'Pure evil': 5 responses to the El Paso, Dayton shootings that left 29 dead
1. Pure evil
Greg Laurie said in a video, “There’s evil in the world. Man is not basically good, man is basically sinful. Number two, there’s a devil and the devil’s not down in Hell, he’s working in this world right now. The Bible even calls him the god of this world.
“I think when a person picks up a gun and decides to go and slaughter innocent people, this is an act of pure evil motivated by Satan himself.
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“We need to really be praying in our nation for a spiritual awakening because we’re seeing more and more of these acts of violence and so many other problems in our country as well.”
2. Spiritual warfare
Jack Graham, pastor for Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, agreed with Laurie that the tragedies should not be politicized.
“This should definitely be apolitical because it means that all of us are involved in some kind of spiritual a battle, a warfare that’s going on.
“The battle is getting hotter and hotter right now and predictably so. In fact, the Bible tells us in the final hours of human history that perilous times will come, difficult dangerous times will come.
“We need to remember that ultimately it’s a spiritual solution. We can’t politicize this.”
He also called for prayer and rejected those who say prayer is not important.
“People want to minimize prayer; [they say] all you do is pray. The most important thing we can do for people right now is pray. … Because if this is — as I believe you’re (Laurie) exactly right — a war against evil, against satan himself, then God has promised us a victory and that victory is in Christ alone.”
3. Turn to God
Best-selling author Max Lucado said he’s turning to Psalm 23 for comfort.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” — Psalm 23:4
“This is the promise that God will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death,” Lucado said in a video.
Everyone, he said, will go through that valley “but we do not go through that valley alone and we do not need to fear evil.”
“Yes, there is evil in the world but evil cannot have the world. In these times, we turn to our heavenly Father, our good shepherd and we ask Him for help.”
4. Do not be weary
New England Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson tweeted, “In the face of evil and tragedy be not weary in well doing. Never cease to be moved by the suffering of others.
“Mourn with those who mourn.”
5. 8chan shut down
Cloudfare announced that it is shutting down 8chan as it has “repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate.”
“The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit.
"While removing 8chan from our network takes heat off of us, it does nothing to address why hateful sites fester online. It does nothing to address why mass shootings occur. It does nothing to address why portions of the population feel so disenchanted they turn to hate. In taking this action we've solved our own problem, but we haven't solved the Internet’s.
“Unfortunately the action we take today won’t fix hate online. It will almost certainly not even remove 8chan from the Internet. But it is the right thing to do. Hate online is a real issue.
“Our whole Cloudflare team’s thoughts are with the families grieving in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio this evening.”
