As it tends to do after every mass shooting, the fake news media has taken the opportunity to push its narrative. But surprisingly, while there is of course a lot of call for gun control, this has taken a back seat in favor of the trans agenda. Most notably, rather than showing any sympathy for the victims of this senseless act of violence, the spotlight is placed on the "oppressed" transgender community.
The obvious temptation here is to call this out for what it is: An outrage. It is despicable that the fake news media, rather than reporting objectively on this topic, are using it as an opportunity to demonise the victims of this atrocity, showing all sympathy to the group the shooter falls into. But everyone else is already doing this. Why join the chorus? I want to do something different. Rather than saying what every other sane person on this planet is saying right now, I'm going to put a small toe on enemy lines.
See, the fake news media has a goal to divide the world, conquering it for Satan. They want to create an atmosphere of "us vs. them". And of course, everyone who isn't fully supportive of the trans agenda is the "them" who must be defeated. We're the bad guys who must always get our comeuppance at the end of every episode, and they're the heroes who must always succeed. If they can pin something bad on us, they will. If we can pin something bad on them, it's not their fault, it's ours for pushing them to it. This shooting, they say, is a self inflicted wound! It's our fault for not fully supporting the trans community, who now "fear for their lives", since, you know, one of their own killed people.
But, here's where I link arms with the fake news media. They want us to believe a bunch of Christians are now going to target trans people for revenge. This, of course, would be bad. I'm going to swim against the Conservative current here by simply saying yes, that would be a bad thing. Don't. While the fake news media are trying to paint this as our fault for opposing their agenda, we don't want to then turn around and say the entire trans community are basically about to blow up a bunch of schools.
Of course, I am in no way suggesting we should make any further concession than this. No, it is not ok to put children on puberty blockers, and woe betide the lunatic who calls this "gender affirming care". If you care for a child, do not affirm anything that runs counter to their biology. A male is a male, a female is a female, and children should absolutely not be allowed to make choices that will permanently alter their future sex lives before they are even old enough to consent to sex. I am firmly against the transgender ideology, especially given what it would have done to me as a child.
However, my Bible tells me several things. First, it tells me each person is to die for their own sins. It is the radical Left who will judge people for what other people have done. "White people are evil because slavery", "men are evil because chauvinism", "Christians are evil because Crusades", blah blah blah. Well, we don't get to turn around and say "trans people are evil because Nashville". The Nashville shooting was perpetrated by one trans person, and she, and she alone, should be judged for her sin.
Furthermore, she died. That means it's "over". Of course there's mourning to be done, and conversations need to be had about how to stop this happening in the future, but the event itself is done. The justice element has been served. But the second thing my Bible tells me is that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. So, we will mourn the loss of the victims, as we should. Woe betide the fake news media for robbing these people of their dignity, treating their lifeless corpse as if they were less valuable than a frog pinned to a dissection board! Woe to you, you liars, you cowards, you thieves! Not even a thought for the victims? Not even a prayer to the God at least some of you pretend you believe in when it's convenient for you? You have the audacity to complain when Nancy Pelosi is denied communion, yet not even she can spare a moment to pretend she believes in a higher power who can bring some form of good from this tragedy?
But it is indeed tragic, the shooter died. Regardless of her sins, this woman was a precious image bearer of God. God took no pleasure in her death. It would have pleased Him more if she had repented. Instead, she perished. She will spend eternity separated from Him in the lake of fire, dying not once, but twice. Thus, we should not rejoice over her death, nor should we wish it upon others (though we don't see nearly as much of that as the fake news media wants us to believe we do anyway). We should mourn her loss, too.
More importantly, we should pray no one else joins her. This terrible event should motivate us to pray for, and evangelise, as many people as we can, hoping we can usher them where they need to be: In the loving, forgiving arms of our God.
Because He has forgiven us too.
The Bible is quite clear: As Christians, we are saved from sin, but we do not get to claim we have no sin (1 John 1:8-10). We're all guilty, we just have an advocate with the Father. Christ became sin for us, that we may be the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our righteousness comes from Him, and as a result, we walk in God's good works, prepared for us ahead of time (Ephesians 2:8-10), but we do not get to pretend this makes us somehow better than those who do not yet know the love of God.
The truth is, even knowing God, we still sin. There are those within our household of faith who struggle with their sexuality. We have men who sleep with their girlfriends, and women who sleep with their boyfriends. We have gays, we have lesbians. We have men who feel like they should be women, and women who feel like they should be men. And these are our brothers, and our sisters, whose sins have been nailed to the cross of Christ.
If you're a Christian reading this, perhaps you're not among these types of sinners. I guarantee it; you have a tendency towards other sins. Perhaps you're a glutton, eating or drinking more than your fair share. Perhaps you're lazy, being able to do productive things, but wasting your life doing nothing of any significance, not even giving God thanks for the comfortable furniture on which you frequently rest. Pride, dishonesty, wrath, greed, there is a long list of sins, and if you were to read it out and apply it to every Christian who has ever lived, zero would come out unscathed.
But here's the good news: Not even our most notorious leaders are without sin. Listen carefully to the words of Paul: "I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry— one who was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate His extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:12-17).
Prior to his salvation, Paul was not a nice man. The blood of many Christians is on his hands. But God loved him, and selected him as an example. The simple message here is if God can save Paul, He can save anyone. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, God wants you to repent and be saved.
Of course, while God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, He will kill them. No one knows how much time they have, other than knowing it's more than we deserve. Every sin we have ever committed merits an eternity in the lake of fire. Therefore, we should all repent immediately, and encourage others to do likewise. This is not hatred. This is love. Let us walk in that.