Joel Osteen, Church Shootings & the Spirit of Violence (Episode 054)
|Published on: Feb 12, 2024|Categories: |0 comments
Praying the News with Jennifer LeClaire
Joel Osteen, Church Shootings & the Spirit of Violence (Episode 054)
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This could have been the most tragic church shooting of all time.
A female shooter walked into Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston Sunday afternoon. She was carrying a long gun and a small child when she opened fire at Lakewood Church.
Off-duty law enforcement officers shot her dead on the scene, but the child is in critical condition. Another man was injured, according to officials.
The woman, who was between 30 and 35 years old, was wearing a trench coat and a backpack when she entered Lakewood just before 2 p.m., in between services.
The shooter’s motive remains unknown, nor do police know the woman’s relationship to the child she carried in her arms. The shooter also made a bomb threat, but no bomb was found.
The Lakewood shooting is another example of the spirit of violence that is stirring up. There have been over 50 mass shootings in 2024 alone—and that’s just mass shootings.
This is Jennifer LeClaire, and this is Praying the News. On today’s broadcast, we will look at gun violence in the religious world and how to pray.
Violence at places of worship in the U.S. appears to have been increasing over the last two decades, according to Dolan Consulting Group. While the most tragic and shocking incidents dominate media attention and public awareness, the group says many smaller incidents of violence occur at places of worship every week.
Extrapolating to the whole U.S. population, Dolan estimated there are actually about 480 incidents of serious violence at places of worship in the U.S. each year. Most of these incidents happen in Christian churches, bringing about 46 deaths and 218 serious injuries annually. But future reports may indicate this estimate is too low, especially given the data only reaches through 2016.
What are the motives? They are multiple. According to the National Incident-Based Reporting System 28 percent are motivated by mental illness or derangement, 26 percent by robbery, 17 percent by family dispute or domestic violence, 11 percent by a personal dispute, 6 percent by ethnic, racial or religious hate crimes, and 9 percent for undetermined reasons.
So, then, how do we pray?
We decree deep darkness shall not overtake our churches. We decree the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (see John 1:5). We apply Your precious blood over our churches. We decree we will overcome the spirit of violence by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (see Rev. 12:11).
We decree Isaiah 60:18, “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, destruction nor calamity within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates praise.” We bind the spirit of violence that is bringing destruction, turmoil, strife, division, murder and hate to the church (see 2 Cor 4:4). We bind murder, mass murder, premature death and violence in churches (see Mark 3:27).
Give us the grace, Lord, to be bold as David against Goliath with regard to the enemy working to kill in our churches. We shall be bold as lions and take the battle to the enemy in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (see 1 Sam. 17:45; Prov. 28:1). We break the powers of demonic unity organized against our churches (see Ps. 143:12). We break the powers of the evil satanic confederacies plotting and planning against our churches (see Prov. 24:17). We decree they shall not come near our churches (see Acts 20:28).
We pray blessings over our churches (Deut. 30:1). We pray the peace of Christ over our churches (see Jer. 29:7). Thanks for listening. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts and share this with your friends.
Awakening Prayer Hubs is focusing intensely on praying against the violence manifesting in cities. You can join us by launching a hub, joining a hub, or sponsoring a hub at www.awakeningprayerhubs.com.
