Less than a week after our founder and leader Dr. James Dobson went to be with the Lord, there was a horrific attack on children worshipping at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Dobson would have immediately seen and understood the deeper meaning of the tragedy. He would have told us the shooting was part of the spiritual war between the forces of Satan and the people of God.
Dr. Dobson and I have explained for years that the battle raging in America is between those who believe that “God is not” relevant or in existence and those who believe “God is.” So, what were the people who believe “God is,” the Christians, doing that morning?
They were in the first week of their Catholic school’s academic year. God-loving mothers and fathers had rushed to get their kids out of bed and out the door on time. Many, no doubt, ate a hurried breakfast they prayed over. Then the parents drove their kids to the church where they’d begin the school day with an all-school Mass.
As their worship service began, Robert Westman, a man infected with transgender ideology, was walking toward the church to do Satan’s work there.
In that neighborhood church, the students listened to a reading from Psalm 139 in which David wrote that God was everywhere he went:
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! . . . If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (vv. 7-12, ESV)
Darkness was just yards away from the innocent children, their teachers, and church parishioners.
Heavily armed, Westman stood outside the building and began shooting a fusillade of bullets through the stained-glass windows of Annunciation Catholic Church. “Annunciation” means announcement and refers, of course, to the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel when he appeared before Mary and told her,
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus . . . and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Lk. 1:30-33)
Westman, Satan’s “soldier,” had spent months in target practice on an image of Jesus. When the media says he hated everybody, it’s a lie. He didn’t hate everyone; he hated Christians and Jews. He wrote that six million dead Jews in the Holocaust “wasn’t enough.”1
What explains his hatred for Jews? Through them God brought into the world our Lord and Savior. Christ defeated Satan at the cross. Godless forces from Communism to Naziism have always hated Christians and Jews.
Westman had written on his weapons, “Kill Donald Trump.”2 President Trump has aggressively defended religious liberty, and he has spoken eloquently against antisemitism.
Westman wrote this about his evil “fantasy”:
I really want to shoot down the rows of pews at all the kids thinking they can hide lol. They are going to be trapped in those pews! Easy targets! Waiting ducks!
I also love when kids get shot, I love to see kids get torn apart.3
There is no doubt those words are directly from hell.
As a side note, his description of kids being “torn apart” is a very apt portrayal of abortion by dismemberment. Satan hates babies because every one of them is made in the image of God. Satan loves abortion. We love babies.
Westman had also written on one of his bullet magazines, “Where is your God?”4 He was mocking the children he would try to kill on a diabolical mission, claiming that God could do nothing about it.
Clearly, this heinous mass murdering was spiritual warfare while also revealing the political fissure in our country. Within a few hours of the killer mocking students with, “Where is your God,” far-left politicians were mocking prayer. They literally attacked prayer and suggested it was useless.
Injured children were still being given blood transfusions in the hospital when Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school; they were in a church.”5
The mayor was angry that we believe prayer matters, meaning that the children’s time of prayer did not stop the gunman. Leftist politicians and the murdering transgender killer himself were mocking the Christians inside the church, the Christian parents outside the church, and millions of Christians all over America who were praying and continue to pray.
The ridiculing wasn’t limited to the mayor of Minneapolis. It was also Governor Walz of Minnesota, who was Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, and Governor Newsom of California, the man who has a good chance of becoming the Democrat presidential nominee in 2028. Deriding prayer as useless, Newsom posted on X, “These children were literally praying as they got shot at.”6
Former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki wrote on social media, “Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does [sic] not end school shootings . . . Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”7
Seldom do we see, so directly, hatred of basic Christian theology from elected leftists. Prayer is not a magic bottle we can rub to get three wishes from a genie. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. We pray because God tells us to pray. We pray to thank Him for His blessings. We pray to ask for His guidance and help. We pray to confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness. We pray because it gives us strength to deal with the inevitable suffering in a fallen world.
For times just as this mass school shooting, Dr. Dobson wrote the book When God Doesn’t Make Sense.
Dr. Dobson sounded the alarm for decades that powerful forces in our country are at war against our Judeo-Christian heritage. They want to isolate us and silence us. In Hollywood, they produce movies and television programs that mock us. In Washington, they pass laws and regulations to restrict our religious liberty. Thank God the Trump administration is rolling those back and fighting for our First Amendment rights.
Finally, despite the mockers, we know God was there with those children and caregivers because He’s always with us, no matter what we’re facing. He wasn’t just a passive presence either.
No one in the church was armed. The shooter had multiple weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. As of now, two children were tragically murdered: ten-year-old Harper Moyski and eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel. We are praying for their families.
By any rational calculus, the death toll would have been much greater. Even in the horror of the attack, God’s hand saved many.
Of course, numerous politicians and the media are loath to talk about the killer’s transgender identity. He is simply the latest in a string of transgender shooters who have attacked churches and schools.
While people suffering with gender dysphoria need compassion and serious psychological help, indulging their delusions is not compassionate. Pumping them full of hormones or mutilating their bodies in the vain belief that they can change their sex is not compassionate.
With your help, JDFI will continue Dr. Dobson’s legacy and do everything we can to protect our children and defend faith, family, and freedom.
- Tolan, Casey, et al. “Robin Westman: Police Examine Material Possibly Linked to Minneapolis Church Shooting Suspect.” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 Aug. 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/us/robin-westman-minneapolis-church-shooting-suspect.
- Fox News. “Minnesota School Shooting Gunman Kills 2 Children, Injures 17 Others during Catholic Mass.” August 28, 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/shooting-confirmed-at-minneapolis-catholic-school-shooter-contained.
- Nerozzi, Diana, and Anthony Blair. Exclusive | Minneapolis Shooter Robin Westman Targeted School Mass to Kill as Many Children as Possible. August 28, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/08/28/us-news/minneapolis-shooter-robin-westman-targeted-school-mass-after-finding-details-online-parents-wont-be-there/.
- Fox News. “Minnesota School Shooting Gunman Kills 2 Children, Injures 17 Others during Catholic Mass.” August 28, 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/shooting-confirmed-at-minneapolis-catholic-school-shooter-contained.
- “Jacob Frey.” Facebook. Accessed September 2, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/JacobFreyForMpls/posts/all-of-our-kids-should-be-able-to-go-to-school-or-church-or-anywhere-without-the/1302850664543866.
- Gavin Newsom, X (formerly Twitter). Accessed September 2, 2025. https://x.com/GavinNewsom/status/1961139199484330194.
- Jen Psaki, X (formerly Twitter). Accessed September 2, 2025. https://x.com/jrpsaki/status/1960730977472237739.
