Terror in a city of peace!

Oslo, Norway, the city of the Nobel Peace Prize, turned into a city of terror as an angry and deranged gunman set off explosives in the city center killing seven people.  Later that day, he visited an island summer camp where he shot and killed 76 more people, mostly teenagers.

While the Norwegian native gunman claims to be a member of an anti-Islamic group, the media has painted him as a “right-wing Christian extremist.”  His lawyer and many others suggest that Anders Behring Breivik is mentally insane—a plea he may make himself at his court hearing.  

Meanwhile, many Norwegians grapple with the tragedy in a nation which has never experienced terrorist activity in the modern era.  Norway’s prime minster recently described the nation as, “A paradise island [that] has been transformed into a hell…”  (New York Times, July 22, 2011; Christian Post, July 23 and 26, 2011).  

Despite the trauma and sadness, the sad fact is that the Bible has long predicted that events like this would occur in the Israelite nations when they reject God and His way:  “if you do not obey Me… and if you despise my statutes… I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you…” (Leviticus 26:14-16).  

Norway is a nominally Christian nation; however, a 2005 barometer poll revealed that only 32% of Norwegians even believe that there is a God (http://ec.europa.eu/publicopinion/archives) and only 12% attend church each month.  In 2009, 54% of all births in Norway were “out of wedlock” situations (familylifeculturewatch.com).  Norway has also legalized same-sex marriages.  It is a nation that needs to repent of its ways and truly turn to God.  Jesus said that tragedies like this would occur and get worse before He returns to bring peace to this earth (Matthew 24:8).  May God speed that day!