Columbine.
What a beautiful place. A true All American community. Neighbors going about their daily lives, enjoying the healthy Colorado environment, living the American dream. Modern, prosperous, diverse and eclectic, with places of worship, healthy kids, good schools…
Schools.
Those two words, Columbine and school, will be forever linked in our memories. In the midst of happy people living the true American dream, an unimaginable, unforeseeable nightmare exploded..in a school..in Columbine.
On a normal sunny day, April 20, 1999, while happy industrious kids were attending classes, laughing with their friends, preparing for fulfilling lives, two classmates walked up to the school, late and not expected, with lethal weapons loaded and ready, in their backpacks.
Christopher Liberatore kneels in prayer in Littleton, Colo., on Tuesday, April 20, 2004, at a cross dedicated to his friend Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shooting. Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of the tragedy at Columbine where a teacher and 12 students were killed. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
With no warning whatsoever, they calmly took their weapons out of the backpacks and began to shoot point blank at their fellow students, many they knew by name. One girl, 17-year-old devout Christian Rachel Scott, having lunch on the grass outside, was coldly shot and died instantly after being asked if she believe in God. As the students screamed and began to run in any and all directions, the boys made split second decisions about which to follow and confront in the library and schoolrooms, where they had no place to run or hide.
Once other boys and girls were trapped in the library, the killers closed the door and, for a few impossible moments, strolled from desk to desk, actually addressing girls who were quivering under them, trying to be invisible.
One of them, Eric Harris, bent down to talk to a beautiful but terrified 17-year-old girl. Almost casually, cynically, he asked “Do you believe in God?” Shivering but taken back by the stark question, she paused only for a second, and answered, her eyes wide but certain, “Yes, I do”..
“Then go to him!” Eric said, and shot her in the head, right there under the desk.
In just a few panicked, bloodcurdling moments, the two demonically inspired boys killed 13 students, a teacher, and wounded 20 others, some permanently. As police sirens were blaring, teachers admonishing kids through loudspeakers, some young people sprawling out the windows to get away anyway they could…the two boys calmly shot themselves to death.
They would never be able to explain, in any way, why they did what they did, what they thought they were accomplishing…or especially why they asked those girls that question. And why they thought that “Yes!” merited their death.
Oh, there had been some mysterious, ominous posts on the internet..which should have alarmed somebody..but who could ever expect two local 18-year-old boys to suddenly become coldblooded killing machines?
Some years have passed, and more incidents like what happened in Columbine have happened in other schools, in other communities, and even some churches across this land. WHY?
I’ve had to turn to God, and His word, for answers. You can ask a psychiatrist, a social worker, a philosopher—and nobody can give you a reasonable answer. But God can, and He does.
Though some intellectuals (who have no answer) scoff at this, the Bible clearly tells us that in the beginning of the human race, which God initiated in His own image, there was an enemy who was determined to thwart God’s plan for these people on this earth. His name is Satan.
When man sinned, his connection to eternal life was severed, and he became open game for this lethal enemy, who is still determined to destroy us all and take us to the Hell already prepared for him and his angels (who had joined in rebellion against God).
Throughout the whole Bible, this unseen but terribly real spiritual being is seen fighting God and His servants at every turn. Right after Jesus baptism by John in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be confronted and tempted by Satan. To his face, God’s enemy was trying to thwart God’s purpose for all of us on this earth.
And, in that emotional last Passover in the upper room, as Jesus was telling his disciples He was about to give His life for us all, as that last Passover lamb Himself…Satan entered into Judas to cause him to betray his own Savior.
My point? If Satan could confront Jesus face to face, and cause Judas to betray Him, right in His close company of followers…he could certainly enter in to the rebellious, angry, confused but willingly violent boys in Columbine, and cause them to wreak the havoc they did, especially targeting innocent followers and believers in Jesus. Who else would do that.
And why do I feel compelled to address it here? Because I feel that, in days immediately ahead, ruthless killers..themselves deceived and manipulated by Satan himself, will be confronting many of us, right here in America, intent on killing us indiscriminately, but especially if we believe in Jesus, and say so.
Farfetched, you say? You haven’t been reading the news lately, eh? You’re not aware of the ISIS beheadings of men, women, and children by the multiplied thousands in the Middle East…just because they’re Christians? Yes, the same ISIS our FBI and CIA say are festering in all 50 states, right now, wanting to kill as many Americans as they can..and for the same reason.
There’s a searing new movie about what happened at Columbine coming to our theaters called I'm Not Ashamed..and I’ve written and recorded a song “Yes, Yes, I Believe in Jesus” inspired by the film and what it depicts so accurately, that I hope to get to millions of our young, hoping it will inspire and prepare them to declare their faith, no matter the consequence, if and when they face such a moment of decision—whether to deny their faith to hold on to this short life…or to courageously declare their belief..as those two young girls did…and secure their lives with God forever.
Take your kids to see this movie.
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