They Said "Yes" to Jesus!

It's happened again. This time, at a small community college in Oregon. 

The first time I remember something like this ever happening was in April 1999. Columbine High School in an unincorporated sleepy part of Colorado. The perpetrators names? Yes, I remember them. However, out of respect for those killed on Thursday, their families and the Douglas County Sheriff, John Hanlin, who refused to identify their killer, I will not mention their names here. I believe that his example should take hold of all those in the media, and many have already refused to name their attacker, and I applaud them. These attackers seek glory in their own deaths, but we shouldn't be giving it to them. That needs to stop. We should be remembering the lives of the brave souls who were their victims, instead.

There is one name that really stands out to me, to this day, from Columbine in 1999. Her name is Cassie Bernall. Much like the perpetrator in Oregon, the perpetrators at Columbine walked up to Cassie, held a gun to her head and asked her, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" These two snickering wimps probably knew that Cassie had dabbled in witchcraft before going to church, bible study and getting saved. They had seen a radical change in her life, and they chose to mock God that day, and they used Cassie to do it. But it backfired, big time! Only God got the glory because Cassie replied, "Yes, I believe." She was gone from this earth in 1 second, but her last breath on earth, was used to proclaim her faith in Jesus Christ, who no doubt, escorted her to heaven Himself. 

These are not the first martyrs for Jesus Christ. We know the Apostles, most of whom, died for their belief, and their faith, and for refusing to stop preaching the good news. But that's something so far removed, well, do we really think about that? As of last year, however, it became almost a daily event in our lives, just about every time we dared to turn the news on.  

One can only imagine the thoughts that went through the minds of the 4 boys, all under the age of 15, who were told by their ISIS captors last summer, that if they renounced Jesus Christ and converted to Islam, that they would let them live. All 4 of them refused and were beheaded, martyred for Jesus Christ.

One can only imagine, the pain of the families of the 9 victims of a shooter in a church in Charleston, who fouled up the attackers plan by standing up in court and telling him, "I forgive you," even though he had killed and taken their loved ones from them.

One can only imagine, what went through the minds of the students who were told to "stand up," and say "what religion" they were in that college Thursday. They had recent examples to look to, even if they didn't know who Cassie Bernall was. We've all been watching for a year or so now, people in the middle east losing their lives because they were Christians. They were told to leave town, pay a fine, convert, or "die by the sword." There are very few Christians left there now. 

After the Columbine shooting, Michael W. Smith, the Christian singer and composer, wrote a song for Cassie Bernall, which is posted below. Please pass it on to your friends, share it on FaceBook and Twitter and all other forms of social media, and please, pray for the families. 

There are several other examples of this sort of bravery going on all over the world, but Cassie Bernall was the first American to be martyred for her faith, at least that I know of, that was martyred on American soil. She is now joined by these other students, who "were not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." It is in their example, that we can grow our own faith, in days that are increasing in the evil that we see all around us.

There is no one faithful, but Jesus is one who "sticks closer than a brother."  

So? Faced with the same question? What would you say?                                              

This was Their Time
May God bless them for their faith 
& comfort their families at this time of  grief.

Lucero Alcaraz, 19
Treven Taylor Anspach, 20
Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18
Quinn Glen Cooper, 18
Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59
Lucas Eibel, 18
Jason Dale Johnson, 34
Lawrence Levine, 67 (teacher)
Sarena Dawn Moore, 44