The Face of Evil

Today our nation stands in mourning over the recent senseless massacre in Newtown, Connecticut of 20 innocent children and 6 adults, by a lone deranged 20 year old young man. I cannot help but reflect on how uncertain life is. In a matter of minutes the lives of 26 families were dramatically changed forever. There was no warning, no email, no text message, no phone calls, nobody tweeted, and it was not on face book, it caught all these families by surprise

 How does one go from shopping for gifts to shopping for caskets? How does a person go from planning Christmas dinner to planning a funeral? How do you reconcile having just hugged and kiss a child with a “see you later” to being told in a very short while after “sorry, they will not be coming home”.  There are so many questions, not only by the surviving relatives but by the entire country. The question at the top of the list is how could this happen? How could something so bad happen to innocent children. Children who are just learning to read and write, who made silly faces, who played with dolls and trucks and made up silly jokes. How could this happen to adults who wanted to make a difference in life? Adults who cared for and taught children how to read and write, do math and English, for very little pay. What makes a young man do such a horrific act? There are so many different explanations. Some talk about a young man who was deranged with a trouble past and not being able to get help, to an outcry for tighter gun control. Whatever the reason, these families are left to pick up the pieces of their lives and try over the coming months to adjust to a new normal.

 About 6 weeks ago I had a deep desire to encourage mothers to pray for children in every state and I came up with “50 states in 50 days” and we started our prayer marathon. We prayed for states in alphabetical order and had already prayed for children in Connecticut. So why did this happen? Did God hear our prayers? Where was God when all this was going on? Well yes God did hear our prayers and to tell you the truth God was right there when it all took place. The reports we heard is that the young man had ammunition that could kill every person in the school. So thank God this did not happen, so as bad as this is, it could have been much worse. God never did this, why it was allowed, I have no explanation, but I do know that God will turn this around for good. What we see happen in Newton, is evil, which can only be canceled by good, not tighter gun control, not more secure schools, and more police officers and security systems. Those are good things, but it will take more than these measures. Ephesian 6: 12 tells us For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I am not trying by any means to absolve this young man, but his action was controlled by demonic forces. There is no other explanation for him committing this crime. We must recognize that Satan uses people to do his bidding. Wherever there is an opening He will enter. We cannot take things for granted. We cannot let down our guard because Satan does not play fair. We must be vigilant and be consistent in our prayer life and stand up at all times for what is righteous. We must denounce evil, we cannot compromise. Those of us who are Christians must continue to make our voices heard.

Do not become complacent because things are going well with you and your family, and in your neighborhood.  Let us as a nation seek God’s face and guidance, let us teach our children according to the word of God. Let us not overlook behaviors in our children as just a phase they are going through. Pray about it, your prayer will make a difference.

As we pray for these families, let us prayer for God’s comfort for them. The pain that they are feeling right now, cannot be eased by all our good intention words. It takes the love and comfort of a Great big loving God.

In His service,

 Vilma