Posted on 03/08/2009 3:52:33 PM PDT by Mikey_1962
A shooting during a morning church service outside St. Louis has left one person dead -- the church's pastor -- and several others wounded, officials said.
The Rev. Fred Winters was at the pulpit at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., at 8:15 a.m. local time today when a man wearing dark clothing approached the pulpit and fired four shots, the first of which hit the pastor's Bible, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said at a news conference late today.
One of the shots from the gunman's .45 caliber pistol hit Winters in the chest, killing him, before his gun jammed, said Trooper Ralph Timmins of the Illinois State Police, which is handling the investigation.
After his gun jammed, the shooter injured himself with a knife and subsequently was restrained by parishioners, Timmins said in a "preliminary release" left on his office voicemail recording
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsline.com ...
I can’t really figure out the reason for the particular slant on the story.
During the War Between the States many, probably most soldiers carried a Bible on them. It stands to reason that a fair number would have that Bible stop a bullet. I am sure each soldier thought it was a miracle, I might have thought so too but since this one did not save his life it was beside the point.
I remember the commander of the Confederate Submarine Hunley had been given a gold coin by his fiancee and it saved his life at the battle of Shiloh. He probably thought it a miracle but when the sub was raised, they found the coin with his remains.
I am not sure the writer meant it to disparage Christians but you could be right.
why does your link go to CBS Sportsline?
When I read the headline my first thought was, “Cool!” Then I read the actual article. Very sad.
“Since he died anyway it was sort of irrelevant.”
Might have been enough time for an armed parishoner to stop him before he could get in the kill shot.
Just saying.
OR we could be seeing hatred of Christians taking over our secular country. Not that a Christian should be surprised since Jesus tells us it will happen...and it will be so bad that God will cut the time short for the sake of the elect.
I agree: The Bible could have been laying open on the lectern and been merely brushed by the bullet.
Thanks for the editing/clarification....:)
...gun-free zone...
...supposed to make us all safer.
See tag.
One of my favorite writers, the late Skeeter Skelton once said that when he was a kid growing up in Texas, the Methodist Minister kept a loaded .45 Revolver in the podium.
Yes, of course. We have no idea yet what drove this guy to do this. My speculation is that elsewhere the Health/Wealth Gospel is setting itself up for a bad fall by promising more than it can possibly deliver. I recall that during the day-trading “Tech Wreck” a guy walked into a brokers office and started shooting because they had implied he would get rich in their pit. Wondered if this was similar.
But, certainly, believers are going to face hatred from the world as the days draw to an end. Guaranteed.
Was this group part of “health and wealth” gospel group?
In Illinois? Only if the parishoner was an off duty cop or a visiting Chicago alderman.
Unless you are a cop or a Chicago alderman, the whole state is a "gun free zone", as far as concealed carry goes.
Note: Photo included.
UPDATE:
“Church shooting suspect has mental illness from Lyme disease”
By Joel Currier, Jeremy Kohler and Nicholas J.C. Pistor
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/09/2009
MARYVILLE —
SNIPPET: “But a source close to the case confirmed late Sunday that it is Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, who was the subject of a Post-Dispatch story in August about how Lyme disease had attacked his brain.
His home in the first block of Zachary Court in Troy, Ill., about three miles from the church, was searched late Sunday afternoon by police, who seized some gun cases and a computer.”
Don’t know.
Don’t just bring a bible to a gun fight, bring a gun too.
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