by Doug Horchak on July 24, 2012

On Friday, July 20, 2012, many of us woke up to the stunning news of yet another unthinkable tragedy when we heard of the mass shooting at a packed movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado. And, once again, we ask the question “WHY?”

The last 13 years have witnessed countless examples of such horrendous events. Last year in Norway and Tucson. Fort Hood in 2009. The shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007. And, of course, the Columbine High School shootings of April 1999.

When the Columbine High School tragedy took place, my family lived in Colorado; and I still remember the shock when hearing that two students in Littleton marched into their high school and gratuitously took the lives of 13 students and teachers.

What made this tragedy all the more personal was that we knew one of the students that witnessed the senseless shooting. Jonathan was a junior in high school, and I talked with him in the weeks that followed. Among other things, he expressed the shock of trying to understand how fellow students in his school, or anyone, could engage in such evil acts of violence. I will never forget Jonathan’s vivid description of his fear and desperation while he hid behind a fallen table in his school cafeteria that fateful day.

Recently we were again made painfully aware of man’s capacity for senseless violence when learning of the young man who planned the wanton killing of a dozen people and wounding of 50 others in that movie theater in suburban Denver.

Since then, major news networks have covered the story virtually 24/7, discussing and asking the question of “WHY?” WHY would a person perpetrate these horrible acts? News anchors, legal experts and psychologists don’t seem to have an answer … or a REAL solution.

However, despite man’s search for understanding at times such as this, there ARE answers.

Even more important, there IS hope that we can look forward to a future and world without such inexplicable and tragic events. And—there is hope for all of the families that have lost the ones they love.

Contrary to the belief of many, God’s Word—the Bible—plainly reveals that the events in this world are not the result of the Creator’s hand and influence. It is a world that has, for the most part, been left alone by God—left to the free choice and direction of human beings, all the while under the influence of another spirit being. And that being is the adversary—Satan the devil.

The apostle Paul referred to Satan as the prince and “god of this world” and described him as having blinded the minds of billions of people. The Bible also shows us that the origins of the depravity of many on earth lie with a powerful spirit being that is referred to as the “prince of this world.”

From the Holocaust to the Rwandan genocide to the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia over a decade ago—human history is riddled with extreme examples of mankind perpetrating unthinkable acts of murder and savagery.

God reveals a time in the near future when that influence of Satan the devil on an unsuspecting world will come to an end.

As painful as it is to realize the horrible things human beings are capable of, God does have a plan. 

• A plan that answers the question of “WHY” there is so much suffering in this world.
• A plan that explains and gives HOPE to those who have lost the lives of loved ones.
• And a plan that answers the question of “HOW” such a darkened world can be healed and changed … forever!

For Life, Hope & Truth, I’m Doug Horchak.