s “closure” song was used to end his last public appearance—his funeral.

Williams is buried in Montgomery and across the front of his huge tombstone are the words, “Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light.” What a tragedy that a man could talk, write, and sing about seeing the light, and apparently never see it.

We are on this earth for only a few years and it is foolish, freakish, and folly to destroy our health by drug addiction, riotous living, and even undisciplined eating. Hopefully, in this New Year we will be more disciplined, dedicated, and determined to live a life that is honorable with no dependence on illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and gluttonous eating.

We only have one life and we are fools to waste it. There is no second chance.

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

Like a school girl reacting to the handsome football star, major media people gushed over Prince in their showers of praise toward a man who did not deserve such praise. According to everyone, he could play the guitar but what I’ve heard was only two steps above noise. As I listened to his music, I thought of Amos 5:23: “Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols (a stringed instrument).”

His singing ability was almost as good. Of course, any death is a tragedy especially the death of a young person. It may be unsympathetic but not untrue to say that he accelerated his death by his ungodly, unhealthy, and unnatural life.

He would not permit workers at his concerts to make eye contact thus promoting his self-ordaining persona of royalty. It appears that he actually believed all his news releases and the fawning acolytes that hang around the music business.

The Washington Post declared, “With the death Thursday of Prince Rogers Nelson, you may see a strange mix on your Facebook feed of sex and religion. That’s because perhaps one of the raunchiest, steamiest pop culture figures in the past quarter-century was a conservative Christian. Religious and spiritual themes ran through a huge amount of his work.” No, the statement proves that the writer and the editors at the Post are deceptive or deceived or maybe dishonest. No informed person declares that the Jehovah’s Witness sect even comes close to being “conservative Christian.” Furthermore, “Religious and spiritual themes” may have appeared in his work but nothing resembling biblical truth.

I expect secularists to laud Prince and his ilk but when Christianity Today (CT) does so, it would gag a maggot! Mike Cosper is a pastor of arts and worship in a Louisville church and disgraced himself and CT with his ode to Prince. Cosper showed his true colors in praising anything “religious” or “spiritual,” or cultic when he wrote, “He seemed to defy mortal boundaries, but in fact, he showed us the glory of simply being made in God’s image.” No, it was very difficult to see God’s image in the way he lived, sang, dressed, etc.

In addition to contributing to the drug culture, aberrational sexuality, he advanced the new “gospel” for leftists everywhere: transgenderism. He sang, ““I’m not a woman / I’m not a man / I’m something you will never understand.” Seeking to justify his obsession with sex, CT wrote, “Sex is one of the few places that a secularized imagination maintains space for the possibility of transcendence.” What in creation does that mean?

We are told that Prince was a “wonderfully eccentric, provocative Persona” however, he was really a tragic, talented misfit who surrendered to basic instincts that eventually killed him.

The CT writer opined, “Prince’s life should remind us Christians of how truly wonderful it is to be human. He wasn’t actually more than human; but neither was he mere dust, or the product of a million cosmological accidents resulting temporary consciousness and animation. He was, instead, an image bearer, one who so clearly reflected the Creator’s own jaw-dropping creativity and power.” No, Prince was a weirdo in a silk shirt and the fawning author obviously has a Ph.D. in Gobbledy Gook.

Even if my readers disagree with everything I’ve written, surely no sane person will suggest that Prince was a good role model for young people. It distresses me to know that vast number of youth almost worshipped him and his music. It further distresses me to go into a teen’s bedroom and see posters of rock stars, athletes, and entertainers on the walls that scream, “I’m identifying with these weirdos on my walls.” How pathetic that their life is so jaundiced and empty.

I was a normal teen but when I trusted Christ my heroes became people of character. As a boy, my heroes were military men who carried the battle to Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini. My nonmilitary heroes were a few college football stars and Booker T. Washington who was one of the most principled men who walked our land. As a teenage jail and street preacher I heard about a young evangelist named Billy Graham who influenced my life; then the five missionary martyrs in Equator became a major life influence; my pastor who was a dynamic preacher, teacher, and musician became my hero; then I met a few missionaries from various nations who visited my church; all impacted my life in a positive way.

Prince squandered his talent, wasted his life, and helped lead untold numbers of people into a world of drugs, sex, and violence. He is not to be praised but pitied.

Boys’ new book, Evolution: Fact, Fraud, or Faith? was published recently by Barbwire Books; to get your copy of Evolution: Fact, Fraud, or Faith? click here. An eBook edition is also available.

If the corruption charges are true as preliminary facts appear to support, the explosion will be nuclear! The CDC’s historic reaction to criticism has been to mock, malign, and manipulate while staying far from the truth. The obvious truth is that an increasing number of children are afflicted with autism and other neurological disorders. Moreover, a whistleblower at the CDC has admitted he lied along with other authors in a CDC study that was cooked to assure parents that there is no connection with early MMR vaccinations and autism. The study actually revealed that there is danger is such vaccinations!

The fallout, when the explosion occurs, will mean disgrace, loss of jobs, and maybe pokey time for top scientists! Almost everyone reacts the same in such circumstances: hunker down–deny, defer, deviate, and distort. Do anything to obfuscate the truth.

This is not a new issue. A longtime friend of mine and former, powerful U.S. Congressman held hearings on the subject of childhood vaccinations in 2001 and 2002 and internationally exposed the issue. He told the media and the members of his committee of his own once healthy grandson, who, following multiple shots ran in circles, banged his head on furniture, screamed for hours, and refused to speak or look anyone in the eye. Many experts also testified of their experiences with vaccinations and autism. Congressman Burton is a hero to all parents with autistic children.

I wrote a lengthy article in 2006 titled “Should Children be Vaccinated?” that dealt with the charge that vaccinations, especially the MMR and all mercury-laden vaccines could be the cause of autism and other neurological disorders in babies. I did not tell parents to refuse vaccinations but to know the facts and ask some questions of their pediatrician. But then, most physicians don’t want to be questioned about anything and most patients are afraid to ask, let alone demand, anything from medical personnel.

My concern was not to be critical of vaccinations per se but to ask some pertinent questions: does the vaccine contain mercury and can small children’s fragile system handle many powerful shots? I contended that “too much too soon” can destroy some children. Not all children are at risk but many are. Are the children sick? Have they been sick recently? Have they had reactions to previous shots? Is their immune system weak? Do they have allergies?

The issue still is: does the MMR vaccination in young children result in autism and other diseases? The charge is that the three-shot “jabs” resulted in autism among black children. The CDC and their lackeys at the major pharmaceutical companies declared authoritatively “No.” But then what would you expect?

The whistleblower and others declare that the CDC’s actions are duplicitous, dangerous, even deadly. And innocent children are paying the price. Furthermore, the CDC has deliberately cooked the books to continue increasing the number of “required” vaccinations of helpless children.

It is interesting that the CDC motto is “To save lives and protect” and there is no doubt that they have done much good in some areas of health. However, government funding is limited and many billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies are willing to pour billions of dollars into research (as long as it isn’t critical of their drugs) and to hire retiring CDC officials, so the farce goes on and on. One example is Dr. Julie Gerberding who was director of the CDC and is now President of Merck’s vaccine division. Sounds like shocking, scandalous, and sordid incest to me!

To those who affirm that no federal agency could be so careless, calloused, and corrupt, I remind them of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study that our government conducted on black men from 1932 to 1972. Our government permitted men to die the horrible death from syphilis even after penicillin had been developed! Men from Macon County, Alabama thought they were getting free government health care when they were guinea pigs so the “experts” could observe the progression of untreated syphilis. They saw it and 399 men died without ever getting treatment for syphilis. They did get free burial insurance!

So much for a caring, concerned, and compassionate government.

(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.)

Almost all of the deranged, deadly mass shootings over the last 25 years were done by someone on anti-depressants or pain killers. Elliot was on Xanax and Vicodin. Side effects of Xanax (prescribed for anxiety and panic) are mental problems, confusion, hallucinations, hostility, thoughts of suicide, rage, aggression, and mild degree of mania. Vicodin, used for pain relief has side effects of guilt, shame, and depression, confusion, fear, unusual thoughts of behavior. When will we recognize that America is being destroyed by drugs–legal and illegal?

Elliot had major problems from his earliest years with everyone close to him contributing to his failure. He was born in England to the privileged family of Peter and Li Chin Rodger. His father was from England and his mother from Malaysia. Elliot lived in large, impressive homes, taking many foreign vacations. He wrote, “At the age of 4, I, Elliot Rodger, had already been to six different countries. Who can claim that, eh? The United Kingdom, France, Spain, Greece, Malaysia, and the United States.” And much of that travel was first class with first class accommodations in expensive beach hotels.

He was enrolled in an “upscale all-boys private school” (preschool) but he did not like it because he had to wear socks up to his knees! Poor, poor boy. He also thought the rules were “too strict.” Elliot confessed that he threw a temper tantrum at his third birthday party because his parents gave the first piece of cake to a friend. He thought that was unjust. He had to be the center of the universe. He got his first video game at age 6 and had “all the toys a little boy could want.” He had a nanny, and at one time, two nannies, until he was eleven years old!

A baby brother was born to the family just before they moved to America into “a big white house” in the upscale part of Woodland Hills, California. Elliot was enrolled in Kindergarten at a small private school named Pinecrest. His teacher required him to do some work after class (gasp!) so after two weeks he was enrolled in another private School. Quitting, along with whining was the main characteristic of Elliot.

Like most children he discovered that he got his way with tears. Eighteen times he wrote in his infamous 137-page manifesto, “I cried.” When he finished high school and was visiting in Morocco he broke down and cried in front of his step-mother’s family. Even when grown, he cried almost every day.

He was “absolutely shocked, outraged” when he was told at 7 that his parents were going to divorce. He wrote, “My mother and father got into a lot of arguments.” Shortly after the divorce his father had a “girlfriend” and Elliot was shocked since he thought a couple had to be married to live together. Hummm, I did too.

He began to accept his stepmother Soumaya (now a television actress) who was from a prominent family in Morocco, but he soon resented her because she presumed to discipline him. He didn’t like the rules she put in place. She even sent him to his room for an hour! (Wow! Call the Child Protection Agency!) After the divorce, he lived with each parent on a set schedule since they both lived in the general area.

His father, an assistant director of the “Hunger Games,” and stepmother Soumaya had a baby girl and later moved to a large house in the most prestigious part of Woodland Hills. Elliot chose his bedroom before the sale but was told that the baby would get the room since the desired room was closer to the master bedroom. Elliot wrote that “I was furious, and I threw a huge crying tantrum.” A few days later he was told that he could have the room he wanted. Elliot was at least normal in one respect: he learned how to manipulate his parents.

He wrote, “At mother’s house, I had it my way more often, and that’s how I wanted to live.” When he stayed with his father and stepmother, she often tried to discipline him. He admitted, “Mother always got me what I wanted, right when I wanted it. At mother’s house, all of my needs were met with excellent precision.” A monster was in the making! His mother even arranged “playdates” for him with other boys from school even when he was 16 years old! He mentions his “playdates” 27 times in his manifesto! No normal 16-year-old child needs or wants help with “playdates.”

At age 12 he played video games until 3:00 a.m. at Planet Cyber, a cyber café not far from his mother’s house! What sane parent or nannie would permit a child to be out until 3:00 a.m.? The video game, World of Warcraft (WoW) became an obsession. WoW is probably the most popular video game in the world. It is violent and features zombies, monsters, dragons, elves, and alien worlds. Elliot wrote, “It was all I would think about when I wasn’t able to play it.”

Elliot often spent five hours playing the game and his grades dropped precipitously. He wrote, “I was too absorbed in my game to care about anything else.” He later admitted to playing WoW 14 hours per day! Eventually, the game lost some of its luster and he wrote, that he “often broke down into tears” while playing. His stepmother tried to limit his game time and tried to make him do chores around the house but he “despised doing work around the house.” In that respect he was normal; however, children must be taught to work and be held accountable for the work.

Rather than playing violent video games, a young person should be doing household chores, playing with friends, going to church or youth activities, doing homework, talking with parents, playing with siblings, etc. In other words, learning to live.

On his 13th birthday he was permitted his first bottle of beer although he was given sips of wine much younger. As he got older, he drank often to hide from the world and himself. About this time a friend showed him pictures of “beautiful naked girls” and he wrote, “Ominous fear swept over me.” It seems from this time he longed, leered, and lusted after beautiful, blonde girls and hated them for not jumping all over him and hated and resented all boys who had a girlfriend. He could not be happy even with all the pills, passion, and privilege in his life. It is my opinion that he did not love girls but feared and hated them.

It seems all the adults in his life could not or would not tell him “no,” the most important word in the English language.

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!”