Shootings

What Does the Bible Say?

 

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved. 

 

Chapter 1

 

It's been in the news lately, there was a shooting in Oregon at a school, and also a shooting in the state of Washington.  And a shooting in Las Vegas. 

 

In Las Vegas, two people shot two police officers at a pizza parlor, and then someone at a Walmart, and then, in an apparent suicide pact, killed themselves.

 

And after they killed themselves, where did they go?  Well, to hell, of course, because the Bible says, "No murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 Jhn 3:15)  Eternal life means going to heaven.  

 

People who think it's all over after you die are quite mistaken.  When you die, it's only your body that dies. 

 

Then you, the person who had that body as your house during your life on earth, either go up to heaven or down to hell. 

 

To go to heaven, you must be a born-again Christian.  More on this a little later in the book. 

 

These people who go around shooting people seem to be ignorant of what happens afterward. 

 

If you're a murderer, you go to hell. 

 

Now, Moses killed a man.  But Moses was not a murderer.  Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating one of his fellow Israelites, and fought with the Egyptian, and the Egyptian died. 

 

I met a man in El Paso, TX who thought that perhaps Moses went to hell.  I pointed out to the man that Jesus' disciples saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah here on earth.  And doesn't that show that Moses couldn't have gone to hell, since he came back to earth to talk with Jesus? 

 

But that man wasn't persuaded. 

 

God wouldn't bring Moses back from hell to speak with Jesus.  If Moses had gone to hell, God would have found someone else plus Elijah rather than bringing back someone from hell. 

 

It was an honor to come back to earth and speak with Jesus, the Messiah. God doesn't bestow honor on those that He deems worthy of hell. 

 

No, Moses went to heaven, and that man in El Paso was an ignorant man. 

 

Moses, you see, was not a murderer. 

 

Just 'cause you kill someone doesn't necessarily make you a murderer. 

 

There can be a fight.  Someone dies.  The survivor is not necessarily a murderer. 

 

But if the survivor laid in wait for the other.  If the survivor ambushed the other, then yes, the survivor is probably a murderer. 

 

And these shootings mentioned above are no doubt murder. 

 

Major Hasan, of the U.S. Army, is no doubt a murderer.  Hasan seemed to be a normal soldier.  The Army had educated him, and he became a Psychiatrist or Psychologist. 

 

He would counsel soldiers who seemed to have mental or emotional problems.  But Hasan himself was a mental case. 

 

When Hasan got orders to go to the war zone, he didn't like those orders.  Just nevermind that he had sworn an oath, like everyone else who enters the armed forces of the U.S., to obey all lawful orders.

 

You've agreed to go where the Army sends you.  You go where the Army needs you.  Your superior officers in the Army make that decision. 

 

So, Hasan looked for a way to get out of it. 

 

And he found it, or so he thought.  Hasan said to himself, "Wait a minute, I'm a Muslim, and I'm guaranteed by my religion to go to heaven if I die as a Muslim martyr." 

 

So, Hasan got his guns and started shooting people.  Sooner or later someone would have to shoot him, and then he could die as a Muslim martyr.

 

But things didn't work out for Hasan the way he hoped.  Someone did shoot him, but it didn't kill him.  

 

Whoever it was that told the Muslims that they'll go straight to heaven by murdering people lied to them. 

 

But a lot of these recent shootings in the news are not related to Islam and the Muslims.

 

People see what they don't like in the world, so they decide to die, and they want to take someone with them. 

 

But they forget, or they never knew, that "No murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 Jhn 3:15).  So they don't know that they've chosen one of the short cuts to hell. 

 

Another path to hell is pornography, and porn has sent many to hell. 

 

One of the inventors of porn is Hugh Hefner, who started a pornographic magazine.  He will no doubt spend the rest of eternity in hell because if you help a lot of other people go to hell, then you'll share hell with them. 

 

The Bible says, "He that digs a pit shall fall into it." (Prov 26:27)  

 

Hefner's business made him wealthy, of course.  But Hefner will find that his wealth on earth does him no good in hell, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched, where there's crying and gnashing of teeth, Jesus said. 

 

I, also, can see that there is a lot of injustice in the world.  But I also know that it's not up to me to go put everything right. 

 

God says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." (Rom 12:19) 

 

If you're a God-fearing person, let God render the justice that is deserved.  If you're not a God-fearing person, then I'm sorry, but you're on the road to hell. 

 

Some people are talking about tighter gun laws as a way of curbing the shootings.  I do think that we should have background checks before people buy guns.  And guns shouldn't be sold to the mentally handicapped nor to minors. 

 

But if guns were harder to get, there are still other ways to commit murder. 

 

Chapter 2

 

People need to be taught better.  Parents need to teach their children to be God-fearing.  God-fearing people, who know the Bible, know better than to go around murdering people. 

 

I heard a man say once that he didn't want to teach his children about religion because he wanted to let them make their own choices about religion. 

 

That's a pretty dumb thing to say, and that was a parent not well qualified to be a parent. 

 

Parents need to get themselves straight with God first, and then they need to teach their children those principles.  And on Judgment Day, God will require it of the parents if they didn't teach their children properly. 

 

And God will say to some parents, "Your children went to hell, and their blood is on your hands because you didn't teach them properly." 

 

The recent incident in Las Vegas, Nevada, was apparently by white supremacists and anarchists.  And how does their action make the world any better?  It doesn't, of course. 

 

And they will pay for their error in hell. 

 

In one of the recent incidents, the perpetrator was a young man who was somewhat mentally handicapped.  What did he have, ADD or ADHD?  Anyway, he was a little slow, mentally. 

 

And it showed. 

 

It was his gripe that the girls didn't like him. 

 

But that's not at all surprising.

 

Of course the girls are going to be more interested in the boys who are not mentally handicapped.  And it's not their fault that this guy was the way he was. 

 

So how did his getting violent solve any problems?  It didn't. 

 

The young man needed a healing.  I believe he probably needed one or more demons cast out of him by a Christian. 

 

He should have sought a solution to the problem from the Lord. 

 

Unfortunately, churches today don't seem to be casting out demons very much.  There needs to be better teaching on this subject. 

 

Mental cases are very much on the rise.  And mental cases are generally demonic in origin. 

 

Beside not casting out demons, many of the churches also don't have the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages), which is an important thing to have for Christians who will be casting out demons. 

 

Jesus said to his people, "You'll receive power after the Holy Ghost has come on you." (Acts 1:8)   

 

You have more power as a Christian if you've been baptized with the Holy Ghost. 

 

To become a born again Christian, as Jesus spoke of in John chapter 3, obey Romans 10:9,10:

"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you're saved.  For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation." 

 

After becoming a Christian, be sure to read at least a chapter a day in the Bible.  And Jesus wants all his people to receive the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages). 

 

Ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Ghost with the speaking with other tongues.  This is only for Christians, of course.  When you pray, believe you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them. (Mark 11:24) 

 

Some seem to have the idea that you can be a successful Christian without the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. 

 

If you have a tree that needs to be cut down, are you going to go at it with your pocket knife?  Are you going to use a Boy Scout hatchet? 

 

Better use your chain saw if you have one or can borrow one.  You pull the cord, the engine starts, and your tree is down in maybe ten minutes.  Less for the smaller trees.  

 

Why?  Because you were using power. 

 

Jesus said we'd have more power with the Baptism with the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8)  Why would you want to be without more power? 

 

Some might say, "Well, my granddaddy, and my Dad never had the Baptism with the Holy Ghost." 

 

Norvel Hayes had a good answer for that.  Hayes talked like this, "Did you ever consider that maybe your granddaddy and Dad were mistaken?" 

 

The Bible says, "Work out YOUR OWN SALVATION with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12) 

 

If you're a Christian without the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues, you're like the guy trying to cut down a tree with a pocket knife. 

 

Move up to the chain saw bracket. 

 

Months ago, I happened to be listening to Sean Hannity's radio show, and he was talking about some of the sexual misbehavior in the news.  I don't know whether it was Anthony Weiner or Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

 

Hannity asked the question, "Why do people do that?"  I said, "demons." 

 

And what makes people go and murder is also demons.  Demons are fallen angels that rebelled against God when Satan did.  Demons get into people and make them do things. 

 

One way demons get into people is if those people were using pornography.  (Please see my book, "Pornography Kills...)

 

But there are many other kinds of sins that people commit that can let demons in.  I believe that committing the sin of blasphemy will let demons in.  "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain..." (Exo 20:7) 

 

A reporter today said on the radio that one of these most recent shootings was the 74th campus shooting since Sandy Hook. 

 

As I recall, that would be the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school. 

 

 

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

 

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

 

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

 

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

 

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.