Sutherland Springs Slaughter: 'We Are People Whose Faith in God Even Transcends the Viciousness of Death'
Johnnie Moore, author of The Martyr's Oath, shares how the church in America can learn from Christians in other parts of the world who routinely suffer persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ.
The Texas church shooting reminds us that Christians in America are not immune to attack by evil.
"He's a coward," exclaimed Alexa Roberts, a resident of Sutherland Springs. "Why else would he go for people in a church?"
Officials say the 26 people killed in the shooting at a small South Texas church range in age from 18 months to 77 years old.
The pastor of First Baptist church, Frank Pomeroy, and his wife, Sherri, talked with reporters on Monday. They were away when the shooting happened.
Their 14-year-old daughter Annabelle Renee Pomeroy was at the church and tragically lost her life. Her parents said they took comfort knowing their daughter was surrounded by friends when she died.
"We lost more than Annabel yesterday," said her mother Sherri Pomeroy. "One thing that gives me a sliver of encouragement is the fact that Bell was surrounded yesterday by her church family who she loved fiercely and vice versa."
"You lean in to what you don't understand, you lean in to the Lord," Frank Pomeroy told reporters during the press conference. "I don't understand but I know my God does."
The gunman, 26-year-old Devin Kelley, started firing his weapon outside the community church during Sunday morning worship.
Christians around the world -- particularly in countries where Christianity is a minority religion -- often suffer at the hands of those who hate them.
"Regardless of the motive, we don't know what happened {in this case}, but what I do know is that the church in the East has empathy for the church in the West in this circumstance," said Johnnie Moore, author of The Martyr's Oath, an account of the plight and suffering of persecuted Christians worldwide.
Moore told CBN News that the Body of Christ in America can learn a great deal from those who suffer routinely for their faith in other parts of the world.
"They teach us how to grieve, they teach us how to forgive those who want to abuse us," Moore said. "It is in this moment that we see the power of our true faith, that is the story of the suffering church, the free church, even while we mourn today.
Moore went on to say that tragedies like this, as horrific as they are, can serve to further the gospel message.
"It is in moments like this when we demonstrate to the world that we are not from here," Moore told CBN News. "The New Testament says we are sojourners and pilgrims traveling through. The Bibles says we don't grieve like those who don't have hope."
"We are people whose faith in God even transcends the viciousness of death, however grotesque and vicious that death is," he added. "The worst thing evil has is death and those of us who have faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, death isn't the end, it is just the next stage."
