Healing Ideas on Gun Violence
Terror.
It’s just “error” with a big “T” on it.
Does that make it more scary or a power or a force?
No.
The “T” stands for Truth.
And Truth uncovers, eliminates, and destroys (neutralizes, “nothingizes”) error.
Error, a lie, has no power, since God is the only Power and Presence, the only Force (“May the Force be with You,” as Star Wars says), and Truth, Principle, the Law of Good ENFORCES itself. In the universe, everywhere. Now.
I have long loved the practical protection of the 91st Psalm:
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
-1 PSALM 92
(Psalms 91:1–92:-1)
And also, I’ve seen demonstrated many times this Bible verse:
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17)
Then, there is this Bible verse that says,
“The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.” (Psalms 33:10)
The Paris Massacre
During and after the Paris massacre, I was praying with those two verses.
Interestingly, on ABC-TV news I saw a small proof of that Truth amidst the seeming chaos.
They showed a video of a single terrorist (the one they may still be looking for) who was shooting automatic weapon from street (through the window) at patrons in a crowded cafe. All scattered and hid amidst massive incoming bullets everywhere. And no one was killed. Slight hurts only. But on the street, in outdoor cafe where a woman was sitting at a table, and where the gunman was only a few feet from her, he again pointed his weapon to fire on, and most surely killed her. She had nowhere to run. His weapon jammed. He tried again. It would not fire. He then ran away. She was unharmed. (“No weapon formed against thee shall prosper”!)
Saw this proved again in a small way on streets of Chicago in a different video on the news the same week. A young woman was abducted and dragged by a man to his car. An unarmed passerby stopped to help. He stopped his car and got out, walked back on the sidewalk to where the man held woman and pointed gun at him. The gunman then fired his gun at point blank range, wounding the would-be helper (the woman got away). The helper, a young medical student, was hit in stomach and lay down on sidewalk. Gunman stood over him and pointed weapon to fire again. The gun jammed. He tried again. It jammed. I think he tried a third time, too… no way. So he ran away, but was caught shortly after.
“No weapon formed against thee shall prosper”!
The young med. student/hero was reported in serious condition, but reportedly doing well.
Another thing I have prayed with is a verse I like about God’s eyes “running to and fro in all the earth” (Ezek 4:10) I have prayed with this, thinking of the searches for suspects who seem to escape and then be hidden. Mind sees only Good in operation. Truth uncovers error and brings it out of its seeming hiding places. Nothing escapes the reach and focus of Mind’s view, or of Love’s beholding of its idea that is always safely hidden in the secret place of the Most High. I like knowing that Christ is an ever-active divine influence in consciousness, and speaks to each one as voice of reason and conscience.
Finally, there is a wonderful article on JSH online ,“Abiding Safely in Christ”.
~shared by a member of the Fairfax Christian Science Church
