(6) The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look so resentful? (7) If you do the right thing, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do the right thing, sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike! It will entice you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6-7 (CEB)
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Today I present another End Times post.
Long-time readers know that this isn’t a current events blog. This is not the place to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in the world. But from time to time I do write about the news.
But a tragic event happened that I must write about, even if many details are still unknown at this early stage. And that would be the recent mass shooting in the U.S. state of Georgia, in which eight lives were lost.
Before saying anything, I pray for all the victims of this horrendous attack. They should all be alive today; what happened isn’t right. Let’s pray for the victims and their loved ones. And let’s pray for justice to be done here on earth in this horrible case.
Also, I must make it clear that I wrote this post on March 18, and it won’t be published until April 19. So in a month a lot of new information could come out, possibly invalidating some things I’ll say today. As of the time of writing, there are still many unanswered questions about this tragedy. So please keep that in mind.
Anyway, this tragic case offers a glimpse of how demons are at work in people’s lives in the End Times. And yet, that excuses no one for responsibility for their actions. Read on and I’ll try to explain.
The Facts
Let’s start with the facts of the case that we know right now. On the afternoon of March 16, a twenty-one year old named Robert Aaron Long shot and killed eight people at three massage parlors in Georgia. It seems that one man who was wounded is the only survivor of this vicious attack. Seven of the eight victims were women, and six of them were Asian women.
Like many others, when I first heard this tragic story I wondered if the shooter was motivated by racial hatred, because of who the victims are.
But within a day, another possibility emerged. According to police, Long was denying that race was part of his motive. Instead, Long claimed he had a sex and pornography addiction, and shot these women to “eliminate the temptation” he felt. Now, again, I wrote this story back in March. So it could be that, when they investigate this guy more, they find out that race was part of his motive.
According to police, here is in general what Robert Long had to say about his heinous act. *This story comes from the Christian Post. You can read the article here.
Christian mass shooter Robert Aaron Long, 21, told police he was addicted to pornography and was trying to eliminate “temptation” when he shot up three massage parlors in the Atlanta area, killing eight people who were mostly Asian women Tuesday evening, and was planning to shoot up more parlors in Florida.
“Christian mass shooter Robert Long was tired of ‘temptation’ posed by massage parlors: police,” by Leonardo Blair, Christian Post, March 17 2021
“We did interview him last night. He is currently in our facility at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center,” Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said at a press conference Wednesday. “He made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/robert-aaron-long-was-tired-of-temptation-posed-by-parlors.html
Then another cop named Jay Baker said the same:
“He does claim that it was not racially motivated. He apparently has an issue with what he considers a sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places. It’s a temptation for him he wanted to eliminate,” Baker said. “Those are comments that he made.”
“Christian mass shooter Robert Long was tired of ‘temptation’ posed by massage parlors: police,” by Leonardo Blair, Christian Post, March 17 2021
“These locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something he shouldn’t be doing. … He had an issue with porn and he was attempting to take out that temptation.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/robert-aaron-long-was-tired-of-temptation-posed-by-parlors.html
So that’s what Long claims as his motive. And I have a few things to say about it.
Sin Is always there, It’s up to Us to Master it
When I first heard of Long’s motive, I thought of Genesis 4:7, one of my favorite verses.
(6) The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look so resentful? (7) If you do the right thing, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do the right thing, sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike! It will entice you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6-7 (CEB)
In other words, it says: “Sin is always out there, ready to get you. And it will get you, if you don’t watch yourself. It’s up to you to stay away from sin.” Note that the verse says nothing about eliminating sin or temptation. These are things that will always be with us, as long as we’re living down here on this corrupted, fallen world. That’s how I interpret this verse; how about you?
So how does Genesis 4:6-7 apply to this tragedy?
We live in a world full of temptations for all kinds of sins. That’s how life is, down here on this fallen, corrupted, imperfect world. And we have to deal with it. We can never “eliminate” temptations from the outside world. We can never “eliminate” temptations from the society we live in. “Sin is always around us—it’s up to us to master it.” It’s up to us to stay out of it ourselves.
We have to control ourselves. This is a personal struggle, although it’s one in which we have the ultimate helper and ally on our side, Jesus Christ. Through Christ’s power and help we will be victorious in our struggle against our sins, even sexual sins. But to succeed we have to look inside ourselves and take care of what’s going on in there.
If we blame the outside world and the temptations it holds, we’re looking in the wrong direction. We can walk free of sexual sin if we master ourselves. Because we have no control over society. But we always have control over ourselves.
Still, this struggle against sin is painful and takes a long time. Oftentimes the progress is slow and there are many relapses on the way to recovery. People think recovery from some addiction happens in a straight line. But actually it happens in a series of relapses.
Recovery (the struggle against sin) isn’t quick and it isn’t easy. There’s a lot of failure on the way to the goal. This can be disheartening, depressing, or even infuriating. But just because progress is painfully slow doesn’t mean that there’s no progress. If Long had taken better advantage of fellowship with other Christians, I bet someone would have told him that.
Never Take the Shortcut—It’s a Lie
“Eliminating” a temptation is the easy route. Mastering ourselves is the hard route.
If we could rule the world and outlaw all the temptations we struggle with, it would be easy for us to avoid sin. The challenge comes in mastering our selves and controlling our actions despite the temptations around us. And this is where the personal growth and self-improvement is found, which is why this is the path God wants us to take. God won’t remove the temptations from us either (recall 2 Corinthians 12 and Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”). I wrote about this in a post from last year called, Should We Ban Porn? Please check it out for more.
The devil whispers to us, trying to get us to take the easy route through our struggles. Trying to get us to take the shortcuts. Because taking shortcuts robs us of growth, and can cause new problems without solving the original problem.
Anyway, back to the case of Robert Long. He listened to devils and made a vain attempt to remove his temptations from the world around him.
Violence is an answer that would seem easy. It promises “removing” some temptation for good. But of course, the idea of violence is a lie straight from the devil. It solves nothing, violates the rights of others, harms them, and more. It only creates more problems and is a sin against God and our fellow humans. Violence is not an acceptable solution to temptation or anything else. Only Self-Mastery is.
Any thoughts of using violence toward ourselves or others in our battle against sin come straight from the devil or his demons. The devil wants us to resort to it, knowing it solves nothing and only causes pain and suffering.
So violence is never an answer. But in the End Times, demons are whispering to people every day like never before, lying to them and provoking them. Some will give in to those rage-fueled thoughts and act on them, hoping for one easy, but violent answer to their problem. There will be other Robert Aaron Longs before the End Times are done. There will be more violence.
We must never listen to the lies of the enemy. The solution does not lie in “easy” answers like violence (which, again, is a demonic lie anyway). The solution is drawing closer to God and taking refuge in Him, allowing Him to do the work in us that makes us stronger. This process isn’t quick or easy, so some people get frustrated with it and lose Faith in it. It takes time and great effort, it’s not quick or easy. But going the hard route of Self-Mastery, together with God, is the only way that works.
We must never listen to the lies of the enemy. Long listened to his demons, and committed a heinous, atrocious crime against humanity. But going back to an earlier point, just because demons whisper the ideas doesn’t mean we’re not responsible for what we do. We are always responsible for what we do. Demonic whisperings are never an excuse for violence (etc.). It’s on us to act right, and turn to God so we can resist the demons.
Demons are no excuse for the things we do. We are always responsible for ourselves. It’s on us to do the right thing.
Stay on the Right Path; Don’t Give up
What adds to the tragedy here, is finding out that Long had actually been on the right path for defeating his addiction and controlling temptation. This quote from a roommate of his at an addiction rehab halfway house reveals something about Long’s Faith and theological foundation. (By the way, this is a different article. It comes from Reuters. You can read it here.)
He said Long had been treated for sex addiction and that he frequented massage parlors “for explicitly sexual activity.”
“Details emerge about man arrested in Georgia shootings,” by Nathan Layne, Rich McKay, Tim Reid, Reuters, March 17 2020
Bayless said Long was “deeply religious” and would become “very emotionally distraught that he frequented these places.”
“In the halfway house he would describe several of his sexual addiction ‘relapses’ as he called them. He would have a deep feeling of remorse and shame and say he needed to return to prayer and to return to God,” he said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crime-georgia-spas-suspect/georgia-shooting-suspect-attended-church-was-from-atlanta-area-idUSKBN2B92L3
If only Long has continued doing that!! What he was doing, having deep remorse and needing to return to prayer and God, that is the way to defeat addictions!! It is THE WAY.
The remorse he felt over his relapses shows he had the Holy Spirit in him. The Spirit was convicting him of his sins, and moving him to strengthen his prayers and draw closer to God. The spirit was convicting him of his errors and guiding him toward what would help him.
Though we fight from a place of victory in Christ (so our victory is assured), the struggle against addiction is still a painful, bitter struggle. It takes time, it’s not easy, and there will be many failures on the way. We will have many relapses, because recovery is not a straight line. Recovery consists of a series of relapses.
We can never let relapses discourage us to this level, because we know they’re bound to happen. As long as we use each relapse to educate ourselves on what triggered it, we can grow stronger. God can use our relapses to build us up stronger than before. God can use our failures to teach us and educate us, so we can avoid them in the future. God can use our failures to push us forward This is the way to defeat addiction. It’s not quick or easy. But if we stick with it we will see results. Just because progress is slow doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Long had been on the right track before, with what he was doing. What a tragedy he didn’t stick to the right path. We all see the tragic result.
I wonder what his fellowship with other Christians was like. It sounds like he was active in church. If he had only talked to a Spiritual mentor at the church about his problems, maybe he could’ve received encouragement. Maybe he would’ve learned not to get discouraged by relapses, or not to get angry at the temptations (Genesis 4:7). He might have learned not to expect instantaneous, easy results or a magical cure for his addictions.
When we’re struggling with an addiction like this, it’s a blessing if we have other Christians who we can go to and talk about the issue with them. But if we want to receive that blessing, we have to be open and honest when we talk with our Spiritual advisors about it. Fellowship, conversation, and support from other Christians is one of the greatest resources we have when fighting addiction of any kind. They can help us keep on track. We’re meant to do this for each other (Galatians 6:2).
We don’t know if Long did these things or not. We don’t know many things at this early stage. But it seems that he was on the right path, he was doing the right things to fight his addiction with the LORD. But then he listened to the devil, and took physical action in the physical world instead of waging prayer warfare through Christ in the Spiritual world. He forgot or didn’t know our weapons are not physical (2 Corinthians 10:4-6) and neither are our enemies (Ephesians 6:2). And eight people lost their lives over it.
It’s always in Our Power to Reject the Devil
This event is a horrible tragedy all around. All the victims didn’t deserve to die and should be alive today. What Robert Long did is horrendous in every way. Any time we discuss this event, we must be sure to offer respect and prayers for the victims first.
The very beginning of the Bible, Genesis, makes it clear that the temptation to sin is a fact of life in this fallen world, and we must deal with it. We have to master ourselves, we have to control our own actions. It’s on us, it’s our job and our responsibility.
It doesn’t matter if demons whisper lies and suggestions to us—we are always in control of our own actions. Always.
That being said, demons are whispering to more and more people all the time these days. The End Times are treacherous, because the demons are active like never before, knowing their kingdom will soon come to an end. Sadly, I think there will be more incidents like this in the future. I wish that weren’t the case, but that’s how I see it. The perpetrator will always be fully responsible. Demons are more active than ever in the End Times. It’s on us to deal with it. To turn to God in prayer asking for aid, and to endure through it.
And we need to never give up in prayer, and keep a healthy fellowship with other Christians. The things we’re praying for don’t come quickly or easily. Especially something as big as breaking free from an addiction. We need help to do this—we need God’s help and the support of other Christians.
We will suffer many failures on the way. We need to stick with it and endure, we need to keep going on the right path, doing the right things. We need to keep close to God, so He can strengthen and guide us through this painful process. A painful process worth doing, because it ends in freedom.
But the devil, he sees our weakness and tries to deceive us with ideas of quick, easy solutions. Shortcuts. Skipping the hard work and choosing the easy route. That’s not what God wants of us, because that’s not where the personal growth and character development lie. The devil will always tempt us to take an easy route for that reason.
And in this case, the easy route was violence. Instead of learning to resist temptation, Robert Long wanted to “eliminate” it. He should’ve known better than to resort to violence, as that isn’t Christ’s way. Violence is forbidden to us. Violence is never an answer—it causes pain and suffering while not solving any problems. We must abhor violence and never even consider it as a solution.
Learn to recognize the whispers of the enemy. Never tolerate them, never consider them. Any idea from the devil must be rebuked and rejected in the name of Christ immediately. Stay focused on God, and hold firm to the principles of Christianity—turning the other cheek and nonviolence being one of those. Never indulge or act on an evil idea. Remember: Even if the demons whispered to us, we’re still responsible for our own actions.
We can see what happens if we fail on some or all these points. It ends in tragedy, atrocity, and injustice. May we never let that happen in our lives. And may we detect it happening in others before it’s too late.
Well that’s all for today. If you enjoyed today’s post, be sure to Subscribe using the link below. And please consider Supporting My Blog using the Tip Jar. Any amount is much appreciated!
Until next time, be strong and do good!
Your new best friend in Christ,
99:9
<<<EXALT THE LORD OUR GOD AND WORSHIP AT HIS HOLY HILL; FOR THE LORD OUR GOD IS HOLY>>>
Follow My Blog
Subscribe to my FREE Substack newsletter so you never miss any of my posts!
https://999f64.substack.com/
Support My Blog
The Tip Jar
If you enjoyed this article, or any of the content on my site, please consider tossing a dollar in ‘the tip jar’ by donating here. All donations of any amount are greatly appreciated! If all you have to give are thoughts and prayers, I will gladly accept those too! I receive those, don’t worry 🙂
$1.00
99:9 Exalt El Shaddai 
One comment on “Do Not Fear the End Times Part 91: Atrocity in Atlanta”