Faith in Guns

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast,

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making Theology Central Good evening everyone.
It is Monday, July the first,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently
nine twenty eight pm Central Time,

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and I am coming to you live
from the Theology Central studio located right here

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in Abilene, Texas. Well.
It's in a sense it's day one and

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a sense of our challenge. Right, we have a two week challenge in

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front of us where you're supposed to
be listening to the live webcast that broadcast

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on the sermons two point oh app
Arbeta dot sermon audio dot Com. You're

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supposed to be listening to them.
How did today go? Were there a

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lot of them? We've already done
a broadcast about one that I heard this

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morning, but I only heard the
very end. I didn't hear the actual

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sermon. I did see the sermons
show up in my feed, So in

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some ways I want to go back
and listen, but I I need to

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be looking for live webcasts. So
I kind of decided, you know what

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I need to broadcast. I need
to broadcast because I haven't gotten much done

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today. So I came up here
to the studio and I opened up the

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sermon's two point o app and I'm
like, well, I need to broadcast,

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but if someone is currently doing a
webcast, I will watch them,

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take some notes, then immediately broadcast
after just my thoughts and just kind of

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continue with our web live webcast challenge
that we're doing for the next two weeks.

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Well, I looked and there was
no one broadcasting. So I'm like,

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well, you need to broadcast.
I mean, you have the opportunity.

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There's no one else you need to
broadcast. And I'm like, well,

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there's no one else that's apossible.
That gives me a great chance that

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someone who who's never listened to us
will see our live webcast and we'll tune

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in. Right. So that's a
great opportunity. So what should I do

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with this great opportunity to possibly attract
new listeners. Well, I made the

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decision that I will talk about something
that will be an absolute guarantee to drive

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away not only new listeners, but
old listeners. Yeah, I'm about to

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make a I'm about to commit a
cardinal sin because I'm going to address a

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subject that is going it's going to
be very controversial. The way I address

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the subject. Because this subject,
for some reason, is very It provokes

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strong emotion from people, and if
you put forth a idea that goes against

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the standard view on this subject,
people get very, very very upset.

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They get very very angry. And
it's really weird that Christians would get so

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upset about this subject. You think
Christians would get upset about different views on

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baptism, or different view use on
salvation, or different views on the Trinity.

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But in some ways, I feel
people get more passionate and more upset

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when you dare challenge their faith in
guns. No, I know, I

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don't am ammalily gonna push back.
I don't put my faith in guns.

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I put my faith in God.
I put my faith in Jesus. Don't

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you dare accuse me of putting my
faith in guns. Well, maybe some

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people from the outside may look and
go, I don't know. I think

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the Church has a strong level of
faith in guns. So I have discussed

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the Church and guns many times over
many years. Every single time I address

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it, there's immediate pushback. People
get angry. There's no way to say

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it. I mean, I just
have to be honest with this. I

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usually end up receiving death threats because
I dare challenge the typical church view on

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guns, which is kind of insane, Like if you're gonna, if you're

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gonna, if you're gonna give someone
a death threat, I think you've got

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bady. I think maybe you've got
bigger theological issues than our disagreement on guns.

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I think something is serious wrong.
And the thing is is, why

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would it bother you so much that
someone within Christianity may have a different view

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on guns. I mean, I
mean, think about philologically. There's no

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agreement on anything theologically, so so
why is it that Christians just assume that

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if you're a Christian you will have
the exact same view about guns. You

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think there would be a more variety
of views about guns in the American Church

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now. Now, typically and maybe
very liberal churches, you get you get

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a difference on guns. But in
conservative churches it's almost like, universally there's

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only one view and if you question
that view, you're basically a heretic.

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And I guess maybe your salvation is
dependent upon it. It's really really weird.

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But I've approached this subject in so
many ways, but I want to

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approach this subject slightly different. This
evening Now, this all started early this

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morning when I saw a news notification
that said Christian Warrior Training. And now

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immediately I was like, whoa Christian
warrior training? I got I have to

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I want to hear about this,
Like it's just like a Christian article.

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What's Christian warrior training? So I
thought maybe it had something to do with

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spiritual warfare. And I was like, well, you know, on Sunday

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I talked about Satan being our enemy
and demons and we talked. I'm like,

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okay, Christian warrior training. Maybe
maybe it's about spiritual warfare. But

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then I read the entire headline Christian
Warrior Training explodes as churches put faith and

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guns. And I'm like, wait, what is the Christian Warrior Training explodes

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as churches put faith in guns?
And I'm like, okay, that's a

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headline. I mean that that's a
headline that's going to get people to click

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on that article. At least they
got me to click on that article.

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So the article talks about, you
know, church and guns. So I

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want to approach it from this perspective, right, I don't want to get

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I'm not going to necessarily approach this
as a never ending argument over. You

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know, some people will quote this
verse and others will quote this verse.

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I don't want to approach it from
this. I want to approach it from

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maybe this question the church and guns. Does that lead if a church is

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very pro gun, if Christians are
very pro gun, not only pro gun

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in their own home, they're even
pro gun wanting armed people inside their own

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sanctuary, they want armed guards even
in their own churches, do you think

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even slightly that it's a possibly a
contradiction and inconsistency or it could lead to

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confusion when people here Christians say,
well, the things I'm about to share

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with you, I want you to
look at it not so much of Well,

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you can either defend it. You
can either. Now, typically the

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verses people try to use to defend
guns and armed guards in the church,

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to me, it makes they approach
it in a really poor exegetical hermoneutical way.

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They take verses out of context.
They got completely misinterpret verses. In

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many cases, I think they're misrepresenting
the Greek word. I mean, just

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there's so much. But then there's
other verses. I'm like, that's the

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one you should use, but they
never use that one. Okay, But

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I don't want to get into that
argument. I want to just look at

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it. Just think about it.
You are a church and you're like,

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Okay, we're gonna have these people
trained, they're gonna carry guns. And

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if someone comes into this church and
hurt someone, where are taking them out?

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I want guns in my house.
I want guns in my church,

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and I will kill anyone who comes
after us. All right, now,

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just take whatever you think about that. You may think it's completely right,

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that's okay, But then how do
you reconcile that with so many things the

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Christians, as Christians, we talk
about, we we we teach, we

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we we use and pray songs.
Let me just give you a number of

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scriptures. We're just gonna read some
scriptures here, all right, Let's start

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with say, Psalm forty six.
Let's just go with p. Forty six.

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P forty six, some forty six, And I've only got a number

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here. We could we could probably
find many verses along these lines, and

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Christians love these verses. All right, here we go, are you ready?

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Psalm check forty six, Verse one, God is our refuge and strength,

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a very present help in trouble.
Hey, God is my refuge.

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He is my strength. He's the
very present help in trouble. If I'm

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in trouble, God is my refuge. He is my help. And because

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He's a very present help in trouble, therefore will we will not fear Because

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God is my refuge, Because God
is my help, I will not fear,

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and I will not fear even if
I face something as serious as this,

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even though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into

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the sea, though the waters roar
and be troubled, though the mountains shake

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with its swellings, even if the
earth is removed, mountains are carried into

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the sea, the waters roar,
and the mountains shake with its swelling,

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I said, with it swelling.
According to the New King James, even

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if all of that happens, I'm
not even going to fear. Why,

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Because God is my refuge. God
is my strength. God is very present

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in times of trouble. Well,
if I truly believe that, and I'm

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not going to fear. If the
entire earth seems to be crumbling and falling

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away, well, then why would
I be so fearful about a pot the

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possibility of someone coming into my church
with a gun, are coming into my

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house with a gun. Why would
I be so concerned about that that I

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would be like, Hey, God, I know you're at ever present help

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in trouble. I know you're my
refuge. I know that I shouldn't fear

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even if the entire earth is crumbling. But when it comes to this subject,

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sorry, we're gonna have to help
you out a little bit. I

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mean, I believe you're my refuge. I believe you're my help, and

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I will not fear if the earth
crumbles. But I am going to be

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very fearful about someone breaking into my
house. So I've got a gun.

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I have it love voted, and
if they come in, I'm taking them

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out. But I will still profess
that God is my refuge and my help.

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Now how do you reconcile that?
How do you reconcile that? Now?

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Look, I don't think to me, I think it's a question you

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have to struggle with. And people
say, well, well, I mean

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I can believe God is my refuge
and my hope and that I should not

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fear even if the earth phades away, but at the same time, I'm

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gonna take precautions. Okay, Just
do you not understand that when you tell

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everyone, Hey, the world fears
and they're worried about this, and they're

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worried about that, and they're worried
about climate change and they're worried about what.

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Why are you so worried about all
of this stuff? God is in

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control. Why are you fear?
God is in control? God is sovereign.

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But yet we have six guards in
our church with guns because God is

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sovereign. God is in control.
Wait so wait, Sometimes God is in

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control, but other times you're not
so sure he's going to show up.

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Do you not see why people may
look at that and go that makes no

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sense? Can you not see that
that could possibly maybe cause some people to

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stumble a little bit? Could that
not kind of go? I just don't

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understand. Now, Look, this
struggle is not just a gun issue.

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It's an issue in all of our
lives. Right I talked about it on

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Sunday. The Christian life is this
very strange life where we live our life

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believing in a God whom we cannot
see, while we live in the midst

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of circumstances which we can see,
which we can feel that. In many

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cases, those circumstances make us question
if that God, who we cannot see

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is even present, or if he
even exists. We don't like to say

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that, but it's very true.
See it's easy for me to be sitting

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in church on a Sunday saying,
Oh God, God is my refuge,

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He is my strength. They can
put the words up on the screen.

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We can lift up our hands and
say God, You're my refuge, You're

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my help, You're ever present in
times of trouble. Even if the earth

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fades away, if the earth crumbles, if everything crushes into the sea.

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I do not fear like. Oh, that's so easy to say on a

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Sunday morning changes dramatically. If someone
kicks in the front door of your church

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or comes walking in the front door
of your church with three aren't with three

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rifles and a couple of handguns,
and starts opening fire all of a sudden,

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you may forget At that moment,
You're going you don't see God.

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You're gonna have a hard time believing
that that God is actually present, that

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he's actually your refuge, that he's
actually your help. You're going to fear

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for your ever life, and you're
gonna do everything in your part. You're

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gonna forget God. You're gonna be
like, now, it's me and them

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survival to the fittest, whoever can
survive. That's how it's going to go.

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Oh, come on, you have
to be honest with that. Now.

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I'm not telling you what to do. What I'm trying to say is

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I think we have to be able
to admit, you know what, there

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is a little inconsistency there. I
just want us to admit the inconsistency.

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I'm not telling you to give up
your guns. I'm just saying I think

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I have to be a little honest
there. Look, I don't own a

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gun. I'm not pro gun in
any way, shape or form, but

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I'll be very honest with you.
If I'm in church on a Sunday someone

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comes walking into my church with guns
and starts shooting people, I'm just gonna

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be honest with you. At that
moment, I'm an atheist. That moment,

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I'm not waiting for God. I'm
not praying. I'm gonna I don't

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have a gun, but I'm gonna
do everything in my power to take the

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person with the gun out. I'm
gonna do it whatever I can. I

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don't know if I'll be successful,
but I'm going after the person, and

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if I get to them, I'm
going to use every type of physical restraint

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and physical strike and and fighting that
I have learned in all my years of

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martial arts. I'm gonna I'm gonna
do everything I can to take. I'm

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gonna I'm gonna inflict physical harm to
that person. I'm just being honest with

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you. See what a lot of
people think is my issue with guns is

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you're just a pacifist, or you're
afraid, you're scared, or no.

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My my issue is I'm trying to
understand how one hand, the Bible seems

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to say love your enemy, turn
the other cheek, resist, not evil.

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And I know people will say,
well, turn the other cheek doesn't

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mean. It just means to not
respond to an insult, and so they

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water it down again. It's the
summon on the mouth. We don't water

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down God's law, okay. And
and and then you know, I try

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to take everything the scripture seemed to
say, and I'm like, I just

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don't know how I can reconcile this. But I've been I've always admitted,

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if I have a gun, someone
breaks into my house and comes after me

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or my family. If I had
a gun and someone came into the church.

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I'm about to get blunt. But
I'm just gonna be honest with you.

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I'm gonna take that gun and I'm
gonna unload the clip on that person.

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I am. I'm just gonna keep
shooting until I have no bullets left.

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I may reload the gun and until
I empty the clip a second time.

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You say, well, that's horrible. I'm just being honest with you.

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This is not because I'm some pacifist
who's afraid of violence. It's just

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I've always tried to reconcile how do
I reconcile what the scripture teaches with this

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subject, because I don't look at
it from a Second Amendment perspective or an

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American perspective. I look at it
from how do I reconcile this with scripture?

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And that's very difficult to reconcile this
with scripture. Now people will go

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to the Old Testament, soay,
well, God told him to kill everyone.

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Do we operate under that system anymore? Obviously not. There was a

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theocracy. We don't operatee under a
theocracy anymore. Right, God speaks to

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me through the scriptures. He doesn't
speak to me by telling me, hey,

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arm up a bunch of people and
go kill everyone. I mean,

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that's frightening. If anyone ever tries
to use argument, that's horrible. So

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how do you reconcile? On one
hand, God is your refuge, here's

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your strength. He's a very present
help in trouble, so you will so

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therefore, do not fear, even
if you see everything crumbling. Now you

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could argue that some forty six a
promise for us, or is that for

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a nation of Israel based off the
covenant relationship God had with them? Or

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do we just understand this from a
spiritual perspective. From a spiritual perspective,

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God is my refuge, He is
my help, He's present help in times

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of spiritual trouble. And even if
everything falls apart, I am kept and

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preserved by the mighty hand of God. Spiritually, nothing can separate me from

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the love of God, and I
am preserved and kept for eternity. Do

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I understand it from a spiritual perspective? Now, if I truly believe that

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that's applicable to me in a practical, tangible way, not a spiritual way,

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but in a physical way, that
what am I worried about? What

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am I worried about why guns?
How about this one? Saw? I'm

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twenty eight and I apologize for my
quoting of Psalm forty six one. I'm

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used to the King James. I
accidentally picked up a new King James.

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Here. I could change bibles,
but I'm just gonna use the one I

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have in front of me. So
a lot of time they get ready to

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quote it one way, and then
I'm like, wait a minute, that

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reading is slightly different from the King
James. All right, twenty eight seven?

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All right, here we go?
Are you ready? Psal? I'm

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twenty eight seven? We go?
Are you ready? Psal? I'm twenty

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eight seven. The Lord is my
strength and my shield. My heart trusted

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in him, and I am helped. Is he your shield? Is he

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your shield? Now? What do
you mean by shield? Is that a

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tangible shield? Is that a tangible
shield? I was listening to a sermon

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just the a live webcast on the
sermon's two point oh app was Saturday,

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I don't maybe in Sunday, I
don't know what day it was, and

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the pastor was saying, every Christian
has a guardian angel, and nothing can

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get to you because you have a
guardian angel. If I have a guardian

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angel, why am I worried about
someone coming into my church with a gun.

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Guardian angel can take out someone with
a gun in one point two seconds,

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So do I really believe I have
a guard It's amazing. Sometimes hey,

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we have angels and five seconds later
we need guns. Well do we

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need guns or do we need angels? Which is it? And then you

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always hear the missionary tells the story
that there was this They were in I

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don't know, some somewhere in Africa, some some remote area, and there

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was these tribes that were gonna kill
all the missionaries and they were concerned,

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so they spent all night in prayer. And then the next morning they came

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and they were like, we're still
alive. Where where did the tribes go?

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And the chief comes to them and
going, and the missionary asked the

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chief, you know, why did
you not attack? Because your house was

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surrounded by by these warriors And you're
like, who was that? Oh it

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was it was our guardian angels.
And then everybody in the mission conference will

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be like, gay man, praise
God, we believe in But at the

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same time, there'll be six people
sitting in the sanctuary with guns. What

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do you believe or not? I
can't. I can't keep up with which

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Wait, God will protect me,
God won't protect me. Oh, there's

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guardian angels. Wait, there isn't
guardian angels. God will do God won't

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do something. Well, I'm not
gonna. I'm not gonna. I know

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I believe in this, but you
know what I'm I'm not gonna take any

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chances. So we need to make
sure we all have guns. I can't

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keep track. I've heard all of
these stories, usually for missionaries. Okay,

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Well, then I got myself in
bad trouble when I was a teenager,

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well even after being a teacher.
But there was like two I think

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there were two circumstances where this happened. One Taylor Abiline Taylor Colosseum, It's

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about ten minutes from my house.
That's where all the concerts were when I

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was a teenager, and we got
lots of big bands came through Albolene at

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that time. Because these bands would
go to the smaller towns. Right now,

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they skipped the smaller towns and only
go to the bigger cities. But

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we would get I can name all
of these, you know, famous bands

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that came through Albelene Ever, I
mean, and there was a famous album,

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a live album from a very famous, well known rock musician that the

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album. The live album was recorded
at the Taylor County Coliseum, So there

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I got to see all kinds of
bands. Then. Well, when I

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became a Christian, I wasn't,
you know, there to protest music.

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I never got caught up into the
way Christians think about music. But I

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was like, you know what,
back then, all the concerts were general

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admission, so people got there five
six seven hours early, waiting in line

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because it was first come, first
serve. If you wanted to get a

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decent place to stand or sit,
you had to be there first. So

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I was like, well, I
knew that because I'd been to a bazilion

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concerts. So I'm like, I'm
just gonna go with my Bible and a

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bunch of tracks, and I'm gonna
just witness to all of these teenagers.

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Now, it was like, you
know, it's gonna be a rough crowd.

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It's a heavy metal concert. So
I was like, Hey, let's

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get the teenagers to go, and
the parents were like, absolutely not,

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my kids are not gonna go there. That's dangerous. That's dangerous. And

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I was like, wait a minute. I thought we said God is our

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rock and our refuge and our shield
and our ever present help. Why are

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we so no all of a sudden, now God doesn't protect. During the

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sermon, God protects. But now, so guess what. None of the

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teenagers went. It was me and
my friend went. Same thing happened when

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I was in Omaha, Nebraska.
I wanted to take teenagers to the Marilyn

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Manson concert in Omaha. And know
how that's ridiculous. That's full the kids

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could be hurt. I'm like,
so, okay, so when does God

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actually work? I don't understand when
does God help? When does God protect?

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And when does he not? I
can't like. Sometimes we sound like

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we believe in a sovereign, powerful
God who actually intervenes, and in five

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seconds later we sound like we're basically
atheists. I can't make up my mind.

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Now I can understand the struggle.
You've got to hear me out.

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I understand the struggle. It's the
struggle of the Christian life. We live

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in a world and which we cannot
see God. God cannot be seen by

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us, right, But we live
in a world where we very much.

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See circumstances, and we see death, and we see crime, and we

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see pain, and we see suffering. And what we see makes us question

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the existence of that God whom we
cannot see, even though we never verbalize

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it, it's deep inside of us. So is God really our refuge?

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Is He really an ever present help
in times of trouble? Should we not

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fear even if the world crumbles around
us? Is God really our shield?

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Or do we just understand all of
that symbolically? Do we just understand that

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spiritually? Do we understand this is
only applying to Israel and within their covenant

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relationship with God? How far do
we take this? How about Psalm ninety

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one two? How about Psalm ninety
one two? I will say of the

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Lord, he is my refuge and
my fortress, my God in whom I

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will trust. Surely he shall deliver
you from the snares of the fowler and

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from the perilous pestilence. Now this
one gets bizarre to me. I remember

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Christians quoting Psalm ninety one during the
pandemic. Hey, I don't need a

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mask, I don't need a vaccine. God is my fortress. God will

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protect me. Oh but we have
six people in our church with guns just

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in case someone comes in with a
gun. Wait a minute, So no

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00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:12.839
precautions for a pandemic, but precautions
for possible shooter. Like it's just like

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one minute we quote that God will
protect us, and the next minute we

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act as if God won't. I
can't keep up now. On the same

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time, I understand the inconsistency.
I understand the inconsistency. I'm right there

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with you. I'm as inconsistent in
all of this as you are. I'm

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just not inconsistent with the guns just
because I just made a decision. If

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I have a gun and someone does
something, I'm going to kill them.

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And I just have a hard time
with the concept of me putting a bullet

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in someone and sending them into eternity. I have a hard time with that.

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And they'll say, oh, you
weak pacifist. I was in the

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United States Military for nineteen years,
okay, So I struggled with it while

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00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:55.519
I was in the military, when
I carried a gun. Okay. So

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I've struggled with this my whole life
and how to understand all of this.

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00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:02.359
I'm not saying I've got it figured
out. I'm saying, I just want

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us to acknowledge. How do we
reconcile this because even that article the news

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media is like, churches are putting
their faith in guns. I remember,

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00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:15.240
I've told you the story about the
famous photograph I saw of a news article

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00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:19.279
about churches and guns, and there
were the people standing in church, all

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they got their hands raised. They're
singing a praise and worship song and the

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00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:26.359
lyrics are on the screen, and
the lyrics are saying something like God is

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my protector, my rock, my
defender, nothing can harm me. And

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then it shows when they can't win. And if you look, if you

356
00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.839
look down on the photograph, there's
all these people in church, got their

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00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:41.400
hands raised, singing these songs,
all carrying guns. And the reporter was

358
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:48.160
like, then you don't believe God
is defending anything you believe? So does

359
00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:51.279
God? Wait, I don't get
it. And so what they usually argument,

360
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Well, God does it, but
he does it through my gun.

361
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Oh God, give me a break. Okay, that's convenient, Hey,

362
00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:02.480
God said the But I'm the one
who put four bullets in the other person.

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So I struggle with the consistency here. So we have Psalm forty six

364
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one. God is my refuge and
strength and ever present help in times of

365
00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:18.440
trouble, and to such a degree
that I will not fear even if the

366
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world is falling apart around me,
because God's gonna protect me. Psal.

367
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I'm ninety one two. I will
say to the Lord, he is my

368
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:29.400
refuge and my fortress. So I'm
twenty eighty seven. The Lord is my

369
00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:36.039
strength and my heart trust in him
and he helps me. That's soa I'm

370
00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:37.599
twenty eight seven. I haven't read
that one yet. I'm just throwing in

371
00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:42.039
an extra one there. The Lord
is my strength and he helps me?

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Does he actually help me? In
a tangiboy on one end? We say

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he does. Like you'll hear these
stories. I didn't have enough food and

374
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I prayed and boom, food showed
up the next day. This happened,

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or this happened, or this happened, or this happened. Well all these

376
00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:57.720
stories about God doing this, God
doing this. But then in some situations,

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well wait, okay, now,
guys, I know we're a church

378
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and I know we pray, but
hey, we got to have some people

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00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.960
here with bull guns eloaded, because
if someone comes in, you gotta take

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00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:15.680
them down. Oh and go to
training to make sure you're a good shot,

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because we can't really trust that God
will allow your shooting to actually work.

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00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.400
So you got to go to And
that's what that whole article about is

383
00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:30.240
all these churches now sending their people
to learn how to shoot. Look,

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00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:34.960
I got a phone call because there
was a place that does training for people

385
00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:38.400
and how to shoot. They called
me and said, hey, your church

386
00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:42.640
is scheduled for Monday for your people
to be trained in how to shoot,

387
00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:45.640
so that you'll have some people to
protect the church in case of a shoot.

388
00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:48.000
And I'm like, what are you
talking about? Not my church.

389
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:52.559
I'm like, you're out of your
mind. And they were confusing my church

390
00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:59.359
with a different church that's even right
here in the local area. So does

391
00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:02.119
God help? Does God not help? I don't. Now someone's going to

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00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:07.279
say God helps those who help themselves
in that convenient First, that's not even

393
00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.359
a scriptural concept, because God only
helps those who help themselves. Well,

394
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:14.960
then we're in trouble because then I
would have to help God in my salvation.

395
00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:18.839
And while that's not even a biblical
concept. So there's proverbs, Well,

396
00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:22.519
Proverbs Psalm forty six one, Sam
ninety one two Psalm twenty eight seven

397
00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:26.519
Proverbs thirty five. Every word of
God is flawless. He is a shield

398
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.480
to those who take in him.
Now I'm going to read that from a

399
00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:34.599
different translation. I think that that
may actually read differently. Hang on,

400
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:42.359
because I think we can make that
one much more a spiritual one. But

401
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:45.079
I want, I want to just
go to all different ones. Okay,

402
00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.519
every word of God is pure.
He is a shield to those who put

403
00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:51.799
their trust in him. I think
that's saying the word of God is a

404
00:29:51.799 --> 00:29:53.359
shield. I think that saying the
word of God is a shield. I

405
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.559
think that one is so Again,
that would have to be spiritual shield.

406
00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:00.759
Right, So then do we take
that concept in, go back to the

407
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:03.759
other ones and turn them into all
spiritual protection. God protects me spiritually.

408
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.640
There's no guarantee he's gonna protect me
physically. Therefore, I've got to protect

409
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:12.200
myself. Like, do we do
that? You could have your own discussion.

410
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:18.359
How about Psalm eighteen two Psal I'm
eighteen two. The Lord is my

411
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:22.680
rock, my fortress, and my
deliverer, my God, my rock whom

412
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:27.440
I take refuge, my shield,
and the horn of my salvation, my

413
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:33.119
strong hold a Psalm eighteen two.
Let's go to that one psal. I'm

414
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.279
eighteen too. I'll read it from
this translation. So I'm eighteen two.

415
00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:45.119
There's so many of these, so
many of these. So I'm eighteen two.

416
00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:49.319
The Lord is my rock and my
fortress, and my deliverer, my

417
00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:53.119
God, my strength, and whom
I will trust my shield and the horn

418
00:30:53.200 --> 00:31:00.160
of my salvation. It goes on, So I will call upon the Lord,

419
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:03.519
who is worthy to be praised.
So shall I be saved from my

420
00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:08.599
enemies. The pains of death surrounded
me, and the floods of ungodliness,

421
00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:12.519
of ungodliness made me afraid. And
then it continues like God's there to protect

422
00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:19.519
God's well, do we believe God
is there to protect or not? I

423
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.960
don't have any easy answers. I
just what I just want us to see

424
00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:26.440
and what I want you to feel
is you you know there is a little

425
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:30.160
that from the world's perspective, they're
like, these guys make no sense one

426
00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.920
second. They're like, God will
protect. God is sovereign. God controls

427
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:38.039
everything. Nothing happens apart from the
sovereign hand of God. God does this,

428
00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:42.039
God does that. God intervenes here. God intervenes here. God is,

429
00:31:42.359 --> 00:31:45.440
and then five seconds letters like okay, everyone, do not take my

430
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:49.400
gun from me, because you often
put pride out of my dad hands.

431
00:31:49.559 --> 00:31:52.359
I've got a gun and I'm not
afraid to use it, and I will

432
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.079
protect it. And if you come
into our church, we will kill you.

433
00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:59.000
Like and then you're like, well, wait a minute. The world

434
00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:01.440
kind of looks at all that and
goes this seems like bizarrow, world.

435
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:06.079
You say one thing, but you
do the other. I think the world

436
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:09.319
has a right to be confused.
Now. I don't know if we have

437
00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:14.480
a good answer. I just know
that if you start answering a certain way

438
00:32:14.519 --> 00:32:19.119
about guns, then stop making all
these claims about God intervening here and God

439
00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:22.160
doing this and God doing this,
and God doing this, and God doing

440
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:24.480
this and God doing this and God
doing how you hear stories constantly, well,

441
00:32:24.519 --> 00:32:29.200
God, God protected us because I
thought we were about to die.

442
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:32.799
I felt a hand and I felt
God pull me back, or I felt

443
00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:37.160
God protected us, or this happened, or this happened. And it's like,

444
00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:39.079
well, then God, if God's
involved in constantly and all of these

445
00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:45.720
stories, and why do you even
remotely even worried about so like I it's

446
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:49.799
so weird, like when we tell
the stories and then five seconds later,

447
00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:57.400
I just don't understand. Isaiah forty
one ten. So do not fear,

448
00:32:57.720 --> 00:33:00.200
for I am with you. Do
not be dismis, for I am your

449
00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:05.640
God. I will strengthen you and
help you. I will I will help

450
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:08.359
you. I will hold you with
the righteous, with a righteous right hand.

451
00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:14.440
That's the one book of Isaiah.
Now that one we could say,

452
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.079
is that directed towards the prophet?
Is that directed towards Israel? Maybe that

453
00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:22.680
one has some context that's not even
applicable to us. Another one a Psalm

454
00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:32.599
one twenty one, p One twenty
one, some one twenty one, some

455
00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:37.319
one twenty one. There's so many
of these. It's just the Bible is

456
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.599
filled with this stuff, over and
over and over and over and over again.

457
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:45.079
Psalm one twenty one. The Lord
shall preserve you from all evil.

458
00:33:45.559 --> 00:33:52.000
He shall preserve your soul. The
Lord shall preserve your coming out, and

459
00:33:52.079 --> 00:34:01.319
you're coming in from this time forth
even forever more. No some translations translated

460
00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:05.160
this way. The Lord will keep
you from all harm. He will watch

461
00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:07.400
over your life. The Lord will
watch over your coming and going, both

462
00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:13.159
now and forever more. WHOA Okay, how do we understand that is,

463
00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:15.800
that's got to be a spiritual protection. Right. If we make that too

464
00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:20.760
physical, well then they're not hope. We got a lot of things to

465
00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:28.039
try to answer. Proverbs to eight. I'm me, look at this one.

466
00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:32.199
I don't think this one. Hang
on, I look at this one.

467
00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:37.199
Okay, Well, Proverbs two eight. He stores up sound wisdom for

468
00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:40.280
the upright. He is a shield
to those who walk up righty. He

469
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:45.960
guards the path of justice and preserves
the way of his saints. Does he

470
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:50.320
preserve your way? Does he protect
you? Is he your rock, your

471
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:53.079
defender, your fortress, your shield
and ever present help in times of trouble?

472
00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:57.519
So you should not fear even if
the entire world falls apart. Well,

473
00:34:57.519 --> 00:35:00.719
if it does, then you've got
to reconcile that with your pro gun.

474
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:02.480
I gotta have a gun. Gotta
have a gun. Gotta have a

475
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:05.920
gun. Gotta have a gun.
Gotta have a gun. Nobody's coming into

476
00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:07.119
my house. I've got a gun. I've got a gun. I've got

477
00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:13.079
Well, how do you reconcile that
is that? My gun is my rock

478
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:17.440
and my defender and my shield.
My rifle is my ever present help in

479
00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:22.679
times of trouble. It's my rifle
that preserves me. It's my right,

480
00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:27.000
whether it's you know, we can
use whatever type of gun you're utilizing.

481
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:30.119
Now. I know we would never
say that. We would never seeing that,

482
00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:35.320
we would never put up on our
slide a praise song to our gun.

483
00:35:35.519 --> 00:35:38.400
I know we would never do that. But you can see where it

484
00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:44.039
can become a little convoluted and confusing
in the minds of many people. I

485
00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:47.440
think it's fair to say that there's
a difficulty. And then just for one

486
00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:52.760
more verse, because this is what
when I saw the article about the gun,

487
00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:55.000
I quoted this verse. This is
what I quoted. I said,

488
00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:04.159
some trust in chariots, some trust
in horses, But we should trust and

489
00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:08.920
the name of the Lord, our
God, Psalm chapter twenty, verse seven.

490
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.920
Some trust in chariots, some trust
in horses. We we look to

491
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:22.039
God. Now, see that sounds
that sounds so spiritual. But does it

492
00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:25.800
have any meaning in real life?
Or do we just say this stuff?

493
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:31.079
Sometimes I think we just say this
stuff and we don't ever bother to go

494
00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:36.440
see the contradiction in our own brains. And I don't know how to reconcile

495
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:44.840
it. I don't know how to
reconcile it. Now the article just so

496
00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:47.280
that you get a kind of a
taste of the article that started all of

497
00:36:47.320 --> 00:36:53.920
this. The headline was Christian warrior
training explodes as churches put faith in guns.

498
00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:57.719
Please don't as churches put faith in
guns. And then they have a

499
00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:00.480
picture of a church. This is
crazy. There's a picture of a church

500
00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:07.599
and at the front door there are
two guards at the front door of the

501
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:12.800
church. They're standing outside the building. They look like FBI agents. They

502
00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:15.320
have the dark shades on, they
have the suit, and you're like,

503
00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:19.559
are you kidding me? Are you
kidding me? Has it come to that?

504
00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:28.280
But here we go. Churchgoers are
now arming themselves and signing up for

505
00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:34.679
warrior training before heading into weekly services. As violent attacks in houses of worship

506
00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:39.320
surge nationwide, now here would be
my question if violent attacks are occurring,

507
00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:45.400
are surging nationwide at houses of worship? Now this we're going to get right

508
00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:52.920
back to my statement that I made
Sunday. We live in a world,

509
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:57.440
well, we cannot see God.
We believe in a God in whom we

510
00:37:57.480 --> 00:37:59.920
cannot see. We live in a
world in which we believe in a God

511
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:02.400
and whom we cannot see. But
we also live in a world where we

512
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:07.119
see circumstances and we feel those circumstances
that make us question our belief in that

513
00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:13.559
God whom we cannot see. Well, when you've got violent attacks happening in

514
00:38:13.719 --> 00:38:17.400
churches across the nation and those numbers
are increasing dramatically, then you can say

515
00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:21.480
where someone may go, where is
God? And I think someone said,

516
00:38:21.559 --> 00:38:23.679
I don't know where God is,
but I know where the local gun store

517
00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:29.239
is, So we're getting guns and
we'll stop these violent attacks because I don't

518
00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:31.440
know where God went, but clearly
he's on vacation. And I see I

519
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:34.360
say it that way, people will
get mad at me. No, no,

520
00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:37.119
no, no, no. We
believe God is a rug? Which

521
00:38:37.199 --> 00:38:42.920
is it? But look, I
can completely understand. I'll never forget the

522
00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:49.159
Sunday where the shooting happened at a
church. Is it Sugarland, Texas.

523
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:52.440
I can't remember the name, and
I can't remember how many people died.

524
00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:55.960
And I think I can't remember which
Sunday. I don't I can't remember when

525
00:38:57.039 --> 00:38:59.800
the church shooting. Well, we
heard about the church shooting and the people,

526
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:01.519
and there was a part of me
that when I got to church,

527
00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:05.159
I'm like, Okay, look,
do we do I mean, I don't

528
00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:07.559
know what's going on because at the
time, nobody knew what was going on,

529
00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:09.639
and it was this a one time
thing. Are there attacks? Because

530
00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:15.480
I think there was a warning telling
all churches that Sunday to be be careful,

531
00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:17.840
be cautious. So I was like, well, do we lock the

532
00:39:17.880 --> 00:39:21.519
back door? Do we at least
lock the back door. We can lock

533
00:39:21.559 --> 00:39:23.119
the front door. In the back
door, people can get out, but

534
00:39:23.159 --> 00:39:27.519
it would stop anyone from just coming
in, right, I mean, after

535
00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:30.840
all the do we do that?
And because I was a little concerned,

536
00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:35.519
but I had other other people like, no, we just trust God.

537
00:39:35.559 --> 00:39:37.480
And I'm like, okay, I
was a little I was a little concerned.

538
00:39:38.199 --> 00:39:42.039
Now I didn't want anyone to have
a gun because I struggled with that.

539
00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:45.280
But so I'm just gonna be on. I was being inconsistent too.

540
00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:49.960
I am not putting myself up as
like I have this mighty faith in God

541
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:55.840
and I never waver and I never
doubt. That is not true at all.

542
00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:00.280
I'm just trying to struggle with Then
I don't know what the end answer

543
00:40:00.440 --> 00:40:05.719
is here. So but the article
goes on to say sheep Dog Church security

544
00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:10.480
founded by Chris Maloney in twenty fourteen, is one company that trains volunteer safety

545
00:40:10.519 --> 00:40:16.000
and security teams to protect houses of
worship while keeping the faith at the center.

546
00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:21.360
When he first founded the company,
Maloney didn't have much competition, But

547
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:24.960
ten years later, church attacks are
at an all time high and protection industry

548
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:30.559
is booming. So church attacks are
all time high, and what are people

549
00:40:30.559 --> 00:40:36.960
turning to? It's not. Prayer
meetings are booming, Fasting is booming,

550
00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:43.800
church attendance is booming. No,
church attacks are up. So what the

551
00:40:43.880 --> 00:40:49.119
industry to train people how to shoot? That's the industry that's booming. It's

552
00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:52.039
not We're gonna Christians are going to
turn deeper to God. No, no,

553
00:40:52.039 --> 00:40:55.599
no, no, I'm not going
to spend more time doing spiritual thanks.

554
00:40:55.599 --> 00:40:59.199
I'm going to make sure I get
to the local gun range so I

555
00:40:59.239 --> 00:41:01.239
can be trained how I can carry
against So when I come to church next

556
00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:06.440
Sunday, if I forget my Bible, I'm not forgetting my gun. It's

557
00:41:06.519 --> 00:41:10.840
kind of like, how do we
all? Right? Goes on to say.

558
00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:15.800
Maloney, who has a background in
the military law enforcement, initially ran

559
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:17.960
a safety team at his own church
in Minnesota. Since then, he has

560
00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:27.880
trained over six thousand people and houses
of worship nationwide. You want it to

561
00:41:27.880 --> 00:41:30.480
be an open and welcoming You want
it to be open and welcoming and so

562
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:35.800
forth, and yet provide the safety
of security needed, he told the Idaho

563
00:41:35.880 --> 00:41:38.400
Statesman. So those of us who
do carry firearms, we do so on

564
00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:44.320
a concealed basis. We have the
protection we need. And yet you know

565
00:41:44.360 --> 00:41:46.679
we don't have to be so obvious
about it. So, hey, we

566
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:51.079
got to provide the security. Please
don't help just even reading that, that

567
00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:53.719
seems to go against all those verses
we just read. God is my help,

568
00:41:53.880 --> 00:41:58.199
God is my protector, God is
my shield, God is my refuge.

569
00:41:58.239 --> 00:42:00.880
I'm not going to fear. Hey, look, attacks at churches are

570
00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:08.960
increasing. We'll get people with guns. Now. On one hand, I

571
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:15.280
understand, I look, I completely
understand. I don't want anyone to misunderstand

572
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:19.519
this. I am not coming at
this from a position where I'm the spiritual

573
00:42:19.559 --> 00:42:22.079
one, I'm the godly one,
and I'm the one who have the faith.

574
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:25.639
I've already said what I wouldn't have
a gun, but I would.

575
00:42:25.679 --> 00:42:31.480
I would. I guarantee you I
would go into some kind of offensive some

576
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:36.559
offensive maneuver to try to hopefully disarm
the person and take them out. And

577
00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:38.519
I guess what I would then,
Rent, I would I'm telling you,

578
00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:42.800
I would probably just just start beating
them to death is probably what I would

579
00:42:42.800 --> 00:42:45.480
start doing. I'm just being honest
with my own fleshly nature. And I've

580
00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:49.440
had a gun. I already told
you I would probably empty the clip fifteen

581
00:42:49.480 --> 00:42:54.280
times on them. So I'm not
coming at this that I'm godly coming at

582
00:42:54.280 --> 00:42:59.719
this that I try to trying to
reconcile all of these words with all the

583
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:02.039
that we just read. And I
could still be reading scripture we could read.

584
00:43:02.199 --> 00:43:07.280
You do it yourself. Compile a
list of scriptures that talk about God

585
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:12.320
as your rock, your protector,
your defender. He's there. He will

586
00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:15.480
intervene, he will protect you,
he will cover you, he will look

587
00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:16.760
out for you. No harm is
going to come to you. Hey,

588
00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:22.320
if God is for me, who
can be against me? All the verses

589
00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:24.639
that seem to imply we have guardian
angels, all of those verses that God

590
00:43:24.679 --> 00:43:28.639
puts a handge around us. Take
all of those verses and then say,

591
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:32.360
now, how do we reconcile this
with these actions? That's all I'm asking

592
00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:36.079
you to do is consider that.
You know what you may have to say.

593
00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:39.360
I can't reconcile it, don't have
a way to reconcile it. In

594
00:43:39.400 --> 00:43:42.840
fact, I'm going to be honest
with you, I don't care to reconcile

595
00:43:42.880 --> 00:43:45.079
it. We carry guns, We
will carry guns, and if someone comes

596
00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:52.920
into our church, they will they
will receive back possible lethal action taken against

597
00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.800
them. Just be honest with it
and say we don't care. If the

598
00:43:55.800 --> 00:44:00.280
world doesn't understand, we don't care. If it's a stumbling block, we

599
00:44:00.360 --> 00:44:05.960
don't care. And that's fine.
I'm not here to argue with you.

600
00:44:07.039 --> 00:44:08.199
I just want you to at least
stop and go. It is hard to

601
00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:16.320
reconcile and I don't know how to
reconcile it, it says. Violent incidents

602
00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:22.800
in churches surge. In twenty eighteen, there were fifty and twenty nineteen there

603
00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:25.360
were eighty three, and twenty twenty
there were fifty five and twenty one,

604
00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:30.199
there were ninety six, and twenty
twenty two there were one hundred and ninety

605
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:37.440
five, and twenty twenty three there
were four one hundred and thirty six violent

606
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:43.960
incidents in churches four hundred and thirty
six. Now on one hand, that's

607
00:44:43.960 --> 00:44:46.239
a dramatic increase. Now you would
have to say four hundred and thirty six.

608
00:44:46.920 --> 00:44:51.039
When they say in churches, that
would be every kind of church,

609
00:44:51.079 --> 00:44:54.000
Greek, Orthodox, Roman, Catholic, everything. How many churches are there

610
00:44:54.039 --> 00:44:58.280
in the United States of America,
And what is the percentage of four hundred

611
00:44:58.320 --> 00:45:02.960
and thirty six? So then what
is the likelihood percentage wise of the chances

612
00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:07.000
of you your church having someone coming
with a gun. I think the percentages

613
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:10.840
are staggeringly low. If you take
all the churches in America, I mean

614
00:45:10.920 --> 00:45:15.920
four hundred and thirty six attacks,
there's over I think there's over two hundred

615
00:45:15.960 --> 00:45:21.199
and fifty churches and a fifty mile
radius from where I'm broadcasting right now.

616
00:45:21.519 --> 00:45:23.840
And we're just a city of about
one hundred and I don't know forty fifty

617
00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:29.719
thousand. And there's old there were
there. Those numbers are old, so

618
00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:32.519
the number may be even high.
There's well over two hundred churches and about

619
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:37.119
a fifty mile radius. Well,
if there's four hundred and thirty six attacks

620
00:45:37.119 --> 00:45:42.920
in twenty twenty three and all the
churches of America, I mean that percentage

621
00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:47.599
wise makes it pretty unlikely like that
should be like on the low end of

622
00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:52.679
your concern, but it's a high
concern because now there's a booming industry,

623
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:54.880
like, hey, you got to
get your people trained. People need to

624
00:45:54.920 --> 00:46:00.559
be carrying a gun in church?
Is that fear? Is that panic?

625
00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:04.440
Is that anxiety? Or is that
trust in God? I don't know you

626
00:46:04.440 --> 00:46:09.159
you you tell me what you think? All right? Then there's a picture

627
00:46:09.199 --> 00:46:14.960
here a gun on top of a
bible, a gun on top of a

628
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:17.840
bible. And then that's this literally
from this security company. That's how they

629
00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:22.639
advertise it. Use of force,
armed response as the last resort and then

630
00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:25.239
have a gun on top of a
bible. Learn how to defend yourself and

631
00:46:25.320 --> 00:46:30.159
others with without using deadly force,
which should be the last resort. So

632
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.639
I'm gonna, I guess, try
to help you not use deadly force.

633
00:46:34.119 --> 00:46:35.880
But again, if you've got a
bunch of people, got I know,

634
00:46:35.880 --> 00:46:37.920
people are gonna say, you know, shoot at the ankle, shoot at

635
00:46:37.920 --> 00:46:42.119
the leg. Okay, that's no. You always go sinner mass when you

636
00:46:42.199 --> 00:46:45.119
learn. Okay, that's just I
mean, come on, you're not gonna

637
00:46:45.119 --> 00:46:47.360
be I'm gonna shoot at the wrist, okay, You're gonna shoot cinner mass.

638
00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:52.440
Okay, but we could get into
that discussion about that. It says

639
00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:59.800
the number of parishioners signing up for
the training has surged as religious institutions and

640
00:46:59.840 --> 00:47:04.000
create come under threat a violent attack. If you google church security, there

641
00:47:04.039 --> 00:47:10.639
will be one hundred thousand hits.
The program off offers a manual on safety

642
00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:15.719
drills for churches and helps build out
what many call safety ministries, a combination

643
00:47:15.800 --> 00:47:20.719
of armed and unarmed volunteers ready to
respond to emergencies. Now, I think

644
00:47:20.719 --> 00:47:24.639
it's great to have unarmed volunteers to
respond in a time of emergency, especially

645
00:47:24.679 --> 00:47:29.039
for a large church. You would
want those volunteers who have medical training.

646
00:47:29.719 --> 00:47:34.800
That would be good. How people
know where the exits are so that they

647
00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:37.760
can evacuate, right Like what?
I think those are great things to do

648
00:47:37.960 --> 00:47:40.000
right now? You could still call
in it a question, Well, wait

649
00:47:40.039 --> 00:47:43.039
a minute, are we trusting in
God? Are we not? You could

650
00:47:43.079 --> 00:47:45.079
still even call that into question.
I like having you know, hey,

651
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:47.920
we got we got a medical team. If someone is injured, if someone

652
00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:52.679
is having a heart attack, if
someone's having if someone's having a seizure,

653
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:55.880
what they can provide medical aid.
We've got first aid kids, We've got

654
00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:00.320
fire extinguishers we've got, you know, you take those necessary percussions. Now,

655
00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:04.719
this is the same thing that drove
me crazy about the pandemic. Well,

656
00:48:04.760 --> 00:48:07.119
we're not going to take any percussions
in this church because we trust in

657
00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:10.000
God. I'm like, well,
then, why do you got fire extinguishers.

658
00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:14.079
Why are you following the safety code, Why do you have exits?

659
00:48:14.119 --> 00:48:16.800
Why, Well, you've got all
of these other percussions. If there's a

660
00:48:17.039 --> 00:48:21.239
hurricane coming, you cancel services.
But no, in a pandemic, we're

661
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:23.079
not going to do anything. We
trust in God. Oh but we've got

662
00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:30.360
fifteen people with guns. It's this
weird contradiction sometimes. But please note this

663
00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:37.519
industry to provide training for people to
have guns and churches. It's exploding,

664
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.880
meaning that means there's a large demand, meaning more and more churches are doing

665
00:48:40.960 --> 00:48:46.840
it, probably more than you even
know. The practical drill of scenario training

666
00:48:46.880 --> 00:48:53.599
manual consist of hands on approach okay
goes on the website an email list combined

667
00:48:53.679 --> 00:49:00.320
Christian and security imagery featuring Bible quotes
alongside advice on defending against violent intruders.

668
00:49:00.360 --> 00:49:04.840
Please note that the they're marketing it
in a very good way. They throw

669
00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:08.239
in some Bible verses, some Christian
imagery along with pictures of guns. Okay,

670
00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:13.000
so so they're gonna they're gonna they're
gonna use a little bit of both.

671
00:49:13.599 --> 00:49:16.639
They're gonna use a little bit of
both. Now you could argue that's

672
00:49:16.679 --> 00:49:21.960
just good marketing, all right.
His advertisements include images of a handgun on

673
00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:23.800
top of a holy Bible, as
he has built as a protector of the

674
00:49:23.800 --> 00:49:30.480
people and guardian of the church.
Please note he includes so that advertisement.

675
00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:35.320
Uh, as he is billed as
protector of the people and guardian of the

676
00:49:35.400 --> 00:49:37.800
church. So now the guardian of
the church and the protector of the people

677
00:49:38.039 --> 00:49:43.960
is someone with a gun, not
Jesus Christ. Do you see where this

678
00:49:44.159 --> 00:49:54.800
just becomes philologically troubling. Churches nationwide
are also implement implementing security training among pastors

679
00:49:54.800 --> 00:50:00.519
and congregants, and Tennessee one church
held active shooter training for church pastors and

680
00:50:00.599 --> 00:50:05.920
Houston Spiritual leaders started getting security training
after the Lakewood Church shooting. Leaders at

681
00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:10.559
Clay's Mills Baptist Church in Kentucky have
also organized a security conference. Idaho in

682
00:50:10.599 --> 00:50:16.280
particularly has been seen a significant increase
in those teams with residents reacting to threats

683
00:50:16.280 --> 00:50:22.199
against churches nationwide. All right,
then it says types of violent church incidences,

684
00:50:23.320 --> 00:50:30.360
vandalism makes up for three hundred and
fifteen of them. So three hundred

685
00:50:30.360 --> 00:50:36.360
and fifteen is just vandalism. Arson
is seventy five. Typically that arson typically

686
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:39.360
takes place. I think when there's
no one present, then gun related only

687
00:50:39.400 --> 00:50:47.239
makes up ten, bomb threat twenty
other thirty seven. So I mean,

688
00:50:49.079 --> 00:50:52.519
if gun related only makes up ten, we're gonna have an entire industry because

689
00:50:52.559 --> 00:50:54.719
of that. Like, when you
look at the numbers, see when you

690
00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:58.199
say a violent incident, everyone's like, we got to get a gun.

691
00:50:58.239 --> 00:51:01.400
But some of those violent incidents are
not more than vandalism or arson. You

692
00:51:01.400 --> 00:51:07.760
don't need a gun, Okay,
that's not what you need there. You

693
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:10.800
may need some fire protection, you
may need to make sure all your fire

694
00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:14.639
extinguished at working, but I think
most of the cases, the vandalism and

695
00:51:14.719 --> 00:51:19.880
the arson occurs when there's no one
there. Now I'm not saying in every

696
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:23.559
case, but I'm saying in most
cases. So with the like, that's

697
00:51:23.880 --> 00:51:28.039
when you start looking at some of
those numbers, it just seems like there's

698
00:51:28.079 --> 00:51:31.000
an entire industry that's exploding. But
you're like, wait a minute. What

699
00:51:31.119 --> 00:51:37.280
is the actual threat? What is
the actual danger? I always find it

700
00:51:37.400 --> 00:51:40.320
weird. This is always because I
grow up here in Texas, So I

701
00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:45.800
you know, guns are like you're
born, you get a gun, right,

702
00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:49.559
you know, you know how to
shoot a gun before you know how

703
00:51:49.599 --> 00:51:52.000
to walk. Okay, you're crawling
around with a gun. You know,

704
00:51:52.159 --> 00:51:55.639
babies have holsters with guns on it. Hey, the baby can't talk,

705
00:51:55.679 --> 00:51:59.119
but the baby can shoot, right. I mean that's kind of a Texas

706
00:51:59.199 --> 00:52:01.280
kind of concept. It's probably true
in many states, but I feel like

707
00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:05.199
it's true in Texas. But what
always blew my mind was whenever you get

708
00:52:05.199 --> 00:52:08.199
into a discussion about Christians and guns, that it's always the people who live

709
00:52:08.199 --> 00:52:12.360
out in the middle of the country. Right. There hasn't been a break

710
00:52:12.400 --> 00:52:15.559
in in sixty five years. There
hasn't been a violent crime. And I

711
00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:19.800
grew up in Buffalo Gap, Texas. For crying outline, let me explain

712
00:52:19.840 --> 00:52:23.480
how it worked. Buffalo Gap,
Texas. Nobody locked their doors. Nobody

713
00:52:23.920 --> 00:52:28.880
every house was unlocked. We never
locked our doors. Right. But whenever

714
00:52:28.880 --> 00:52:30.280
you would have this discussion, well, I gotta have a gun to protect

715
00:52:30.320 --> 00:52:36.719
my family from what There hasn't been
a violent crime here in three hundred years,

716
00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:42.119
what are you talking about? And
the one time guns got involved in

717
00:52:42.159 --> 00:52:45.920
my situation. Here's what it got
involved in. Are you ready? When

718
00:52:45.960 --> 00:52:50.440
I first moved to Buffalo Gap,
Texas. This is this crazy story.

719
00:52:50.440 --> 00:52:52.880
When I first moved to Buffalo Gap, Texas, we pulled up at the

720
00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:57.840
house that we're going to move into
and there was a dog chain to the

721
00:52:57.880 --> 00:53:02.679
tree that it looked like had been
beaten almost to death. Well, my

722
00:53:02.800 --> 00:53:06.400
parents tried to go up to the
dog. He would not let anyone get

723
00:53:06.440 --> 00:53:08.039
near. Nobody could get near.
He was there for like days. I

724
00:53:08.079 --> 00:53:12.159
tried to put food down, nobody
get near him, and I kept being

725
00:53:12.159 --> 00:53:13.760
told to stay away, and they
didn't know what to do. They were

726
00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:15.559
gonna call someone to come and and
you know, possibly put the dog down.

727
00:53:15.599 --> 00:53:19.280
And I'm like, no, this
is horrifying. So I didn't listen

728
00:53:19.320 --> 00:53:21.559
to my parents, and I walked
up to the dog and the dog just

729
00:53:21.639 --> 00:53:23.920
laid down, did not bite me. Everyone else he would like trying to

730
00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:30.480
kill them, and I unchained.
The dog became my constant companion right.

731
00:53:30.519 --> 00:53:32.920
His name was Butch. He was
he was with I called him Butch.

732
00:53:32.960 --> 00:53:36.559
He was with me everywhere, everywhere, I went, he was with me.

733
00:53:36.719 --> 00:53:39.360
I went everywhere. I could not
go anywhere. That dog stayed to

734
00:53:39.480 --> 00:53:43.599
me. One day, some kid
was trying to take my bike when I

735
00:53:43.639 --> 00:53:46.119
was at one of the little the
little it's called Stuart's Grocery and Buffalo Gap,

736
00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:49.920
and I came out like give me
my bike back, and he was

737
00:53:49.920 --> 00:53:52.159
trying to try to fight me for
it, and the dog almost tried to

738
00:53:52.199 --> 00:53:54.800
kill the kid. Like nobody could
get near me, nobody could touch me,

739
00:53:54.840 --> 00:54:00.800
nobody could do anything. Well,
supposedly someone's chickens had killed by a

740
00:54:00.840 --> 00:54:04.639
dog, and for some reason,
my dog was being identified as the one

741
00:54:04.639 --> 00:54:06.280
who did it. I don't know
if he did, and he did,

742
00:54:06.360 --> 00:54:08.159
but nobody had any proof. Nobody
said that they saw the dog. They're

743
00:54:08.199 --> 00:54:10.960
just like, we see your dog
all over the place he did it.

744
00:54:12.360 --> 00:54:15.199
So it was starting to become an
issue. So on one day, I'm

745
00:54:15.239 --> 00:54:19.280
riding my bike and my dog's with
me, and this guy steps out in

746
00:54:19.320 --> 00:54:23.039
the street in front of me,
points a gun and my face and says,

747
00:54:23.039 --> 00:54:29.480
I'm gonna kill your dog. I'm
like what, Oh, I'm so

748
00:54:29.639 --> 00:54:32.400
glad you got guns to protect your
family. Now you're pointing the gun at

749
00:54:32.400 --> 00:54:36.920
a little kid, because you think
your chickens were killed by my dog,

750
00:54:36.960 --> 00:54:38.840
but you've got no proof. So
then I go home tell my dad.

751
00:54:39.079 --> 00:54:44.119
He pulls out every gun he can
fight. I'm gonna kill him. And

752
00:54:44.159 --> 00:54:46.599
then the two men are about to
kill each other over this? Are you?

753
00:54:46.639 --> 00:54:50.239
And I'm like, Wow, aren't
we so glad we've got guns?

754
00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:53.039
We've got guns to protect ourselves.
And now it's about to turn in at

755
00:54:53.039 --> 00:54:55.880
that. You know, the shootout
at the OK Corral. I know that

756
00:54:55.920 --> 00:55:00.480
wasn't in Texas, but you get
the idea, And I'm like, this

757
00:55:00.519 --> 00:55:02.480
is ridiculous. It's always the people
who live out in the country like I

758
00:55:02.599 --> 00:55:06.440
gotta have a gun. I gotta
have a gun to protect my family.

759
00:55:06.519 --> 00:55:09.159
Now it's one thing. You gotta
have a gun to shoot rattlesnakes or other

760
00:55:09.559 --> 00:55:15.679
animals that are attacking maybe your your
your you know, your livestock or whatever.

761
00:55:15.679 --> 00:55:19.400
I can understand, but it's so
weird. Sometimes it's just so so

762
00:55:19.519 --> 00:55:23.880
In this particular case, if the
types of violent church incidents are basically everything

763
00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:29.960
other than guns, why is there
everyone's going I gotta have a gun,

764
00:55:29.960 --> 00:55:30.599
Gotta have a gun, gotta have
a gun, gotta have a gun.

765
00:55:30.639 --> 00:55:35.920
Gotta have a gun? Why why
does every church needs people with guns?

766
00:55:36.119 --> 00:55:39.760
If this is not near as prevalent
as we make it sound out to be.

767
00:55:45.039 --> 00:55:46.400
All right, because they got this
chart and this comes from the Family

768
00:55:46.440 --> 00:55:51.159
Research Council, This does not come
from a liberal and they've got an entire

769
00:55:51.239 --> 00:55:54.440
chart. This is a January twenty
twenty three to November twenty twenty three.

770
00:55:54.679 --> 00:55:58.440
That's the year. That's the year. Remember where we ended up with four

771
00:55:58.559 --> 00:56:02.440
hundred and thirty six violent incidences And
you're like, okay, well that's a

772
00:56:02.440 --> 00:56:05.760
big number. And then you get
down to the pie chart and you're like,

773
00:56:06.440 --> 00:56:09.039
three hundred and fifteen was vandalism,
seventy five was ourson, only ten

774
00:56:09.639 --> 00:56:23.320
were guns. So then that means
I think we're violently overreacting. And you

775
00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:27.320
may say, no, we're underreacting. We need to do more. Well,

776
00:56:27.360 --> 00:56:31.880
you can make your own determination.
He says that they talk about a

777
00:56:31.960 --> 00:56:36.960
number of other people doing these trainings, and you know, safety teams at

778
00:56:36.960 --> 00:56:40.159
these different churches, and they talk
about that the number of security teams has

779
00:56:40.320 --> 00:56:46.639
increased exponentially following threats like Hamas attack
on Israel and increased violence from individuals with

780
00:56:46.679 --> 00:56:51.480
mental illness. So because of the
Hamas attack on Israel. Churches are like,

781
00:56:51.599 --> 00:56:53.559
we got to have people armed.
Do you think, like, I

782
00:56:53.559 --> 00:56:58.559
don't even understand that Russian. Hey, there's a war over in Israel.

783
00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:01.880
We got to have people in our
guns. What are you talking about?

784
00:57:02.239 --> 00:57:07.079
I know we live in America and
we're such a gun culture, but for

785
00:57:07.199 --> 00:57:22.440
crying out loud? All right?
Then they talk, They go on this

786
00:57:22.599 --> 00:57:24.199
article. I mean, I could
sit here and we're already at an hour.

787
00:57:24.239 --> 00:57:30.039
I could read this article all day. It's called Christian warrior training explodes

788
00:57:30.079 --> 00:57:32.920
as churches put faith in guns.
Again, it's that churches put faith in

789
00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:42.679
guns. That's what That's what convicted
me. So how do you reconcile in

790
00:57:42.679 --> 00:57:46.840
your own mind? God's my protector, he's my rock, he's my defender,

791
00:57:46.880 --> 00:57:50.480
he's my shield, he's my ever
present help in trouble. If the

792
00:57:50.599 --> 00:57:54.599
entire world falls into the ocean,
I have nothing to fear. God is

793
00:57:54.760 --> 00:58:00.320
there. He's defender, protector,
fortress, refuge, shield. How do

794
00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:04.360
I say all of that and then
at the same time say, well,

795
00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:09.639
you know, when it comes to
the church and violent attacks, God may

796
00:58:09.679 --> 00:58:16.840
not show up. God may not
be present. God may not intervene God

797
00:58:16.880 --> 00:58:22.440
may not help, and if God
doesn't intervene, I'm gonna intervene for me.

798
00:58:22.639 --> 00:58:30.280
So then is God actually sovereign?
Now, look, there's a photograph

799
00:58:30.280 --> 00:58:34.039
in here from Fort Worth, not
far from me, where a gunman entered

800
00:58:34.039 --> 00:58:37.199
the church and I think two people
died. It's an actual still shot from

801
00:58:37.280 --> 00:58:42.719
it, right, It's crazy.
The pastor is, he's literally dropped all

802
00:58:42.760 --> 00:58:45.519
the way down, he's where he
was preaching. He's already dropped all the

803
00:58:45.519 --> 00:58:50.519
way to the ground, and everyone
is just like bending over and everyone's like,

804
00:58:50.599 --> 00:58:53.639
you know, scared to death.
You can that scares me. That

805
00:58:54.360 --> 00:58:58.559
doesn't just scare me, not so
much. That scares me. It makes

806
00:58:58.599 --> 00:59:04.199
me. It makes me angry,
and it makes me it makes me sad

807
00:59:04.239 --> 00:59:07.360
for those people inside that church,
for someone to come in and do that.

808
00:59:07.159 --> 00:59:10.599
Now, the pastor is, I
mean, he's not charging the person.

809
00:59:10.760 --> 00:59:13.960
He's not standing there going no no, no, no, no,

810
00:59:13.960 --> 00:59:16.519
no no no, shoot me,
let them go shoot me. No no

811
00:59:16.519 --> 00:59:21.440
no. He's diving to the ground. He's like, forget this, I'm

812
00:59:21.480 --> 00:59:24.920
going to the ground. And I
understand because that's that's what our natural reaction

813
00:59:24.960 --> 00:59:31.079
would be, that would be my
natural reaction. But there's no one there

814
00:59:31.159 --> 00:59:35.960
standing up going. God is our
protectory. God will stop these bullets.

815
00:59:36.039 --> 00:59:38.039
No, everybody's like, everybody at
that moment forgets that there's a God.

816
00:59:38.199 --> 00:59:42.559
And it's like, hey, look, I believe in a God in whom

817
00:59:42.559 --> 00:59:46.840
I cannot see, But right now
that person with a gun I can see

818
00:59:46.880 --> 00:59:51.840
that, And that's making me question
whether the God whom I can see has

819
00:59:51.960 --> 00:59:54.760
any even any knowledge of anything going
on, or if he can even intervene,

820
00:59:54.880 --> 00:59:58.880
or if he even wants to intervene. You're gonna begin to question God.

821
00:59:59.079 --> 01:00:01.159
Right. You will never verbalize it, but in your heart, at

822
01:00:01.159 --> 01:00:05.599
that moment, God no longer even
exists. You become an atheist and you

823
01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:15.280
know it, and I know it. I don't have an easy answer for

824
01:00:15.320 --> 01:00:16.679
any of this. I do not. I wish I did, I wish

825
01:00:16.719 --> 01:00:21.840
I had some profound answer. I
don't. What I just simply want to

826
01:00:21.840 --> 01:00:23.159
do tonight is for us to struggle. So I want you to make a

827
01:00:23.199 --> 01:00:27.079
list. Look, if you're gonna
email me, before you email me,

828
01:00:27.119 --> 01:00:30.280
make a list, make a list
of all the scriptures that seem to talk

829
01:00:30.280 --> 01:00:32.480
about God as your defender, your
rock, your shield that you know,

830
01:00:32.559 --> 01:00:37.880
the Almighty God, the Lord of
hosts, the lord of armies, he

831
01:00:37.920 --> 01:00:42.440
will intervene, he will protect,
he will defend, he will He is

832
01:00:42.480 --> 01:00:47.199
the sovereign over all the world.
He is omniscient, He's omnipresent, he

833
01:00:47.280 --> 01:00:52.400
is omnipotent. And we say all
of these great theological words. I know

834
01:00:52.440 --> 01:00:53.960
all of these illogical words. All
of my degrees are in theology. I

835
01:00:54.000 --> 01:00:59.079
know all of these words, right, But at that very moment, I

836
01:00:59.119 --> 01:01:04.199
don't know what I believe at that
very moment. So how do we reconcile

837
01:01:04.199 --> 01:01:06.840
it? The world sees it,
and they're like, the church is putting

838
01:01:06.880 --> 01:01:13.559
their faith in guns and security teams
and physical violence to stop a violent threat.

839
01:01:13.639 --> 01:01:16.239
They are not going to trust in
their God. And that's that's a

840
01:01:16.400 --> 01:01:25.559
valid criticism. I don't know how
to answer it. Now. What we

841
01:01:25.599 --> 01:01:29.880
tend to do is when we start
answering it, we almost, even though

842
01:01:29.880 --> 01:01:34.119
we don't want to admit it,
we kind of chip away at God's sovereignty.

843
01:01:34.239 --> 01:01:37.159
We kind of chip away at God
actually being present, We kind of

844
01:01:37.199 --> 01:01:42.760
chip away at God actually intervening.
Now, once we're not talking about guns

845
01:01:43.079 --> 01:01:45.719
and about shooters in the church,
are shooters in our home, then we

846
01:01:45.800 --> 01:01:50.119
go right back to God intervenes here, and God does this, and God

847
01:01:50.119 --> 01:01:52.719
help me here, and God told
me this, and God showed me this,

848
01:01:52.920 --> 01:01:54.400
and God did this, and God
did this, and God did that,

849
01:01:54.519 --> 01:01:58.800
and God did this, and God
and one. But until we could

850
01:01:58.840 --> 01:02:00.440
turn back to this subject, and
all of a sudden, well you know,

851
01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:04.760
you know, God, We've got
to do our part. And I

852
01:02:04.800 --> 01:02:07.639
was like, well, wait a
minute. So does God intervene seventy five

853
01:02:07.719 --> 01:02:09.880
times a day? Which is why
how all of you describe the Christian life?

854
01:02:10.320 --> 01:02:17.119
Or does God not intervene? Because
I cannot keep up. I just

855
01:02:17.159 --> 01:02:24.079
want us to embrace the contradiction and
acknowledge the contradiction. And what if you

856
01:02:24.119 --> 01:02:30.159
see if let's say I decided to
carry a gun and people ask me about

857
01:02:30.159 --> 01:02:31.440
the contradiction and be like, I
don't have an answer for you. It

858
01:02:31.480 --> 01:02:36.159
is an absolute, complete contradiction.
I want to believe that God will intervene,

859
01:02:36.400 --> 01:02:38.320
but I just don't know if he
will. I want to believe that

860
01:02:38.400 --> 01:02:42.360
He was my protector, my defender, and my shield, my refuge and

861
01:02:42.400 --> 01:02:45.320
every present helping times of trouble.
But you know what, I'm not going

862
01:02:45.400 --> 01:02:47.079
to take the chance. So if
someone comes in, I am I going

863
01:02:47.119 --> 01:02:51.159
to wait for God. I'm pulling
the gun and I'm unloading the clip.

864
01:02:52.920 --> 01:02:54.199
They say, how do you reconcile
that with your faith? I don't know

865
01:02:54.199 --> 01:02:59.960
if I can reconcile it. Don't
know if I can, don't don't even

866
01:03:00.119 --> 01:03:02.079
know if I can. For one
second. Oh, I can try to

867
01:03:02.199 --> 01:03:07.679
play you know, verbal scriptural gymnastics
to try to work away around it.

868
01:03:07.079 --> 01:03:09.880
But the thing is is, I
don't know if I can work around it.

869
01:03:09.960 --> 01:03:14.800
So my only work around is all
those scriptures about God being my protector,

870
01:03:14.840 --> 01:03:16.599
defender, and shield. I just
have to believe either one. Those

871
01:03:16.639 --> 01:03:21.400
were for Israel and their covenant relation, and God intervened and protected them in

872
01:03:21.519 --> 01:03:24.760
mighty ways multiple times. But he
also told them that if they didn't follow

873
01:03:25.320 --> 01:03:29.639
the rules of the especially the Land
Covenant, they were gonna be cursed and

874
01:03:29.639 --> 01:03:31.679
they were gonna be taken into captivity, which occurred, okay, but God

875
01:03:31.920 --> 01:03:36.679
kept his promise under that covenant.
But for us, God has not made

876
01:03:36.719 --> 01:03:38.880
those promises. Those promises have nothing
to do with me. God is protected

877
01:03:38.880 --> 01:03:44.079
to protect me spiritually, meaning that
nothing will separate me from the love of

878
01:03:44.119 --> 01:03:47.119
God. And I'm eternally secure and
I cannot lose my salvation. Other than

879
01:03:47.159 --> 01:03:52.719
that God has made no promise of
protecting me physically. Now, if I

880
01:03:52.800 --> 01:03:55.280
go with that form of theology,
then it's going to be up to me

881
01:03:55.400 --> 01:04:00.800
to protect Then how would I defend
the gun? From a script perspective?

882
01:04:00.880 --> 01:04:03.000
While I live in the United States
of America, the United States of America

883
01:04:03.079 --> 01:04:09.800
affords me the right by the government
which bears does not bear the sword in

884
01:04:09.920 --> 01:04:14.039
vain. The government has a right
to have guns and a military and a

885
01:04:14.079 --> 01:04:17.519
police and police to be able to
protect and defend their citizens. Well,

886
01:04:17.639 --> 01:04:23.320
in this particular case, they have
used that authority and extended it to me

887
01:04:23.719 --> 01:04:27.599
so that I may own a gun
and protect myself. And I'm doing so

888
01:04:27.760 --> 01:04:30.519
under the authority of the God ordained
government, because all government is ordained by

889
01:04:30.519 --> 01:04:34.599
God. I could try to make
an argument that way, not going to

890
01:04:34.679 --> 01:04:38.320
Luke saying, well, Jesus told
them to buy a sword. That's the

891
01:04:38.320 --> 01:04:44.199
most ridiculous, one of the most
ridiculous argument I've ever heard. I don't

892
01:04:44.199 --> 01:04:47.039
even know why. People. There's
a much much more logical way to make

893
01:04:47.079 --> 01:04:53.559
the argument. But if I can
remove all of those scriptures about God,

894
01:04:53.639 --> 01:04:56.840
then I need to just stop talking
about God intervening here and doing this and

895
01:04:56.840 --> 01:04:59.639
doing that, and telling me this
and doing this and stopping this and protecting

896
01:04:59.679 --> 01:05:01.559
me here. I'm doing this because
if God is doing all this protecting and

897
01:05:01.599 --> 01:05:05.440
defending and intervening and intervening and intervening, and then I should be the last

898
01:05:05.480 --> 01:05:15.960
one to be concerned about someone coming
in with a gun. But you know

899
01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:18.400
what, I'm gonna be honest with
you, and I'll end with this.

900
01:05:19.559 --> 01:05:25.639
Sometimes I'm up here in the studio
at night, maybe midnight, one o'clock

901
01:05:25.639 --> 01:05:30.280
in the morning. Oh, here's
something. I'm like, Oh, there's

902
01:05:30.280 --> 01:05:33.159
someone trying to get in the house. There's someone trying to get in.

903
01:05:33.960 --> 01:05:38.559
And I will be fearful and I'll
be worried, and I'll go downstairs thinking,

904
01:05:38.719 --> 01:05:40.639
Oh, what's gonna happen? And
I start thinking in my mind,

905
01:05:40.679 --> 01:05:43.480
Okay, if they come in,
boom, elbow to the head, boom,

906
01:05:44.039 --> 01:05:46.599
thinking all the military things are not
military martial arts things I can do,

907
01:05:46.679 --> 01:05:48.880
maybe some military things I learned as
well. I don't think I could

908
01:05:48.880 --> 01:05:50.719
do this, I could do that, I could And I start playing out

909
01:05:50.719 --> 01:05:55.280
the scenario in my brain. Yeah, because I'm fearful and because I'm worried,

910
01:05:55.320 --> 01:05:57.639
and I'm concerning at that moment.
You know what, I'm not thinking

911
01:05:57.920 --> 01:06:00.800
God is my protector, because if
I really felt that way, I'd be

912
01:06:00.840 --> 01:06:03.280
like, come on in, I'm
not even gonna go check. God is

913
01:06:03.320 --> 01:06:06.159
our protector, he's our defender,
he's my refuge, he's my shield.

914
01:06:06.280 --> 01:06:09.360
He'll take care of it. I
don't even need to worry. No,

915
01:06:09.480 --> 01:06:28.199
I go downstairs because I'm worried and
I'm concerned, all right. I stated

916
01:06:28.199 --> 01:06:31.239
this in the pre show that for
the month of June, we had over

917
01:06:31.360 --> 01:06:38.199
thirty thousand listeners just on the church
one sermon's two point zero app just that

918
01:06:38.199 --> 01:06:41.719
platform, just a sermon audio platform, over thirty thousand, and I said,

919
01:06:41.760 --> 01:06:45.760
as a result of this broadcast,
for the month of July, we

920
01:06:45.840 --> 01:06:49.679
will not even reach ten thousand.
And you watch me, I guarantee you

921
01:06:50.719 --> 01:06:56.400
this broadcast is going to make me
lose lots of listeners. And all I'm

922
01:06:56.440 --> 01:07:01.360
trying to do is make us just
confront and we kind of have a possible

923
01:07:01.360 --> 01:07:05.519
contradiction. I'm not even giving you
an answer. I'm not telling you what

924
01:07:05.639 --> 01:07:10.960
to do. I'm just saying we've
got a possible contradiction, and I'm acknowledging

925
01:07:12.119 --> 01:07:14.519
that I'm in it with you.
The only difference with me is I don't

926
01:07:14.519 --> 01:07:19.559
own a gun. That's the only
different But I've got my own issues in

927
01:07:19.639 --> 01:07:24.960
this same category. So no,
I know I'm gonna get emails and people

928
01:07:24.960 --> 01:07:28.039
are going to completely misrepresent everything I've
said. But I'm just saying, look,

929
01:07:28.039 --> 01:07:31.039
we've got when we got when we
get in the media going. Churches

930
01:07:31.079 --> 01:07:35.599
are putting their faith in guns,
churches are seeing the security teams and themselves

931
01:07:35.639 --> 01:07:41.239
as being the protector of the church. I'm sorry, I think that that

932
01:07:41.280 --> 01:07:43.239
You're like, well, gay guys, guys, guys, no, no,

933
01:07:43.239 --> 01:07:45.119
no, no, no, no, we put our faith in God.

934
01:07:45.480 --> 01:07:48.079
We trust in God. Our God
is all powerful, Our God is

935
01:07:48.119 --> 01:07:53.639
omniscient, Our God is omni present. He The media is going to go,

936
01:07:53.719 --> 01:07:56.840
well, which is it? And
I think they have every right to

937
01:07:56.880 --> 01:08:00.679
ask that question. And I think
we have every I think we have the

938
01:08:00.760 --> 01:08:05.360
responsibility to struggle with that apparent contradiction. And guess what, I'm not afraid

939
01:08:05.400 --> 01:08:12.000
to say, I don't have an
answer because I don't. News. I

940
01:08:12.039 --> 01:08:15.880
f at Yahoo dot com. News, I f a Yahoo dot com.

941
01:08:15.119 --> 01:08:19.720
Everyone have a wonderful night. Remember
make that list of all the scriptures that

942
01:08:19.760 --> 01:08:25.399
talk about God as protect or defender
and shield and all every present helped times

943
01:08:25.399 --> 01:08:29.520
of trouble or anything along those lines. Make a list, and then I

944
01:08:29.520 --> 01:08:32.199
want you to read that list and
then ask yourself do you really believe that?

945
01:08:32.520 --> 01:08:36.279
And do you really believe that that
is that is promised for you today?

946
01:08:36.640 --> 01:08:42.960
And then how do you reconcile that
with some of your actions, fears,

947
01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:45.239
worries and anxieties and what you do
to protect? Because I bet you

948
01:08:45.319 --> 01:08:50.439
all of us, I don't live
in Buffalo Gap, Texas anymore now.

949
01:08:50.479 --> 01:08:54.159
The entire time I lived in Buffalo
Gap, we never locked our door at

950
01:08:54.239 --> 01:08:57.800
night. We never locked it when
we left the house. We never locked

951
01:08:57.880 --> 01:09:03.920
the door ever. But let me
tell you something, I locked the door.

952
01:09:04.319 --> 01:09:14.920
Now you draw your own conclusion.
Everyone, thanks for listening, Have

953
01:09:14.960 --> 01:09:18.199
a great night. God bless