Why Does God Let Things Like The Virginia Tech Massacre Happen?

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***TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL ON THE VIRGINIA TECH MASSACRE IS ONE THAT YOU NEED TO FORWARD TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW, FAMILY MEMBERS, FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS, CHURCH GROUPS, AND ANY OTHER PEOPLE YOU ASSOCIATE WITH.  POST IT ON EVERY MESSAGE BOARD AND CHATROOM YOU CAN FIND.  POST IT ON YOUR MYSPACE, FACEBOOK AND OTHER SOCIAL INTERACTION SITES.  THIS MESSAGE NOT ONLY DEALS WITH THE
TRAGEDY ON MONDAY, BUT GIVES PEOPLE THE ONLY ANSWER AND HOPE THERE IS FOR THIS WORLD AND EACH PERSON…JESUS!!!

Why does God let tragic events like the Virginia Tech massacre to happen?
In the aftermath of the horrible tragedy that took place on the Virginia
Tech campus Monday, I want to dedicate this Devotional today to the families
who lost loved ones as well as to the entire Virginia Tech and Blacksburg
communities.  The prayers of all those in the vast, worldwide Liveprayer
family are with you in your time of loss and grieving.  I pray that during
these difficult days, you will find the peace and strength of Christ to
sustain you and help you to move forward.  May the hand of Almighty God be
upon you in a special way!

A horrible tragedy like what happened Monday always causes people to ask the
inevitable question, “Why does God allow such events to occur that take the
lives of innocent people?”  People reason that if God is all powerful, that
if nothing happens apart from His allowing it to happen, then why would He
allow something like this to occur?  That is a fair question.  I have found
over the years, that it is a question asked more by non-Believers than
Believers.  People who have rejected the Christian faith will often point to
these types of events to justify their rejection of the Truth. However, it
is a legitimate question and the answer is simply we do not know.

In Isaiah 55:8,9, God’s Word says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts.”  The simple fact is there is very little that happens that
we know why it happened.  God is sovereign.  God doesn’t have to check with
us before He does anything.  God has His plan and purpose that is going to
unfold regardless of the free will choices we make.  We can choose to live
in obedience to God and enjoy the blessings of our obedience, or rebel
against God and deal with the consequences of our rebellion.  Either way,
God’s plan will be fulfilled, with or without us.

The cold hard truth is that much of what happens in life we will simply
never know “why.”  This is where our faith must come into play.  There are
simply times in our life we must trust God that no matter what is going on
in our life, He is watching over us, He is in control, and He will see us
through.  It is in these moments when there are more questions than answers
that our faith must become real.  We simply must trust God.  We live in a
fallen, sin-filled, and evil world.  Evil is all around us and until Jesus
returns, we will always be faced with the evil acts of one man on another.

We trust people all the time, every day, in many different circumstances.
Every time we get behind the wheel of a car we trust other drivers to obey
the laws and drive properly.   Every time we get on a plane we are trusting
the pilot to get us to our destination safely.   Many work in dangerous
careers where they are trusting the people they work with.  In many cases,
we don’t even know these people we are trusting to do the right thing so we
don’t die!    IF WE CAN TRUST PEOPLE WE DON’T KNOW EVERY DAY WITH OUR LIVES, WE CAN CERTAINLY TRUST GOD WHO CREATED US IN HIS OWN IMAGE, LOVES US, AND ONLY WANTS THE BEST FOR US!

The reality is, in the United States there are apx. 300 million people.  We
live in a free society.  In all honesty I am more shocked that what happened
Monday doesn’t happen more often.  I see God’s grace at work in the fact
this doesn’t happen somewhere every day!  Do you realize that we have the
better percentage of two full generations who have grown up not going to
church, a large percentage in broken and blended homes with no faith
background at all.

In addition to the Godless and unstable environment so many grow up in,
there is a large and growing percentage of society that is anti-social and
has little contact with other people.  More people than ever are on
mind-altering medication daily for depression and other mental illnesses.
They don’t handle the problems of life well.  Millions of people get most of
their mental stimulus from the media, TV, the movies, publications, the
Internet and live in a world that blends fantasy and reality.

With no faith, on medication, living in between reality and fantasy, it is
easy for these people to cross the line into hopelessness.  Add to the mix a
very real enemy whose stated goal is to kill, steal, and destroy, planting
evil thoughts in their head, and it is a miracle of God, a true sign of His
grace and mercy, that we don’t deal with these types of horrible tragedies
every day!

Two things that have disturbed me during the past few days has been the
media coverage and the gutless words of the “Christian representative” at
the Convocation Service Tuesday attended by President Bush.  The media,
especially the 24 hour cable news stations, FOX, MSNBC, and CNN, have become
experts at turning these tragedies into “around the clock entertainment” and
cashing in on the great ratings they bring.  It is terrible that 33 innocent
people lost their lives on Monday, but I wonder why the media doesn’t cover
as zealously the murder of over 4,000  innocent babies in this
nation…EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I sat in my office Tuesday afternoon and watched the Convocation Service on
the Virginia Tech campus.  Of course they had the Muslim Imam without shame
telling people the non-existent false god of Islam allah was the answer.
You had a woman representing the false religion of Buddhism without shame
quoting his ridiculous philosophies of life.  Last to speak was a spineless
gentlemen who was there to represent the Christian faith.  HE NEVER ONCE
MENTIONED THE ONLY NAME THERE IS FOR PEOPLE TO CALL ON IN THEIR TIME OF
NEED…JESUS!

I didn’t expect him to have the courage to ask people to accept the Lord,
though he should have.  I didn’t except him to have the courage to tell
people that there is only one true hope for men in times of grief and
sadness, though he should have.  I DID EXPECT HIM TO AT LEAST SAY THE NAME
OF JESUS!  A worldwide stage, an opportunity to share with those who are
hurting, looking for hope in the midst of this tragedy, and not one mention
of Jesus Christ!

I love you and care about you so much.  The great lesson of the Virginia
Tech massacre is that we must be ready to stand before God at any moment.
Many say they will think about the spiritual side of their life “later.”
Well, the cold hard reality is that you may not have “later.”  You can die
in an instant, and at that moment, your eternal fate is sealed.  You either
know Jesus as your Savior or you don’t.  You are either destined to hell for
all eternity or assured of being with God your Creator for all eternity.

There is of course only ONE hope for all men, and that is Jesus Christ.  If
there is one lesson from this Virginia Tech massacre for all people to
learn, it is that life is very brief, very fragile, and can end in an
instant without any warning.  I can assure you that as those college
professors went to teach their classes on that Monday morning, as those
students got up to start another week of classes last Monday, NOT ONE OF
THEM ever expected to die in their classroom!  I remind you often that the
Bible teaches tomorrow is promised to none of us.  Each day is literally a
gift from God.  That is also why God says that TODAY is the day of
salvation.  There is no guarantee you will have tomorrow.

Let me ask you a question today.  If your life ended in the next 10 seconds,
if your heart stopped beating for whatever reason this moment and you are
standing before God, are you ready for that moment?  As you read these
words, do you have the 100% assurance that if you died today you would be
forever with Jesus?  If you have never made that commitment of your heart
and life to Jesus by faith, if you aren’t 100% certain you will be with the
Lord when you die, please take a moment to go to the link below.  Pray and
ask God to open your heart to receive His love today.  Watch the short video
clip, read the words, and make the most important decision you will ever
make as you accept Jesus Christ into your heart and life by faith and
receive the promise of God that when your brief journey through this life is
over, you will be forever with Him!

http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

What happened Monday in Blacksburg on the campus of Virginia Tech was a sad
day for this nation.  It was an isolated event that only reinforced how evil
this world we live in really is.  Until Jesus returns and this world as we
know it ends, there will always be the type of horrific events we witnessed
this past Monday.  These events show us how desperately men need to have a
personal relationship with Christ and how desperately this world needs to
repent and turn back to God!

As we remember those who lost their lives Monday, remember their families
who are grieving, remember all those in the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg
communities, may those who know Jesus as their Savior be motivated to do our
part each day to bring Christ to the people we meet each day in our lives.
JESUS IS THE ONLY HOPE AND ANSWER THERE IS!!!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at:
bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to: http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

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***COMING TOMORROW, how can you trust what you read on Christian Internet
sites, even worse, how can you trust what church to go to?  This is one of
the most important Devotionals I have ever written, don’t miss it!!!