As an American participant on this board reading the thread ‘God bless America’ I found some consolation that God and America were once again used in the same breath. As a pastor, a former U.S. Army Ranger from the Vietnam War and a gun owner I have much to say about God, gun ownership and our behaviors in this world.
As an American I stand with liberty praying for peace while preparing for the worst condition that prince of darkness and his minions can generate – I’ve seen it firsthand. Our nation was founded in response to tyranny and oppression. Our Declaration of Independence described the circumstances of separation from the crown. Our Constitution and its Bill of rights describe in detail what we hold as foundational rights. Our citizenry grew out of the tyranny of empire and our 2nd Amendment which is routinely under attack from tyrants scares tyrants because the tyrant can’t control an armed citizenry. If you’re worried about mass murder then fix the societal ills. Adolf Hitler murdered 6 million Jews and others using techniques that didn’t include handguns or machine guns – he had all sorts of opportunities to murder, maim and destroy. Josef Stalin murdered nearly twice as many of his own people as Hitler and Pol Pot nearly twice the number as well. We don’t know how many Saddam Hussein murdered nor Bashir Assad. The point is not the means but the desire to control and destroy those who won’t yield.
I’ve seen firsthand a population that is disarmed and murdered – it’s heartbreaking. I watched my men hold Vietnamese and Montagnard babies in their arms for protection and comfort, their weapons slung across their backs, tears streaming down their faces at the Bolshevik destruction of those who wouldn’t yield to their evil. I am reminded of what John Stuart Mill wrote, “But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.” John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), “The Contest in America.” Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 143, page 683-684. Harper & Bros., New York, April 1862.
I hate war, I hate violence, I preach against it. As Jesus said, “Be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.” At some point we have to be intelligent enough not to destroy our bodies with alcohol, tobacco and drugs. This weekend 65 people died innocently due to alcohol and drug addled drivers on the highway – no cries for the ban of autos or the booze and drugs. 435,000 people die annually from smoking, 58,000 from second hand smoke – yet guns are far more dangerous. Over 58,000 men and women from America died in combat in Vietnam from 1961 until 1975 and 58,000 innocent lives are taken each year by second hand smoke – let’s discuss mass murder.
If you intend to give a blessing to God for America we gladly accept it – if you seek to criticize please also recognize our history and stance against tyranny – the world routinely turned to us to come to its aid – a part of me hopes that we stop doing that and let those in trouble solve their problems – the other part wants to scoop up the children like we did in Vietnam and keep them from harm. I’ve learned in my few years on this orb that we get the governance we deserve. I’ve traveled the globe, walked the streets, rail stations and byways wherever I was - seeing police armed with weapons of war – why? My greatest feeling or sense of safety was in Switzerland and Israel. I’ll let you sort it out.
Every Sunday and every day in my sent prayers I pray for peace and calm. God hears those prayers. Every day, every hour, every second the prince of darkness works his evil. Semper vigilans.
For those of you who disagree - that's okay; seek first to understand...