Another Church Shooting… Why Our Nation Is Spiritually Sick
Another Church Shooting… Why Our Nation Is Spiritually Sick. Violent tragedy in Michigan calls us to prayer, healing, and rediscovering life’s sacred value.
Joshua Shane Bentley
9/29/20252 min read


Finding Hope and Sacred Purpose After Tragedy
This Sunday evening, my heart is heavy. Earlier today, tragedy struck a Mormon church in Michigan when a local man crashed his truck through the front doors during Sunday service. He set the building on fire with gasoline and began shooting. According to the latest reports, five people have been confirmed dead and eight more injured. The shooter also perished after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement.
Tonight, I’m praying for the families of the victims, for the community left traumatized, and even for the family of the shooter. And I’m praying for our nation—because violence has become a plague upon our society. I invite you to join me in prayer.
We must also reflect on the deeper causes of this darkness in our culture. Three issues in particular weigh on my heart.
1. A Crisis of Meaning and the Spiritual Void in Education
Our public schools teach science and the physical world, but almost nothing about the spiritual dimension of life. I remember being taught that the universe was just the result of a random big bang. Life, they said, was an accident—a single cell somehow sparked to life, eventually evolving into all plants, animals, and humans.
This worldview leaves no meaning, no purpose, and no sacredness. If we are nothing more than accidental collections of cells, then life itself has no intrinsic value. This belief has fueled destructive cultural norms: casual sex, unwanted pregnancies, and the tragedy of millions of abortions.
When society embraces the idea that life is meaningless and disposable, it plants seeds of violence in our collective consciousness. And those seeds bear bitter fruit.
2. Recognizing the Spiritual Reality Beyond the Physical
Even science tells us that matter is mostly empty space, vibrating energy. There is something deeper—an unseen reality from which all physical existence flows.
Think about your own life. You’re not just a body. You think, you love, you dream, you create. Your inner awareness—your spirit, your soul—is not physical. It’s eternal and more real than what we touch.
Throughout history and across cultures, millions testify to spiritual experiences—answered prayers, miracles, divine encounters. These remind us that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
When we deny this spiritual truth, life itself loses its sacredness. But when we live with this awareness, every life becomes infinitely valuable.
3. The Dangers of Perpetual Distraction
Even when we sense the sacredness of life, today’s world works overtime to drown that awareness out. Constant noise, endless media, addiction to nonstop entertainment and perpetual distraction rob us of peace and clarity.
Yet Scripture calls us back: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
In the stillness, God whispers. In the quiet, we rediscover who we are. When we retreat from the chaos—unplugging from the noise, surrendering our burdens, and opening our hearts—we receive the peace and joy that surpasses understanding. We awaken again to God’s infinite love and the truth that every life is sacred.
Choosing to Live With Sacred Awareness
Deep down, you already know: life is sacred. You are more than a body. You are a soul. You are loved.
So tonight, and in the days ahead, I encourage you:
Make time to pray.
Make time to meditate.
Make time to be still.
Make time to bless and love others.
Our nation needs healing. Our world needs hope. That healing begins when each of us chooses to live with spiritual awareness and share love, compassion, and blessings with those around us.
Speak blessings. Live blessings. Be blessed—and be a blessing.
– Joshua, Blessings Revolution
