What a Mass Murderer and I Have in Common

A week has past since the horrific manslaughter of more than 50 people who were shot and killed ruthlessly from a hotel room 32 stories above a country music festival by an unpredictable and introverted accountant named Stephen Paddock.

No one could have guessed that this white, rich, gamble-loving, 64 year-old, male had it in him... Apparently he wasn't medically insane, and apparently he had no links to extreme terrorist groups or far out religious causes.

A CNN article actually stated that after investigating more than 1,000 different leads, still - authorities have not been able to pin down any clear motive for why Stephen Paddock would do such a thing.

It's disconcerting to put it lightly - because to think that someone would just arbitrarily decide to buy a bunch of weapons and randomly start shooting at thousands of innocent people, for no particular reason whatsoever - is more like terrifying and horrific and just plain bizarre.

Everyone wants to know why? but the answer remains shrouded in mystery.

...What impresses me is the thought that maybe Stephen Paddock didn't even need a reason. Maybe it was just an evil and sick heart lashing out against thousands of helpless people with gunfire because of a terrible disease called sin.

Sin? Yeah, and even though it would be more convenient to talk about what happened a week ago because of some other sophisticated cause - ultimately it's only sin: terrible and rotten sin that can lead a person to do such a thing.

Sin is a terrible evil, and what's so uncomfortable in talking about it is that deep inside we all have to realize that we've been plagued by it as well. It's a ruthless epidemic that has infected the whole human race (Romans 3:23), and if that same stuff that led a madman to commit such heinous crimes also dwells in us - then we can only imagine what we are also liable of doing.

...There's a really shocking song by indie artist Sufjan Stephens in his Illinois album that talks about the life of another psychopath named John Wayne Gacy Jr.

John Wayne Gacey Jr. was an American serial killer and rapist who targeted young male victims, and was convicted of raping and killing at least 33 teen-aged boys or young men before he was detained and later executed on May 10, 1994... In many of the cases involved, Gacey Jr. would bury his strangled victims in the crawl space of his own home.

And so in the midst of describing Gacey's horrific deeds in Sufjan's chilling song - Sufjan concludes the tune by saying, "In my best behavior, I am really just like him. Look beneath the floor boards for the secrets I have hid."

...I think that that confession is such an inconvenient and totally troubling truth for all of us. Sure, we are rightly appalled by Stephen Paddock's murder rampage in Las Vegas last week, as well as John Gacey's inhumane acts towards innocent boys a couple decades ago - but in our own behavior are we really all that different?

Of course we are! we say... from a human perspective we aren't half as sinful as those other guys! but actually from God's perspective every single one of us is just as guilty of sin as any other mass murderer and thus, we are completely deserving of the same condemnation as that of them. In Romans 3 Paul accurately declares that "no one is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (v. 10-12). And then verse 19 says, "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God."

When you think of guys like Stephen Paddock or John Gacey Jr., and feel hatred as well as tremendous indignation for what they have done and want them to rot in hell - just keep in mind that before God we are completely silenced, and have no argument with which to contend because we are just as guilty of breaking God's perfect law as they are.

I am just as guilty of it.

I too have killed someone innocent.

I have killed the Son of God as a result of my sin.

...Before the cross of Calvary, I Sam Killins as well as Stephen Paddock and John Gacey Jr. stand on level ground.

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Articles Referenced:
CNN article
John Gacey Wikipedia

Taking a Knee For the Gospel

I've never taken a knee during a national anthem, but I will say that I have taken a knee for the gospel a few times.

Sanctimonious much? Maybe, but the apostle Paul did too - and when I read about his passion for Christ's Church, I truly want to be like him as well, in my humble willingness to pray for God's children everywhere to be rooted and grounded in love - and to comprehend, along with saints of every race and gender and social status - the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

I'll take a knee for that, because I honestly believe that at the root of every racist thought or slur or action, and at the root of every hateful retaliation of those who receive these types of despicable offenses - is a tragic misunderstanding of the love of God which knows no bounds (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Essentially, what Paul is arguing for in the whole letter to the Ephesians is God's reconciliation of himself through Christ towards all of humanity, and consequently - the unity that should exist between people from all nations towards God and towards one another in the church... Paul was willing to fight for these truths big time, to the extent that he aggressively had to confront Christians who weren't willing to accept the equality that we have in Christ (Galatians 2:11); and to the extent that for people to even come to know Christ to begin with - he was willing to be tortured, imprisoned, and eventually even die (2 Corinthians 11:23-29).         

A picture I took with Colombian soldiers after sharing the gospel with them

Paul understood loud and clear that at the root of every sinful act of mankind towards God or one another was a faulty understanding of the love of God expressed through the all-sufficient sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, he was willing to bow his knees in prayer so that the believers in Ephesus, along with saints everywhere (which includes us), would be rooted and grounded in love instead of hatred - and that we would know it, even though it's impossible to know, but we actually know it nonetheless - because we know Christ who is the ultimate personification of love (1 John 4:9).

Paul lost everything because of this type of love (Phil. 3:7-8); and even though many people think that the worst thing a human can do is desecrate his own flag - actually, it's far worse to desecrate a human being of any race or nationality through hatred or discrimination, because at the very essence of any human's existence, is the distinguishing feature that we are all created in the image of God... Better said, any act that is done in hatred against any human is actually an act that is done in hatred against God himself (who is the Creator of that human), and that is totally unacceptable.  

Do you see how the gospel breaks down all the barriers between Greek or Jew, slave or free, male or female? (Galatians 3:28). Well it does - because Christ died to break down those barriers that separated us from both God and from other human beings. And if it's for freedom that Christ has set us free, then there's no way that we can submit to a yoke of slavery again (Galatians 5:1). 

In fact, in Romans 6:1-14 Paul talks about the slavery we once had towards sin, but just as how a slave ceases to be a slave once he or she dies - so also we cease to be slaves of sin once we die with Christ (v.6-8)... We're no longer slaves to sin, rather now we're slaves to righteousness! (v.18); and if being slaves of sin only results in death, than being slaves of God can only result in sanctification and eternal life (v.20-23).

Amen!    

And so if we think about another story that has to do with bending the knee - in the book of Daniel it was precisely by not bending the knee towards the golden image of Babylon that Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace. They were in Babylon as slaves, but their slavery couldn't restrain their devotion towards God, and so in their spirits they were actually free from the petty rulings of Nebuchadnezzar. They were devoted entirely to the only true God of the universe, and so they trusted in him that could save them - and even if God wasn't going to deliver them from the fire, they still weren't going to bow down in worship to any false god (Daniel 3).      

I believe that all of us in one way or another are going to bend our knee towards something or someone... In some cases bending a knee may be a powerful sign of protest, in other cases it may be a pitiful display of weakness. In all cases referring to Jesus however, bending the knee for him is an awesome symbol of obedience to his Lordship.

Philippians 2:9-11 says that one day every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow before Jesus, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord... Some will do so out of obligation, but it is my persuasion to do so now out of my own volition, and in humble recognition of Christ's authority and power and lordship over everything that I am.

         

Bending the knee besides my niece and nephews, as well as by Jason

How to Give Away a T-shirt

Ok man - so I've seldom been so excited about such an awesome ministry opportunity... I'm really pumped up about it! and I've got a strong feeling right now that we're on to something good here.

It's something that's evolved from our homeless ministry, but to be honest, I was kind of starting to doubt our homeless ministry to begin with (which we've been involved with for more than 2 years now), just because I wasn't seeing loads of people coming to Christ or being added to His church.

...Every once in a while we would see someone decide to leave the streets and ask us to take him or her to a rehab center (like Duvan in the middle of the picture on the right, for instance) which is great - but it's just that I wanted God to do so much more...

I mean yeah, sure - I was really glad that my friends and I were being intentional in meeting together every Friday to go and share the gospel in a holistic and incarnational way (and that in and of itself is commendable) - but I honestly just wasn't seeing tons of results... I was discouraged, and I even went so far as to stop going out to the Center every Friday just so I could save my energy and focus instead on preaching the next day at a rehabilitation center a couple hours outside of Bogota, where at least I had the benefit of preaching to people who weren't high on drugs. 

Sharing from the Word at the Milk and Honey Foundation (2 hours outside of Bogota)

...But then one of my friends who kept going to the Center told me that one night he got to talk to and pray with about 10 Venezuelans who happened to swing by our street ministry the night before... We had talked to and shared the gospel to a few Venezuelans on a couple other occasions, but he told me that this time it was different - that they were really attentive, and that he honestly thought some of them might even make it out to our church gathering that coming Sunday. 

The first time we spoke with various Venezuelans

I believed him. And then I gave him some money so he could go pick them up, and bring his friends over to our meeting the very next day.   

...Sure enough about 10 Venezuelans showed up at 4:30 for our evening service that Sunday, and afterwards a few of us got together and prayed for them, that God would help them find jobs, and that He would be their refuge in this time of uncertainty and doubt... and that God would guide them - as they had immigrated to Colombia in hopes of finding a better future, but were stuck here in a really tough situation with barely no resources, and very few friendly people willing to help them out.  

...Well bright and early the next day my friend Hugo and I (Hugo is the main guy who befriended them originally) - we showed up at their low income residency to sing a couple of songs and share a devotional with them as an encouragement for the day that lied ahead... It was so cool how when we got there they were excited to see us, and then when we started singing - a few people even started tearing up a little as the gospel-centered lyrics just penetrated straight into their hearts.

...I thought about it and felt convicted about my lack of faith in what we were doing in the Center, but at the same time I was so thankful for friends like Hugo who persevered even when I started to doubt, and consequently became the key connection in that precise moment, to catalyze something big - right when God wanted to use us most.

Well, I went back again on Wednesday morning, and then Hugo went back again on Friday morning, and then I picked up our Venezuelan friends again on Sunday afternoon for a special gathering with lunch included, where I spoke from Matthew 22 about the parable of the wedding feast...

The main similarity between this parable and what we were experiencing in real life is that, despite the fact that we had invited a lot of people to our gatherings previously - many of them would just make up lame excuses or assure us that they would go, but then never actually show up (v. 1-5)... Clearly this parable has a lot to do with Israel and how they were the first to both be invited to and also reject the invitation that the prophets gave them to be a part of Jesus' Kingdom - but I also think that it can be applied to us, in challenging that same attitude of indifference that anyone may have now a days when they think they have more important things to do than accept the indispensable invitation to believe in Christ and enjoy the fantastic relationship that God offers us with himself through his Son.
          

...It's the most precious gift in the whole world! And it's completely ridiculous that so many people reject it...

  

Ok, but so what's the right thing to do whenever that happens? Well, the right thing to do is to just go out into the streets and invite absolutely anyone you can find! (including Venezuelans), so that Heaven will be full of appreciative guests! 

...Seriously man - sometimes it's like we get so caught up in being so selective about who we share the gospel with, that we end up wasting a lot of our efforts by practically begging indifferent people who don't even give a care about Jesus, instead of proclaiming and sharing him generously to those who are desperately dying to know him.

...It's crazy. But anyway - back to the parable - and there's something really key about this and it's that surprisingly, of the guests that make it to the banquet - of those who enter, there are both good and bad people (v.10)... this shows that when it comes to salvation, moral performance has nothing to do with anything, and what is truly at stake has everything to do with what comes next... that as we'll see in a second - it's all about our clothing.

Our clothing?

Yeah - and having had a little head start on what was to ensue later on that day - as I was getting dressed that morning I decided to wear my St. Louis Cardinals T-shirt (because I knew that Venezuelans are big baseball fans), and also because I wanted to use that T-shirt as an important illustration in my message... 

Can I tell you why? ...because what happens next in this parable is really shocking. 

...It so happens that in this startling story there's this random guy that manages to sneak into the alleged wedding banquet without wearing the right clothes, and successively the King notices him and calls him out about it, yet the miserable creature is found speechless... Having no defense, he is then tied up and thrown into hell and the story ends right there. Just like that - abruptly.

Wow.

Now, why in the world are clothes in this parable such a big deal? Well the reason I find, comes from Genesis where Adam and Eve are likewise found ashamed - but in this case it's because of their nakedness, and they unsuccessfully try to cover it up, by putting on loincloths that they sew together from fig leaves (Genesis 3:7)... 

But fig leaves will never suffice! and so after explaining their punishments, God is then the first to kill a few innocent animals, and from their skins - create garments for Adam and Eve with which he clothes them (v.21)...   

Those skins, and those animals who had to die for those garments to be produced, imperfectly but so powerfully point to Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he underwent to save us! ...It's the substitution of our shame as it were, or the outlandish exchange of his innocence for our guilt. And it's the clothing, interestingly enough, of his righteousness that is replaced for our iniquity... You see, it's only by Jesus' death that we are saved! and we're saved, in a sense, only by putting him on! (as it says in Galatians 3:27 or Romans 13:14 for instance).  

...Ok, but to really get my point across, what I did next was to tell my Venezuelan friends about a hypothetical situation where one of them was imprisoned for a terribly atrocious crime he'd committed (and at this point I arbitrarily picked someone at the table who's name happened to be Jose), and so Jose see, he was lying in his prison cell completely terrified about his own execution that was going to happen... mmm, let's just say the following day... and then, mmm, now, supposing Jose and I were twins (and at this point everybody laughed because clearly Jose and I don't look anything alike)... but supposing Jose and I are twins nonetheless haha - let's say I sneak into his cell and take off my civilian shirt (which I actually did, mind you - I took off my really cool bright red St. Louis Cardinals T-shirt and gave it to him, just like that); and then say he takes off his prisoner shirt and we exchange roles and no one is the wiser... Well, what happens is that the free man takes the place of the criminal, and the criminal inversely, takes the place of the free man.

And boom! just like that, Jose goes free, and along with his freedom he also has an awesome T-Shirt to prove it... By the grace of God salvation has come! And by the grace of God I somehow managed to share the gospel in that instance to more than 10 people in such a way that they joyfully understood it, and eagerly wanted to accept it. 

So praise the Lord for that. 

So yeah - I mean anyway - this week I went and visited my Venezuelan friends again on Monday morning, and the idea is to keep meeting on Wednesdays and Fridays as well; so that we can keep digging into Scripture together, and discover more of these types of beautiful truths which are able to save and refresh our souls, as we get to know both God and each other better, and slowly (or quickly! hopefully) start to become our own new church...

...And so the point of all of this is to be relevant, you know? because when you really think about it, that's what the gospel at it's most basic definition is, right? ...That God became relevant to mankind by taking off his garments of glory, and making himself nothing by wearing our flesh and coming into this world to relate to us, and to serve us, and to die on a cross to rescue us so that anyone who puts his trust in him might be saved (Phil 2:6-8) Hallelujah!... Jesus did all this because he loved us, and he gave himself for us, not because we deserved it, but because God considered us that valuable! ...so that all of us who believe in his Son should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). 

...So that said - if by being relevant God decided to save anyone who would believe in his Son - shouldn't we likewise want to be relevant as well, to anyone we can, so that by preaching Christ in various contexts and to various people we might save a few through any and every means possible? (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). 

Yeah - you better believe we should want to.

So please God, help us be better evangelists.

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This blog post is dedicated to Hugo Muñoz who is an awesome evangelist that has encouraged me tremendously, and has been an excellent partner in starting this new ministry for our Venezuelan friends currently living here in Bogota, Colombia. 

Galatians 6:9 says, And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.