Bearing Arms: What Did Jesus Say

Common Sense Commentary: There are increasing numbers of powerful forces, political and otherwise, who demand a ban on all guns around the world .... except for those in power and their armies, state police and the Judges and Politician's bodyguards, of course. Well, that may sound like the remedy to all the crime and killings in the news media, but they always neglect to tell the whole story. The criminal element, drug lords, pimps, muggers, burglars, terrorists, and killers don't obey our laws now and won't if more laws are passed. These politicians are the same guys who have just forced off on all of us peasant citizens an inferior, stretched to the breaking point, Health Plan they would be insulted and embarrassed to have on themselves and their family. What's more, they can serve one term and have a huge, all inclusive, extravagant, bureaucratic,FREE For Life Health Plan for their highnesses and lownesses. Yes, those are the guys who want all guns banned .... except in their homes and their cars and for their bodyguards. And why do they need them if we don't ??? Tell me that Senator. "Well, there's a lota crazys out there who hate me for my political integrity, or crooks who want to rob me or lunitics and bombed out addicts who can kill ya at the drop of a hat.... and they'll drop the hat.... ha ha ha ha .... they wear em turned backards with their britches draggin so they look harmless but I see em comin from all directions .... so I gota have protection .... that's obvious. But you don't need a gun ...as just a plain, simple, little, old, average citizen. You ain't got nuthin they want ! Besides, there's more crime, stealin, illisiticity and underhanded dealins in our Capitol City than any major city in the country. I sacrafice to live here. Even in my upscale, high-class, Congressional, gated community, there's more crooks than Meskins in Los Angeles ha ha ha. "

I never did care much for old Senator Hocus-Pocus and like him a lot less every five minutes. That's enough of that rant. I was going to say:

A few years ago I read the tragic account, by the single survivor, of a family which was viciously abused and murdered one night by a gang of "socially deprived, underpriviledged" cutthroats. This family lived in the ghetto section of a large northeastern city. They were not a Christian family and the parents had too many vices but they loved their children and were doing their best to save enough to improve their situation. One evening, just at bedtime, this gang of six "misunderstood" savages, which had followed the sixteen year old girl home that afternoon, burst through the front door .... all with knives. They proceeded to beat and stab the mother and father until they fell dying on the floor. Then two of the blood thirsty maniacs turned on the fourteen year old son and beat him unconscious while the other four raped the twelve and sixteen year old girls.

All the while the noise and screams of bloody mayhem reached the ears of neighbors up and down the street. One of the neighbors, who called a city councilman to complain that he couldn't sleep because of the noisy people next door, later denied he had heard anything at all. Another neighbor later testified that he thought it was a family matter and didn't think he should get involved. Another neighbor simply said he and his wife were so scared they barricaded their own doors and turned up the volume on their television set and radio so it would sound like a party was going on in their house.

When the dawn came, everyone in the family was dead except the boy who had been thrown through a window into the yard and had drawled into some bushes.

If I had been one of that family's neighbors, I don't think I could ever look my wife and children in the face again for my shame. And, don't tell me not to judge them or that I don't know what I would do if it had been me next door. I don't have to prove myself to anyone. I have done that numerous times over the years including many months of continuous, bloody combat in both Koreas. That and a good many other experiences is why I have a Texas Carry Permit and a shot gun, pistols and ammo. "Why Reverend", you ask ? Well I'm a minister and a writer so I minister to the surviving victim and put one big black "period" on the foreheads of each of those "poor , abused and deluded" maniacs. I'm usually prepared to introduce myself to them and get acquainted wherever I happen to be. I like to make friends of their caliber with mine. Of course I'll visit any of their survivors in the "lock down" hospital ward while I'm up seeing the boy they threw thru the window. You know .... to read to em from the Book.

If we are neighbors to someone who is in real trouble, the least we can do is call the police, sheriff and hound them til they arrive. 911 is so simple and easy to dial that it is inexcusable not to use it in such cases. If the cops aren't there in three minutes, call the fire dept and report a fire .... then go start one.

Every Christian home needs an old shotgun and revolver. Simple to load, point and fire with no hang ups. If you disagree, why do you think Jesus, Himself, told His Disciples, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." "And they said, Lord, behold here are two swords. And Jesus said unto them, it is enough" Luke 22:36 & 38. Jesus not only told them to sell something and buy a sword but two of them already had a sword. Peter was one of them.
Jesus obviously hadn't scolded those two for having a sword during all their travels over three years time, on dangerous roads. Doesn't sound like He even thought anything about it. These verses are not a contradiction but must harmonize with everything else Jesus said. In fact, later in this same chapter, when Judas led the Chief Priests and Captains of the Temple and Elders out to take Jesus and crucify him, quick tempered Simon Peter, whipped out his sword and whacked an ear off of the High Priest's servant. Jesus reached out and healed the servant's ear and chided Peter for being too quick too quick on the trigger. That's good advice today. Then He told the religious mob (delegates) "This is your hour and the power of darkness." Lk.22:53. This is the reason He chided Peter. "This is your hour" simply means, all this was prophesied .... that I would be taken, falsely accused, betrayed and crucified and, "This is the hour for your part of it to be fulfilled." It had to happen and Jesus knew Peter couldn't stop it ... and shouldn't try.
I think it relevant that the above verses were recorded by "Luke, the beloved physician".

Now, I know that once in a great while somebody gets "accidentally" shot with an "unloaded" gun. But for every one of those cases, there are at least thirty or forty lives saved by the wise use of a gun. Without civilian guns in homes, cars and holsters, criminals would have a free pass to anybodies home and be gone before the police could get there. Crime is more out of control where guns are banned than where they are not. El Paso, Tx. and Juarez, Mex. are like one big city except for the Rio Grande river between them. Guns are illegal and banned in Juarez but legal in El Paso. Last year, Juarez alone had over six hundred murders. El Paso had about ten. Surveys show that most of the homes in El Paso have a gun. Which city would you rather live in Mr. Congressman ?

I'm sure my point is obvious by now. Don't let a power mad administration or U.N. committee of "Citizens of the World", take away our Constitutional Right to have and bear arms in this country, where an insane, wicked, drug crazed majority elected a religious, fanatical, mad man. No apologies. I know, I know, we need to pray for our rulers and I do. I pray as David often prayed for evil rulers ... that God would reward them according to their works.

The Second Amendment of our U.S. Constitution:

"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Webster's first definition of Militia is,"Inactive citizen soldiers called up in emergencies." The word "people" needs no definition but it obviously was in reference to civilians rather than active soldiers. If the founders had meant "active soldiers", they would have said soldiers. Also, their use of the two words, "keep and bear" is a clear distinction of two different aspects of our Second Amendment Rights. "Keep" means to own, have, hide, display in home, barn, toilet, or saddle bag or holster. The word, "Bear", according to Webster's first definition means to carry.

So you see there is no getting around what our Founding Fathers meant in that simple twenty five word Second Amendment. We have the right to have and carry arms. Don't let them fool you. They know what it means they just don't like it.

Pass It On. R.B.