Ahmad Alissa, age 21, has been charged with killing 10 people in a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. Two were murdered in the parking lot, another six inside the store. One was a police officer and father of seven children. The FBI had known about his radical leanings and rantings concerning “Islamaphobia” and hatred for former President Trump. The press rushed to say that Alissa was not politically motivated, just mentally ill. How about both? And add to that demon possessed. People said he was scary to be around and threatened to kill his wrestling squad teammates.
What kind of tormented mind kills eight people in Georgia massage parlors? What compels a man to kill 10 people in a Colorado supermarket? Both deeds were diabolical. Yet these two men came from different perspectives. The massage parlor killer was a born-again Christian. The supermarket murderer was a Muslim. What sense can we make of this?
Demons are no respecters of ideology. Crimes of hate aren’t always about what a person believes. Jesus said in Mark 15:19, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Often, Satan doesn’t care what you believe so long as he can live in your soul and seek opportunities for evil. Sadly, everyone is capable of the horrors in Boulder and Atlanta if they allow their minds to be infected with seeds of anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness.
Day after day as I do virtual and personal encounters, I often wonder how many violent crimes of hate we have averted. Almost every day I cast out spirits of death and murder. These people are now free, not a potential newspaper headline because of the inner rage. We need to encourage troubled souls to seek inner healing and deliverance. That’s the spiritual path to no more massacres.
