NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The following is a statement by Richard D. Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission:
As believers, we need to trust in the promises of God, that He is indeed our Shepherd. We can rest in Him and trust in Him. We need to understand that what the devil has intended for evil, God can use for good.
This terrible tragedy that evidences a callous disregard for human life will prompt many Americans to think about eternal things in a way that they don’t on a daily basis.
I hope that all Christians will join me in praying that the Holy Spirit will use this, and use us, to reach out to Americans who are concerned about their spiritual futures in a new and more sensitive way that they may come to know the peace and assurance that can only be found in Jesus Christ.
Even in the midst of this tragedy, we need to pray that God will give us the faith to obey His commandment to love our enemies and that we would not harbor a spirit of vengeance against the perpetrators of these atrocities. We are commanded to pray for them, to pray knowing that God loves them and God wants them to come to know Jesus as Savior as well.
Let us pray that God will convict them and that they will have the calluses removed from their heart and the blinders from their eyes that they may see that God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the one true God.
–30–
