Monday, August 29, 2005

Reply to "The Bible and Self Defense"

This post is a reply to an email message "The Bible and Self Defense" by Don Walker that was posted by the Visionary Advancement Strategies website www.vision2acvance.com. My response was to the spirit of his message from quotes such as the following, " The greatest problem with this viewpoint is that neither Christianity nor the Bible teaches non-violence or pacifism. The Bible shows us in both the Old and New Testaments that our God of love is also capable of violence, retribution, and vengeance. Force is never condemned in the Scriptures – only the misuse of force. Love and force are not incompatible in the mind of God, neither are justice and force. In each situation they are only opposite sides of the same coin. Religious humanism has put all the emphasis on the side of love and pacifism, most of which has been drawn more from Mahatma Ghandi rather than the Lord Jesus Christ and a clear Biblical standard. " Dear Brother Walker, I was disturbed by the spirit of your message on. "The Bible and Self Defense". The thing that troubles me is that it represents the militant attitude that is prevalent in the American Christian community. This mind set has given place to the unjustified killing of countless innocent people around the world, and we will give an account for what we have given permission to. Yes, I would protect my family if an intruder broke into my home. I am a firearm owner, and a veteran of the Viet Nam war. I am also an honored warrior of the Blackfeet Indian Nation. As a Native American the Lord revealed to me the National mindset and attitude of the Christian world during the conquest of North America. We must step back sometimes and take a look at the bigger picture of what is going on in the spiritual realm. One of the tactics of the enemy is to create a mindset where we justify the killing of our enemies. He creates a frame of mind to where we dehumanize and vilify other human beings. And we as Christians use the Bible to justify the invasion of sovereign powers, and conquest of other nations. I can see in your rationale that you have been influenced by satanic scheme of militarism. You have been poisoned by the spirit of American imperialism that is perpetuated by the media that is owned and controlled by the American Military Industrial complex. The business of war is being generated by the rich elite, who are expert at manipulating and controlling the masses through propaganda and lies. These same tactics were used in the conquest of the Native Americans. I am astounded that the western Christian world has not been able to discern between good and evil. I believe that the need for the violent self defense you are advocating is because of the failure and disobedience of Christianity to follow the ways of the Lord Jesus. We have failed in the arena of spiritual warfare, evangelizing the world, and walking in apostolic authority. What we fail to confront today in the spirit realm will come back tomorrow and haunt us. This is revealed in the rise of militant Islam. Christianity failed in the times of the Crusades because they chose militarism as an answer to their problems. They justified the taking up of the sword and the killing of multitudes in the name of the Lord. We have created a modern day city of Babylon with our mega churches and prosperity doctrines. We are comfortable and have need of nothing. We sit in our pews and are spoon fed pop psychology and inner healing. I believe God is going to scatter our over fed, over seminar attending, selfish church. Jesus says, "After you have received the Holy Spirit you will receive power to become martyrs." This is the kind of attitude He is looking for. People who will lay down their lives for the propagation of the Gospel. We must fight this war by God's standards. I sincerely remain, His servant. Please take this email in the spirit of love for which it was intended. Pastor Lockley Bremner