Pastor Assassinated During Service

Earlier this morning, during the 8 am Church service at the First Baptist Church, Pastor Fred Winters was gunned down by a stranger in Maryville, Illinois. Why? We do not know. No description of the suspect has been released, and no one has the guts to call it a hate crime.

While the attack was in full mode, some of the parishioners tackled this mental midget. For more more information, please read, "Pastor shot to death at Illinois church", written by Joel Currier, Jeremy Kohler and Nicholas J.C. Pistor from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Please send up prayers for all these people. This is horrible.

Now a few words from the Editor. Who is this assassin that he gets to have his name withheld from the public? This pastor was white. He was also a Christian. Could these two facts have anything to do with the situation? I am not saying they did. I do not know that. I'm just asking.

I am, however, tired of everyone thinking that Christians are some sort of fruitcakes that you can just gun down and get no retaliation. Have you ever heard the saying, "What goes around, comes around"? No matter if we do something about it or not (which 'not' is the usual case, because we are mostly law-abiding), GOD SAW YOU. He will make you answer for whatever you do on this earth during your life.

So what can you do to escape God's wrath? You can accept His offer of grace.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's One and Only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

John 3:16

Believe in Jesus Christ, His One and Only begotten Son, repent of your sins, turn from the life you are living and follow Jesus. Jesus has said:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Matthew 16:24-28

There is also this:

More Than Conquerors.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified, He also glorified.

What then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is always interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as
sheep slaughtered."
Psalm 44:22

No, in all these things we were more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:28-39.

I must confess, as I was writing this there were things that came to mind. I have been dishonest with myself. I have beared false witness against me. I try to do so many things that I know I cannot actually achieve, I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders which I should place all burdens at the foot of the Cross, I do not care for myself as I should, I have let myself go, have I given up? All these things I repent to You, oh Lord. Please help me in my struggles and draw me closer to You. Help me, Lord. I need You. In Jesus' precious name I pray, AMEN.

I hope if you are reading this, you will see that no matter where you are in your life, no matter what age, no matter what religion or lack thereof, no matter what sins, you, too, can and will be forgiven by the Father, God, if you only seek His Son's forgiveness. If you need any help, please feel free to e-mail me. I will try to do my best. If I cannot help you, I shall try to find someone who can. Please do not just lose your life. You are too precious to Him. Thank you.

PS. If anyone thinks it is too harsh to speak the truth to people who do not our beloved Lord, they are the problem with religion today. People know when you are lying to them, and they really do not approve of this! I don't blame them. I can't stand it myself.

Are people who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour condemned to hell? Yes. But not by God. They are condemned by their own choice. All you pro-choicers out there, ya got that? It is all of our responsibility to try to keep others from falling off the narrow path. We will be judged for this, especially if we do nothing when we could have and should have done something. Even a prayer would help. You'd be surprised at the power of an earnest prayer!

No one is doing more harm to Christianity than Christians. Soft services. No connecting current events with the Bible. Following foolish idols. (For that matter, any idol at all.) We are so watered down that if they threw the whole lot of us in the ocean, I'm afraid we would sink. We must clean our own home first. Quickly! Thanks for reading. That has been weighing heavy on my mind and in my soul.

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

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Cross-posted @ The Conservative Underground, Smart Girl Politics and Rosemary's News and Ideas. Digg!