Yesterday was an incredibly sad day.  Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his Wichita church.  The 67-year-old doctor was murdered in the foyer at the beginning of the service.  He leaves behind his wife, four children and 10 grandchildren.

Dr. Tiller had been shot once before (in both arms) in 1993 and survived, but yesterday he was not as fortunate.  A 51-year-old suspect with a long history of anti-abortion activity has been taken into custody.

Regardless of  your position on abortion, this is a tragedy. Regardless of how vehemently you may oppose abortion, this is a tragedy. And even if you find yourself agreeing with Randall Terry, a veteran anti-abortion activist who called Dr. Tiller “a mass murderer and an evil man whose hands were covered with blood,” this is still a tragedy.

There will be many who will say of this killing that justice was served.  They’ll say that because he was a killer of babies that his murder was justified, but this is not true.  The Lord makes it clear in His Word that dishing out vengeance is His responsibility and not ours.  As members of God’s Kingdom, we do not have the right to decide how justice and vengeance should and will be doled out.  This responsibility belongs to the Lord alone.

Christians must use peaceful means to fight against terrible injustices like abortion…not violence.  And as we do, we’re called upon by the Lord to cry out to Him and wait for Him to move in the hearts of men and women.  Taking things into our own hands is never an option no matter how strongly we feel about an issue.

Operation Rescue is a nationally-known anti-abortion organization that fights tirelessly for the rights of the unborn.  After the murder of Dr. Tiller, its president released this statement: “Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning.”

As Christians – those who are citizens of God’s Kingdom where He is the ruler -  we must also denouce and condemn what happened yesterday.  Please pray for the family of Dr. Tiller, pray for those worshipping at His church who witnessed this heinous act, and pray for the anti-abortion movement in America that its efforts to protect the unborn will not be jaded or thwarted by this cowardly and sinful act.