Armed Pastors?
". . . and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." Luke 22:36.
"We have to be very well armed in passing through the Indian territory. We have two men to watch. They are relieved every two hours. They carry their guns upon their shoulders." Letter 20a, 1879.
It appears that Ellen G. White, a Seventh-day Adventist pioneer, agreed with a literal interpretation of Luke 22:36.
The following is taken from the Facebook page of Ohio Cops which speaks to the church mass shooting event that took place in Texas on December 29, 2019
You may not like this, and I get it if you don’t. But I think it needs to be said.
I’ve watched the recent church shooting video and it’s sad...very very sad. It hurts my heart. But it also reinforces the reality that there are three types of people in the world.
There are the wolves. The wolf is the person who opened fire during the communion service, killing two people and intending to kill many more.
Wolves are evil.
All of them.
Wolves have no conscious. Wolves are violent.
Wolves are predators who prey on the second type of person....the sheep.
The sheep are the people stalked by the wolves. They obliviously go about their day unaware that there are wolves eying them, waiting for a chance to pounce. Some sheep pretend that they can “coexist” with the wolves. That wolves just need a little love....a hug. Maybe it’s even their fault that the wolf is a wolf. Other sheep know that wolves are around. They know that wolves are dangerous. But they hope the wolf will leave them alone. You see the sheep diving under the pews in the video when the wolf suddenly bares his fangs.
The third type of person are the sheep dogs. The sheep dogs protect the peaceful but helpless sheep from the wolves. Sheep dogs are acutely aware of the danger wolves pose. They see the wolves eying the sheep, and they keep a watch out for them. Sometimes they get into trouble for being suspicious that a wolf might be hiding in sheep’s clothing. But, when the wolf suddenly appears, the sheep dog jumps and stands between the wolf and the sheep. You see the sheep dogs in the video as well. One of them stepped between the sheep and the wolf and was tragically killed by the angry wolf. Another sheep dog stepped in and eliminated the wolf within seconds. Then you see a whole pack of sheep dogs approach the dead wolf as the sheep scatter and hide.
Amazingly, once it was all over, sheep from other pastures started criticizing the laws which allowed the sheep dogs to even be there to protect the sheep. They blamed the sheep dogs, for the wolf.
Let me be clear! Not everyone is a sheep dog! Not everyone has it in them. I AM NOT criticizing the people who dove for cover! What else could they do in the situation they found themselves in? They did exactly what they should have done, exactly what the sheep dogs needed them to do which was to get out of the way and allow the sheep dogs to do what sheep dogs do....kill the wolf.
Christians Bearing Arms
by John Witcombe (PDF)
Innocent Blood
A study from God’s word on defense and the use of force to protect the innocent
by Nick Meissner
The Biblical Research Institute of the Seventh-day Adventist Church just published an article teaching that it is wrong to use lethal means to protect the innocent. Here is their paper:
After you read the BRI’s article, take a look at this video:
Who do you think is correctly interpreting the Bible?
