There is a disturbing trend in this country. The “mega” churches. You’ve seen them. Giant buildings that cost millions to build. Grand sweeping architecture and elaborate sound systems as well as large telescreens. Some have even started using biometrics to document the children being taken into the daycare or Sunday school.(smacks of mark of the beast. Ironic) They take the special tax exempt status that makes them beholden to the federal government, which then tells them what they can and can NOT preach. Is the preachers primary concern the souls of the congregation, or the coin of Caesar? It seems that they have given the government dominion of what they can and can not preach. In the recent scandals regarding the I.R.S. it was revealed that Christians were even being asked what the contents of their prayers were, and congregations were being told what they were ALLOWED to pray about! These 501(c) Pharisees preach obedience to government, and even gun control. And it astounds Me that any preacher, and especially a Catholic priest, would allow a politician that supported abortion to set foot in their church. “Obedience” we are told. But to who? God, or the government? Much of the bible tells of struggle AGAINST tyrannically government. The Magi disobey Herod. Joseph takes his family to Egypt to flee Herod’s law. John the Baptist is beheaded for taking a stand that Herod shouldn’t sleep with his brother’s wife. Matt 10:17 Jesus warns his disciples to beware of those who would turn them into the local authorities (IRS,NSA, anyone?). Jesus actually took a whip to the moneylenders at the temple. And of course, Jesus was offered a deal by the “government” that would have saved his life. But my point is, the bible does NOT teach us to blindly follow man’s authority. And to preach that concept, is false. But My main focus in this blog will be gun control, and what I interpret as the New Testament’s support of the right to self defense.
Guess what? The disciples were armed! Luke 22:36 he said to them “but now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one”. the disciples said “see, Lord, here are two swords.” “that is enough”, he replied. Now, you might think, so what, they had a couple of swords. But you have to put this in context of the fact that in the Roman Empire, it was not only against the law for Jews to be armed,. It was also punishable by death! Here is Jesus, telling his disciples to commit what we would now think of as a major felony! In the Garden, when Judas betrays him, and he is seized, one of the disciples (peter) pulls a sword, and cuts off the ear of one of the attackers. Jesus tells him to “put your sword in it‘s place” (matt 26) or “put your sword away (John 18). He DOESN’T tell Peter to throw his sword away forever. I mention this to show a pattern of the disciples being armed. Not for the sake of aggression, but for self defense. For how can you spread the word, if you are killed? If committing suicide is a sin, then don’t you have a duty to defend yourself? The Israelite Army was a militia. (numbers 1:3). Each man bore his own weapons. These modern Pharisees, with their token attempts at charity. Living in mansions and preaching in their great temples, while telling the slaves to obey Caesar. How many more might they be able to feed, and help were they to be a bit more humble?
No comments:
Post a Comment