Depravity!

It is not difficult, it is impossible for me to even imagine how anyone could kill 30+ innocent people. How could anyone become so disoriented, so psychotic, so whatever, as to single-handedly carry out the worst massacre ever on a US college campus? It is simply incomprehensible, at least to most of us; however, even a casual reading of the Scriptures will give us much insight: "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, . . ." (Romans 1:24a); "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one . . . destruction and misery are in their paths . . . there is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:10a-12, 16, 18).

Man is depraved--really, seriously, depraved--make no mistake about it! Man is in desperate need of a Savior--really, seriously, in need of Him--make no mistake about it! The church can continue on with its foolishness, futilely attempting to "fix" man with its various programs, but I am telling you that man is in need of a Savior--The Savior!

I have tried to warn you over and over, but it is as if no one is listening! Hear me now: what happened at Virginia Tech could easily become commonplace--very easily! Folk, we have an enemy and he has a mission and a purpose, neither of which are noble--to steal, to kill, and to destroy! To be sure, he can do nothing but what God permits him to do, BUT when God removes His hand and turns a nation over in the lusts of its heart to impurity, he (the enemy) is permitted to wreak havoc!

Take a close look at the young man in this picture; he is Cho Seung-Hui, the 23 year old, who maliciously took the lives of over 30 innocent people and injured who know how many more. Take a closer look: he is some mother's son; some father's son. Who knows what his past has been like, what he has experienced. Truthfully, it doesn't really matter because his past was not his problem. Oh, I am sure the enemy used his past against him, but his past was not his problem. His problem was much larger than his past and you can count on that.

For all I know, he was a "committed" Christian, who attended church every Sunday, read through the Bible every 90 days, could recite Psalm 119, and was baptized in the Jordan river, but his past was not his problem, nor did his practice of religion serve him very well.

On the other hand, he might have been a "committed" Buddhist, who did with fervor whatever Buddhists do, but his past was not his problem, nor did his practice of religion serve him very well.

This was his problem: God permitted Satan to use him to demonstrate the horrendous, malicious, depravity of man, and, I might add, this wasn't the first time God had done such a thing (read the Bible and you will find plenty of examples), nor will it be His last. The truth is this: we haven't seen anything yet! This is only a taste of what is to come (I want to say "unless this nation turns to God" but I know that that isn't going to happen) and we need to get over our religion and our religious practices and face the fact that we have been called to live in intimacy with Jesus, not in some sterile bubble, but in the w-o-r-l-d, the world in which the enemy truly believes that he rules and reigns.

"Cast all of your cares upon Him because He cares for you"!!

Your Pastor