Just about a week ago, the
nation was staggered as news surfaced out of a small town in southwest Oregon. It was an all
too familiar story of horror and indescribable pain after a lone gunman opened
fire on a local community college killing
9 students before apparently killing himself as police arrived. Again it
is a scenario that has become all too common in America
and a terrible reminder of past atrocities now synonymous with names like
Columbine High, Sandy Hook Elementary and
Virginia Tech.
This time the target was at Umpqua Community College, a school with a total enrollment
of about 5,000 located in Roseberg
Oregon. The
deadly rampage began approximately 10:40 a.m. Pacific time. The details of
exactly what occurred were a bit slow in coming since so many surviving
witnesses were in shock. But the perpetrator was 26-year-old Christopher Harper
Mercer reported to have been born in Los
Angeles County
in 1989.
Mercer had enlisted in the
U.S. Army back in 2008. But officials said he was discharged for "failing to meet the minimum
administrative standards to serve”. Others have stated that he recently wrote
that he was in a bad way, depressed and sullen. He also supposedly lamented
that he did not have a girlfriend and felt he had no life. A note found by law enforcement at the scene said
the deceased gunman felt the world was
against him. Is was also reported that he studied other mass shooters before
becoming one himself and had left a note that he’d be “welcomed in hell and
embraced by the devil” after committing the brutal event.
After the shootings we heard
about tightening the current gun laws, making new ones and how these weapons must be removed
from citizens if this kind of thing is ever to be controlled. We
heard about putting armed guards in schools nationwide to
protect the innocent. We heard about the need for preventive counseling and
dealing with the survivors of unthinkable traumas. We heard all manner of external
reasons for why someone might be driven to do such a thing.
But there are a few things,
unfortunately, that we are heard much less about. First and foremost,
that these kinds of vile acts are typically a result of good old fashioned sin. When
did you hear that word or concept discussed in all of the media coverage?
Author and evangelist Alex McFarland said, "There is a spiritual
lesson to be learned and that America
needs God. All people, as we know, need a relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ, but our nation needs to reacquaint itself with the God of our founders
and with the Ten Commandments.This is about good and evil and more than it has
to do with gun control. This killer would have chosen any means to carry out
his motive. The point is, without the God of the Bible, there is no hope.”
With Christ, we have
everything we will ever need – hope, purpose, a clear compass of right and
wrong along with the restraining influence available in God’s Holy Spirit. And yet, this is the kind of logic and wisdom that seems totally missing from the political
debate or the media’s discussions on this entire subject. I guess that would be just far too religious to tolerate?
There is also something else
that quickly surfaced from the massacre, but that has not gotten nearly the
attention it deserves. It has to do with some survivors reporting that the
shooter was questioning and targeting Christians. Those who answered yes to
being Christians were immediately shot in the head. Those who said they were
not, were often shot in a lesser fatal part of
the body If that indeed was true, at
least a good part of why this occurred was religious persecution - particularly
against followers of Jesus Christ - something happening more and more in a variety of
venues in America.
Could someone be
mentally off enough to do this only because they are that ill? Of course
that is possible. But the impact of human sin cannot be ruled out, especially
when considering all the factors here. Far more often than not, crime involves
human depravity and a heart that is under the domination of sin. James 1:13-15
reads as follows: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own
desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;
and sin , when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” And Jeremiah 17:9
declares, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately
wicked; Who can know it?" To ignore the reality,
influence, and consequences of human sin is to fully miss the major point
when something like the mass murder in Oregon
occurs.
So in the light of yet another shocking
mass shooting on an American campus, exactly what are we to think and react as
Christians? Our initial reaction should be compassion for the suffering and
fervent prayer for the families of the victims, the shooter’s family and everyone close who will be going through some very dark
days ahead.
Then, as Christians, we must be ready to give
an answer for the faith and hope we have. The evidencing of that hope to those
who are hopeless without Christ. This is spelled out in 1 Peter
3:15. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give
a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear.” Our hope, even in the darkest times, should cause
others to see it clearly enough to ask us of source of the light shining
within us.
We must also forgive others despite how
difficult that may be at times. Colossians 3:13 declares this in no uncertain
terms stating, “If anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ
forgave you , so you also must do.” Must does not mean maybe. Christianity
is based on forgiveness and, for those who have been forgiven all, there must
be the full attempt and willingness on their part to forgive others.
And then too, must
trust God’ even when things are beyond bleak knowing the reality of Ephesians 1:11. Paul writes and declares that
our Creator all-powerful and all-knowing ‘works all things according to the
counsel of His will.’
Finally, we must resist the temptation for vengeance. This is spelled
out in Romans 12 where we read, "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but
rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will
repay," says the Lord.'" This too can be very difficult when
gross evil is committed and great suffering inflicted. But it is a direct
commandment none the less and it must therefore be possible for those who
are in Christ and walking closely with Him.
Pray for the family and friends of those who just
lost loved ones in Oregon.
Pray for healing and an attitude of forgiveness. Pray that good will rise from the ashes of evil in Roseberg. And
especially pray that many will find Christ as Savior in the coming days there
because some near the crisis “sanctified the
Lord God in their hearts, and were ready to give an answer to everyone who
asked them a reason for that blessed hope that is in and shines forth from them.
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." (John 11:25-26)
Bill
Breckenridge
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