In the dark hours before dawn, a speeding van overturns near Janesville. An instant later, the bodies of seven dying and five critically injured young people are strewn across the freeway. In the skies over Yugoslavia, fiery death rains down from NATO war planes on a land torn by ethnic atrocities. Perhaps, says Luis Palau, one of the world's leading evangelists and a man cited by some theologians and evangelical leaders as a potential successor to Billy Graham. His evangelical association in Portland, Ore., estimates he has spoken before 12 million people in 67 nations.
Some tragedies also are due to fallen, sinful human nature.
But God makes no mistakes and oversees all things, whether he allows them to happen or causes them, he said. And I think there are three ways. I make the point that trusting Jesus Christ and trusting his word is really the only rock-bottom solution, or at least, to give a sense of peace in the midst of trouble. Palau said the conflict in Kosovo highlights the need to think about these ultimate issues. Palau said he heard a U.S. military official saying on a newscast that pilots are being put in harm's way, but that they are prepared for that because they knew when they joined the military they might have to face such danger.