by Josh McPherson

This week the eyes of our nation were transfixed on the tragic Christian School shooting in TN.

We witnessed the sick mentality of a cold-blooded killer on full display in a twisted manifesto and pathologically evil actions.

We watched the courageous heroism of cops stepping over the body of a 9-year old girl dressed in pink lying motionless on the floor as they charged towards the sound of gunfire.

We listened to the heartbroken pastor-dad of one of the murdered little girls when he said, “Through tears, we trust she is in the arms of Jesus, who will raise her to life once again…”

And in the middle of all this mind-numbing tragedy, the political circus fired up.

As if on cue, the POTUS approached the mic, made a few jokes about ice cream, and proceeded to drone on, in sleepy prose, the tired party-line politics of calling for more gun restrictions.

The cringeworthy, tone-deaf press conference lectured gun owners and blamed guns. No mention of mental illness. No mention of personal responsibility put on a demented criminal. With less then 10 seconds dedicated to mourning the loss of little children, he pivoted to party-line agendas.

Blame the gun, blame law-abiding citizens—barely mention the families.

Had this tragedy happened at a gay night club or a muslim mosque, cries of hate-crime would fill the air. But a Christian school intentionally targeted for its orthodox beliefs? An act of murder in response to repeated calls for violence from Antifa during a “trans day of vengeance”?

No hate crime here. Just another tragic example of how "Guns kill people." Duh.

And then the jeering started. As one progressive partisan mocked on twitter, “Very surprising that there would be a mass shooting at a Christian school, given that lack of prayer is often blamed for these horrible events. Is it possible they weren’t praying enough, or correctly, despite being a Christian school?”  

Smug mockery in the face of heartbreaking tragedy. How nice.

Then came the blame game. It was probably the narrow-minded Christians who made her feel ostracized in the first place. 

And just like that, the political narrative turned a killer into a victim and a 9-year old dead girl into a member of the oppressive class.

Though not surprising, it was breathtakingly disappointing to witness nonetheless. The hatred and vitriol was hard to comprehend. Yet here we are.

This is how nations are destroyed. Refuse to require personal responsibility for actions. Blame other people. Victimize criminals. Encourage mental derangement. Ignore mental illness. Hand out drugs like candy. Gaslight the general populous. Cast baseless dispersions, spread horrific rumors, and hurl wild accusations against a particular class of people ("Christians are waging a genocide against trans people!" was one headline I read). Then use these baseless lies to legitimatizes violence against them in response. And what do you have?

Well, friend, you've got yourself a culture war primed for a violent revolution.

We're literally living out of a chapter pulled from Karl Marx’s playbook.

Though the tragedy happened at one local Christian school, the impact was felt on every Christian school campus in America. Schools who run largely on thin tuition and donated charitable dollars. Schools with teachers who don't have pensions. Schools without tax-funded budgets. Schools that live on conviction and the charitable generosity of a local community. Schools who love children and teach them to sing songs like "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world."

These are the vilified institutions brainwashing children that must be "held accountable." Obviously, they were to blame.

Um, What?

I spoke with the Headmaster of one Christian school in our state this week. “It’s a sad day for Christian education across the country. A sobering wake-up call to the evil that exists and hatred directed towards us.”

Many in Christian education, and children everywhere, went to school with heavy hearts and a nervous eye towards the locked doors this week.

Who's next?

Will copycat actions crop up across the nation?

Are we all in danger?

As I’ve spoken personally with schools and churches this week, all were scrambling to review their safety measures in order to keep their children safe. At Christian schools. Who would have thought? Insane.

In light of such things, how do we respond as Christians?

Well, we respond how Christians the world over have responded for centuries past. In no particular order...

We weep with those who weep, mourn with the hurting, and pray for those who lost loved ones in such a violent and senseless attack.

We honor the protectors who courageously did their job to prevent further destruction of life.

We pray for the family of the killer, whose lives are forever marred with the shame of her actions.

We ignore the lies hurled at us in the spirit of the Accuser.

We keep our minds clear with the Word of God.

We don't take the bait of the mocker by getting down in the mud and rolling around with mud-slingers.

We love the ones who declare they are our enemy & pray for those who persecute us.

And we refuse to live in fear.

And we keep loving all people.

And we keep helping those who are hurting.

And we hold fast to our faith.

And we prepare to protect our own from evil.

And we refuse to stop preaching the truth of the gospel—the only hope for a broken society.

And we thank God that this is not the end of the story.

While evil wreaks havoc and destruction, and the accuser casts lies and dispersions, Christians the world over are quietly, sacrificially, daily loving people. The Church continues to bless communities. And the Kingdom of God advances steadily forward.

This week alone, pastors of Grace City and Doorholders (members of our church family serving on many different Grace Teams) have ministered in powerful ways to hurting people.

One young man, who has been abandoned by his family, found his way to Grace City. He met loving adults and students who welcomed him into our House. He gave his life to Jesus. He forgave those he was angry with. We’ll baptize him this Easter.

Another young man, currently incarcerated as a juvenile felon but allowed to come to Grace City youth events, spoke at length with one of our pastors. After the good news of Jesus was explained to him...that forgiveness and newness of life was available through Jesus, he stood up and declared, “I have to do this, I want Jesus to change my life.” We’ll baptize him this Easter.

A hurting woman in Chelan County jail had been repeatedly molested as a child by her father. This started a broken cycle of sexual abuse by other men. She turned to studying Wiccan witchcraft for comfort. This week she was loved and discipled by our Chaplain Team and encouraged to turn away from demonic worship to her Heavenly Father who loves her. She was prayed for, listened to, and loved on in the name of Jesus.

Another young man started attending youth group. Got ahold of the Bible. Read it from cover-to-cover. Became convinced that Jesus was the Son of God. Gave his life to Jesus. Now he’s praying for his parents and bringing them to church with him. We’ll baptize him next to his family on Easter.

How about the young lady coming out of an alternative lifestyle? Yup, you guessed it, getting baptized at Easter.

Or the man who found his refuge in career success until his career and success let him down? Now he's surrendered his life to Jesus. We’ll baptize him on Easter.

51—to be exact.

51 people will get baptized, and counting. (*editor's note...since publishing this blog, the number is over 60!*)

51 stories of deep, personal, life-changing transformation.

That’s how a nation is changed.

One broken person loved at a time. One hurting person at a time listened to, loved on, and pointed to Jesus Christ.

That’s what pushes back the darkness.

Love. Truth. Grace. Personalized in a face, a conversation, a prayer offered in faith. Through you, the Church, loving people in Jesus name.

It’s an honor to work with you in these days, Grace City, to point more people to the only source of true and lasting personal and social change—the risen Savior.

For my Easter sermon, I’m going to preach from an odd text. In the Old Testament, a prophet of God stands on the edge of a deserted desert valley. The valley is filled with the bones and carcasses of dead animals. The prophet looks across the devastating landscape of death and God asks him a single question, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?" (Ez. 37:3)

The answer is glorious.

So let's come this Easter Weekend ready to celebrate the Risen Savior. Bring a friend, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, mother, father, friend. The world is dark, the gospel is bright, Jesus is alive, and there are still people who haven’t heard. We have good work to do.  

I'm fired up. Even in the face of a hellish tragedy, Heaven marches on. Because of an empty tomb, Death doesn't get the last laugh. Thanks be to God. Jesus is Revival.

Onward,

Pastor Josh