Demons can make Christians kill
Last week there was another senseless shooting. This was closer to home, my home. It occurred at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, a little over two hours from where I currently live. A freshman, Steven Jones, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder. According to police, Jones got into a fight with other students, took a handgun from his car, and started shooting. Three were wounded and one was killed. They were all shot multiple times. The victims were members of Delta Chi fraternity. Jones was a pledge at another fraternity, Sigma Chi. It all happened the same day that President Obama was in Roseburg, Oregon to console the families of nine who were killed at Umpqua Community College just eight days earlier.
Here’s what makes this case unique. Our family knew who the shooter was. Jones was a Christian homeschooled kid who had attended many of the same Phoenix-area homeschool functions as my wife and three daughters. Once it was known who did the shooting, homeschoolers who knew Jones simply couldn’t believe it. Obviously, all the information about this incident isn’t known yet, but I’ve already cited that Jones was born-again. Perhaps he suffered some kind of mental breakdown. But the facts are that he was raised in a solid-Christian community, and shot four people, killing one. It seems that some kind of rage overtook him. The roots of that no one knows yet.
I don’t wish to pass any stern, unwarranted judgments about this situation, and certainly don’t want to reflect on what might have gone wrong in his family. But good Christian kids just don’t shoot four people unless . . . . You know where I’m headed. Unless the devil is in the details somewhere. When I entitled this blog “Demons Make Christians Kill” I didn’t mean to suggest that people with demons are robotic zombies unflinchingly doing evil deeds on command from demons. Demons “make” them do evil by pushing them to the edge of insanity and irrationality. Knowing what I do about similar such cases, it’s not hard to imagine that Steven Jones was under severe demonic oppression for some reason we’ll never know. It wasn’t dealt with and this is the result.
If you know someone who is exhibiting erratic behavior or seems to be losing touch with reality, get them help. If they tell you of past trauma which hasn’t been processed through counseling and healing prayers, get them to someone who can intervene. Christians can go over the edge and commit terrible deeds. And yes, even if they are Christians they can have demons who “make” them kill.
An encouraging word: GOD’S WONDER AND AMAZEMENT.
When the lame man at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3:10 was healed, the Bible says people were “filled with wonder and amazement.” Look around today. Our culture seems to be filled more with cynicism and outright hatred toward the things of God. Perhaps one reason is that we’ve lost the demonstration of His miraculous power, silencing the critics. Tragically, all too many churches have what John and Peter did not have, “silver and gold.” But in accumulating the riches of this world, some Christians seem to have lost the riches of Christ’s power. Will you agree in prayer with me today that Christians will recover what we lost and once again impress a lost world with “wonder and amazement” at the demonstration of God’s might?
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online
Recent Comments