WE LET THE VIOLENCE IN
A response to the Colorado shootings
A response to the Colorado shootings
The shootings at the YWAM base in Denver and at New Life in Colorado Springs have hit me hard, as they have many others. Obviously, something demonic accessed Matthew Murray and used him to bring death and destruction, but it would be a mistake to think of this as a cancer or an infection confined to him that rest of us do not share or for which we bear no responsibility. The truth is that according to I Peter 5:8, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He is an opportunist prowling about looking for access points to exploit. Culture-wide, we collectively have been infected. Matthew Murray was only the head of the pimple, the place where the infection came to the surface. Demonic powers taking opportunity through the moral vacuum so prevalent in our nation merely found expression through someone vulnerable enough to be influenced by them.
Christians are the gatekeepers over the cities and nations in which they dwell. The acts of murder we have seen since Columbine in our nation and in our region have been perpetrated by demonic influence that we have collectively allowed in. For even ten righteous God would have spared Sodom. Those ten, if they had existed in Sodom, would have had the power to prevent Sodom’s destruction. Similarly, as a body of Christ, through unrighteousness, we have allowed demonic influence to ravage our culture.
I have lost count of the leaders of major churches and ministries that in recent years have been forced to step down for moral failings and lapses of integrity. Even more disturbing are the cases where leadership have committed immorality, announced it publicly and then continued in their ministries as if nothing had happened. I know of one case in our own city in which the senior pastor of a mega-church divorced his wife and married his secretary and the church didn’t even burp. Off the top of my head I can think of two more cases involving mega-churches in my city in which the senior pastor fell into immorality and at least had the grace to resign.
I have been increasingly troubled at the lack of moral awareness among believers in general. It seems as if we simply choose to ignore God’s moral laws governing sexuality and fidelity. Fornication has become an almost accepted – even expected - lifestyle choice among so-called believers. Last year, for instance, a “Christian” challenged an engaged couple in my church with the question, “Why aren’t you living together?”
As a nation, and even within the church, we now call evil good and good evil and then wonder why our children are killing one another. Four dead in Colorado. Eight people slain in a mall in Omaha. Four shot in Las Vegas. All within a period of a week and a half. Sin grants legal access to the enemy of our soul to ravage, kill and destroy. As a nation and even as the church, we have granted access to the powers of darkness to do this.
In this city and across this nation we have become a church-hopping body of Christ, evidencing little awareness of or care for covenant commitment. We change churches like we change clothes for the changing seasons of the year, based on where we think the excitement lies or the lure of a perceived personal need. Or we base it on some offense we believe we’ve seen or been subject to, whether or not it really happened, seldom seeking reconciliation or providing opportunity for the accused to clear things up. We have been infected with an independent spirit that refuses to acknowledge true leadership or render honor as prescribed in Hebrews 13:17. When “those who keep watch over your souls” have been dishonored rather than honored, the door opens for the adversary to kill, steal and destroy. Hebrews put it this way, “…this would be unprofitable for you.” Dishonor of leadership has become a killing cancer among us.
Many of us cry out for revival, but God sent revival beginning in 1994 and caused it to manifest in city after city. He stirred the churches and offered us demonstrations and manifestations of His power and presence, but one by one the churches turned away and opted for less threatening forms of church life that would gather numbers as opposed to making room for a powerful and life-altering encounter with the living God. A handful remain that have stood the ground. We cry out for revival but we have largely rejected the one God already sent. And violence continues to grow.
I believe that we, the gatekeepers, have unwittingly invited the destruction we now see spreading across the country through our compromises and sins. Sin invites the enemy of our soul to come and ravage, but the righteous have the power to stop it, if they can be found. I don’t know what the magic number would be for our nation and our culture, but I do know that Lot and his family weren’t enough to save Sodom. For just ten God would have done it, but there weren’t enough. Absent the “10” the enemy has legal access to bring confusion and violence. Absent the “10” God may send judgment. I do NOT believe the recent shootings in my region were the judgment of God. I know the people involved and I know their hearts. Good and righteous men and women all! But I do say that our collective sin can allow violence to flood in, that it can affect even the righteous and that we bear a collective responsibility for allowing it.
We need a massive movement of repentance leading to godly submission to the Lord of our lives and we need faithfulness in covenant, not a time of patting ourselves on the back for the numbers we’ve gathered or the healings we believe we’ve seen. We need a broken heart as a people and to return to cherishing the laws and principles of God for our lives, our families and our churches. Let our figurative “10” righteous arise to deliver us from evil and shut the gates to destruction. Let us take responsibility for the bloodshed and the violence. We allowed it in. Now let us show it the door.
(Prophetic Moments is an occasional bulletin produced by
Pastor R. Loren Sandford, New Song Fellowship, Denver, Colorado. For previous issues click HERE.)
Books by PASTOR R. LOREN SANDFORD. Click an image to visit our bookstore.Other books by Pastor R. Loren Sandford available in our bookstore:
"Burnout: Renewal in the Wilderness"
"Prophetic Worship"
As well as books by John and Paula Sandford.
Music and more....