I’m going to do some halfway current event news, because something from last Sunday (other than the Super Bowl) caught my interest.
Quickly buried in the news cycle was the story of an attempted mass shooting at Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston. The asshole, whose name I will not dignify by writing, showed up between services with an AR-15, a backup .22 pistol in a backpack, and intent to do malice.
Fortunately, Lakewood Church employs private security, usually off-duty police officers. Two of said off-duty officers engaged the asshole and arranged an immediate, face-to-face meeting with God for her to discuss the error of her ways. Tragically, two innocent victims were wounded in the exchange, a 57-year-old man who was at the church, and a seven-year-old boy, the son of the asshole, whom she had brought with her.
Solid summary found here: https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/02/12/lakewood-church-shooter-alleged-to-be-transgender-had-palestine-written-on-rifle-1436414/
I’ll let smart tactical people diagnose the shoot specifics, but although CNN and Houston PD may be baffled as to the motives behind this attempted violence, there seem to be a few clues left to suggest a motive.
1. The asshole had “Palestine” or possibly “Free Palestine” written on her rifle.
2. The asshole had a history of antisemitic writings online.
3. The asshole brought her biological son with her to use as a human shield.
4. The asshole was also transgender, and had been identifying on and off as a man for years.
5. Oh, and the asshole had a long criminal record, and was in the country illegally, meaning that she was in illegal position of her weapons in the first place.
Yeah, I wonder what possible motive she might have had for trying to shoot up a church, specifically a well-known mega church with a pastor whose smiling face beams from TV screens across the country every week.
Here’s the thing though: Lakewood Church is just about as mushy and “seeker friendly” as a church can possibly be. Osteen basically preaches a Prosperity Gospel: Jesus is love, Jesus will make you happy and healthy and wealthy, and don’t spend too much time worrying about those pesky Bible passages talking about sin, persecution, trials, and repentance. Much like the He Gets Us ads from the Super Bowl, they’re bland in calculated way to be as inoffensive as possible while still technically conveying some amount of Gospel message.
And on Sunday, February 11, 2024, that blandness mattered not one whit to one asshole with a rifle and a demented, demonic point to make.
What this ought to be, is one more major wakeup call for Christians everywhere. There’s no more time to be on the fence. It’s time to pick a side, and either you’re a Christian first and everything else second, or you’re not. Doesn’t matter if you’re preaching “Jesus is Love” and singing Kumbaya, or doing a Jonathan Edwards impression with “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Sooner or later, persecution is coming.
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Revelation 3:15-18 (NKJV)
Lest I be accused of writing bad Tim LaHaye fanfic, I would like to close by offering the statement that I don’t have a clue what form the next round of persecution is going to take, merely that it is only going to get worse. Maybe it takes the form of continuing to arrest peaceful protesters, like has been done with Pro-Life protesters in Tennessee. It might be a “friendly” chat with a law enforcement officer over posting something espousing a traditional, Biblical understanding of gender and sex, as has happened in the UK for “grossly offensive” tweets. Maybe it will just be the American Senate deciding that “No, churches shouldn’t be able to employ armed security. Make them be targets.” Most likely it’s something else entirely, but make no mistake, more difficult times are clearly coming.