News of 21 killed in Uvalde, Texas this week shocked the nation, with many more wounded. The perpetrator had no criminal record, nothing to raise concern that might prevent his purchase of firearms. “It makes no sense;” this statement has been repeated over and over by reporters and in interviews. The Governor blames mental illness. Political zealots whose agenda is to disarm all law-abiding gun owners scream this couldn’t have happened, if the young man had not been able to buy guns.
Salvador Ramos did display a skewed view in online posts. Reports say he was influenced toward hostility by things he read and heard. He shot the grandmother raising him, which began the rampage that followed. That much anger would have expressed itself in violence whether he used guns or not. Knives, machetes, even a shovel or a tire iron would have been utilized to kill, in the absence of guns. If legal gun ownership is banned, it won’t stop or reduce illegal acts that are in the heart. Violence begins there, a temptation building up until actions are taken to disrupt many lives.
Guns in the hands of law enforcement enabled the perpetrator to be stopped before more people were harmed. Guns are tools, neither evil nor good. Society is shaped by influences, both within and external. Looking at a young man with no record of transgression, this crime makes no sense. However, senseless violence against people is nothing new. If you don’t see it coming, consider the possibility that you DON’T see who is truly behind it!
I remember news of a tower sniper in Austin shooting people in the street in the early 1970s. He was taken alive, unlike this young fellow. In interviews later, he spoke of a point of no return when the violence he had prepared for was taken out of his hands. A moment came when Satan entered him, he said, and he lost all control of what he was doing. Scripture uses the same words to describe what happened when Judas betrayed Jesus. When one plays with the idea of committing sin, it isn’t long before a hard shove makes it a reality.
Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. Jesus said it, not me. He never lies! Since the Devil’s minions follow him, they share his motives. He hates Christ enough to kill Him, remember? It didn’t work. Jesus rose again. Infuriated and unable to do it again, he targets men and women, the work of His hands made in His image. The world is blind to the war Satan wages against humanity, so the casualties suffered make no sense to them. The pawns he uses receive all their focus AFTER folks get hurt. It is an ineffective response too late to do any good!
Jesus cast demons out of people when confronted with them. If the Body of Christ follows in his footsteps, lawlessness cannot prevail. We must do what He enables us to do while we can, because when He calls us to His side, we won’t be here to exemplify His righteousness anymore. Didn’t He declare that we are the light of the world? Let’s submit to Him, resist the Devil and watch what happens when he flees!