Nairobi Mall Massacre: Why Evil Men Seem To Be Victorious?

One the biggest evils of our times is seeing evil men murder innocent men, women, and even children in the name of religion. We hear it more often on news reports, radio breaking news, and read about it on the internet. Even as Christians we have a hard time to express to our fellow peers and friends that the same loving God in whom we believe is also the God who is just in all His ways. The Bible reminds us in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Last weekend a group claiming to be from al-Shabab Islamist militant group took siege of the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. From those attacks for than 60 innocent lives have been killed and hundreds more wounded and traumatized by the event. In one account of an eye witness inside the mall, he stated that the gunmen wound come up to people and ask them to recite certain known doctrine from the Koran. If the person did not know it or did not believe in it, they shot them. The question that comes up more frequent than others is, WHY? Why would they do this? Why would they kill innocent people? Why show such gruesome display of religion? Many are seeking the answers to these questions. One question that swirls in the back of our minds is Why do evil men like these seem to be victorious in their plans? 

Here are some links to recent news articles concerning this event: 

• The Washington Post : Click Here
• The Daily Mail UK: Click Here 
• The UK Guardian: Click Here
• The LA Times: Click Here
• The Wall Street Journal: Click Here (Slideshow)

Four things the Bible teaches us concerning evil men:

Judges 9:1-5 reminds us about Abimelech, "Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 2 “Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.”3 And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their heart was inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” 4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. 5 Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself."

1.) Authority Is Taken By Violence.
His own name, Abimelech, means "my father is king". He wanted to be the king and he wanted it now. This is a pattern of behavior that plays itself out over and over throughout Scripture and in our days. When evil men have authority over them yet because of pride, evil, and desire for power they strike by force with violence to promote influence and authority. Abimelech killed his own brothers. There is no boundary too close that evil men will not step over to promote themselves even if that means killing your own countrymen or relatives in the process. The devil wants to establish his authority throughout the world but he knows that there is another KING who has the rightful place. He positions himself to discredit, disarm, shock, and abuse in every form including physically and emotionally to cause Christians worldwide to be on the defense. Jesus is our authority saying in John 10:17-18, "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." Jesus is THE authority. 

2.) Their Weapon Of Choice Is Shock.
Every time evil men create shock their goal is to send a tsunami of fear into everyone who will see and hear of what they did. That's what Abimelech did. It paralyzes the way we think for us not to combat the violence around us. In fact some synonyms to the word 'shock' are confusion, disturbance, impact, injury, trauma, hysteria, concussion just to name a few. Think about a two year old toddler for a minute. When they don't get their way what happens? Yes, that's right, they throw a tamper tantrum to cause you to feel 'shocked' so you will bow to their needs. But what do responsible parents do? Say no, explain why, and sometimes punish them for not obeying your authority. That's what evil men desire to do not only to the secular world but especially to Christians. They want to paralyze our thinking, our emotions, our ability to react, our decision-making process, and ultimately our faith. The Bible reminds us not to give into evil for Jesus reminds us ahead of time in John 16:1-4, "All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you". We are NEVER alone. Do not bow to evil men but arm yourselves with faith in Jesus Christ. 

3.) Funding Came Via Devoted Idolaters.

In the above text verse 4 tells us where the money came from to support the evil. The idol Baalberith, which the Jews worshiped after the death of Gideon, was identical, according to the Rabbis, with Baal-zebub, "the ba'al of flies," the god of Ekron. He was worshiped in the shape of a fly; and so addicted were the Jews to his cult (thus runs the tradition) that they would carry an image of him in their pockets, producing it, and kissing it from time to time. This was a time when no clear King or ruler was in place but judges would take turns governing. It even says in Judges 21:25, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit." The Jews worshiped this idol Baalberith and as part of their devotion they gave money to the temple where this idol was honored. It is an eerie feeling knowing that God's own people who found pleasure in worshiping other gods and unknowingly funded the violence of an evil man named Abimelech. Take time and think about where and who you are funding. Let your devotion be to God alone. Reminder for all of us should be to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." 

4.) Righteousness Will Speak In The Face Of Evil.
Even when all his brothers were killed. Even when he needed to flee. Even when fear was knotted in his voice to speak. Jotham found boldness to speak truth and righteousness in an evil time and spoke it with great authority. Verse 7 of Judges chapter 9 gives all of us Christians immense hope and encouragement, "When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, "Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you." Hallelujah! Friend, no evil can stop the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through our lives. They may cause shock and trauma but the voice of God the voice of hope, the voice of freedom will never be quenched! Jotham survived the attack and heard what happened and instead of running and bowing to Abimelech he SHOUTED on top a mountain to all the people the righteousness of God. He caused them to hear truth and to give them a chance to repent and have peace with God. This is what we must continue to do in our generation. SHOUT the Word of God. Fear no man, no organization, no religion, no massacre, no evil men, we only have the fear of God leading our lives. Christians, pick your heads up high and don't be afraid to speak in the midst of chaos and evil. Speak the life of Jesus to this world. We have been given a voice, let's use it! 

Twitter: @PaulMuzichuk