Course Content
Uglier and uglier mass shootings, terrorism, and hatred—where can we find answers and protection?
In one night, due to the actions of one man, the image and identity of Orlando changed.
Now it is the site of the largest mass murder in the history of the United States. It joins a growing list of cities and communities that have become the victim of terror and abject hate.
God is the only One in whom we can place our trust.
Because of this hate, a man with terrorist proclivities and a penchant for ISIS and radical Islam was able to open fire in a nightclub, killing 49 and injuring 53 more. One newscaster, summarizing the day’s events, said, “Orlando as a community will never be the same again.”
This all happened on the Day of Pentecost—June 12, 2016. As we went to services, we hadn’t listened to the news that morning, or even checked the news on the Internet. Someone mentioned something right before morning services, but it didn’t really register. Later that evening, it all began to sink in.
Terror—ISIS-inspired terror—has struck close to home for me with this attack. It brings to mind one of the curses God says He will bring on a disobedient nation that turns its back on Him. “If you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you . . . ” (Leviticus 26:15).
The terror the world faces today is simply about hate. It doesn’t regard your sex, your race, your religion or your ethnicity. More gun laws will not prevent further attacks. The terror threat we face today knows no bounds.
Despite promises and proclamations from leaders it is evident that terror can strike anytime, anywhere, to any group of people. This reality is becoming clearer as our police forces and governments find themselves helpless in the face of determined terrorists. There will be a lot more talk, but really there is no human solution to the problem that the United States, other English-speaking nations, and much of Europe, Africa and the Middle East now face.
In this time of terror and hate, which are more and more infiltrating our world and our communities, we learn we cannot trust in man to provide protection. You cannot trust in man or his ways. God is the only One in whom we can place our trust.
But for Him to place His protection on this nation and this people we must return to Him, forsaking our ways and returning to the principles of life found in the Bible.
“‘Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:7, emphasis added).
If only America would listen to the God who has so richly blessed us.
Rick Shabi was ordained an elder in 2000, and relocated to northern Florida in 2004. He attended Ambassador College and graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Business, with a major in Accounting. After enjoying a rewarding career in corporate and local hospital finance and administration, he became a pastor in January 2011. Since then, he and his wife Deborah have served in the Orlando and Jacksonville, Florida, churches. Rick served as the Treasurer for the United Church of God from 2013–2022, and was named President in May 2022.
