GANG VIOLENCE IS PROPHECY

Many of the struggles seen in inner cities and oppressed communities — including gang violence, broken families, drugs, and destruction among young men — are viewed as part of the curses and judgments that came upon Israel for disobedience to God’s laws. Isaiah 51:20, which says, “Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net.” We understand this as a picture of Israelite youth trapped in violence, oppression, poverty, prison systems, and destructive environments with no clear escape. The image of a “wild bull in a net” is understood as strong young men being caught and restrained by the conditions surrounding them.

This is also connected with the curses in Book of Deuteronomy 28, especially where Israel would become “an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword” among the nations. This means Israel would become publicly mocked, stereotyped, feared, and looked down upon worldwide. We understand that the conditions of gang violence, mass incarceration, and social destruction among Black and Latino communities are evidence of those curses at work and signs of the identity of scattered Israel in the last days.