The terrorized and troubled world exists to make a place for Jesus Christ, the Son of God to suffer and die for our sins. The reason there is terror in the world, is so that Christ could be terrorized. The reason there is trouble in the world, is so that Christ could be troubled. The reason there is pain in the universe, is so that Christ could feel pain. This is the world that God prepared for the suffering and death of His Son. This is the world, that the best display of Divine love could happen.
-John Piper
Romans 5:8
But God shows his love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Two Dead, Two Wounded, After Gunman Opens Fire Inside Colorado Christian Missionary Center
Sunday, December 09, 2007
The manhunt for a gunman who killed two people and wounded two others when he opened fire inside a Christian missionary training facility near Denver dragged on Sunday, as police appealed to the public for help catching a killer on the loose. The shooter entered a dormitory on the campus of Faith Bible Church, a Youth With a Mission training facility for Christian missionaries, in Arvada, Colo., a Denver suburb, at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and shot four people, killing two of them, before fleeing on foot. The gunman, described by witnesses as a white male in his twenties wearing a dark skull cap and jacket, who may also have had a beard and eye glasses, remained at large, Arvada Police spokeswoman Susan Medina told Fox News.
Authorities used reverse 911 early Sunday to warn residents that an armed and dangerous gunman was on the loose and to lock their doors and windows and stay inside. Police were also asking residents to report any sightings of fresh footprints or disturbances in the snow. About four inches of snow had fallen overnight, and authorities were hoping tracks left in the snow would lead them to the shooter, Medina said.
The four victims were all YWAM staff members, Peter Warren, director of Youth With a Mission Denver, told KUSA-TV. YWAM identified the victims who have died as Tiffany Johnson, 22, of Minnesota and Peter Krause of Alaska. The third victim, a male in his 20s, sustained a bullet wound to the neck and was in critical condition; the fourth victim, also a male in his 20s, suffered gun shot wounds to his legs and was in stable condition. Both were being treated at area hospitals. According to YWAM's Web site, the victims' families had been notified.
Warren said the group was just finishing a Christmas banquet when the shooter entered the facility and asked staffer Tiffany Johnson if he could be housed for the evening. When Johnson told the man that they could not provide him with a place to stay, he opened fire, Warren said.
Warren said he did not think the victims knew the gunman, but that the campus was open to the public for worship services.
A search of the area, both by canine and patrol officer units, had failed to locate the suspect, Medina said. Medina said the search area was quite large, a mix of residences and businesses.
About 50 people were inside the center at the time of the shooting, Medina said. The 45 people remaining at the center were moved to an off-site facility for questioning.
"There's no blueprint for this, we're just going to be honest and pray for one another, cry with one another," Warren told KUSA-TV. "Who knows what was going on in this young man's life," he said.
Mimi Martin, who lives near the center, said she received the warning call at about 9 a.m. warning neighbors to keep their doors and windows locked.
"Why would anybody want to hurt those kids?" Martin said. "I just pray for their families."
People bundled up against freezing cold arrived for Sunday services at the sanctuary, about 300 yards from the dormitory.
Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week discipleship course that prepares them to be missionaries.
He said the center trains about 300 people a year. Youth With a Mission was started in 1960 and now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff, Smith said. The Arvada center was founded in 1984.
Praise God He is in control. I can read this and just rejoice and fall to my knees in worship, because of the fact that our Father is still on the throne, and that God had in view, His Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Why? For us. In all the horror, pain, terror, and lost in this world, Christ died for it. In a time as now, with the fear of terrorism, suicide, and all wickedness and evil that may come to pass, our treasure, our hope is in Christ. Nothing can separate us from the love of His who died. Christs passion, His duty was to die. To redeem His people, from a world as this. In all trials, Christ is all. He Himself, paid for it. God has a plan, and in that plan, His Son died. God, in that plan has allowed such things as terrorism, pain, trouble, so His Son could pervail over all the evil that this world holds. God has not let the reigns of humanity slip from His hands. His sovereignty is still reigning. His love, power, and holiness is still in charge. In times as this, God will be glorified. In life or by death, His glory will fill the earth and will scream from all creation, and in this....we can say thank you. Thank you Father for your grace and mercy that you have shown to poor sinners as us. In this very fact of His glory being the foundation of our lives as believers should push us to love Him more. His glory is being revealed from His creation, His grace, and even His glory is being set forth by the death of His only begotten Son.
Please pray for the families. Please pray for the man who fired the shots. Please pray that God will be glorifed and His Son will be honored.
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