The forces of evil have taken the life of another soldier; he is martyred in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why did the gunman storm into the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois? Did he hate Christians so much that he felt the need to kill the senior pastor Fred Winters, and wounding 5 others in his rampage?
Christians still die for their testimony. The killings didn't end with Rome. Consider James 4:4...
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
If friendship with the world is enmity with God, the opposite is likewise true. Friendship with God is enmity with the world. Jesus bore this out in his persecution, arrest, torture, and crucifixion. Before he died for our sins he told his disciples...
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also."
--John 15:20-23
If they hate Jesus, and by extension hate God, they hate his followers too. They hate the Jews, they hate the Christians. They hate truth, they hate the Light... because their deeds are evil [John 3:19].
But hold fast. Stand your ground. That's all God is asking. He has given each of us a patch of earth to defend (wherever his will directs us IS that patch of ground). The war is won but the battles still rage. Satan has lost, and in these last moments his desperation is reflected in the hearts and minds of his children.
Our brother is now home. Perhaps he is witnessing preparations for our Lord's return; for surely that day is soon.
The Lord comfort his servant's family, and bring them through the days ahead stronger in faith, more cognizant of HIS grace, and more committed to His service.
Amen.
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This pastor might be preaching the true word and was gunned down by a lunatic homosexual.
This pastor might be preaching heresies and was gunned down by a lunatic homosexual.
It didn't matter what this pastor preached and he just happened to be the target of a run of the mill lunatic.
We are reaping what we have sown as we have by our actions, told God that we don't want Him or need Him in our daily lives. Come Lord Jesus! Workers in the harvest have a great deal of work to do, in bringing in as many as will hear. mom2
sigh.
This IS a tragedy, but there's no need to make it political. As you recall, the last church shooting was done by a conservative who hated the church's preaching. Liberals don't tend to believe in shooting their enemies, that's conservative territory.
So, yes, Eric, you are right that preaching God's Word can make you enemies. And you are right that this shooting is a shame.
But 'tis also a shame that some would strive to cheaply politicize a tragedy rather than mourn it.
Laugh if you will, but Satan is a real person, with real intent, and with very real influence in this fallen world.
Liberals don't tend to believe in shooting their enemies, that's conservative territory.
This is bullshit, plain and simple. The radical left isn't a uniformly non-violent movement, either here or abroad. Che puts the lie to that notion, as does Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, as does Bill Ayers and Weather Underground.
The most brutal regimes in the last two centuries didn't come from the traditionalist, conservative right -- either from monarchists or Burkeans -- but from the radical revolutionaries.
No honest and informed individual can plausibly argue that the Jacobins and the Bolsheviks were either conservative or peaceful: they were among the most radical groups in modern history and the most violent.
The Left has a history of lining people against the wall and putting bullets in their brains, so don't tell me that violence is our "territory."
It's a lie, and since it's a lie intended to smear us, it's slanderous.
However, my point was about Liberal Christian CHURCHES.
Of course, neither Christian liberals nor Christian conservatives generally embrace shooting their enemies. BUT, NOT killing our enemies is especially central teaching in the more liberal traditions, whereas it tends to be more vague ("well, sometimes it IS okay to shoot one's enemies and sometimes it's not...") in more conservative traditions. Is that not a fair statement?
After all, the more progressive Christians tend towards pacifism and away from killing. Therefore, the notion of killing one's enemies is anathema to liberal churches. Not so, in more conservative churches, who believe in killing enemies at times.
Besides, it HAS been self-proclaimed conservatives that have entered churches and killed people. So, Marshall's comment WAS politicizing a tragedy and it was doing so based on an ill-informed position to begin with. When was the last time a self-proclaimed liberal entered a church and killed people?
My point was that Marshall was wrong to politicize this tragedy, can you agree with me that far? OR, is your huffy indignation more show than actual concern about politicizing a tragedy?
But it's clear that your problem isn't with politicizing all this, because you're STILL trying to politicize this yourself, by arguing that political conservatives (or, now, conservative Christians) are more violent.
And, about my being even-handed between you and Marshall, I'd be more convinced that it would actually make a difference if you showed some consistency yourself. Instead, the last time we tried to discuss an issue at length, your friends wrote that I need to get a hearing aid or get a life, and you -- supposedly Mr. Civility -- you didn't chide them for their nonsense. You thanked them.
I've seen and read numerous comments by church members, but have yet to hear them mention the shooter's family even once. (Was nothing learned from how the Amish dealt with the school shooting a few years ago, and how they reached out to the gunman's family?)
Yesterday,twenty miles west of here in Samson, Alabama another lunatic gunned down nine people yesterday. Our station was all over it, but as far as I know, no details yet on HIS family either, though it seems he shot and killed a good number of them.
In south Florida, Little Haliegh's grandfather attempted suicide, so I know tragedy affects the family of victims.
Denise Brown, sister to OJ's murdered wife, has made it her mission in life to warn, teach, and perhaps erase domestic violence.
There are many responses to tragedy, but as far as I know, no one in media has asked the questions you have Ricky.
Sooner or later someone will begin answering those questions. I know they're asking, but their focus now is on being first to report... NOT on hearts and lives of the shooter's family. That's just the sad fact of the news business.
Eric, you may have already heard this much and it really doesn't tell us much about the family. mom2