Va. Tech....

[Murph]

Please join me in prayer for the families and friends of those who died in yesterday's shooting at VPI. We are in deep mourning for those who died in our beloved Commonwealth of Virginia.

It comes home when you see the faces of the children. Again we wonder why? The old analogy comes to mind. We see the underside of a great tapestry God is weaving. We see the knots and mangled threads. God sees the topside...His finished design and it is perfect.

Amen.

Is all we can say.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.




Duck

[Keith]

May He comfort those affected and give them peace. In Jesus' Name, amen.

[Murph]

On my hometown MB here in southside Virginia we are pondering the events at VPI and asking questions...posted this in response as I went to the source and asked Him...this is what The Lord said...

Little Bible Studies 04-18-07

For This Cause

“What I am getting at , I think, is by saying that violence on TV, video games, movies, and rap music are the reasons behind the violence like we all saw at Va. Tech, Columbine, and Oklahoma City we are looking for simple answers to complicated problems.”

“What has changed is society's acceptance of violence in all forms, and that has made incidents like those at Columbine and Virginia Tech more probable.”

”We are all constantly exposed to acts of violence from every media source”

“Okay, how do we as parents and friends fix this awful phenomenon?”

“Now that society has been permanently changed, don't expect the Virginia Tech massacre to be the last of it's kind, even if metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and armed guards become standard for all schools.”

“When many of us were children we were allowed to fail, all of us weren't picked for the team, and everyone did not get a trophy. From this we learned to accept rejection as a part of life and then move one. We also learned that the hurt is our personal cross to bear.
Looking for someone to blame (and, subsequently, someone to hurt whether emotionally or physically) is now the standard when it comes to dealing with rejection.”

***
Random excerpts from the thoughts of people from this message board…good hometown people looking for answers to some tough and bad questions.

[Murph]

Wildhandyman said…

“ If I were a biblical scholar I could quote scripture, but I will leave that up to Duck. “


WHM is right. The answer for everything is in the Bible and this one comes from the Apostle Paul.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work…” 2 Thessalonians 2:7a

Christ died on Calvary for our sins. He died in our place and as us…taking all that we deserved on Himself. He rose from the dead on the third day. Peter tells us during those 3 days, Jesus descended into Hell to proclaim the Gospel. I have no doubt that He went there to formally inform Satan and his fallen angels that He had defeated sin and death and now possessed the keys.

Then God did a miraculous thing about 50 days later. On the day of Pentecost He revealed His church. He had kept it a great mystery or secret in the Old Testament only revealing slight hints and shadows of His great Church…

I have heard it put this way. On the day of Pentecost 120 individual believers walked up the stairs to the upper room to pray. The Holy Spirit came and it was the Church that marched down the stairs that day and we have been marching ever since.

Satan was also marching as Paul tells us from the first century. The mystery of iniquity was also unleashed. Satan couldn’t foil God’s plan for salvation thru the death and Resurrection of Jesus though he had tried very hard…but he could reek havoc on earth. Satan roams the earth “like a lion seeking whom he may devour.” He has legions of demons and fallen angels at his command.

[Murph]

WHM said…
“I do know that the constant exposure to hard violence has darkened the soul of our nation.”

And he is right again.

Paul speaking once more from the first century to us, tells us,

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12

The unsaved find this hard to take and some saved don’t believe this either. But it is true. The spiritual battles taking place from the time of the creation itself…to the first century church, to today, rage on all around us.

We see signs given to us by the prophets and by Jesus Himself that tell us time is running out. We also know that Satan has also read the Bible and knows his time is running out so he is stepping up his attacks and the battle is intensifying.

The battles are not with men…flesh and blood, but with Satan and the powers of evil.

This is where the battle is…this is what we are fighting…our weapon is the Word of God and our command is to go teach and preach the Gospel.

Man has been killing man since Cain picked up a rock and killed Abel. Man will continue to kill with whatever is at his disposal…be it guns, acid, poison, bombs strapped to children, germs, gas…nuclear weapons. The list goes on and on of Satan’s arsenal placed at the disposal of man’s evil heart.

Our weapon, as Christians, is the Lord and His mighty Sword…our enemy is Satan…our time is short. We need to be about the Lord’s work, obeying His command…watching the eastern skies and working in the fields…planting and sowing and watering, seeds in one hand and Sword in the other. That is the answer, the solution, and what we need to do in response to the violence today.

Teach and preach the Gospel!

Amen.

[Murph]

For this cause...

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17

[Murph]

Amen?

[Keith]

Amen!