Daily Jot: Deadly Church shootings - Bill Wilson -
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Our hearts are saddened today, and our prayers are with those brothers and sisters in the Lord at First Baptist Church in Southern Springs, TX where a gunman killed at least 26 people and wounded another 30. Details are still emerging, but the shooter, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, was an atheist who thought Christians "were stupid." Reports also say that he was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force because of assault and domestic violence. Kelley was shot by a man from another church, who grabbed his gun and rushed to assistance when his daughter called him about the attack. Kelley took a hostage and was pursued in a high-speed chase before he bled out and ran his vehicle off the road.
Former Focus on the Family employee Carl Chinn operates a website that tracks Violent Church Deaths. Just since Saturday, October 28th, there have been four shootings at places of worship from Kentucky to California. On the 28th, two men were shot when they got out of their car in a Temple parking lot. In Alabama on Halloween, a man was charged with attempted murder after ramming his car into others and shooting at them. On Sunday, in addition to the Texas shooting, a woman was shot and another wounded in California in a parking lot after mass. President Donald Trump immediately offered his condolences Sunday. Democrat politicians just as quickly politicized the shootings by calling for gun control.
The problem in America, however, is not a gun problem. Those who were Sunday killed were Christians. Since the immediate past "president" took office in 2009, Deadly Church violence increased 281% over the previous decade, Chinn reports that from 1999 to 2008 there were 199 violent church deaths in the US, but from 2009 to present there have been 560. Chinn says that by the end of August, there had been more violent deaths in churches than all of last year. This recent shooting guarantees it. It is indicative of the hostile environment that has been created in America against Jews and Christians. Liberal politicians and the news media routinely have demonized Christians. Crazy and hateful people are acting out these condemnations.
Blaming guns for the deaths at houses of worship is certainly politicization, especially when you see who is getting killed and who is doing the killing. Nazis, leftists, atheists, and Islamists have been doing the killing. Christians generally are the ones getting killed. The atmosphere has been established where places of worship, and Jews and Christians in particular, have become targets of a dark and evil element in our society. Jesus said in Matthew 24:9 that "ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." Sadly, in America this hate appears stronger than it ever has been. Jesus said in John 15:20, "The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." This is the condition of the world. Let us respond by standing against injustice and overcoming evil with good.
