The Bible Belt Has Buckled

In 1995, I preached a sermon based upon the 59th chapter of Isaiah.  This passage came to me with the urgent warning of impending judgment, shortly after the OKC bombing.  After preaching the sermon, the pastor told another pastor in town that I'd never preach from his pulpit again . . . I didn't; and it wasn't long until that pulpit wasn't his.

The OKC bombing shook this nation, but yet we built a memorial and went on with business as usual.  This nation is big on memorials and statues, without giving consideration that our Creator may see them as idols.  Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for domestic terrorism, and that execution was carried out in 2001 which is record time, considering capital punishment and the judicial system.  The man who was found guilty as his accomplice, Terry Nichols, is serving several life sentences in a maximum security prison.

Last year a very troubling headline from Tulsa crossed my newsfeed and we covered it here in the Goshen Gazette.  A man was found by his wife in his garage, hands and feet bound and decapitated.  If that isn't horrific enough, there is more.  Tulsa police, at the time of the interview, ruled his death a suicide . . . Let that sink in for just a moment.  At the time, the claim was made that the investigation would continue.  Just how qualified are these folks to continue an investigation based upon the presumption that this was suicide?  In a Google search this afternoon, most reports of this grizzly discovery continue to be dated in June of 2013, which is when it was reported to have occurred.  No name was given in the reports I found, family privacy, being cited as the reason.  All the links and blogs seemed to originate from the same site.
http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/man-found-decapitated-police-suspect-suicide/nYNZh/

Last Sunday there was a black mass in Oklahoma City, with protesters, but it took place.

The breaking headlines of a beheading in Moore, Oklahoma have me both puzzled and concerned.  I "knew" immediately that even though there were reports of the alleged murderer's social media posts and attempts to convert co-workers to Islam, a public beheading would not be ruled terrorism, but workplace violence . . . because he'd just been fired.  Sadly, I was not wrong . . . which then raised another question.  Where is this woman's obituary?  How could everything be so quickly determined while the alleged murderer is lying unconscious in the hospital and the other victim continues to be hospitalized?  Of course, HIPAA laws prevent further investigation into those who are allegedly hospitalized.
 http://abcnews.go.com/US/fired-oklahoma-food-plant-employee-beheads-woman-attacks/story?id=25780332

Undoubtedly the Bible Belt has buckled, or come undone as the case may be.  Not to disregard the memory of anyone, and certainly there is no intent to discount the value of human life, but as is the case in so many horrific headlines of these days, there are more questions than answers.