When Evil Strikes
By Robert (Bob) W. Jones
The world is crazy.
Inside Commonwealth Stadium the Edmonton Eskimos football team were racking up their sixth straight loss of the season. That was bad enough.
Outside Commonwealth, one man went on a Saturday night rampage leaving a police officer and four pedestrians injured. An ISIS flag was found in his vehicle.
Terrorism?
In Edmonton?
ISIS terrorism has come to our good old northern Alberta city?
Edmontonians went to bed feeling tentative. They woke up to devastation.
The same Saturday evening, one man in Las Vegas killed fifty-eight and wounded five hundred and fifteen others at a country music concert.
Over. Five. Hundred. Dead. Or wounded.
At the hands of one man.
Between ten and fifteen minutes of gunfire.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Four Canadians are among the dead.
On Monday night, talk show host, Jimmy Kimmel said, “What happened in Vegas this week is the kind of thing that makes you want to throw up or give up, it’s too much to even process. It feels like someone has opened a window into hell.”
What’s crazy is how quickly evil like this gets politicized. Within minutes of each horror, social media was abuzz with blame.
Canadian immigration.
Muslims.
NRA.
Republicans.
Trump.
What about the victims? What kind of condition does a person’s heart have to be in to go to politics rather than compassion?
What’s crazy is how quickly we will forget about the shooting in Vegas. Aside from the victims’ families, memories from tragedy are as temporary as snow in July.
Do you remember when and who were killed in:
Orlando, Florida?
Blacksburg, Virginia?
Sandy Hook Elementary School?
San Bernardino, California?
Roseburg, Oregon?
Charleston, South Carolina?
These mass shootings happened in the past five years.
What’s crazy is how familiar horror like this is to people in third world countries or the Middle East.
Turkey.
Iraq.
Algeria.
Suicide Bombers.
Honduras.
Ukraine.
Nigeria.
Terrorist Attacks.
Libya.
Kenya.
Sweden.
5,850 people have been killed worldwide in terrorist attacks in the first 9 months of 2017.
What’s crazy is this won’t be the last time evil will strike.
On 9/11 the world had a moment of clarity. There, on the TV set, for all to see, was unadulterated, raw, evil.
Evil appears in many forms – much more subtle than terrorism.
The biblical metaphor for evil is darkness.
Evil, like darkness, has no power on its own. Like darkness, its strength is the unknown. And fear.
Only light has the power to defeat evil.
Jesus declared, “I am the Light of the world.” He delegated that power to his followers, “You are the light of the world.”
Evil is real but its not eternal.
Light is eternal and is expressed through everything evil is not.
Compassion.
Kindness.
Forgiveness.
Mercy.
Righteousness.
Godliness.
Peace.
“Repay evil with blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9
“Overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
About this Contributor:
Robert (Bob) W. Jones is a recovering perfectionist, who collects Coca-Cola memorabilia and drinks Iced Tea. His office walls are adorned with his sons’ framed football jerseys, and his library shelves, with soul food. He writes to inspire people to be real, grow an authentic faith in Jesus, enjoy healthy relationships and discover their life purpose.
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