Latest / The Gospel Briefing / Firing Squad for Fort Hood Shooter & Hastert's Hidden Sins
Transcript
- Firing squad. By presidential order. That's the news this morning from the Pentagon. And the question for today is simple: what does justice look like when the crime is this heavy and the sentence this final? This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King. Here's what we know. The Pentagon announced Monday that former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan will be executed by firing squad for the 2009 Fort Hood massacre. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire in a crowded medical building where soldiers waited on check-ups before deployment. He killed thirteen unarmed US soldiers. He wounded thirty-two more. It remains the deadliest non-combat attack on an American military base in our history. Hasan admitted in court he was the shooter. He said he believed he was defending the Taliban. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended the execution. President Trump approved it. The Army secretary will set the time and place. This will be the first US military execution by firing squad since the end of World War Two. More than sixty years. Thirteen families have waited seventeen years for this day. Whatever you feel about capital punishment, that waiting is its own kind of wound. Scripture does not flinch here. Romans thirteen says the governing authority "does not bear the sword in vain." Civil justice is real, and God ordains it. And Ezekiel thirty-three verse eleven says God takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Both are true. Christians have disagreed about the death penalty for two thousand years. What Scripture will not let us do is celebrate. Justice may be served this morning. It is never entertainment. If you want to sit with that tension, keep Romans thirteen open in Bible Copilot as you listen. Also this morning. The Supreme Court opened its new term with oral arguments in Suncor versus Boulder. The case could decide whether cities and states can sue oil companies for climate damages. The Trump administration joined the energy firms, arguing federal law preempts state suits. Early reporting suggests the justices seemed unconvinced by the companies' bid to quash the cases. Why it matters: this is a question about authority. Genesis one gives humanity dominion — stewardship, not exploitation. Proverbs says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Whatever the court decides, creation is still a gift to tend, and courts are not the final word on it. Pray for wisdom today before you repeat what you have heard. And this one is heavier. Dennis Hastert died over the weekend at eighty-four. Longest-serving Republican House Speaker in history. Also the highest-ranking US official ever to serve jail time. In 2015, federal investigators uncovered that Hastert had been paying hush money to conceal sexual abuse of teenage boys from his years as a high school wrestling coach. A federal judge called him "a serial child molester." He served thirteen months. Luke twelve verse two. "Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known." Hastert hid it for forty years. God saw every day of it. One concrete practice today: pray for his victims. They are grown men now, and the news of his death will be its own kind of reopening. This episode is presented by Bible Copilot. Open Bible Copilot and study today's Verse of the Day first — Luke twelve verse two. It will walk you through what the passage says, what it means, what it teaches about God, and how to apply it. Start at mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel. That's mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel, or search Bible Copilot in the App Store. A mass shooter waits seventeen years for sentence. A Speaker of the House hid his crimes for forty. The timelines of human justice are long and uneven. God's timeline is not. Thanks for listening to The Gospel Briefing. We'll see you tomorrow.