OLD TERROR IN NEWTOWN

“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 NKJV)

Satan’s seething rage erupted in a sleepy little New England village called Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.  Shock and sorrow swept over us like a tidal wave, leaving behind the bloody carnage of an elementary school.  What could possess a young man to shoot his own mother in the head four times, then drive to a school where he turned little children into targets at a shooting range, slaughtering twenty of them and killing six female faculty members who valiantly tried to shield the little ones in their care, and then fire the final bullet into his own head?

What possessed Adam Lanza?  It was the murderous rage of Satan—the original terrorist and he whom Jesus branded the father of all murderers.  His hatred toward children seems especially fierce—and I think that is because Jesus so loved them and spoke of them as examples of having the kind of faith required for entering the Kingdom of Heaven.  Think of Pharaoh’s edict to throw all the Hebrew baby boys into the Nile and Herod’s decree to slay all the male infants in Bethlehem with a sword—those are example of Satan’s hatred of children.

“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.  But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’  And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” (Mark 10:13-16)

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.   Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.   Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.’

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.   Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:1-7)

The brutal reality is that Adam Lanza would have been better off to have shot himself before he killed anyone else—in particular these little ones.  Jesus went on to say:

 ‘If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.  And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.’” (Matthew 18:8-9)

Though Satan can inspire someone to commit such atrocities, he cannot make us do so.  The warped thinking of depraved human beings and a will that is bent toward rebellion against God’s laws responds to the demonic prompting.  It is a choice.  We are responsible for what we do.  I am not unsympathetic toward the tortured soul of Adam Lanza—who doubtless had many mental issues—yet by pulling the trigger again and again, the level of torment he will likely experience eternally has only been intensified.  That judgment, however,  is with God—He makes the final call.

The Bible teaches that children are the special objects of the Father’s watchful care and have guardian angels to protect them.

“‘Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 18:10)

So where was God?  Were the angels on a coffee break?

I wonder myself.  I surely don’t have all the answers.  But, I do have some.

According to His infinite wisdom a Sovereign God permits a degree of evil for a period of time.  Satan is on a leash, but he is given some freedom to operate.  At times, the leash seems rather long.  When the protective hedge is pulled back, he assaults viciously,  as Job and his children experienced.  One of the finest men who ever lived—a man so devoted to God—nevertheless had to attend a funeral for seven of his children—such is Job’s saga.  Tears are a part of the human condition—the curse of death shrouds the planet; but not forever.

“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Revelation 12:12b)

The evidence of the Devil’s final rampage is seen in the increasing violence in our culture.  Slasher movies, graphic video games, gangster rap music, and the like are creating an environment where the most bestial instincts in human beings flourish.  Couple this with the breakdown of barriers of restraint—the dissolution of the home, the secularization of the campus, the liberalization of the government, and the deterioration of the church—and the solutions proposed by the psychologists, professors, politicians, and pundits amount to the little Dutch boy trying to stop the leaking dike by plugging the holes with his finger.  It isn’t going to work.

We should not be totally surprised when such savagery happens, but given the depravity of humanity we ought to be surprised it doesn’t happen more often.  This is the restraining goodness of God—the activity of His grace.

The Gospel still has the power to transform an Adam Lanza type into a loving, gentle soul.  Paul gave consent to the death of an innocent man—he was complicit in the crime—and yet an encounter with Jesus Christ changed him.  Who is the one right now, sitting, brooding at home, a plot forming with murderous intent—maybe in Candler?  Will we intercept them with the Gospel before they go out in a blaze of bullets to meet God?

Where was God in these tragedies?  Not aloof, not impotent—but allowing us to make choices.  Even those are not without His oversight and overruling providence.  Nevertheless, we reap what we sow.  In a nation where courts decree that you cannot post the Ten Commandments on the school wall, where youth would be reminded, “You shall not murder,” why should we be incredulous that those schools should become killing fields?

We want to blame God; what is the degree of our responsibility?

You would think a school classroom would be a safe place.

You would suppose that if anyone would be cherished in our society it would be a child—to be loved and protected.

You would imagine that our government would pass laws to guard them.

But you would also think that a mother’s womb is a safe place for a baby.  You would believe the tiniest little ones who couldn’t even run and hide would be sheltered.  You would think that the government would have laws in place to protect these most vulnerable.

You would be wrong.  Every day, a cruel instrument is plunged inside a mother to destroy the child in her womb and it is done legally.  The current administration endorses it.

When will God act?  I don’t know, but there comes a tipping point.

“And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’” (Gen.6:13)

January 20, 2013 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  We must take a stand for life--the tiny one in the womb, the children in the schoolroom, those teens gunned down in the gangland, even the elderly, the sick and disabled who more and more are being seen as a burden to remove, a needless cost, "useless eaters" and "life unworthy of life" as Hitler's propagandists called them.  I will continue to speak up for life so long as I am able, knowing some day I might be silenced, being classified as a "useless eater."

One day God will be the One who speaks—and the universe will be shaken.  This is what I will hear:

“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?   When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’   And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:34-39)