(Adapted from June 4, 2022)

"The question isn't why an all-powerful God allows tragedy to happen; the question is what is wrong with us that we take the freedom God made us with and use it for tragedy?" – Steve Deace

THIS is the column I've been putting off. Through personal experience, I've been forced to study the subject of mass shooters. I knew one. I even traveled with him to events three times and shared motel rooms with him. In the middle of March 2005, he shot and killed seven of my close friends and himself during a church service. I was on my way there, but due to a car problem, my fender wells were packed with ice and snow so the car bottomed out on every bump in the road. I turned around and went home. It was a miracle. I lived to write another day.

Ironically, on new year's day that year, I had posted a column entitled "Why does God allow such things to happen." To the end of his life, the leader of our church wondered why such a thing happened. Could it be that God allowed it so that some of us could empathize with the victims and survivors of mass shootings? There is an answer.

The apostle Paul warned us not to allow bitterness to take root in our minds.

". . . Some commonalities do stand out." A 2016 study published by psychologist Dr. Peter Langman revealed that 82% of the perpetrators of mass shootings came from broken homes with seriously dysfunctional families where 'not just divorce and separation, but also infidelity, substance abuse, criminal behavior, and so on were present. Psychotropic drugs are often involved, and lately, transgenderism (mental illness).

The shooter in our case lived with his divorced mother. He had been bullied on the school bus years ago, something we didn't know. I saw his temper more than once, and offended him one time. His defense mechanism was humor, but life for him was not getting any better. And finally, we believe, he was possessed by a demon. A judge's husband had been shot in Chicago a few days before, and the killer drove to Milwaukee. A cop thought he was parked suspiciously and approached him, and the guy committed suicide. Unfortunately, that doesn't kill the demon. And it looks for someone else to possess. We believe it found Terry a few miles away, and the rest is history. A few days later an Indian school in northern Minnesota was shot up, probably by the same demon. The shootings in 2022 ought to convince us that America needs a great spiritual Awakening. If not now, WHEN?

P.S. What was the homicide rate per thousand before Roe v. Wade, and after? I believe there is a partial causation in violent crimes. Human life is no longer considered sacred.

PPS: For survivors of shootings and for friends and families of the victims, the combined words of Herrick, Herbert, Hood, and Cowper (paraphrased).