Yesterday. Yesterday we witnessed the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Today is the anniversary of the events of September 11. Here in Roseburg we are also coming up on the anniversary of the UCC shooting, a shooting where the perpetrator, after asking each student about their faith, killed those who confessed their belief in Jesus Christ, and wounded the others, those who stated they were not Christians.
None of these events should surprise us: we live in a world controlled by the evil one, one Jesus described as a murderer from the beginning, a world steeped in sin. But unlike the world, when tragedy strikes, we do not grieve without hope:
1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 (ESV): But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For isince we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Today is a day for grieving, for mourning the deaths, for mourning what our country has, at least for now, become. But that too, is not new. More needs to be said, but that will happen later; this is not the time. Today, we grieve.
Good Friday
Dr. James W. Walraven
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Merry Christmas!
Dr. James W. Walraven
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