Jesus taught that a house divided against itself shall not stand and that is what the United States of America is, a house divided.
The Orlando massacre has exposed a great chasm of opinion, policy ideas and even what words to use.
Among Christians there is the unbiblical view such as Pastor Roger Jimenez of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, who delivered a sermon hours after the attack in which he told his congregation that they “shouldn’t be mourning the death of 50 sodomites.”
To the other end there is Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, who called on Christians to reach out to their “gay and lesbian neighbors” during what is for many a time of fear and grief.
“Let’s call our congregations to pray together. Let’s realize that, in this case, our gay and lesbian neighbors are likely quite scared. Who wouldn’t be?” Moore wrote.
I believe Russell Moore’s position to be the biblical view as we are to show love and compassion to all people without accepting their sin but during a tragedy like this we should not address sin until the Holy Spirit opens the door.
The political arguments make little sense as everyone is blaming guns and the NRA instead of Islam for the 49 deaths. Almost as soon as the murders hit the news feeds calls for gun control trended on social media. Little is being made of the fact that the shooter had special permits to weapons most people do not because of his government linked security job and look at how well gun control worked in Paris and Sacramento where it was supposed to be difficult to get them.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump got under President Obama’s skin on the war of words as the president chided Trump over the use of the term Islamic Extremists. The president stated that using the term would not change the focus of the war on terrorism but would only play into the hands of ISIL. While Trump thought the president was angrier with him than the Orlando butcher.
It is clear that we are a nation divided as this mass murder proves. We are divided by our hedonism and our political correctness, by our devotion to the One true God and His commands or our misunderstanding of His love and His judgment, by our devotion to a false god that calls for death to those who do not believe and do not comply.
We are deeply divided in such a way that we cannot correctly identify who the enemy is or how to fight the enemy and so we risk a great fall, after all how can two walk together unless they agree and how much more so, a nation.
The terror attacks will be coming more often and most likely take a greater toll. We will continue to see calls for gun control, DHS is already testing the waters to take weapons and talk show hosts are calling for suspension of constitutional rights that will lead to a form of martial law, but the solution will not be found there.
The solution to the disorder we see, to the attacks from outside and inside is found in a spiritual awakening, is there room in human history for one more return to the Lord? Only the prayer and fasting of God’s people seeking God’s face can turn the heart of God now, but why not? Unity is found in the Lord after all.
