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Believe it or not it has been ten years since the homemade bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia. It was ten years ago today and it cast a shadow of doubt over the Summer Olympic Games of that year. There was a concert in the park at the time of the bomb blast and more than one hundred people were injured with one person dying from their injuries. It led to fears and speculations of international incidents of terrorism during the rest of the Games. The Games continued and nothing more happened.

Terrorism is a tool of the weak to attempt to control the strong. It doesn't always have to possess the face of a bomb incident to instill fear. This coming Fall there will be daily episodes of terrorism that will never make it to the headlines of the newspapers. They will take place in the one venue that we feel is a safe harbor and will affect the one group of people that we feel should never have to know the sting of fear. It will happen in our schools and to our children.

That terrorism comes in the form of bullies. If you're an adult you can probably remember one or more children with whom you attended school who definitely fit the category of a bully. A bully is nothing more than a mini-terrorist. They have their agenda and want others to fall into it. They are usually not confident people but actually people who have a certain charisma without the confidence to make it work for the good. Instead they become a terrorist. They do little things like knock books out of another child's arms and warn of greater things to come...if.

The result is fear which breeds paralysis. The affected child cannot function the way they want at school. They are fearful of the next act and the next warning and the next desired result. Don't sit here. Don't walk on this side of the hall. Don't talk to this or that person. Some of these bullies become adults and take their act to church. They somehow become church leaders and ply their terrorism on the church to make sure that things go the way they want them to go. With financial sanctions or threats to leave, they bully the local kingdom of God.

The early church suffered from this also. In those founding days there were those converts from Judaism who firmly wanted to hang onto their beliefs and make others do the same. The church at Antioch had some bullies come once. "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' " Acts 15:1 Imagine the terror of thinking that your salvation is forfeited unless you are convert to Judaism first. Such terrorists cannot stand in the face of the clear Word of God. If your congregation has a bully, challenge them to understand the Word or leave. God's kingdom is not anyone's personal playground.

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

The Second Sin