Sadly, I write this to you after the worst mass shooting in America’s history. Last night, Stephen Paddock stood in his hotel room on the 32nd floor of a hotel building in Las Vegas, Nevada, and opened fire on a crowd of 40,000 people attending the open-air country music festival below. Paddock killed about 60 people and wounded at least 500.
This is very much a breaking story, and vital details about the attack are still emerging. Some of the latest news reports say that the Islamic State is claiming credit for this massacre. They say Paddock converted to Islam, adopted the name Abu Abd al-Barr al-Amriki, and became a “soldier” for radical Islam.
By the time you read this, that information might be out of date. But one thing we know for sure: There are too many of these attacks.
That’s more than just an emotional reaction to a shocking headline. Unfortunately, the statistics back it up.
Mass Shooting Tracker is a crowd-sourced website that defines a “mass shooting” as an incident of gun violence in which four or more people are shot (but not necessarily killed). The website reports that in 2013, a total of 1,643 victims were shot in these kinds of attacks in the United States. With last night’s attack, the figure for 2017 is already well over 2,000. This year seems almost certain to beat last year’s total of 2,387.
And mass shootings are not the only form of crime becoming more common. As my friend and colleague Andrew Miiller
wrote back in March: “Something has gone seriously wrong with American society. Broken families across the nation are producing killers and criminals at a record rate. The per capita rate of violent crime has doubled since 1960. A murder, a rape, a robbery or an aggravated assault is committed every 26 seconds in America today.”
The next month he wrote: “In modern-day America, three women are murdered every day by a current or former romantic partner. At least a third of all women murdered in the United States are killed by male intimate partners. Approximately 18,000 women have been killed in incidents of domestic violence since 2003. Roughly 55 percent of these murders were committed with a gun; about 45 percent were committed using some other type of weapon.”
These are sickening statistics, and they prove that the problem of violence in today’s society goes far beyond the comparatively few mass incidents that grab so many headlines.
For members of the Philadelphia Church of God, the Church that sponsors theTrumpet.com, these kinds of stories are especially poignant at this time of year. We are getting ready to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, a festival that is discussed in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. These days picture the World Tomorrow, the peaceful world that will be ruled by Jesus Christ after He returns.
The contrast between the World Tomorrow and the headlines of today could not be starker.
The Bible talks often about this better world. And when it does, it often emphasizes the peace and safety of that time. In Ezekiel 34:25, for example, God says He will make a “covenant of peace” with His people. In this world, people “shall be safe in their land” and “shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid” (verses 27-28)
That phase “none shall make them afraid” occurs at least half a dozen times describing this world to come. In fact, this is one of God’s promises to Israel
today, if it will obey Him (Leviticus 26:6).
How many things are there to be afraid of today? The list keeps getting longer. Add this latest attack to the one on the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, and it seems that we now live in a society where something as simple as attending a music concert can justifiably be contemplated with some sense of fear for your life.
But there is a cause for the peace and security that is coming soon—just as there is a cause for all the violence we see today. Zephaniah 3:13 states, “The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” It is refraining from iniquity, or lawlessness, that leads mankind to live in peace, free from fear.
There is a way that leads to peace, and there is a way that leads to violence. Currently the world as a whole is living the way that leads to violence.
This means that the violence will get worse. But the Bible tells us that these tragedies human beings are inflicting on ourselves are actually leading to a time when mankind will finally live that way of peace. At that time, “[t]he whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing” (Isaiah 14:7), and “none shall make them afraid” (Zephaniah 3:13).
Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry gave some great insight into the cause of today’s violence in a
Key of David television program 10 years ago titled “Why the Virginia Tech Shooting.” It is every bit as relevant to the shooting today. In fact, we played the audio for the second half of my
Trumpet Daily Radio Show on the subject. You can
watch the first part of the video here. (It’s from the early days of YouTube, when videos were limited to 10 minutes.)
For more about this wonderful time of peace that is coming, read our free booklet
The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like, by Herbert W. Armstrong
. And for more information about God’s holy days—the Feast days discussed in the Old and New Testaments that mainstream Christianity has rejected—read our free booklet
Pagan Holidays—or God’s Holy Days—Which? As usual, we are more than happy to send these to you.
These booklets will give you the hope to endure through the tragic news that hits all too regularly. After events like last night, the whole world needs to know that a time is coming when “none shall make them afraid.”
Best regards,
Posts