Tag: dark knight

Where was God During the Colorado Massacre?

Justin Hibbard1 Comment

Whenever a horrific event like the Colorado movie massacre occurs, it seems like the talking heads are suddenly interested in focusing on God and His will. These events call into question our social theology of general agnosticism or ambivalence towards God, and without fail, the conversation turns deistic. “Where was God during this chaos? Maybe God has turned His back on our society. We’re on our own!” I’m always amazed at how someone could be so disinterested in God one moment and be so sure they’ve figured Him out the next.

Someone asked me the other day if I thought 9-11 and this massacre is evidence that God has rejected us and has turned His back on our society. I’ve been giving that question a lot of thought.

As I mentioned last week, I think Governor Mike Huckabee said it best on his Fox News program. “We don’t have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn’t act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.” The bottom line is that people are either getting their identity from Jesus or a device of Satan. For some people that leads them to addictions. For others, it leads to acquiring material possessions. And for others, it turns into a power hunger to take away the dignity and life from others. It’s not just a problem; it’s a wide scale epidemic.

Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” How is God’s wrath being revealed? Verses 24, 26, and 28, use the same phrase – “God gave them over.” God allowed them everything their hearts desired. We beg for free will. We just have no idea of its ramifications until God lets us have what our hearts crave.

Sometimes I think we treat God like a cosmic condom. We fool around with astounding filth, and when some real consequence to our behavior slips in like a STD, we blame God.

You can see the trick Satan is pulling. He’s lured us away to a very dark place with very dark consequences and then convinces us to get angry at God for something we should have known was bound to happen. C.S. Lewis said, “The doors of hell are locked on the inside.” I would add, “and everyone is angry and bitter at God for not dwelling with them there.”

I realize that many of the victims in this case were little children. Some were military heroes. Some were even believers. Unfortunately, that’s the reality of sin. Like we see in the story of Achan in Joshua 7, sometimes our sin and unrepentance hurts those around us as much if not more than ourselves.

So when I see just the type of junk people are turning to in order to get their identity and the danger they are putting others in, here’s my question, “How in the world is it that this type of horrific violence doesn’t happen more often?” We live in a society that discourages Christianity, that applauds other religions, that celebrates sin and violence. How is it that this stuff doesn’t happen every day?

It’s in that question that we discover where God is. 2 Thessalonians 2:17 says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” Paul tells us exactly where God is. He is here. It is the Holy Spirit that restrains evil, but here’s the real frightening part, one day He will no longer restrain it. As bad as our current violence is, can you imagine what will happen when the Holy Spirit stops restraining it? When God truly gives us over to reap the consequences of our sinful desires, can you imagine the carnage?

Scripture is clear. In the midst of our Sodom, God is here. The stories about miracles and salvation are pouring in amidst the overwhelming grief of those whose lives were lost. I read the other day of one of the wounded – a 22 year-old Christian girl who was born with an inconsequential minor brain defect. Basically, she was born with a tiny channel in her brain that ran from front to back. No one would have ever known about it, except when the doctors were trying to save her life, by removing a shotgun pellet from her brain. Turns out one went up her nose, and traveled along that channel from front to back. Seems like God knew exactly what He was doing when He created her. He knew exactly where she would be on Friday, July 20th, and He knew exactly what size object was going to try to kill her. If that bullet moved a millimeter in any direction or if that channel was smaller or non-existent, we would have a 13th victim.

Yet despite these amazing stories, sadly, families of the twelve victims are weighed down with unbelievable grief. It’s not just the fruit of some psycho or some weapons, it is the fruit of Adam and Eve. It is the fruit of believing that man can live on our own, that we can make our own rules, that we can get our identity from someone other than God.

Why God didn’t intervene to prevent all twelve deaths? I don’t know. But what I do know is that these moments are reality checks for our world. There’s a great line in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Speaking of the lost boy, it says, “When he came to his senses…” If anything, this serves as a moment of spiritual awakening. It gets us to ask, “Where am I, and how did I get so far from home?” We really have three options. We can either say, “God, I hate you for leaving me here and not protecting me in this hell hole. It’s all your fault.” Or we can say, “Well, that was a frightening lesson; hope it never happens again,” and return to our current state. Or we can say, “Father, I’m done living my life my way. I need you. Please take me home.”

Many of you are home, and this message is preaching to the choir. However, this is a message we can share to those who are lost and wondering what to do with all of this tragedy and confusion. Today, like in the case of Abel, the human blood of innocent bystanders cries out from the ground. It pleads for us to turn to Jesus. It’s time to come home to a Heavenly Father who loves us and desires to protect us from our own human will.

The Colorado Massacre and a Hijacked Identity

Justin Hibbard

I’m not much of a superhero buff, but there is something about these Batman movies that resonates within me – the story of an ordinary boy (no kryptonite or spider venom to aid him), struggling to find his identity, who later builds really cool toys and takes justice in his own hands. How many times have you walked out of a movie like this with a bit of swagger? For a moment, even if it’s just a second, you’re overcome with this desire to be the Robin Hood, the William Wallace, the Gladiator, the Dark Knight. We crave being lost in a life where we find a heroic identity.

That quest for identity drives us, and sometimes it drives us to dark places. Sometimes we’re so twisted, that we perceive the villain to be the hero. Enter James Holmes – a twenty-three year old “aspiring scientist,” dyed orange Joker hair, wearing a mask, body armor, and strapped with an arsenal of weapons. In a matter of a few horrific moments, he was no longer just an intelligent, well-mannered, quiet boy from San Diego. He starred in his own reality show where a self-delusional perception of psychopathic heroism became everyone else’s nightmare.

And so the questions begin: “Less guns, more guns, more psychiatric evaluations in universities, tighter supervision of movie watching?” And on and on. I think former Governor Mike Huckabee said it best the other night on his Fox News program. “We don’t have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn’t act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

That “sin problem” is a real pervasive epidemic in our society, and when we get down to it, it’s an identity problem. People are lost – they don’t know who they are or who they should be. Satan lures us, hijacks our identity, and tells us we can find it in all sorts of places – money, work, sex, material possessions, media, relationships, substances. As long as we’re getting some answers, we’ll continue drinking the roofie contaminated kool-aid.

Here’s the scary, sobering reality, for which I will not apologize: anyone who finds their identity in something other than Jesus is finding it in some device of Satan, and it will lead to some sort of destruction. And you know what, Satan’s manipulating and sadistic enough that he doesn’t even need for us to give him the credit. He’ll give us enough luxury so we don’t think we need God or make us nice people so we don’t think we need to be different. He’ll offer us something to take away the pain and then offer us more to take away the side-effects. He’ll bring devastation or destruction to get us to blame God; or he’ll destroy our self-worth so we don’t aspire to be like God; or, like in the case of James Holmes, he’ll twist the definition of heroism and give us enough delusion to pull the trigger. He’ll lure us to the darkest corner of hell and then get us to question the goodness or existence of God when we can’t find Him there. Satan is the prince of this world – the mastermind responsible for creating Hitlers and nice people. He lures you to find your identity in him, and it’s a matter of roulette as to what kind of person he will turn you into. The only thing that’s certain is that his one interest is destroying you and those around you; you are a mere means to that end. The other day we saw just what type of catastrophic end one man’s hijacked identity can bring.

The Good News is that there is an alternative. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” There are only two options – the Thief or the Liberator, horrific death or abundant life, Satan or Jesus. The beauty of the Gospel is that we are invited to “snap out of it” and find our identity in Jesus. We don’t have to let Satan play roulette with our lives; we don’t have to take him at his deceptive word. We can say, “Jesus, give me your identity. Jesus, tell me who I am. Jesus, let my life be yours. Jesus, I want to be defined by you.” It is when we are lost in Jesus’ life, that we find ours. Like the parable of the treasure in the field, when we discover God’s heart, we discover ours, and that is the beginning of eternal, abundant, and beautiful life.