Were angels protecting God's children when
a gunman walked into
Wedgwood Baptist Church last September and
began killing and
wounding worshippers?
Oh, be serious!
When I attended a worship service in the bullet-riddled
sanctuary of the
Fort Worth church after the shootings, it
was not hard to think that heavenly
beings were present in the midst of such courage
and faith.
Not hard to think - for whom?
Many in the congregation were smiling through
tears, singing,
"We are standing on holy ground; and there
are angels all around."
They did that, instead of diving for cover?
Now a new book, `The Wedgwood Baptist Shootings:
Night of
Tragedy, Dawning of Light,' suggests that
angels were around and
helped limit the number of lives lost during
the tragedy.
Dan Crawford, a Fort Worth seminary professor
and the book's author,
tells of mysterious lights that many survivors
saw in the church sanctuary.
He poses questions about why only eight people
were killed when
Larry Ashbrook walked into the church on that
fateful night.
The gunman was armed with nearly 200 rounds
of ammunition as he
entered the sanctuary where 500 people were
singing and praising God.
In a brief span, police estimate, he fired
65 to 100 rounds;
five people were killed and four wounded in
the worship center itself.
I don't remember the exact number, but
when Clinton punished Milo
in Kosovo, even with the best military
in the world, their effective
kill rate was only about 15 percent. So,
what's your point?
The guy was a bad shot, so angels must've
been there?
Does that mean the angels were protecting
Milo from Clinton, too?
Why would angels protect a mass-murderer?
I've never been insane enough to shoot
up a church, but I'm guessing one gets
really nervous doing that and probably
can't aim very well.
A homemade pipe bomb Ashbrook threw at the
worshippers sailed
over their heads and exploded upward, with
the shrapnel crashing
against the walls and landing in the balcony,
causing no injuries.
Those two loons in Colombine has bombs
fail on them, too.
More divine intervention?
If anything ever goes wrong with a bad
plan, credit the angels?
In a chapter called "Angels in the Auditorium,"
Crawford says
church members believe divine help prevent
more people from
being wounded or killed.
I'd say it's understandable that religious
people who survived
a church shooting might think God had
a hand in it.
Church members told him: "The angels were placing
shields of
protection around people, so that the gunman
could not even see them."
That's
insanity.
If you believe that, I'll get a rock and
throw it at you,
and you get an angel to prevent that rock
from hitting you.
What?
You don't want to do that?
What's wrong?
Have ye no faith?
Several survivors testified that the sanctuary
was filled with light
when the first gunshots were fired. Others
said there was almost
complete darkness when people began leaving.
Ask any cop how reliable eye witnesses
are at a crime scene.
You're familiar with that famous police
academy training tool where
a man runs into the class and steals the
teacher's purse and runs out?
Witnessses describe everything from an
aging, bald man
to a seven-foot Zulu with a bone in his
nose.
Any time you take religious insanity and
throw in a pound of adrenaline,
you'll get enough wild stories to make
Rod Serling seem barren.
"In between these extremes, there were perceptions
of varying
degrees of light and darkness, including
the testimony of flashes
of brilliant light . . .," Crawford
writes.
Crawford notes Bible passages indicating that angels appear as light.
"There were reports of those who say they actually
saw angels in the
auditorium. . . . In locations where
angels may have been active
-- protecting someone, delivering God's
punishment to the gunman,
or renewing physical strength, there
could have been light."
I'm sure the families of the dead appreciate
the "fact"
that angels were there to protect SOME
people.
Think
of the guilt they must feel, knowing the angels were there
to protect some people, but not
my
family.
Thanks, God.
Many will prefer to explain away the darkness
and light experiences
with more logical explanations, Crawford notes.
And he realizes many
will ask why, if angels were present, they
did not protect everyone.
Crawford offers an explanation for that, too.
"Remember, this escalated into spiritual warfare,"
he writes.
"Even in battle, some who are obeying the
commander-in-chief
still lose their lives while others
in obedience are wounded."
That's an explanation?
That's an explanation?
The Smirk campaign should hire this guy
to tell the religious voters
where Smirk was during that year he was
AWOL.
In the time of Jesus, Crawford continues, there
was a popular
theology that favored souls received the special
privilege of being
accompanied to heaven by angels (Luke 16:22).
"If angels were present at Wedgwood and were
looking for favored souls
to transport to heaven, who would be
more likely candidates than young
Christians killed in the act of praising the
Lord?" he writes.
The angels were there?
"Looking" for souls?
So the angels knew the gunman would be
there?
Michael Fortier is in jail for knowing
a crime was about to be committed
and doing nothing to stop it. Those angels
sound guilty to me.
Another mystery he mentions is why the gunman
did not advance
farther into the middle of the church auditorium.
Some believe a
heavenly shield kept him away.
Yeah, it could've been that, or it could've
been an ingrown toenail
that prevented him from walking all thru
the church.
While many question such supernatural explanations,
Crawford,
a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary, cites
many Scripture verses that speak of angels
protecting human beings.
No one can argue with the fact that the Wedgwood
congregation,
which is still recovering from the tragedy
under the leadership of
its pastor, the Rev. Al Meredith, has exhibited
a superhuman
brand of faith. They must have had some help
from a higher power.
Jim Jones, (817) 390-7707
No one can argue with the fact that the
author is trying to sell books
to people who might be inclined to accept
less-than-rational explanations
to a tragic event that profoundly shook
up this church.
Let's take one last look at the lynchpin of this book:
"Even in
battle, some who are obeying the commander-in-chief
still lose their lives while others
in obedience are wounded."