For those of you who have heard there was a pastor in Illinois who was shot and killed this past Sunday morning we need to pray for healing for the church and the shooter. The gunman actually needs prayer for a physical ailment. He has lyme disease. His name is Terry J. Sedlacek He also seems to need healing from the self-inflicted wounds that he attempted as well. He tried to commit suicide. The whole situation is rather tragic, a family is without a father and a pasture of sheep needs a new shepherd to take over. Let’s pray for the whole situation to be used to God’s purpose and to give all people perspective on just how powerful the supernatural world is. One reason that teaching our children how to pray, do praise and worship, give and fast is very important. Also teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit as well especially the gift of discernment.
Discernment is being able to tell the difference between what is of human, divine, or Satanic origin. We need to be very careful when doing things like dramas that involve realistic sound effects so that nobody gets confused about what they are seeing. If you know that the youth is doing a skit- take note. If you know that the pastor is doingan illustrative sermon take note and ask questions about props and possible sound effects. If you have any police officers in your congregation, ask them to do the security at your church and to have a class about possible dangers from things like this. I know that nobodycan anticipate this kind of thing, but ask them to teach what to do when something like this happens
There are several incidents that have happened over the years where the shooters who’ve been involved have been hurt by the church somehow. The situation at YWAM in Colorado in 2007 is a good example. Focus on the Family jsurecently in the last week re-played the broadcast from 2 months after the incident and the 2 families, the Works family and the parents of the shooter both turned out to be believers. I don’t know what happened with the current situation, but the one in Colorado was rather interesting in that the shooter was learning disabled- he had ADHD and felt rejected all through his life. The rejection he felt made him turn from Christ to the Occult- that’s a serious indictment against the Body of Christ folks- we need to be more compassionate toward others.
Teach your children that if they meet people who are “different” in this manner to pray for them and to make friends with them no matter how they act. “Some of the behaviors in ADHD has gotten kids even kicked out of Sunday School.” This was the statement made by the 2007 shooter’s mother. we need to remember- the majority of the people Jesus ministered to were the handicapped and the one thing He never did was turn them away either. Rejection is something that the challenged community has to deal with on a daily basis.
So if you make friends with these folks and bring them to church, please keep doing it despite their behavior it may even impact their spirit to the point of bringing them to Christ. The problem with the 2007 shooter was that he felt rejected even by the missions program at YWAM. We need to realize that even these folks if they are Christians are called to ministry at times and they can get medications by making arrangements with the U.S. Embassy in the country they are going to if we have one there. Let’s keep Terry J. Sedlacek in prayer for healing of ALL WOUNDS PHYSICAL, SPIRITUAL, AND MENTAL IF AT ALL. There’s no speculation as to whether he has a mental problem however. They wiil know when he recuperates and they are able to evaluate him. I also feel strongly we need to prayforthe state fo Illinois, first a corrupt governor and senator now this! What a tragic time in that state’s recent history!