Classical Values :: A "former Christian" who "hated Christians"?

December 10, 2007

A "former Christian" who "hated Christians"?

That's what is being reported about Matthew Murray, the gunman who (fortunately) was shot dead after opening fire on a church but before he could kill more people.

Reports also state that he is a "loner" from a "devoutly religious family," was home-schooled, and was rejected as a missionary. While his family was described as an "integral part" of the church he attacked, the gunman apparently attended another church:

Pastor Jim Wurst said that the Murray family was an integral part of the church. He said Matthew Murray stopped going a several years ago but continued to attend another church in Littleton. His mother is in charge of Love Fellowship's women's ministry.

None of this makes a lot of sense to me. Whether he was in fact a Christian or not (or whether this was an attack on Christians for being Christians) my fix on the gunman is that he was probably a paranoid schizophrenic. He has been described as hearing voices and being engaged in strange behavior.

Above all, it's another argument for an armed citizenry.

Thank God they shot him, whether he was a former Christian who hated Christians, or one of the innumerable ticking time bombs who need treatment but can't get it.

MORE: According to this Fox News report, Murray may have shot himself.

AND MORE: Murray's Internet ravings would appear to confirm a hatred for Christians, especially Pentecostal Christians:

"You Christians brought this on yourselves," Murray wrote on a Web site for people who have left Pentecostal and fundamentalist religious organizations.

It was the most recent posting of his on the site, dated Sunday, December 9 at 11:03 a.m.

Murray lived with his parents in a home in unincorporated Arapahoe County where police conducted a search on Sunday night.

In the Web writings, which are now being investigated by Colorado Springs Police, Arvada Police and the FBI, Murray warned, "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. ...God, I can't wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don't care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

If the time on the posting is accurate, it was posted after the 12:30 a.m. shooting Sunday morning in Arvada and before the 1:10 p.m. Sunday afternoon shooting in Colorado Springs.

Murray's first posting on the day of the shootings is time stamped 10:50 a.m. It begins with a goodbye to those he has corresponded with for the past several months.

"You guys were awesome. It's time for me to head out and teach these (expletive) a lesson."

Murray continued, "Thanks for listening and all ... even though even many of you ex-Pentecostals don't understand ......(sic) See you all on the other side, we're leaving this nightmare behind to a better place."

Then Murray posted the 11:03 writing quoted above. That writing mirrors written statements by Columbine gunman Eric Harris.

Christians are to blame for most of the problems in the world?

That sounds like familiar leftist hyperbole to me. I certainly hope activists weren't encouraging a mentally ill man, but it's been known to happen.

MORE: A lot of speculation here about whether the man suffered from schizophrenia (with some arguing he suffered from "demonic possession"). I thought this one was the most interesting:

My information is that the perp had exhibited dangerous/threatening behavior for years but a relatively wealthy and well-connected family had kept it from being handled officially. This is very, very similar to an incident earlier in Colorado which you might have heard of, called the "Columbine High School Massacre".

There a group of well-connected bullies terrorized other students with impunity, due to spineless police, local government and school authorities, until two of their victims snapped.

Something definitely stinks in Colorado. It looks more and more like place not to raise a family.

If that's the case, it might explain why there's no documented history of mental illness other than accounts that he heard voices and behaved strangely.

MORE: In a number of reports, I keep seeing this explanation from the missionary school as to why Murray was kicked out:

Murray was enrolled in a Discipleship Training School but did not complete the program, which is a 12-week classroom course followed by a 12-week field assignment.

"Murray did not complete the lecture phase of his Discipleship Training School, nor did he participate in the field assignment," the statement said. "The program directors felt that issues with his health made it inappropriate for him to do so. Murray left the Arvada training center and no one at the facility recalls that he has made any other visits or had any communication with the center since that time." (Emphasis added.)

What issues with his health? Why is there not more discussion of this?

AND MORE: Glenn Reynolds has a great roundup of posts and reactions, and wonders why the reports keep trying to spin the heroic church worker Jeanne Assam as a "security guard."

Probably it's because they don't like armed citizens, which explains why news reports involving successful defenses against criminals tend to be suppressed. Or surgically altered.

If the "reports" that the gunman took his own life turn out to be unfounded, that might related to a similar mentality.

MORE: "The "security guard" meme. Ditto, Philadelphia Inquirer:

Jeanne Assam, a church member who volunteers as a security guard, shot and killed Murray. Boyd, the pastor, called her "a real hero."

If I shoot a psychotic invader, would I be called a "volunteer security guard"?

Don't I need a license for such a title? Or are the news media now involved in the security guard licensing business?

AND MORE: This CNN report quotes Murray's Internet writings, the "issues with his health" statement, and someone who knew him:

Werner, of Balneario Camborius, Brazil, said he had a bunk near Murray's and that Murray would roll around in bed and make noises.

"He would say, 'Don't worry, I'm just talking to the voices,' " Werner said. "He'd say, 'Don't worry, Richard. You're a nice guy. The voices like you.' "

Werner said he instantly suspected Murray when he heard the news of Sunday's shootings.

"I turned to my wife and I said, 'I know who did it. It's Matthew,' " he said. "It was so obvious.

"For four months, he was sleeping right next to me. Those are the things you don't imagine, but when it happened it was so obvious."

Werner said his "heart is crushed" by news of the shootings.

CNN also posted the only picture I've seen of Murray, shown playing a keyboard:

Normally, I'm not interested in pictures of dead psychotic killers. However, if you look closely, you'll see the photo is marked "COURTESY ROBERT WERNER" -- the same man who described the rolling and the voices.

Unless someone is involved in fabrication, this would appear to lend credibility to Werner's claims.

AND MORE: Not to dwell on this detail unduly, but the Philadelphia Inquirer article was written by AP reporter Judith Kohler, and it's interesting to watch how it is being reinterpreted. Here's a version headlined "Killer was full of hate" which states flatly that "Murray was shot dead by security guard Jeannne Assam."

Note how the word "volunteer" is becoming superfluous.

Now I'm forced to speculate about which interpretation most closely resembles the original and what the AP report might have actually said, and even what it might as well have said.

Can they do this?

MORE: While none of this is conclusive proof of anything, in yesterday's AP reports by Kohler, the word "volunteer" does not precede "security guard." So maybe the later reports are attempts at revision.

Who knows? The goal is to cloak the woman with officialdom before word gets out.

UPDATE: It's not scientific, but I polled Google. The Kohler report about Murray with "Security guard" gets 2440 hits, while "volunteer security guard" gets only 133.

MORE: The coroner has ruled Murray's death a suicide:

"The death of Matthew Murray has been ruled a suicide," the El Paso County Coroner's Office said in a statement.

"It should be noted that he was struck multiple times by the security officer, which put him down. He then fired a single round killing himself," the statement said.

Police Sgt. Skip Arms told The Associated Press that Murray shot himself in the head.

Get that? Now she's an "officer."

I still don't think we're getting the full story, but OTOH, I think it's a huge mistake if (as is claimed here) the "secular media" is being blamed for the shooting.

It's the gunman's fault. And if he was crazy (which I think he probably was), then those who failed to help him -- and the legal system -- maybe ought to share in the blame.

Blaming the "culture" when a nut goes off is irresponsible.

MORE: Here's what purports to be a lengthy collection of Matthew Murray's postings, for those who are interested. Reading through them does little to change my initial reaction -- that the guy suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

Here's one example, titled "Drowning in Despair":

You raped the soul from the child in me.......
Bow down to the land of the free
Bow down to your world that made me me
Bury the nails into the one like me
Consecrating the lies and exalting false prophecy
Tearing apart souls of man and all his goals
Offer benedictions and wills to plague your...
Souls....is made, in a so-called God
The taste of sulfur and rain
Your churchianity christ now turns on man
And brings him pain
Bow down to a lying clergy of sodomy
Bow down to the world that rejected me....
A gun to the temple of a world enslaved
by the lies that bind us to a faded hope
And a promise of salvation that is only a lie
Ensures the perversion that you try to hide
will become as dust that will fade in time
To take this world of hate
Of torture, our fate
Will rest in hands
That sow the seeds of rape

____________________________________________
Mister Crowley......what went on in your head?

Who's mistake am I anyways?

I think the evidence is overwhelming that the man was severely mentally ill.

posted by Eric on 12.10.07 at 11:09 PM

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/5888

Comments

The statements of anonymous sources are merely gossip.

Brett · December 10, 2007 11:43 PM

Some of the news accounts are now quoting statements that Murray made online between the two shootings.

Clayton E. Cramer · December 11, 2007 01:29 AM

I think those are the statements I quoted above. For some reason, they're not turning up in most of the news accounts.

Eric Scheie · December 11, 2007 07:36 AM

Just more proof that guns and god don't mix well. Especially when it's a cult built around a hypocrite like Haggard.

kmc · December 11, 2007 08:17 PM

Overly strict religious upbringing devoid of grace and truth. A high level commitment made to a religious commune that has a profound sense of mission to evangelize and has been running "discipleship training centers" since the late 60's. Rejection by that same group lead to bitterness and hatred of all things he was told he could not attain. Sought out others who were treated just like him and his hatred grew and grew until he did the unthinkable. Ideas do have consequences and families, churches and religious institutions heavy on rules and short on grace become the new breeding grounds for the very thing they are trying to conquer. While Murray's final actions are inexcusable they are explainable. What appears mad to you and me made perfect sense to him. I'm afraid that there will be more to come.

RagingGrace · December 12, 2007 02:16 AM

This is an example of what religious intolerance breeds. Notice that most if not all the incidents of mass killings perpetrated by youngsters are occurring in "bible" states. Many young men and women become defranchised and bitter because of the bombardment of dogmatic religious teachings and the hypocresy they detect behind all of it. Unfortunately, crimes like this one will continue to happen.

andrea · December 12, 2007 06:37 AM

Very Good Comments here and I wanted to add my 2 cents worth. Personally I find demonic possession more likely than not due to my own spiritual beliefs, but that can not be proven at this point any more than other conditions. The best any of us can do is second guess motives along with exactly what was going on in his head at the time.

Being the inquisitive people we are, we long to understand why, to wrap our minds around it. To put a face with the issue so that we might address it and keep it from happening again. I agree that the issue is multi-faceted, and all of us to greater or lesser degrees hold blame.

Society Played it's role, Family Played it's role, Justice played it's role, and each of us played our role in what we did and did not do as it relates to the laws set forth by the government by the officials that "we the people" elect, along with our willingness to allow those officials a free hand without really checking up on them. The church played it's role? Sure,.. that is a part of society.

It is the desire to group or label people, and this also extends to denominational identifications. There certainly are some church's that seek perfection to a point that one feels that they can never attain salvation because all of the cards are stacked against them. I myself grew up in a church whose theology was inconsistant with my own understanding of Christianity. I laughingly call it "The Church of the Thou Shalt Not's" 10 commandments were not enough,.. so let's add 20 more.

But not all Pentecostal church's are the same. Living in Colorado Springs I have witnessed first hand the grace exhibited by New Life, both in the Haggard Scandal along with this incident. In both situations I have witnessed a high level of grace and forgiveness. It is an amount that a secular world often can not comprehend and sees as false, but it is genuine.

In their own church, I watched as the church itself disiplined (sp) Haggard for his actions, and I believe it is important to note that Haggard was the founding pastor of New Life. I found this action to be very consistant with beliefs and scripture.

What is the Fix?

None of us really know The Fix,.. the one button to push that will fix this worlds problems. My belief is that the only real fix is truly seeking a relationship with God, of staying in the word, and rebuking Satan when he at times whispers words in our ears that lend themselves to his agenda and not God's.

I believe that the church, all too often in an effort to paint a pretty picture of a perfect world, life and relationship, provides more education containing more substance that Sunday Mornings Spiritual Prozac.

Talking about Satan and his intentions in God's church and in the world is often sidestepped due to a fear of congregant loss, and that means monetary loss as well. I am not stating that the Sermons and teachings need to be Hell Fire and Brimstone, but I do believe there needs to be a balance, so that we can recognize that temptation, or that thought when the origin is not of God.

I do not know what YWAM did relating to the issues identified as "health problems" but not elaborated on. I am hoping that they reported the problem to the parents along with whatever authorities, however with current laws relating to privacy issues, their hands were very likely tied.

There are two sides to every law, the law to protect the rights of the individual and the law to protect the rights of the populace. I believe that they must be balanced but that they individuals rights can not compromise the rights of the greater poulation.

Just my thoughts

Randy Morley · December 17, 2007 02:55 PM