In October 2006, a 19-year-old from Alabama was charged with raping his mother. The accused admitted to the crime, which was evidently committed in retaliation against his brother.

“It’s totally sick is what it is,” said Sgt. Jamie Smith of the Albertville Police Department. Sgt. Smith continued, “It’s hard to wrap your mind around…Shocked, shocked would be…a better way to describe it. That somebody would dip to the lows to do something of this nature. It’s just pretty much a shock to the conscience of the general public” (WSFA).

Another grisly crime took place late that year in New Orleans: A man who killed himself left a suicide note confessing he killed his girlfriend. Police found her dismembered body scattered around their shared apartment, located above a voodoo shop in the French Quarter. Reportedly, the man’s girlfriend had been planning to leave him.

In November 2006, a man from Britain faced a possible life sentence for sexually abusing his seven-week-old daughter, subsequently battering her to death. He is accused of killing his baby by throwing her headfirst into the wooden arm of a sofa, in an attempt to keep her quiet. According to the police report, she had been abused from the time she left the hospital until her death weeks later. The suspect, fascinated with horror films, had written poems about his desire to kill.

Weird, vile crimes are on the rise, sometimes involving bizarre fetishes unheard of until recently. A central Ohio man told police he likes to drink boys’ urine, and that he has been doing it for more than 40 years. He also confessed that while it makes him sick, it is an almost “spiritual experience.” He reportedly added, “I like it because it makes me closer to them—like I’m drinking their youth” (Local6).

The lead detective said, “Listening to him describe it, it’s like listening to a crack or cocaine addict. He’s addicted to children’s urine.”

How does people’s behavior in our supposedly advanced, educated and civilized society devolve to the degree that such disgusting acts are committed against other human beings?

Grave Robbing

In Wisconsin, after suspicious activity at a cemetery was reported, officers found an abandoned vehicle parked nearby. Later in the evening, an officer saw a young man walking toward the vehicle, dressed in black and sweating. Questioned by the officer, the man admitted his friends had asked him to help dig up a woman’s body to have intercourse with it. The three diggers had only managed to reach the top of the grave’s vault.

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Grave robbing is among the most sick, perverse new trends.

The grave was that of a 20-year-old woman who had been killed in a motorcycle accident a few weeks prior. The Grant County Sheriff said the suspects did not know her, but they had seen her photograph in an obituary.

The young men face more than five years in jail and a $17,500 fine.

The sheriff stated, “In different schools that teach you about bizarre behavior, necrophilia is one of those things that you hear about, but never think you’ll have to deal with” (AP).

Another ghastly instance of this type of crime took place in South Carolina, in which a 23-year-old man tried to exhume the body of a 12-year-old girl after seeing her picture in an obituary. He told investigators that he wanted to “take her home and have fun” (AP). Thankfully, he never found the girl’s grave.

According to the defense attorney, two mental evaluations discovered a “chemical imbalance” in his brain causing him to desire sexual relations with corpses and children. The court, however, did not accept this. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Animal Cruelty

Animal cruelty is also making headlines more frequently. An Australian man was jailed for 16 months in November 2006 for mutilating and killing 17 rabbits and a guinea pig. After purchasing the animals, he tortured them to death and dumped their corpses in and around his office building. He successfully appealed the charges on the grounds of mental illness.

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A pit bull is seized during a raid in Pontiac, Michigan. Police are hoping to end cruelty to animals by arresting those involved in dog fighting in the Detroit area.

In another instance of animal cruelty, a Great Falls, Montana rancher found one of his healthy young cows lying dead in the field—yet the cow had not died an ordinary death. The rancher said that the “cow’s [private parts] were cut out with stunning precision. The left side of her face was carved off, the exposed bones stripped as clean as if they’d been boiled” (Great Falls Tribune).

Since the 1970s, many Montana ranchers have found dozens of their cattle carved up in similar fashion.

More recently, two teenage brothers in Atlanta, Georgia, broke into a community center, captured a three-month-old puppy, duct-taped its snout and paws, and cooked the animal alive in an onsite oven. They also destroyed computers and vandalized the building. Later, the brothers brought neighborhood children to see the dead animal and threatened to kill them if they reported it.

The brothers both pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and are awaiting sentencing.

Why such perverse cruelty?

Bizarre Cult

Consider just one example of bizarre religious beliefs, found within different forms of every religion in the world.

In late October 2006, police arrested members of a bizarre cult in Zimbabwe, of which seven children were severely malnourished. The cult members had been known to defy lawful orders. They had been starving themselves while living in the wilderness, claiming to be awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

As the riot squad approached, the cult members reportedly knelt down, prayed and sang. “They warned the police and the army that their reign was over and would be destroyed by God” (The Herald).

Why?

The scope of this series has a reasonable and natural limit. Far worse strange behavior could be reported, but what has been explained should paint a clear picture. We have examined bizarre appearances, disturbing media productions and influences, sexual perversions of the worst kind, and vile, unimaginable crimes.

We have also taken a glimpse into the sewer of society and seen that the bizarre behavior found there is rapidly spreading and growing worse.

Today a virtual circus—or more specifically, a freak show—of odd behavior is paraded for all to see.

Questions naturally arise: Why has man fallen into such perverse and bizarre conduct? What causes these desires? What is the solution?

The Source

Some of the examples in parts two and three of this series were said to involve mental illnesses. Naturally, man often tries to find reasons as to why these odd behaviors occur. While mental illnesses are real, should every perverse act be justified as an illness? If yes, then how can anyone be held accountable?

These desires and actions must come from somewhere. Whether or not people will admit it, these are fueled by human nature.

To understand human nature, you must understand who is behind it, influencing how men think and live. The facts—the answers—are stunning. When you fully grasp the source of human nature, you will better understand why human behavior is degenerating. (For more on this topic, read our booklet Did God Create Human Nature?)

Rejecting the Teacher

Seemingly, society has come to view virtually any opinion and practice as acceptable. It has been said that in today’s relaxed, “go-with-the-flow” world, the only thing people do not tolerate is intolerance. There are no effective boundaries in place today to prevent the kinds of degeneration discussed in this series.

For 6,000 years, man has decided to ignore the Author of the only effective boundaries. Mankind has ignored its Creator; the fruits are evident. For any society to function and thrive, there must be standards.

Consider a child. For the sake of his safety, he is told not to touch the stove, else he might be burned. If the child does not listen, he will learn firsthand why he received this instruction. For every effect there is a cause—the laws of nature, which God has created, cannot be disregarded.

Not only has mankind ignored its Parent, it has cut itself off, unable to hear the “safety rules and guidelines.”

Abominations

But what are the consequences of this no-boundary lifestyle? Is it just the possible sentence a person receives if he gets caught?

The Holy Bible speaks about abominations, that is, things that are disgusting. Truly what we have learned in this report is disgusting! (Some appearance choices raised early in this series would not necessarily fall into this classification.)

Does the Bible, the most popular book of all time, have anything to say about bizarre behavior?

After stating the many sexual perversions that other nations were committing, God told the ancient Israelites, “Defile not you yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomits out her inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourns among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled)” (Lev. 18:24-27).

God continued, warning of severe consequences if the people turned to strange conduct: “That the land spue [vomit] not you out also, when you defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall you keep My ordinance, that you commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that you defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God” (vs. 28-30).

Also notice Deuteronomy 32:16: “They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger.”

To whom is God speaking? Was it only the ancient Israelites? Do these passages still apply today? Will the all-powerful Creator, who authored the Bible, keep His promise and remove people from the land they were given if they continue committing abominations—perverse actions?

Many, especially in the West, would claim this has no application today. But are they correct?

The Solution!

This degenerate world is rotting, dying from every form of spiritual cancer—and the deviant behavior of human beings demonstrates this. The “unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11) are spreading. And man’s choices throughout the ages have produced weird, perverse people. Hosea 5:7 states, “They have dealt treacherously against the Lord: for they have begotten strange children.”

Bizarre behavior is a result of bizarre thoughts—unsound thinking. But those who are led by God’s Holy Spirit are empowered to lead a balanced life, different from the rest of the world. Notice II Timothy: “For God has not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (1:7).

Only a few people truly live God’s way of life, a way of soundness—common sense—the opposite of the behavior we have studied in this series. Those who live in accordance with God’s Law will also be protected from some of the worst conduct, and utterly bizarre and vile behavior, soon to come on this earth.

The cause of the world’s twisted thinking and behavior is a result of mankind being cut off from God (Isa. 59:2-3).

However, a day is coming soon when God will offer His Spirit to all human beings, resulting in worldwide peace and prosperity.

But you need not wait until then to take action. While billions of people have ignored God, “doing their own thing,” you can decide to go the other way. God is offering His Holy Spirit to a few now.

To learn more about this process of receiving God’s Spirit, read our booklet What Is True Conversion?