Refine Search

Do You Want Crime Stopped?

ALL decent people will answer YES to that question. They certainly do want to see an end to crime.

So did an elderly couple in a large American city. They were in their late seventies, retired, had enough materially. But then​—they committed suicide!

Why? The note left behind explained: “We don’t want to live in fear anymore.” They had been assaulted and robbed a few weeks earlier. Even before that, they had been the victims of crime. Feeling too old to move and not wanting to live in fear, they took their own lives.

That is an extreme reaction to the fear of crime, true. But it does show what has happened in recent years. Crime and violence have increased enormously nearly everywhere in the world. As an example, in the United States over eleven million major crimes are committed each year. Millions more go unreported.

What is the answer? Some people feel that better laws could help. Yet, there are thousands of good laws already on the books, in all countries, and newer laws are enacted every year. But crime and violence keep spreading.

Other people feel that more police, judges and jails are the answer. But while these agencies have increased in size, so has crime. Indeed, crime has infiltrated even these agencies. Corrupt officials in them often make it difficult for honest law-enforcement agents to do their work.

Could some new methods of detecting crimes be an answer? The sad fact is that for every new method introduced, the criminal mind goes to work to devise ways of circumventing it.

Will ending poverty stop crime? If poverty were the main cause, why would the highest crime rates be found in the wealthiest nations? Crime often increases faster in wealthier suburbs than in poorer cities. People at all levels of society commit crimes, not just the poor.

Consider this: If human agencies could have stopped crime, would they not have done so by this time? Is it realistic to look to humans for the answers?

God’s inspired Word, the Bible, wisely counsels: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.” (Ps. 146:3) In whom, then? That same Word of God answers: “Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding.”​—Prov. 3:5.

But how can trusting God have anything to do with stopping crime? For one thing, God’s Word helps us to understand clearly why there is this upsurge of crime and violence in our time. The Bible tells us: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here.” Yes, all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecies shows that we live at the end of an era. We live at the time foretold when more and more people would be lawbreakers, lacking self-control, fierce, headstrong, lovers of money, ungodly, when children would be disobedient to parents, when, as prophecy says, “wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse.”​—2 Tim. 3:1-13.

What we see taking place in our time is the clear evidence that this world is in the foretold stage of moral breakdown that would immediately precede its end. World conditions shout out that this present system of things is nearing its finish.

However, the Bible also tells us that there is more to the increase of crime in our day than just human involvement. If only humans were involved, they might reasonably have more success in stopping crime. But God’s Word tells us that there are also superhuman forces at work. Who? Satan the Devil and his demons.

The Devil? Demons? True, many people do not believe that they exist, because these forces cannot be seen. But such persons do believe in unseen forces such as wind, electricity, gravity, heat, cold, love, hate. We know that these exist because we can see their effects.

So, too, we know that wicked spirit forces exist because we see the effects of their activity. The vast increase of crime and violence everywhere is a direct result of their bad influence on the human family. So vast is that influence that the Bible calls Satan “the god of this system of things.”​—2 Cor. 4:4.

Besides, who is in the best position to tell us about the existence of such unseen powers? Who has more knowledge of Satan’s activity​—humans, or the Almighty Creator of the universe?

But why has demonic influence increased so much in our day? Because the time limit that God has allowed for wickedness draws near to its end. Satan and the demons know that they are in their “last days.” That is why the Bible says of our generation: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”​—Rev. 12:12.

However, the Bible does much more than inform us about why crime spreads. It also tells us how it will be stopped. Soon God’s time limit for permitting wickedness will end, and he will demonstrate his power and love for what is right, by cleansing the entire earth of crime. “As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.” Also, the main instigator of crime, Satan the Devil, will be removed: “The God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.”​—Prov. 2:22; Rom. 16:20.

With all criminal elements taken out of the way, a new order of total peace and security will be ushered in. And when this comes to pass, what will life be like? “They will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble,” says God’s promise.​—Mic. 4:4.

So, do you want crime stopped? It will be, in God’s way​—and soon. Do you want to benefit? Then you need to find out what to do to meet God’s requirements for life in his incoming crime-free new order.

[Blurb on page 36]

“My people must dwell in a peaceful abiding place and in residences of full confidence and in undisturbed resting-places.”​—Isa. 32:18.

[Picture on page 35]

THE TORONTO STAR July 16, 1976

THE JAPAN TIMES July 28, 1976

THE OREGONIAN August 20, 1976

THE NEW YORK TIMES August 8, 1976

NEW YORK POST August 25, 1976

DAILY MAIL June 23, 1976