“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.”
(Mark 9:42)
I am sitting at my desk this morning writing to my beloved church family an article for this Sunday’s bulletin while 19 little ones are laying cold and lifeless along with two of their teachers because of a brutal and senseless massacre in an elementary school outside of San Antonio, Texas. Two weeks ago, it was in a grocery store up in Buffalo, New York where the carnage took place. Senseless shootings, murders, and suicides happen regularly in our day because there are too many guns in the hands of too many people and all of us have stood idlily by and let it happen.
“Forgive me Lord because I am guilty.” This is my prayer this morning. I have become a part of this problem. I don’t own an assault rifle. I don’t have a pistol, or a weapon designed to take another human being’s life, but I have been too silent and too complacent for too long in speaking out against those who make millions of dollars promoting an industry that profits beyond reason by the sales and promotion of these awful tools of human carnage. I can no longer keep quiet.
Jesus referred to a place where the fire is never quenched, the worm never dies and there is continual weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mark 9:48). He made that reference just 6 verses after He talked about children who are made to stumble and fall resulting in millstones that are promised for those who do the dirty work.
A person who abuses children, who attacks children, who leads children to suffer, and die is a person who is destined for the eternal fire in hell. This assault on our children is not a political problem or a reflection of social disfunction. It is a spiritual problem that all of us share and for which the only answer is to repent. There are people in high places who bear responsibility for the death of these children in Texas. There are people who have profited by the production and sale of weapons that were used to kill these children. Even the high and mighty need to repent. I live in a country in which children are on the front lines of a battlefield every time they go to school or even to the grocery store. Listen to what God says,
“…UNLESS YOU REPENT, YOU WILL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH."
(Luke 13:3)
The National Rifle Association meets next week in Houston, Texas. Political leaders, national gun manufacturers, lobbyists, and lifelong members will come together and to talk about protecting the right to bear arms guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment. They will show off the newest weapon models hitting the market this year.
Those attending will share their affinity for personal freedom and individual rights. Maybe they will have a moment of silence for the parents and loved ones of dead children over in Uvalde, or maybe someone will offer a prayer for those who grieve.
I venture to say there will be no repentance or united change of heart and mind. No one will look up into the face of God and beg for forgiveness and tell God that the binge we have in this country to purchase and possess tools for killing people is wrong.
GOD PLEASE, PLEASE FORGIVE US!
GOD FORGIVE ME!
GOD FORGIVE ME!
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