Latest / HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN® / Good vs Mayhem Part II : Finding Faith After the Minneapolis Church Shooting

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Good vs Mayhem Part II : Finding Faith After the Minneapolis Church Shooting · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  Welcome everyone to another episode of Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  Today, we have a very special guest returning. He's a regular.
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  We know him as Professor Nick, is what I like to call him. We would like to
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  welcome Nick to the show.
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  Nick is here to share a part two to what I described yesterday regarding the Minnesota shooting.
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  It's a message that comes from the place of tragedy, but also of hope.
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  Recently, the community, just to let you guys all know, the community in Minnesota
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  has been shaken by a heartbreaking shooting.
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  And in times like these, it is often difficult to make sense of such events.
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  And yet, through faith and resilience, stories of healing and light can still emerge.
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  I mean, as I sit here right now with my son, and I'm trying to think about what's
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  going to happen next as he turns into his first year of school.
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  Nick is going to be here and he is here to take us through his perspective and his experience,
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  offering not only a reflection on the pain of this tragedy, but also a powerful
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  reminder of how God can bring strength, unity, and even inspiration from the darkest moments.
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  It is an honor to have him here with us today.
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  And I will hit mute so you don't hear Noah, but I know his words will touch
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  your hearts. Nick, as always, my brother in Christ, welcome to After We'll Let
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  It Begin. The floor is yours.
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  Okay, Angel, thank you very much. I was compelled to talk to your audience about
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  this Minneapolis church shooting, and it's a difficult subject to discuss because
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  there are various opinions on the subject.
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  But I want to say before I kind of get started here that the following are my opinions and thoughts,
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  and I respect others who do not feel the same way as I do, but I ask that at
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  least keep an open mind and listen to what I have to say and reflect on it.
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  And I labeled this discussion, Angel, good versus mayhem.
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  And I did this for a reason which will become evident shortly.
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  There's no disagreement that this was a dark and evil event.
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  The question is, how do we view it?
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  How do we digest it and continue on in our lives?
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  As regular listeners to this podcast, I'm assuming we all believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  However, we are humans and may question why was this allowed to happen to innocent children?
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  I thought about this as well. In so thinking,
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  my mind gravitated towards, and I'm sure most people have seen this commercial on TV already,
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  the Allstate Insurance commercial, which has, as the main character, mayhem.
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  And he's called mayhem because he goes around causing havoc and causes various
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  auto accidents with major damage.
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  He then says at the end of the commercial that you should have all state insurance
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  to protect yourself from mayhem like him.
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  And then he laughs it off.
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  Well, I kind of connected the two.
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  This shooting incident is more than mayhem, but it is our insurance policy in
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  faith that's going to get us through this.
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  And our faith in God and Jesus Christ.
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  That's the only thing that can get us through this horrible episode on our history.
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  But why did it happen? Why couldn't God prevent it? Why did he allow this to happen?
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  And he didn't allow it to happen. Our God, through free will,
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  sees and understands that evil is present every day.
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  It is trying to break all believers down and to disavow, having us disavow our God.
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  Remember, everyone needs to remember that evil tried to break down Jesus three
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  times before Jesus basically told him, take a walk and get out of here.
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  And there's been mayhem in my life as well, although admittedly it's not to
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  the terrible extent that it happened here.
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  But I've had havoc in my life.
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  But I've chosen to stay on course and keep my armor on and put my trust in God.
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  The reason for some of my misfortunes were not immediately realized,
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  and some of them weren't realized for years.
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  But finally, I did realize kind of what, why it, why it sort of happened, how it turned out for me.
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  And I, it also made me understand that he never left my side.
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  It's my, my opinion and belief that we're all, we're all in exile as we go through
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  our life. And we are building our resume for the day that we don't know when
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  we will be judged on that resume.
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  One thing I wanted to bring up regarding this, and it's kind of interesting,
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  is that the actor who plays Mayhem on that Allstate commercial.
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  Back in 2009, because he was untreated for a bacterial infection,
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  he collapsed in his doctor's office and went into cardiac arrest.
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  He had to be resuscitated and was basically pronounced clinically dead and had to be resuscitated.
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  He was in a hospital for a month.
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  He lost several fingers and toes because of this.
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  So it's kind of interesting
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  that the guy who's playing mayhem had some
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  mayhem in his life as well so in closing i want to summarize this by talking
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  about what differentiates humans from god's other creatures it's that we have
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  free will that free will can be used for the good of mankind,
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  or the bad of mankind.
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  Unfortunately, there are many who choose the latter. And with that,
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  that causes sufferings.
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  This act at the Minneapolis church was mayhem at its worst.
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  And I can't imagine it happening to me. The only way we get through this is
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  keeping our armor of Christ on against attacks by mayhem and ask for God's protection,
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  and never give up on him because he never gives up on us.
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  Angel, any thoughts? Wow. Never looked at it in that way. I love the analogy.
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  When we first talked about coming together and doing a two-part episode,
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  I feel like it was meant to be because we both didn't know we were writing.
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  Our feelings about this senseless tragedy.
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  Senseless meaning just the way that this person took his anger or frustrations.
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  I will say this. First of all, let's start by thanking Nick for sharing such
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  a powerful, heartfelt message with us today.
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  It makes great courage to speak about tragedy.
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  And yet, through your words, we're reminded that even the darkest themes and
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  darkest times, God's light still shines.
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  And as we reflect on what we've heard today, let us all continue to keep the
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  victims, of course, and their families, the entire Minnesota community in their
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  thoughts and other thoughts, of course, and prayers.
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  May we never forget the faith, unity, and love are stronger than hate and fear.
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  I think Nick's perspective hit home to a lot of us this morning.
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  And I think that we need to remember that we're also just days away from 9-11,
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  and we must remember and reflect on everything that's happening in our country.
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  But I think a formal prayer would be good at this point. So let's pray together.
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  Heavenly Father, as we ask you to control and healing over all,
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  and I do mean all who are hurting right now, we pray for peace in our communities.
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  All over the world for strength, for families affected, and of course,
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  wisdom for leaders and neighbors to come together in love.
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  Help us to be instruments of your grace and your light in a word that means so much.
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  And we pray this in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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  Nick, as always, thank you very much for taking the time to express how you feel.
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  Please continue to write whatever it is on your mind. You know that you're always
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  welcome on this show. You're part of this family.
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  I want to thank you all for joining us today on this episode of Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  Please don't forget to think and remember all those that are dealing with the heartache.
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  Remember them, never forget them, and remind each and every one of you each
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  day based on his message and mine yesterday that we must love one another,
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  respect one another, and enjoy each other's companies,
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  all the days of our lives until we are called home.
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  May God be with you. May he shine his light upon you and grant each and every
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  single one of you peace on earth.
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  And never forget, have faith, let it begin. See you next week, guys.