Opening Fire Upon

by James Baker

A person comes on the scene and suddenly without warning draws a gun and fires upon the people. This is an event that could occur at any given place where that monster would have lots of people to kill. Just recently, we saw a man enter the largest veteran center in the United States which is located in the wine country of northern California. This man took hostages and released others and the terror ended with this guy murdering three hostages and killing himself.
Now who are these shooters? They’re someone son, student, employee, father, brother, husband, etc.
A shooter could be anyone who thinks that they have been wronged, has mental issues or some purpose that they want to put over to make some statement that will place their name in lights.
Not having humane feelings is one of the sins that the word of God has warned about as men slip deeper into depravity (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:3). Can you imagine a person just shooting a gun upon people he doesn’t know, while ignoring their cries for mercy? Stalking young children with the intent to slaughter. Renting a hotel room high above an entertainment area simply to have a good spot to fire on the people enjoying themselves? Such a person has shed all traces of decency, humanity and such a one is a devil. But God sees and our Lord will deal with them (Job 28:23-25).
The Philadelphia police got a tip about a dog fight that was going on and thank God they were able to get there and arrest about 30 people watching two dogs tear each other apart. How can any human being get pleasure watching two dogs maim each other? The people who like this cruelty are lacking natural affection. How can these people who go to watch dogs tear flesh off each other, criticize the Florida school shooter? The shooter was getting his kicks, just like the dog fight crowd.
So how could they criticize him? One evil is just as bad as any other evil. The problem with our world is the people. They need to repent and no one seems to want to! (Acts 17.30-31, 8:22-23).
Our attempt to defeat the problem is banishing guns? Taking away people right to bear arms or limiting those rights? I must confess, I have always wondered why citizens had the right to bear military weapons? Why do we need a killing machine like that? We cannot hunt with them. Is it some kind of status symbol like; “hey look at this big fast gun that I have”. Either way, I personally see no need for those types of weapons; I say let only the army have them.
Because weapons are just means to an end; which is the death of others. And the heart of man is still wicked; he will find other methods to kill and punish others. We can get ready to see homemade bombs, throwing acid into people faces, vehicles used to mow people down, shooters using smaller guns like 9mm and .45’s, shotguns, stabbings with knives, etc. Killing isn’t going to stop just because a certain type of gun has been taken away. Evil men still want to kill people and it will only stop when man has repented of the evil that he wants to afflict upon others.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to this problem, but man will have to accept the message. That is going to be very hard because we have people who don’t believe in God. We have people who don’t like religion, etc. How in the world can things become better if we have so many people that hate the Lord? But that will be the problem of men, because God isn’t going to force Himself upon anyone. The gospel which sets men free from sin and causes mankind to love his neighbor, is the right way to live and we could eliminate our problems if men would accept the word of God. But as the scripture said; who wants to accept it? (Roman 10:16). The word of God is the source of good and God wants to share it with us and we in turn can share it with others.
I read about a letter about a boy who questioned God about why He didn’t stop killers from shooting up schools. God wrote back and said; “ I’m not allowed in school.”Say what you will, it is true, God isn’t allowed in school. We have kicked him out of our lives and banished Him from our schools. We just don’t want Him around. But yet, the minute we get in trouble, we want Him to save us. Not going happen. He will laugh at us (Proverbs 1:25-33).
We have to talk about changing our lives from murderous persons to lovely souls with the heart of Jesus Christ. If we become as He wants us to be, no one would enter a school, or any public place and open fire. The commandment “thou shalt not kill” means the world to us because Christians value life and would never try to eliminate it (Romans 13:9).