First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, in the United States, experienced a great tragedy --- a man fired continuously into the congregation who were praying in the church at around 11:30 a.m. local time, killing at least 27 people on Nov. 5th, 2017. About 50 believers were praying at the time.
The local police resources confirmed the gunman as Devin P. Kelley, a 26-year-old married man. He lived in New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio. The police said that the dead included several children and a pregnant woman and many were injured. Devin fled the scene and was found by police dead of a gunshot wound.
After the shooting, many American Christians and the victims' relatives prayed. Meanwhile, a large percentage of Chinese Christians felt shocked and pained and prayed for the families as well.
Below was a prayer shared by Chinese Christians on social media:
Let's pray for the brothers and sisters in the United States:
"Dear Heavenly Father, we give thanks and praise to You because You are enthroned as King. We appeal to You for the dead and injured brothers and sisters. Lord, have mercy on them and help them. Our hearts ache for this issue, moreover, we can't be in the shoes of the victims' families. Pray that You can comfort them, heal the brokenhearted, and bind up their wounds. The 27 brothers and sisters murdered while praying must find mercy and peace in You because precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants.(Psalm 116:15)
"Pray also that the Lord may help us stay vigilant in the End Times. Seeing so many mass shootings, we really discover the sins of men and that we can't resist sin by ourselves. We're greatly astonished to learn from one report that the gunman was once a temporary teacher in a summer Bible school. However, 'no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.' (2 Corinthians 11:14) Lord, we still have hope because You will judge people fairly.
"We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 'For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ' (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
We hope that Your powerful, faithful, and unchanging word will comfort of everyone so that we can stand by the Lord and be victorious with the Lord.
In the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, amen!
- Translated by Karen Luo
