No Reason

Murderer Steven Kazmierczak, who brutally killed five and then himself at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, fits no known murderer profile. One newspaper report headlined, "He was such a nice guy." Although under previous psychiatric treatment, he was a good student and well liked by his teachers and fellow classmates. His girlfriend said he called her at midnight on Valentine’s Day to say goodbye and request that she remember him.
Psychologists and crime investigators will ponder this one for a long time since the usual motives appear to be missing. The man did understand guns and how to use them. He carefully plotted his crime in a pre-meditated act rather than an immediate explosive eruption of anger.

The probe will reveal what drugs he might have taken in the past, what musical and other influences he was under and what persons offended him. Family background and disruptions will surely be investigated.

Perhaps bizarre outbursts like this one have spiritual explanations seemingly too simple and much too religious for secular minds to grasp, much less admit. Was he into the occult? Did he open his life to demonic influence? Was he crushed by guilt for past deeds? Was he ashamed of who he was, or did he misunderstand his creation by God with its implicit dignity? Was he confused about a life after death and inevitably facing God after death?

This much we know: Satan is a killer. Christ called him that when He criticized hypocritical Pharisees. "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44-45).

At the least, everyone has an inborn capability of the worst crimes as Romans 3:23 says: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We are not birthed in perfection and then attain flaws. We begin as spiritual defects and must move toward forgiveness, redemption and responsibility to God and man. Psalm 58:3 tells us, "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies."

Put even more forcefully, Psalm 51:5 says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." It’s a hereditary heart problem that afflicts everyone. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt 15:19). Indeed, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

Somehow, Stephen Kazmierczak’s spiritual deliverance eluded him, and his spiritual plunge took him and five others into eternity. His potential solution is available to everyone for deliverance, forgiveness of sin, a release of guilt and oppression and an infusion of new life. Jesus’ word is both analytical and redemptive. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Dave Virkler