Antigo Shooting

On Saturday night there was a random shooting at the Antigo High School in Antigo, Wisconsin. There were two students shot. One was treated and released the other was taken to the hospital, has had surgery and is doing well.

The police in this small city did a fantastic job as they acted quickly and decisively. We are thankful for such people who protect us day in and day out.

The shooter died in this incident and their family is grieving as this was a surprise to them as well as to the entire community.

The family of the victim released this official statement.

"(The student) is doing well. He has come through a long surgery and will recover with time and effort, but we have always believed that God is good and has a plan even in the midst of tragedy.

We are so thankful for his girlfriend and two friends on the scene who acted so bravely and calm. We would also like to thank the police officers who responded so quickly, the medical staff, doctors, and the surgeons that have already gone above and beyond to help our son, and all the law enforcement from many counties who have dedicated themselves to investigating this shooting. We would like to especially thank the officers who saved the lives of our son, his girlfriend, their two friends, and the countless amount of students, staff, and others in and around the school. Lastly, we cannot express enough thanks for our family, friends, fellow employees, church, employers, school administration, and those in the community who continue to shown and communicate their kindness and love to our son and family.

Please continue to pray for (the student), his girlfriend, two friends, fellow classmates, and everyone else involved as they recover from this traumatic night. Please also pray for the family of Jakob Wagner. As much as we are struggling through this event, we cannot imagine the grief they are experiencing at this time. We want everyone to know that we believe and trust in the eternal God. We are so thankful for the hope that we have in Him. That all can be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life when they believe in Jesus Christ as Savior."

I appreciate this family, their honesty and their relationship and trust in God. This is not an act but the result of a real relationship with God. There is no hope for a solution to our nations' issues without our people turning to God.

During these tragic times we hear of people praying yet we cannot help but wonder who they are praying too since God has been removed from the public square.

The epidemic that plagues our nation is one of unbridled sin that has become normative and without the absolute authority of God and His Word we have no way to make right what is obviously wrong.

Young people today are too often abandon and allowed to be immersed in hours and hours of violent video games, television as well as porn, greed and continual gossip on the internet. There is an effect to such things and it is an effect we will not like and cannot stop.

I do not know if this shooter had these influences but my experience in life would guess that he did. These things in and of themselves are not the problem. Our sin is the problem and our sin has separated us from God. These other things just fuel the problem.

However, God, in His mercy has given us an answer. He sent His son, Jesus, to experience an unjustifiable death on our behalf in order to pay the price demanded for our sins.

Sin always separates, it is the spoils of our sin. It is ironic that God used the death of His son to reunite us with Himself while at the same time giving us the significance and security we lack without Him.

Without God we have no absolutes, no standards of conduct, no line in the sand. Without God all is random, good and bad replace right and wrong and man becomes the measure of all things.

Guns do not kill, sinful people do.

If we want to solve this problem we need to address it's cause and I am beginning to think we are no longer capable of doing so because we do not want to deal with God or the absolutes He declares.

We will never be able to legislate righteousness so our government is not capable of solving this problem. If we are to solve the real problems we need to work on it ourselves, one life and family at a time.

It starts with me knowing I am incapable and needy, as a orphan child without hope. My hope is not in myself but in the one who will show me mercy and has the capability to care for what is broken. God has offered all mankind this opportunity.

After I am adopted, due to God's mercy, I get to live in the way I was created to live. I can now find true significance and security and live in a way that was meant to be. In fact, I get to experience more than  I ever imagined and will never receive the punishment I so deserve.

The parents of this shooting victim and the victim himself have experienced this mercy and are now living in the grace of God, as children of His. They know that they have been forgiven much and therefore are willing to forgive much. They are making our society a better place to live because of their relationship with God.

The answer is not found in religion, or government but in a repaired relationship with God that is offered to us through His Son.

It is the starting point that all must start from or forever live in hopelessness.

The following are verses from Scripture that speak of our sin, God's mercy and the hope of those who have accepted God's forgiveness. I leave you with them without comment in that my comments are not needed to clarify God's Word.


“ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
(John 3:16-17 ESVST)

“ None 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.”
 “ Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
 “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
 “ Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
 “ Their feet are swift to shed blood;
 in their paths are ruin and misery,
 and the way of peace they have not known.”
 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.
(Romans 3:10-18 ESVST)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 ESVST)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 ESVST)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8 ESVST)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:9 ESVST)

For “ everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:13 ESVST)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 5:1 ESVST)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
(Romans 8:1 ESVST)

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:38-39 ESVST)

A Confused People

 

We are a confused people, and confusion causes us to lose our alertness. This plays well into Satan’s schemes.

Some might already be comfortable in their confusion, and insist that those around them live in confusion as well, so that we can all get along. Can you picture what the world would look like if we all were confused about all things?

Confusion happens when people do not have a grip of reality, and when we dismiss God from being the cause and purpose of all things. In fact, we have attempted to make us the cause and purpose of all things.

Chelsea Clinton recently discussed abortion rights and said this: “A woman’s right to choose is at the core of our human rights and what should be equity in our country^[1]”. Making a statement like this, and having it accepted by anyone, anywhere, shows how confused a people can be.

When we think that our feelings or our belief in something makes something right or wrong, we are in big trouble. A man who believes he is really a woman is really a man, and a woman who believes she is really a man is confused. A man who believes he is a cucumber, or a horse, or dragonfly is confused at best.

Society used to make accommodation for such people in special places where these people could be cared for and not harm or confuse others. Yet today, confusion seems to be the new normal, and the more confused we are, the more normal we are.

Not only is confusion becoming normal, but those who are confused are continually wanting to force those who are not confused to accommodate their confusion as normal.

The nation, as a whole, is playing out the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes, and we the people are the Emperor. In thinking we are impressing the world with our “tolerance” and accommodation, we are the laughing stock of those who are not confused.

How did all of this come to be, and what can be done to stop this erosion of sanity?

I am sure there are many causes to this effect, but we can start with the simple, and realize that the ignoring of God as God is the start of trouble. If God is not God, then we create one of our own liking, and often times, we become or take the place of God.

If the earth was an accident, then so are we. If we are just accidental blobs of protoplasm, then nothing matters anyways, so we might as well allow our feelings, emotions, and desires to create truth rather than to actually discover what truth is.

I heard a news reporter the other day say that Hollywood is the number one influencer of thought in our nation. This may or may not be true, but if it is true, it helps answer why the fantasy life of so many is becoming their “reality.”

For years we have immersed ourselves in the pretend world of Hollywood to the point where now the pretend is more reality than reality.

Once again, this leads to confusion.

In order for confusion to reign, reality must remain foggy. In order for confusion to reign, good and bad need to replace the words right and wrong, and mutually exclusive ideas need to “coexist” in order for us to find “peace.”

In order for confusion to reign, belief needs to be the criterion for truth, and feelings need to be the proof of reality.

Well, in reality, if I may use that term, good and bad are cultural terms that always need comparing, and right and wrong are absolutes around which one can build their life. God is the author of right and wrong, and things are only good if they are right, and things are always bad if they are wrong. To mess this up messes us up.

In reality, mutually exclusive ideas cannot exist. God in the Scriptures and Allah in the Koran cannot both be God, in that they are portrayed differently, and to say that they are the same, or to tolerate both ways of thinking will mess up or confuse our thinking.

In reality, males and females are determined at birth by God, who gave these individuals male or female characteristics. Genetics determine gender, not feelings, wishes, or desires.

President John Adams once said this: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams understood the purpose and meaning of the Constitution as did John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was appointed by George Washington himself and who once said this: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”^[2]

The young people in our nation today are confused, and thereby will be the most depressed, unproductive, and unresponsive generation in our history.

Those who have been set free by the truth need to put themselves in relationships with those who are confused and enslaved by lies before this confusion reigns supreme, and sanity becomes something talked about in historical terms.

God is not tolerant, but patient, yet His patience is only available to those who will show movement towards the truth, not those who insist on living in ignorance.

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^[1] http://www.lifenews.com/2016/04/18/chelsea-clinton-on-abortion-womans-right-to-choose-at-the-core-of-our-human-rights/

^[2] Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/americans-prefer-christians-for-their-rulers/#1zcXbFmY60MZ7gyW.99