Politicizing Suffering

Tears welled up in my eyes and a sorrow swept over me as I heard of the senseless massacre of a Pastor and eight of his parishioners at the A.M.E. Church in South Carolina. My fellow Christians have been assaulted in the place where they should be safe; within the walls of their sanctuary.

A very disturbed young white man shot and killed nine precious black brothers and sisters of mine. Man's inhumanity to man is not difficult for me to understand. I know all too well the utter depravity of mankind without God. Only a heart change can alter the destructive bent of humanity. We do not naturally evolve, as some would have us believe, but we devolve when left to our own devices. No one is immune from the effect of original sin.

My grief turned to anger when I listened to the politicizing of the incident by our President as he spun the story to promote the "progressive" agenda of gun control. The simple truth is that, if one or more of the parishioners had been carrying firearms, the death toll would have been brought down considerably. It is quite possible that the only casualty would have been the deranged young shooter.

To say that advanced societies don't have these kinds of problems is a gross distortion of the truth; unless, of course, you consider those nations where every citizen owns and carries a firearm. An armed society is a safe society. There's an old adage that says, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." No truer words have been spoken. Our founding fathers knew this and placed within our Constitution the right to keep and bear arms. This right not only protects innocent people and their families from thugs and other criminals, but it stops tyrants from enslaving the populace by suppressive governmental force.

My wife and I, along with our congregation and thousands of other Christians, are praying for the families who have lost loved ones in this horrific act of violence. All Christians, no matter their color or national origin, must come together and begin to work together and strategize how to end the madness that is being incited by those who would wish to divide and conquer us. We simply must care, stand up, and speak out, for one another before it is too late.

As Martin Niemoller is quoted as saying,

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.