WHY THE CHURCH-KILLINGS WILL CONTINUE...
People everywhere are asking"WHY?" They want to know how a person could do what was done in the church in South Carolina. How could a man enter a church, sit for an hour, and then open fire on the attendees?
I am always intrigued by the fact that people ask "why?" Those who study scripture know that there's an answer to "why?
Read the following carefully, and you'll have a better understand about how to address the issue of "Why."
In the course of everyday life, some people are highly offended about something that happens to them. The event that struck their life set off their "anger button." The road rage incidents are a perfect example of this.
Most people, when angry, deal with it. Others allow it to stew until it boils over. These individuals can sometimes be a legit threat to the well being of others. When a person gets angry, and allows it to fester, the danger grows.
Eventually, the anger can evolve into hate. And when "hate" sets in, the door is open for the "dark side" to enter.
Ephesians 4:26 tells us to not let the sun go down on our anger. What is implied here is that we must NOT allow anger to fester - it must be dealt with.
The reason for this is in the very next Bible verse, Ephesians 4:27: "And do not give the devil an OPPORTUNITY..." In other words, if you allow anger to STAY in your heart ("let the sun go down on your anger"), you have given the devil an opportunity....
And he will take advantage of such an opportunity...
Consider the cause of the first murder in history - the murder of Abel. Cain and Abel took a gift to God: Abel's was accepted, but Cain's was rejected. Cain could not handle the rejection, and became angry. God told him, "You better be careful Cain - sin is knocking on your door."
Cain ignored the warning.
A short time later he murdered his brother...
4000 years later the Apostle John explained the "WHY" of Cain's murdering of his brother: "Do not be as Cain who killed his bother because he was OF THE DEVIL..." (1John 3:12).
Do you see the correlation? When ANGER is not resolved, HATE may enter. When hate takes over, the DEMONIC side has greater influence in such a one's life.
Jesus spoke of a day when men's hearts would "wax cold" (Matthew 24:12). The word for "wax cold" gives us the word "psychotic." Indeed, that's what these murderers are - psychotic.
The reason behind many of these church-related killings (and elsewhere, too) is because of angry people who, failing to deal with their anger, allowed it to evolve into hatred. Then, the dark side had access to their hearts. And when the dark side gets a grip on one's heart, violence is possible. Hatred is an invitation to the devil...
When a person is under the influence of the dark side, he may act out in accordance to the DESIRES of the dark side. Thus, when a person murders he is giving evidence of the presence of the dark side in his life. And if a dark spirit takes the reins of one's heart - he may well murder. Jesus said of the devil: "he is a murderer" (John 8:44). And when the devil is calling the shots, he will drive people to violent acts...
I have noticed that in the last few years people seem to have more anger issues than I have ever seen in my whole ministerial and police career. I meet them daily, and many of them are on the brink of a violent act.
There are some people whose anger has turned into hate, and in that disposition, they have allowed the wicked one to have more say in their life.
Do you recall the story of Ananias and Sapphira? We are told that they lied to the Holy Spirit. Peter the Apostle confronted them with their deception, and said to them, "how is it that SATAN HAS SO FILLED YOUR HEART that you have lied...?"
Did you catch that? Their lying was the fruit of the devil's work in their heart. The Enemy can fill your heart to lie - or kill.
By all means... deal with your anger....
