The 2nd Amendment and Why It’s Important 

The 2nd Amendment and Why It’s Important 

In April of 2006, while I was still serving in the Army, I had to go home to Michigan. A friend, and a classmate died from his injuries sustained while doing combat operations in Iraq. I had received word that the “Westboro Baptist Church” which was blasted all over the news for their disgusting protests at soldiers’ funerals, would be at Webber’s funeral. I was prepared to go to jail for punching a protestor in the face if necessary. I was a much different person back then. I was young and dumb. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS), ruled that they had a constitutional right to protest at a funeral, even if what they were saying was vial and disgusting. Back then I didn’t see the big picture of the constitution and the Bill of Rights. I was upset at what they were saying, and where they were saying it. I found it repulsive, but over time, I began to understand. Our rights are given to us by God, not government. Our Bill of Rights is there to tell government what they cannot infringe upon. Even if we don’t like something, that doesn’t change what is. 

Colion Noir’s website says this “In 1776 the Musket was the AR-15 of its time, and when a Tyrannical government tried to take those Muskets away from us, we used those muskets to fight a revolutionary war for our freedom as a Country.

The founding fathers understood how vital the rifle was to maintaining this newly found freedom, so they enshrined our right to own it in our constitution in the form of the 2nd Amendment.

Now in 2019, the AR-15 is to us what the Musket was to the founding fathers in 1776.

Recently I have found many are upset surrounding the AR-15 still. But, let us ask ourselves why? I believe it’s quite simple. People are upset because the media and government tell them to be upset. In DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) we learn a technique called ‘fit the facts’. Do your emotions fit the facts of the situation. In 2024, the most recently compiled data points, only 401 murders were committed by rifles. This is all rifle types, not AR-15 specific. So, we can make a safe assumption, not all 401 deaths were the dreaded AR-15. This is out of the total murders committed of 20,162. Conservative estimates believe there are between 60,000 -70,000 defensive gun uses, meaning guns were used to stop crime or harm. No one likes to talk about these uses. Some broader research shows this number could be anywhere above 500,000. This wide range is because there is no database, and most prevented crime isn’t logged like crime is. Do the benefits outweigh the harm? This author believes it does. 

We must be intellectually honest about these things. When the car was made, I don’t think Ford believed iterations of his invention would one day be used to kill many people worldwide in a single year.  We believe there have been roughly 294 attacks between 200-2025, 11-12 per/year, killing roughly 100-300 per year. Because countries don’t keep track, it’s difficult to say. What can be seen however is more people are intentionally using vehicles to commit terrorist attacks. Would we take the same approach to vehicles as we do guns? No, obviously people aren’t thinking about banning trucks or vans. We are not looking to ban alcohol to prevent alcohol related fatalities both drunk driving, and other. Those deaths are also in the thousands a year. 11,904 deaths from alcohol impaired driving. There are an estimated 2.6 million deaths worldwide related to alcohol attributed deaths. Yet, we are not considering banning alcohol. The argument falls apart when someone says for guns ‘at least we’re doing something.’ Well, why are we not doing that for vehicles, or alcohol? In England they are looking to ban kitchen knives with points to show they are doing ‘something’. Australia and England have banned ninja swords, and Australia has now banned machetes. I don’t understand the machetes ban because of how useful it is in both camping, and just simple yard work. In reality, the bans that have been made, have made little to no difference. 

The question then remains, where is the line? What freedoms is the average person willing to give up in the name of potential safety? 

Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Now that I’m older I realize my problem during Webber’s funeral was I wanted to pick and choose from the constitution, rather than accepting the good and bad that came from rights. 

Let’s think of this in a different way. You’re a police officer. You know someone is a bad guy and you know if you could just search their house, or car, you’ll find the evidence you need. But, you have to have a warrant to search. Sometimes the rules may get in the way of justice, but just because you don’t always like it, you still have to respect it. The constitution is the same. 

There are approximately * About 76–83 million American adults own at least one firearm

* About 400–533 million firearms are privately owned in the United States. If guns were truly the problem….. we’d know it. Gun crime is a very small fraction of the total number of guns in the U.S. I have come to believe that firearms are hated, mostly by people who have never felt the fear of danger. Someone said to me recently that to them it seemed I was blaming victims of crime. That could not be further from the truth. In reality, I want no one to be a victim. I feel firmly that criminals do not fear the law. They do not fear jail. They do not fear the police. Because they do not have this fear, they feel they can commit crime at their leisure. I believe your only protection is not 911, but that you protect yourself. By the time 911 gets there the crime has already happened. You are responsible for your own safety, both in the home, and away from it. I want to ensure you have teeth to protect yourself from the predator that may try to hurt you. That being said, the 2nd Amendment isn’t just for self-protection. I firmly believe because we’ve seen it in many places, Germany in the 1930’s, Canada, and England today, that the 1st amendment (freedom of speech) is crumbling. People are being detained and arrested for simply sharing their beliefs and thoughts. You believe abortion is murder, you can now be arrested for offending someone. We saw during the Biden administration social media under the pressure of the government was burying anyone who spoke out against Covid-19 vaccines, or the Hunter Biden laptop. The government was telling social media companies to censure speech it deemed to be ‘fake news’, but would eventually be found out it was all true. So, why do we have the second amendment? It’s there to safeguard against government overreach. It’s not there for hunting, it’s there to keep the government in check. It’s the fourth check n balance. Our government a 3-tiered government each checking one another, and we the militia are the check against the government to ensure our rights are not taken away by those who would do so, likely under the false flag of ‘protection’. This is not new. We saw it happen in Cuba, Germany, Iran, N. Korea. Take away the guns, the government does whatever it wants and the people have no way to fight back. 

I think many people who have negative feelings about firearms are generally those who have never been in a situation where they felt unsafe. Growing up, I lived not far from Detroit. I lived in constant fear. Every day on the news was rape, murder, arson, and it seemed never ending. As a young kid I always watched the news. I remember the Gulf War even though I was only 7 years old. I remember the Oklahoma City bombing at 9 years old. Every year at Halloween, the day before was called Devil’s Night, because people would light cars, buildings, and homes on fire. Sometimes they were abandoned, but sometimes they weren’t. We delt with a lot of gang violence, and it seemed the police were outmatched every day. Even though my school weighed heavily towards the Democrat party in its teaching, I had a strong feeling towards guns my whole life. It was the one thing I didn’t agree with Democrats on even in my elementary school years. I wondered growing up, how there could be so much animosity to an inanimate object that so many people relied on to do good with. How could Democrats hate guns, yet employ those with guns to keep them safe? How could democrat presidents have secret service with guns, for their safety, their family’s safety, but we citizens who live in dangerous neighborhoods can’t have anything to protect our families with. As a child this situation never made sense to me. Today, as an adult, I’ve come to understand how much I was lied to as a child. I’ve come to realize how much my school did to indoctrinate me into the liberal ideology. Today, I am a Christian, conservative, free from the lies I once believed to be true. We have seen a surprising uptick in political attacks in this country. Charlie Kirk was killed not by an AR-15, but likely a .30-06 bolt action rifle. The Butner assassination attempt on President Trump was an AR-15. The golf course assassination attempt a SKS 7.62 rifle was found at the scene. The White House Correspondence Dinner, a 12-gauge maverick shotgun which was fired at a secret service agent, a .38 semi-automictic pistol, and multiple knives were found on the suspect. After years of reporting Wolf Blitzer could not identify the weapon used, or even weapon type, but instead said the shooter fired what appeared to be “a very serious weapon.” As a long time reporter, I would expect a seasoned reporter to have even a basic knowledge of the guns he reports so often on. Even in these few examples, only one involved an AR-15. The variety used shows that even if you remove on option, there will be many more to choose from. Thankfully the WHCD didn’t end up worse, because if he wanted too, he could have used an explosive device. That would have nearly ensured the entire line of succession would have been removed. A tragedy was subverted once again. We as a society seem to have forgotten the danger of events like the Boston bombing, the world trade center, Oklahoma City, and most recently the pipe bombs thrown in New York City. Guns are not the problem, people no longer respect life. We are using rhetoric that dehumanizes an entire group of people in this country, and attacks against conservatives are on the rise as people view them as Nazi’s, fascist, and evil. One main function of the communist party is to, by their own admission make all religions superfluous, and communism supersedes them. Ideological Subversion: It takes 15-20 years to demoralize a people. In an interview with Yuri Bezmenov a former KGB operative, he discusses the process already happening in America. In the communist goals of 1963 we see two goals 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy as promiscuity as ‘normal, natural, healthy.” “27 Infitrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.” “28 Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.” 

29 “Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hinderance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.” 

“When certain obstructionists become too irritating, label them after suitable buildups as fascist or Nazi or anti-Semitic, and use the prestige of anti-fascist and tolerance organizations to discredit them. In the public mind constantly associate those who oppose us with those names which already have a bad smell. The association will after enough repetition become fact in the public mind.”

It is typically dated to 1943 and attributed to CPUSA directives or The Communist (their theoretical journal). It gained popularity through G. Edward Griffin (e.g., in his 1969 lecture More Deadly Than War) and has been repeated in conservative circles, John Birch Society materials, and online videos ever since. 

When you listen to the manifestos of current assassins, and media, you can hear conservatives being compared to and called things like Nazi, Fascist, and now people are trying to kill conservatives. This is not a coincidence. This is manufactured hate. Destroy the church. Question the constitution. Destroy the patriot mindset. Infiltrate the government, gain power, and with it sew dissention. Abraham Lincoln once said the US would not be destroyed from an enemy abroad, but from within. Our enemy is truly within the walls, hiding in plain sight, or at least they used to be. Now they are no longer hiding, they are shouting form the rooftops who they are, and what they want. Global domination, global control. This is not a conspiracy theory, but verifiable and well documented. 

So what is the true reason there’s so much animosity towards guns? Control. Just like Iran, N. Korea, Pre-WWII Germany, it’s all about control. When you cannot force your will upon a people because they have guns, the whole mission becomes removing Guns from the hands of those you wish to control. If it were about anything else, say, protecting lives, then the idea would be to train the population to respect human life, and to carry a firearm for protection, but it isn’t. Even today with products like the Byrna Kinetic Launcher, no one is saying to people, “don’t be a victim” own a Byrna. When there are non-lethal ways to self-defense, and yet, it’s not being talked about, of course it’s not about self-defense. New York is proposing a bill that would eliminate all airsoft, BB, pellet, and paintball guns. This isn’t about gun control, or even public safety, this is about trying to eliminate gun culture. Stop kids from growing up with toy or lifelike projectile guns, you may stop them from owning ‘real’ guns.

911 is and never will be a preventative measure. Police most of the time respond after a crime has already occurred. Even in the event of a tragic active shooter, or a break-in of your home, police are minutes away. This precious time is unfortunately an eternity when bullets could be flying. No matter what you do, bad people will always do bad things. You cannot claim that banning things, items from common usage is truly going to fix anything. Banning Guns in the UK, led to a rise in knife crime, then banning ninja swords led people to kitchen knives, and now kitchen knives to remove the point because people are still dying. No amount of banning anything will actively fix anything. Murder and battery will still happen, no matter how much banning you do.

Both the Office of Justice and National Institute of Justice admitted the 1994 ‘Assault Weapons Ban’ had little to no effect on gun crime in the country for the 10 years it was in place. When we look at the country as a whole, places that have the highest restrictions, often have the higher gun crime rate. Why is this? Victims have no teeth, no way to fight back against a criminal that does not fear the law, does not fear the judge, does not fear the jury, and does not fear jail. As the man of the house, I believe it is my responsibility to protect not only myself, but my family. Not only do I believe banning weapons because of the way they look, or even the arbitrary number of rounds the magazines can hold, is foolish, but goes directly against the reason the second amendment exists to begin with. When we truly offer a thought to why magazine bans happen, it’s a form of control. Someone, somewhere has said, ‘you, homeowner, are limited to 10 rounds to protect your home.’ It does not matter the criminal breaking in has a 30-round magazine, but you cannot. The emotional decision to ban magazine sizes comes from incidents like school shootings, less than 1% of all gun related incidences nationwide. While I firmly believe school shootings are avoidable, we have seen that even in places where guns are banned, mass school attacks still happen. We’ve seen large scale bladed attacks worldwide. We’ve seen terrorist attacks using vehicles as weapons to inflict maximum casualties. In recent months we’ve seen multiple bombs being used to try and inflict casualties but thankfully they did not detonate. Those who use the argument why do you need 30 rounds to kill a dear, either know they are being disingenuous or don’t understand the nature of what the 2nd amendment truly is. 250 years ago, our founders knew the cost of insuring freedom would be high. This great experiment built upon the back of a Righteous and Holy God, would be cemented in the blood of men willing to die for its success. George Washington and other founders said this “”A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined…”

– George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”

– Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.”

– Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Stephens Smith, son-in-law of John Adams, December 20, 1787

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

– Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

“The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”

– Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

– Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

“To disarm the people…[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them.”

– George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adooption of the Federal Constitution, June 14, 1788

“I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”

– George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”

– Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.”

– James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789

“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty…. The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”

– St. George Tucker, Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1803

“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”

– Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788

“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”

– Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833

“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty …. Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”

– Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons entrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.”

– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28

“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms…  “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

– Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788

“And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; or to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States, or of some one or more of them; or to prevent the people from petitioning, in a peaceable and orderly manner, the federal legislature, for a redress of grievances; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions.”

– Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788

“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”

– Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833

“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty …. Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”

– Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

As we can see, the founders had strong feelings about the necessity for able bodied Americans to be armed. In fact, they felt so strongly about this, that they believed it wasn’t so much as an option, but a responsibility of a male citizen to keep and bear arms, if at all possible. What more can I say, that our founders already established. During the SCOTUS ruling of NYSRPA v. Bruen which forced states to ensure their laws held up to text, history, and tradition of gun laws in the United States. Do modern restrictions hold up to laws around 1791. This forces states to reconsider their magazine capacity sizes, and firearm types. Today, we no longer carry flintlock muskets, but rather more modernized weapons such as the Ar-15, the civilian model designed similarly to the military M4. While the military version of the Armalite rifle has a three round burst selector switch, today, for civilians it is simply a semi-automatic. When you listen to many speak on the side of the Democrats, it’s evident they do not know what they are talking about. I personally find it very disturbing that anyone passing or pushing laws that would restrict the constitutional rights of millions, hasn’t taken the time to actually study the subject they are trying to pass laws on. The things I have heard liberals saying regarding firearms is nothing short of insane. 

Mr. Cicilline: refers to a stabilizing brace as a bump stock, making it an automatic weapon. (Note: It does not) 

President Biden “If you wanna protect yourself… Get a double-barreled shotgun, fire two blasts outside the house into the air.” (Warning Shots are generally illegal.) 

Patricia Eddington; New York Assembly “Some of these bullets have an incendiary device on the end of it making it heat seeking.” (No bullet is heat seeking) 

A politician once said, “if you ban high-capacity magazines, that over time they will decrease because they would have all been shot….” (Obviously not realizing a magazine is what bullets go into, and are reusable.) 

New York City Mayor Bloomberg once said this “if it can fire a lot of bullets very quickly…. If you haven’t hit the deer with three shots, you’re a pretty lousy shot, that deer deserves to get away.” The interviewer said that most pistols hold more than three. He then replied, but that’s different, you have to pull the trigger each time. An assault weapon you hold and it goes (Sound, breet.) 

(He basically believed all AR-15’s are all full automatic rifles. Also, in the interview he made a hunting example. The second amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Former Mayor Bloomberg spent millions of dollars on the fight for gun control.) 

This next clip is an unknown politician to me. He said, “this is a ghost gun. This has the ability with a 30. Caliber clip, to disburse with 30 bullets within half a second, 30 magazine clip in half a second.” 

Where do I start? There is no such thing as a 30 caliber clip. And it’s not a thing to fire bullets 30 rounds in half a second. This was being said during a press briefing. His knowledge of how firearms work is staggeringly ignorant. 

Diane Feinstein “it’s legal to hunt humans with 15, 30 round, even 150 round magazines.” She goes on to talk about hunting ducks. During a photo shoot with Diane, she is seen holding an AK-47. In the photo she can be seen finger on the trigger. No trigger discipline. Obviously hunting humans is not legal. 

President Biden “Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.” (It is absolutely not legal to shoot through the door at an intruder. Bad advice Joe… bad advice. ) 

Mike Thompson “Federal law prohibits me from having more than three shells in my shotgun when I’m duck hunting. So federal law provides more protection for ducks than it does for it’s citizens.” (Humans can’t be hunted. Why is this even a thing?) 

It seems to me that many politicians believe or want you to believe the 2A has anything to do with hunting. It doesn’t. Not only do they not know how the guns work, how magazines work, but they don’t know the basic premise of the 2ndAmendment, or gun safety. 

When someone becomes a gun owner, you have skin in the game. When you don’t own them, I wouldn’t expect many to feel strongly about not destroying the rights for people. People often expect police to come save them. That’s not their job. The job of the police is to enforce the law. Until someone is breaking the law, until they’ve shot at you, until they’ve attacked you, until they are already in the midst of violence, police can’t do much. Most people are not vigilant while in public. Most people are not aware of what’s going on around them. Most people who are against guns, have never been attacked. While the average person being attacked would be a rare occurrence, when we look at the random crimes that have been major news in the last year, we can see many of the same category of people. I want to preface this: I am in no way blaming what happened on the victim. This is always the person attacking. HOWEVER, we see a trend in behavior that made the attacks easier. The average person doesn’t think about these things, and therefore make themselves a potential victim. I will start with the death of Bruce Wayne’s family. Traveling down a dark alley, late at night, and outsteps a criminal with a gun. Thomas and Martha are eventually gunned down in cold blood, leaving young Bruce Wayne to grow up into the man that wouldn’t ever be a victim again. Making good choices, and being aware of your surroundings is a major step in not being a victim. Again, the police won’t be there to save you. Iryna Zarutska was killed on a train. She sat there, watching her phone, not paying attention to anyone around her. Sadly, her killer would stand up from behind her and stab her to death. Not only were the police not around, average citizens got up from their seats and put distance between the poor girl, and themselves. I cannot say for sure she would have been safe if she’d been sitting differently, facing a different direction, paying attention, but what we do see is many people today are traveling in public with their faces in their phones completely unaware of the dangers lurking around them. 

The Rockford Illinois stabbing spree of March 2024. He went around stabbing people at random including a US postal service worker, leaving four dead. 

NYC Subway stabbing trends (2025-2026), these attacks over the last year have resulted in both fatalities and severe critical attacks. These attacks have included the use of machetes, and appeared to be random in nature. 

San Antonio machete attack 2026 a man was attacked randomly under the 1-10 bridge. He fled to a shell gas station where he managed to call for help. 

Stephanie Minter was stabbed to death at a bus stop in Virginia on Feb 23, 2026. 

 Then, there are the high-profile cases of illegal aliens attacking and murdering people. 

Antonio Martinez Guilty of rape and murder of Rachel Morin on a Maryland hiking trail 2023-2025. 

Jose Antonio Ibarra killed Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in 2024. 

Jose Medina was charged with the murder of Sheridan Gorman in Chicago 2026. 

Edwin Antonio confessed of five murders including a dismemberment of an unaccompanied minor. 

Savannah, Georgia (Dec 2025/2026): A woman was attacked with sulfuric acid in Forsyth Park while walking. As of April 2026, the attacker is unknown, and the case remains under investigation by local police and the FBI.

Long Island, New York (2021-2026): In March 2021, student Nafiah Ikram was attacked with acid outside her home. Terrell Campbell was arrested in 2026 after a tipster identified him and prosecutors alleged he posted a rap video boasting about the crime.

New Jersey/Florida (2024): A woman in New Jersey suffered 35% body burns from a “highly caustic acid” attack. Three Florida residents were charged with conspiracy to commit the attack, which was found to be a targeted, paid arrangement.

Washington D.C. (2017): A woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attacking an ex-boyfriend with a knife and sulfuric acid.

Bradford Gille; Traverse City Michigan, July 26, 2025. A mass stabbing event where 11 people were injured. What many news agencies left out of their reporting was how Gille was stopped. Two marine veterans took it upon themselves to intervene. One attempted to subdue Gille with a shopping cart, while the other Derrick Perry drew his personal pistol to stop Gille and hold him till police arrived. Odd, how most of the news reports I read ignored this fact. It was the Marine Times that actually told the truth that a personal owned firearm stopped the suspect and likely saved lives.

There are far more cases, but I think you get the point. Violence doesn’t always come at the hand of a firearm. Violence comes from anyone who wants to do violent things. The weapon of choice can be anything from household kitchen items, to a machete, to a katana, to a firearm, to a bomb, even acid. The point is, you are your first responder. We have people and politicians who know nothing about firearms, trying to get rid of firearms, not to pass what they call common sense gun control. One thing to point out, these politicians are excusing themselves from these gun laws they are putting on everyone else.

“At its core it’s about finishing what we started.” (Rep. Teresa Tanzi) 

In 2025 Rhode Island passed an ‘assault’ weapons ban. They included a grandfather clause. However, this year, Rep. Tanzi took the microphone stating that they would be removing the grandfather clause making these weapons illegal. 

“last year we as a body, banned the sale, manufacture and transfer of certain assault weapons as defined in that law. That was an important step, but was only a partial one. We should be honest about that.” 

She goes on :

“Right now our law draws an arbitrary line. We have said these firearms cannot enter the marketplace going forward. But we continue to allow them to remain in circulation indefinitely. That undermines the very policy we put in place, and makes enforcement more difficult.” 

“IF these weapons are too dangerous to be sold in Rhode Island, then we really should have addressed possession at the same time. We didn’t, and this bill corrects that.” 

This is the government admitting they are in fact coming for your guns. These politicians aren’t getting rid of their armed security. The police aren’t getting rid of theirs. This is politicians showing their true colors, an unarmed population, is a controlled population. During the covid summer of love, we saw mass riots in the streets. We saw businesses being destroyed. We saw people’s livelihood being torn down to the ground. Not long ago, in my home state, a woman called 911 from home. Someone broke into her house, but before police could respond, when they did, she had already been murdered. The short time it took for police to arrive, it was too late. Everyone has an inherent right to self-defense. As a man, I have the responsibility to train, and be prepared to defend my family, people I care about, and the weak in society. No one is coming ‘in time’ to save you. It’s easy to scoff at the idea of why someone needs a gun. It’s easy to do this if you have never lived in a place where it was dangerous. If you’ve never felt your life was in danger. If you’ve never truly experienced fear. Our founding fathers understood the need and that’s why they are on the record speaking about gun ownership, and gun carry, on a regular basis. All politicians that claim gun control is for public safety has an agenda, and that agenda is a disarmed society. They are praying on your emotions and naivety, to side with them and push to ban something you may not care anything about. We as a society have gotten complacent to believe we are safe because we have some of the best police departments in the world. But if you go to many middle eastern countries, they own an AK-47 per household. Why? Because the police aren’t coming, and you’re responsible for your own safety. Iran gave up their rights, and now they suffer under a murderous regime that kills them for showing their hair in public. For being gay. For speaking out against the government. The truth is, every society that has given up their rights to allow the government to take over their security, is now realizing that may have been a mistake. Canada just decided by 95% they are not going to allow the government to take their guns.

During the Supreme Court Case DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services in 1989, they decided the government does not have an obligation to protect the citizen from private acts of violence. This is something everyone should consider. If the government has no responsibility to protect you, then who does? You. I have long stated gun free zones should be held as unconstitutional. We’ve seen over and over how criminals ignore that little gun free sign, and commit catastrophic events. If they tell you, you can’t have a gun, is that them saying, we will take responsibility for your safety while you are here? No, of course not. Most of the time, malls do not have armed officers patrolling, or at entrances. Schools often do not have a service officer on duty. Yet, we protect banks with armed guards. Federal buildings have armed guards. But you, you’re not allowed to protect yourself. As we’ve seen, those who wish to do harm don’t have to have a knife, but if they do have a knife, how would you stop them if you didn’t have a gun? No one wins in a knife fight. The only way to true defense is to train in it. You have to train your mind to be vigilant, to pay attention, and to know what to do in the event of an incident. I am not calling for anyone to be a vigilante, just be aware of your surroundings, and have a plan to protect yourself. If you’re out for a jog, have a plan. If you’re out to dinner with family, have a plan. If you are going to and from work, have a plan. You are the Militia. You are your first responder. It’s up to you to protect yourself. While the average person will never be put into a situation where this is necessary, we are all familiar with insurance. You have it in the hopes you’ll never need to use it. We have insurance on our cars, homes, our health, and our pets. A firearm is your insurance policy to protect, potentially your life. We hope you’ll never need to use it, but break-in’s happen nationwide every 25-30 seconds in the U.S. Out of that nearly 28% of all break-in’s happen while someone is home. On average every 26 seconds in America a random violent attack happens in the U.S. The 2nd Amendment is important because I don’t want anyone to be a victim. While I believe our focus should be fixing the heart problem of these attacks on people, I do not believe the answer is to focus on the weapon used, but those using the weapon. In major cities gang-violence is 13% of all annual homicides. The cause to ban AR-15’s are based on 1% of annual homicides that are attributed to mass shootings. We must be careful as a society to understand the facts. We accept the risks of allowing people to drive cars. We accept the danger that some people who use a car in the U.S. will die every single day. Because the daily need for a firearm isn’t as pronounced as the need to have a vehicle to get to work, or go places, many deem them irrelevant. The truth is, we don’t talk about the number of crimes prevented by the mere possession of a firearm. If police officers can use them to protect others, the same rule applies to people. There are millions of guns in the united states, and we if we’re honest should understand if gun owners were truly the problem we’d know it. Once again, In 2024 there were 15,795 murders total in the US. Out of those only 11,717 were firearms. Less than 1% of all firearms were rifles, and less than that were the AR-15. There were 11,904 drunk driving deaths in the US. With over 400-533 million firearms, if these were the problem, we’d have far more than 11,000 deaths a year by firearms. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we should be asking, why anti-gun politicians are pushing so hard, but aren’t trying to save the millions who die in abortions, by illegal drugs coming over the border, the deaths caused by illegal aliens. If protecting life were truly the goal, you’d see a stronger stance on these things. Instead, media outlets are quiet about deaths from illegals, and during the latest assassination attempt, the gun debate didn’t happen. This shows us, there is an agenda, not a true moral compass about gun violence. Protect yourself. Protect your family. Learn the history of the 2A and learn how it’s shaped America. Learn how it saved America during WWII. See how other countries have failed and fallen to the left-wing ideology of eliminating guns. Why do socialist countries need to ban guns before they can take control? Learn your rights, and learn how to protect yourself and your family. If you don’t want to own a gun, at least own a Byrna Launcher 

Some of the videos I think you should watch, is where some of my information came from. 

Byrna Launcher 

https://byrna.com/?_gl=1*9xll7c*_ga*MjA1NTY1ODQ5NS4xNzc3ODM0NTYy*_ga_KKCQKKS56K*czE3Nzc4MzQ1NjIkbzEkZzEkdDE3Nzc4MzQ1NjIkajYwJGwwJGgyMTIxMzgxNDUw

No One Is Coming To Save You: 

AR-15 Gun Ban, Grandfather Claus Being Erased

Communist Goals (1963)

The Communist 1943

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I Was A Sheep Dog Once

I Was A Sheep Dog Once

I was 18 when I got the letter from the Department of Defense, denied. I had an emergency, second umbilical hernia surgery. I was completely devastated. By the grace of God one year later I was walking through a grocery store when I ran across a recruiter. I told him my story, and he told me to try again in so many months. Let the surgery heal, and once it did for a year, then, try again. I didn’t have a backup plan. My backup plan to go to college fell apart for various reasons. It wasn’t that I wasn’t smart enough for college, it was the situation I was in. Later in my life I would go, and I would graduate with a 6.65 GPA. Not too shabby. I would first go to the Air Force recruiter, but I didn’t love the idea of desk job, and didn’t really love the idea of being security forces (Military Police). When I got back from MEPS, I got back with no recruiter waiting for me to discuss further options. I was angry. I immediately went into the Army Recruiters office, and he gave me a pamphlet. By the time I was home a mere 15 minute drive, I circled several options. When I got home. I began using the internet to narrow down my selection till I had one clear choice, Calvary Scout. When I went back to MEPS this time under the Army Flag, there was only one spot for scout training, if I wanted to leave in 4 months, I would have to write an essay, and thankfully I was chosen. I did pretty well in Basic, but I wasn’t top of my class, but I finished with honor anyway. I finished the 25Kilo Ruck March crossing the finish line, after a week in the field, with little food (I was a vegetarian), and no sleep, we embarked on the finial ruck of training. When I crossed the finish line, I knew I would get my cross sabers. 

Not everyone finished the ruck, but the smallest guy in the platoon did. I would train and deploy. I would go to Korea first where I learned how to be a warfighter. What is a warfighter you may ask, “A warfighter is a military service member—soldier, sailor, airman, or marine—directly engaged in or trained for combat and operations, emphasizing a cohesive, agile approach to winning battles” My platoon was directly responsible for several missions at the same time. We would do vehicle patrols, observation posts (OP’s for short), We’d do EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) escorts. We would do raids, we would do what we called snatch and grabs, where we would sneak in, or bust in and arrest high value targets. We’d often have to do a breach to enter into the dwelling quickly. We’d move into sniper/ambush missions. Sometimes our days were filled with several missions, one right after another. We were often away from the base for hours, and often days at a time. We’d not only be away from our beds, but we’d be away from help, and we’d do our missions with only 4-5 soldiers. We had a heavy work load, and we often found ourselves going from one mission to another. I was trained as a weapon. The idea of a soldier being a weapon is not new. Everything I learned in Iraq, and in the Army taught me how to survive. Since then, the time I worked in security, the time I worked in a detention facility, all taught me valuable lessons about what it means to be a protector. 

During my time in college, I studied the human mind, the mindset of a criminal, and in many cases the mindset of a terrorist. I studied homeland security, emergency management, terrorism, and a whole lot of psychology. Today I still use what I have learned on a much smaller scale. I protect my home, and anyone that may be in my orbit while I’m out of the house. For a long time, I made do with what I had. Now my situation has changed a bit, but I am still protecting my home and those around me. No matter the situation it’s important to focus mostly on the intent. Some people have more of a protector mentality then others. When I was a kid, I did my best to stand up to bullies, even though I was tremendously bullied. Later in life I swore I’d stand up for the little guy. I swore I’d stand up to fight bullies any chance I’d get. 

One day at church I was approached by a member of the safety team at my church, to see if I’d be interested in serving on that ministry. I was given my assignment, and when we’d next meet, and so it began, I was a new member of the safety team at church. Some who still live under a rock think a security team is not necessary. I could not disagree more. Some who disagree say it’s not the Christian way. In scripture it talks about the Temple Guards. Keepers of the peace and protection, inside the temple. Scripture tells us to the best of our ability live in peace with all man. It never says to roll over and let people hurt you. IF the government deems your death to be necessary, because you serve a mighty God, to trust in the Lord, even if it means dying for your faith. Old Testament Law says Exodus 22:2-3 2 “If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. 3 But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.” While the rules at the time change for daylight, we have a different set of laws which are still acceptable. We call it the ‘Castle Doctrine’. The home is your castle, and you are given legal right to assume someone breaking in beyond the threshold of the door or window is there to do you harm. Scripture tells us to follow the law of the land. We have a responsibility to defend our homes from attackers. In the middle east, homes still to this day, specifically Iraq, every household has the right to defend itself, so they all have a rifle with two magazines. 

We all have responsibilities and while our first priority is to Christ, and living in peace, we must understand that sometimes that peace is taken from us by others. We don’t always have a say when we need to act in the interest in protecting ourselves or our loved ones. I find myself longing for the days when I felt like I was making a difference in this life. I have always felt the need, the desire to protect others around me. I was shocked when I watched the movie American Sniper to hear such an amazing quote that summed up how I had felt my whole life. By the time American Sniper came out I had already been discharged from the Army. I did not know it, but Kyle had served in Ramadi the same time, I was there. 

It is said his father said this quote: 

“There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. Some people prefer to believe that evil doesn’t exist in the world, and if it ever darkened their doorstep, they wouldn’t know how to protect themselves. Those are the sheep.

Wayne Kyle: Then you’ve got predators who use violence to prey on the weak. They’re the wolves.

Wayne Kyle: And then there are those blessed with the gift of aggression, an overpowering need to protect the flock. These men are the rare breed who live to confront the wolf. They are the sheepdog.” 

I was meek growing up. I often took the beatings that came my way from bullies. I guess, in some ways I displayed similar characteristics as Tommy from Kenny Rogers song Coward of The County. When push came to shove, Tommy did what he needed too, and in one day proved the county wrong. While in Iraq, I too did what needed to be done. Today, I find myself facing the truth of who I am. I cannot stay or remain silent of the evil I see in today’s world. I see the murder of children. I see the mutilation of children. I see the eroding of God given rights to people. I see the rise of corruption and the mass migration away from the Word of God. Evil rises all around us, and all we can do now, is prepare for the worst, and pray it never happens. Scripture shows us how important it is to plan for the future. In Joshua’s story, famine came to all the land, and he knew he needed to prepare for it, or everyone would parish. In my own life, on a much smaller scale, I see the need to prepare. Maybe it’s the emergency management mindset I have, or the experience in the Army planning for every contingency possible, but I always did my best to prepare. In recent months I have found how important it is that if I am going to be the sheep dog of old, I need to prepare my body for the fight. I cannot overstate how hard that is for me. My mind is willing but my body It seems didn’t get the memo. I struggle these days with things I shouldn’t. My body has failed in so many ways. It’s hard for me to keep pushing forward, when my body fails every week, it seems. When I wake up, I have to force myself to get out of bed even though I hurt. I have to push myself to go to Cardiac Rehab even though I didn’t sleep the night before. I have to convince myself to do my workouts, push my body, even though I hurt and ache every day. I know that this life is a fleeting one, one full of pain, and suffering, but much like Paul, sometimes the thorn in our sides is not removed by God. I have grown to put my faith in God, but I will admit sometimes it’s hard. My mind is willing, but my flesh is weak. My pain is fluid, it changes regularly, but it reminds me of my hardships, and just how sweet Heaven will be. What is this pain we suffer for a little compared to an eternity in the presence of God in Heaven. 

Even with my problems, I do my best to remain as positive as possible. My focus is always on the protection of those around me. With the current uptick in terrorist related attacks, and the threats against conservative Christian men, I find myself on constant high alert. The danger is real, and so is my response. I know what I need to do to stay safe, and because of that I have to wrestle with two truths. Truth one, is I am a Christian Soldier for Christ, fighting in an invisible war for people’s souls. Truth two, I am fighting as the spiritual leader of my household, which also makes me the soul protector in the non-invisible world as well. I must be both at the same time. I must be willing to do what is necessary to protect myself, my family, and those who are weak from harm. We see SheepDogs in a few different places. One, and mostly the military. Special Operators are often referred to as sheepdogs. Police, Firefighters, and some citizens would fall into the category of a sheepdog also. 

John 10:11-12 11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.”

Jesus calls himself the good shepherd who lays down his life to protect us. It takes great amounts of courage to stand up to wolves. When I was child and I was bullied, I didn’t have anyone stand up for me. But if we are to be Christ like in our lives, that means we too must be willing to lay down our lives doing what’s right. 

Matthew 10:16  “16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

It’s important to be vigilant while out in public. People have always been dangerous, but this goes as an ebb and flow in time. Look at how dangerous it was back in the days of Jesus. Today, we see ourselves having to deal with more criminals as judges are soft on crime. Those of us who can protect, need to protect. Jesus is telling his disciples they are going into harms way. He tells them how to respond in the current situation they would find themselves. 

As important as it is to be a physical sheepdog, we must also be spiritual sheepdogs. 

Acts 20:28-29 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 

We have a responsibility to the truth, protecting the truth, and also protecting the sheep within the flock. One individual from scripture I have often gravitated towards is the story of Gideon. A man who was humble, perhaps even too humble, said he was the weakest of all his brothers. Even though he called himself the meekest of all his kin, he was chosen by God to lead an army. Gideon before war had 32000 men. Prior to the battle, he gave his men one last chance to leave. Any man who knelt down to drink would be sent home. He was left with 10000 men, then before the battle had only 300 men. There were few sheepdogs willing to stand up and fight. Even though he had a few 300 men they won the battle. I grew up a weak sheep, and when I graduated basic training, I vowed never to let someone bully me or harm the people I care about. A true sheepdog doesn’t seek out danger. We aren’t vigilantes. True sheepdogs want peace, we want peace so bad because we have seen the terrors of war. Because we have seen war, we value peace more than those who have only lived in peace. Sheepdogs want to keep and preserve the peace. 

In recent years church security has become more main stream. At my old church I was a part of the safety team. The mission is protecting the flock. If there was ever an incident, handle it without the rest of the congregation being aware of it, letting service continue uninterrupted. We saw recently when a Jewish Synagogue was attacked by an armed gunman, and was met by Synagogue armed security. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke). This quote suggests that apathy, silence, and inaction, permit evil to flourish. This is exactly what happened during WWII. The world stood by as the Nazi’s took over Germany, and when the countries surrounded by Germany began to fall one by one, the U.S. did very little, till the attack came to our doorstep. We allowed Germany to gain ground, and we in our apathy, allowed evil to flourish. Guns, knives, bow’s, etc. are all tools. We as a society (a worldly one) have begun having ridiculously crazy conversations about objects. In England, a famous English actor said we don’t need knives with points because kitchen knives are used in more attacks than any other bladed objects. Yet another ban on items rather than dealing with the true nature of the problem, people. In Australia, the land of dangerous things, they’ve banned machetes. Personally, with swords now being banned around the world, tools of the farm, or just survival, the change of what a man is, is imminent. I once saw a quote, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times” (Apparently quoted G. Michael Hopf) It takes a lot effort to create a society that prospers. Our very nation is the pinnacle of that idea. It took a lot of struggles, and hard work to build this country from nothing. From that nothing, a country began being built. In 1776 strong men got together to free a nation from the control of a king. To be free, and have the freedom that God has given to all men. Over the last 250 years this nation has endured good times and hard times. The situation now however, across the world is one of a steady decline. Since WWII while there’s been conflict somewhere around the world at all times, we’ve not had a great war. After Vietnam came Iraq and after 20 years of fighting this country has never seen war here at home. People here have forgotten history. Politicians here have begun to try and disarm the American people, a failsafe to ensure we have our freedoms protected. No armed forces have stepped foot in America, and one main reason is our freedom to bear arms. While this does not make someone strong, nor does it make someone a sheepdog, it is understood that our protections have followed the quote to its most logical conclusion. Our good times have indeed created hard times. The push, the desire to feminize men; the attack on masculinity has neutered, and softened their hands of men. Men once bore the sword for righteousness. Today we often do not think about government, police, or military carrying out the will of God against evil, but surely I say to you, there is Biblical precedent to this. (Speaking to those who do iniquities) 

Romans 13:4b But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword of nothing; for it is a minister of God, and avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.” 

This is referring to governments need to protect the innocent, to destroy evil where it stands. We as a society must remember 

“What must not be lost sight of is that, unpleasant as is the task of the jailor and the use of the whip, the cell, the noose, the guillotine, these things stand behind the stability of a civilized society, and they stand there necessarily, for God has declared it so, in harmony with reality, rather than with apostate sociological opinion.” (Robert Culver) 

Men willing to stand up and fight must remember there is no greater honor than to lay down one’s life for a friend. We as men must stand in courage to do what it necessary, to continue to fight the good fight, and never lose sight of doing good in the sight of God. We must continue our journey to fight the good fight as good Christian soldiers. We must continue to stand up to evil, and those who would do evil. Perhaps an unpopular take, but we must remember to do what’s right even if that takes us to far distant lands. In the words of Uncle Ben “With great power, comes great responsibility.” I am not saying we should go to war at the drop of a dime, nor should we. I’m also not saying that we should get involved in every conflict anywhere. But sometimes one must pick up the sword to destroy an evil bent on bringing that evil to the rest of the world. Iran is one such evil. Some may not like how our current president got to where we are, some may have disagreements with some of the details, and that’s fine. but the removal of dictators who’ve murdered their own people, murdered others around the world, sponsor terrorism, and those who support terrorism here at home, should be dealt with by means that are reasonable. Are we willing to stand up to do what is right, or as Dumbledore once said, “Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy.” (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) 

For a long time, I felt like I lost something. After I got out of the military I struggled with purpose. I wasn’t following Christ as I should since I wasn’t actively serving my Lord. Sure, I believed, but that couldn’t have been seen in my actions. I went on sinning, thinking I was covered, and my fire insurance was set. I made poor decisions, even though I was doing the best to be a good friend, good husband, and in my own eyes, a good Christian. The problem was, I wasn’t doing anything to lead my home spiritually. I wasn’t setting the Christ like example before my family. I lost my way. Once upon a time I believed that the sheepdog in me was dead. I believed that I couldn’t protect my family because of past mistakes. I believed that because of my physical limitations from heart surgery and other issues I was worthless. I felt worthless, and my body screamed it. In recent months I have moved into a new phase within my life, and because of the grace, mercy, and faithfulness of God, much of what I lost in 2016 has been restored. If you remain faithful to the Lord even in the most difficult times you will receive restoration. Does this mean you’ll get everything back, the house, shiny new car, etc.? No, but one way or another you will receive restoration, either in life, or eternal life. In the last few months, I have been restored in some very specific ways, and that thing has allowed me to feel safe, comfortable, prepared, and strong. I finally feel as if a big part of who I was has been restored, and I am so thankful to God to allow me to experience His grace through restoration. Yes, I was a sheepdog once, but today, I can say, even despite my physical limitations, I am a sheepdog again. I am a Christian soldier, ready to deploy, ready to continue the fight, ready to share the Good News which is what the Gospel means. Christ is King, our commander in chief. We have the Holy Spirit with us, guiding us, showing us the path, and we have the host (a military term meaning troops, or army) of angels on our side. IF God is for us, who can be against us? Satan has lost the war, and despite that he tries to win battles, but we have the truth on our side. We have the safety and security knowing that the sheepdog that looks after us is the Good Shepherd. He not only defends us Himself, but He uses His mighty host of angels to do His will. We are soldiers, we are sheepdogs, and sheepdogs never die, they just get called home. Fight the good fight Brothers and Sisters, fight on. 

I realize some of this may be controversial to some. I will say this. Do what the Lord convicts you. If you don’t like weapons, and feel if someone breaks in to do you or your family harm and that’s the will of God, that is well within your right. Follow your own convictions. As long as they match scripture.

God Bless, 

Live Long And Prosper

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The Journey With PTSD

The Journey With PTSD:

To whom it may concern: 

There’s no Purple Heart for combat related PTSD. Even if the wounds aren’t physical, PTSD is just as real, and sometimes the emotional and psychological trauma is more detrimental than a physical injury. Physical injuries can and do leave a lasting impact but the psychological ones can often be much harder to face, and live with. It changes the way we look at the world. It changes the way we live in the world. PTSD is often a cage we cannot escape from. We’ve all heard the phrase “not all wounds are visible.” As someone who’s faced the demons inside, and still do, the path, the journey is an up the mountain trek. We carry on our packs the rucksack of memories and feelings. The ruck carries every emotion, feeling, viewpoints, experiences and memories. It carries all the good and the bad. Every little thing we experience is a rock we pick up and put in our bag. It creates stress on the body that can be debilitating. In my time of recovery I learned slowly, how to put down the rocks I didn’t need. I learned how to lighten my load. Every therapy gave me new tools, and new techniques to cope with life of the present and the past. I learned how to take each rock and extract only what I needed to make me better, and I left the rest of the rocks on the mountain side. Much like the sword of Griffendor only taking in which makes it stronger. There are times I became over-encumbered and overwhelmed, I had to take time, make camp  and go through the rocks again. Recently I was faced with an external obstacle that led me to an internal battle, one in which I found myself facing self doubt, anger, disappointment, hurt, and determination. It’s important to evaluate yourself with grace, but objectively and fairly. In order for us to grow we must accept any grains of truth that come from others, even the ones that may hurt our feelings. If there’s any truth we should not shy away from the truth, merely address the things within ourselves that may be shortcomings. We always have an opportunity to make ourselves better. At the same time, we must accept that, not everything said by someone is in fact the truth. Walking up the side of the mountain gives us plenty of opportunity to see the beauty and wonder of Gods creation. Creation cries out as evidence of an intelligent creator. We must enjoy this beautiful planet our Lord has made for us. We must see the wonder of it and see the good that’s all around us. We do face battles along the way, other travelers, weather, creatures, all manner of obstacles and challenges get out in front of us. PTSD is a lasting injury that stays with us forever. While you can heal and manage symptoms, the damage to the brain isn’t always repairable. We must learn how to live life again. Even though people around us don’t always understand, there are those who do. Sadly there’s no Purple Heart for the damage done to the brain, but regardless, we don’t suffer alone. We are the warrior. We are the Soldier, Marine, Airmen, Seamen, (spacemen?), coastguard. We may be different branches but we are all one family. If you feel alone, you aren’t. There are plenty of organizations, and resources to help those service members in need. My pack is lighter now than it’s ever been. I still carry the memories and the pain, but it no longer controls my day to day life. Once in a while, sometimes triggered, sometimes random, I have moments when my PTSD rears up and knocks me down. I have learned how to manage these intrusions, the intrusive thoughts, the debilitating feelings. It isn’t always an easy fight, but I know tomorrow is a new opportunity to get back onto the trail, and continue mission. I’ve regained my sense of self, and I’ve grown in confidence that I can face today, and face tomorrow, whatever battle may be lurking over the next horizon, I’m ready! I’m a soldier and I always will be. Never out of the fight. Hooah. 

For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A Song.
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
— Psalm 46:1

“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
“Trust in the LORD forever,
For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.
— Isaiah 26:3-4

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 4:6-7

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
— Philippians 4:11-13

Sincerely 

Specialist: Arrow Preacher 

Cavalry Scout

Iraq 2004/2005 

Ashes To Ashes: We All Fall Down

Ashes To Ashes: We All Fall Down

For the vast majority of my life, I have been hunting, searching for, and pining for friendships. I grew up without a sibling, and spent a lot of time alone. I wanted nothing more than to have friends. After I moved to the trailer park when I was 5 years old, I found a friend after living there for a little while. It took years before I met other friends. I met the two others within a couple years of one another. I ended up having two groups of friends, Daniel my first, and Joe, and Josh my others. When I moved though, those friendships faded. Over the years the second group not only faded, but became ideologically opposed to me based on faith and politics. I was a Christian, they were not. I tried to keep in touch, but they stopped returning my calls. Though I was treated horribly in middle school, bullied, and eventually faced torture: the peeing on my shoes in stalls, the stealing of my clothes in gym, the theft of my personal property such as a gold necklace, the constant teasing, even so much as being told after my mothers attempted suicide, “even she hated you, she had to try and kill herself to get away from you.” I was in seventh grade when I felt the first major sting of betrayal. My mother told one of my newer friends mother personal things about my early childhood. His mother told him, and in the middle of the lunch line, he told everyone. I was standing two feet from him when he did it. I was mortified at the level of such a casual betrayal and how easy it was to betray his friend. He didn’t want to get picked on himself, so he gave his bullies something juicier, he gave them me. After I left lower Michigan after my emancipation, i moved in with my grandpa. I made some new friends, but over the years they too would largely disappear. My dating life would become difficult also. I would be heartbroken multiple times. One after another would break my heart and leave. It was often because of the way I looked and their lack of attraction to me, or they just felt I was too different. Could I have been feeling too deeply about them? Could I have been holding on too tight that I couldn’t see the warning signs? During my time in the military, while I was good at my job, I was different. I didn’t quite fit in. My personality was odd compared to everyone else. It wasn’t a lack of bravery, or skill, but something else, deeper into my personality. After I left the military, I felt more alone than I had ever felt in my life. Though some of my military friends stayed in touch once I left, I felt incredibly alone, and lost without a direction. Military friends are generally bad at keeping in touch. While there for serious matters, it took my 2016 incident for us to create a group chat to keep in touch. Before I discharged from the military I got married to a beautiful woman. I got married very fast. She had never been with a good guy, and I was her first. We had physical chemistry, but as we spent more and more time together, that wasn’t enough to hold the marriage together. Even though I was married, I was unable to make any lasting friendships. In reality, I made few friendships while living in Europe. Two years in Europe, and within a few months of leaving, the few connections I made vanished like a vapor. Nothing stuck, and while two of them can still be found on my social media, we don’t talk. After a while I moved back to the States. While there, I found myself at odds with who I was. Who am I that I cannot make or sustain any friendships? I would begin to struggle even more to find and make friends. Again, I got married, but that would offer me no help in making friendships, her friends thought I was odd and weird also.

For many years I was in a marriage where my true self was hidden, and suppressed. I was subjugated into suppressing who I was. For 15 years I lived in the same area, and you’d think I would have had plenty of opportunities to make friendships, but sadly opportunity and successfulness don’t always go hand in hand. I wonder what it is about me that’s led me to struggle with friendships? JI have often found myself time and again watching people leave out of my life and never look back. All the while these people have often claimed how important I am to them, how important our friendship is, and how much they care about me. In the end, they walked away, and several without a single word or explanation why they felt the need to leave. While I am considered to be friendly and personable by most, there’s something about me that has led countless people to leave unexpectedly, with no obvious cause. I often care very deeply for the people in my life, and to watch them leave, hurts a great deal. I was recently told that I “chase friendships”. The statement isn’t wrong. I have gone days without hearing from anyone in my contacts. I have gone months sometimes longer without hearing from individuals. When I left my home last year, next to no one reached out to check on me, and many still haven’t. And to head off any nay-sayers, yes communication goes both ways. For a long time I would send 40-70 text messages a day to contacts. Often I would just say hello, how are you, trying to make conversation. More often then not, I wouldn’t get a single response within hours, days, and sometimes never. Eventually when I didn’t hear from anyone, I stopped sending those initial texts. The people that smiled at me, talked to me, even claimed we were friends, nearly over night, stopped talking to me when I wasn’t in the same building any longer. This is simply a problem that sets up the greater question, what is the cause? Is there something about me that people don’t like, or grow to not liking? During those fifteen years I did not make any lasting friendships, even at the job I spent six years. I made limited friendships over the years, and the vast majority have since left, many without a single word as to why. I once viewed this as such: I am the common denominator. It’s me that must be the problem. I felt this way with my failed marriages as well. Perhaps in some ways that’s true, and for a long time I was incredibly harsh with myself. However, I have now come to realize, if someone leaves without a word, that’s more on them, than myself. Just because someone leaves doesn’t mean I did anything wrong. I am reminded of a quote from my childhood hero, Captain Jean-Luke Picard, Captain of the USS Enterprise, NCC. 1701-D. He said this, “It is possible to commit no mistakes, and still lose… That is not a weakness, that is life.” (Star Trek: The Next Generation, ‘Peak Performance’) If I examine the loss of friends, it is possible they left, each with their own reason, that doesn’t mean I did anything wrong. 

The Arrow Preacher: a pseudonym I created that highlights both sides of myself. On the one side a nerd, a nerd of nerds, a lover of all thing’s superhero, science fiction, to fantasy. I love Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Crime Thrillers like Bones, and Castle. Military Dramas like Seal Team. The Matrix. The other side of me is my faith. I was told recently that I hide behind my faith. While it was said to me in anger, and meant as an insult, the truth is, I have done my best to let my faith be the shield in front of me. For someone to say in anger I hide behind my faith, only strengthens my growth in my walk with God. Years ago, I just started a podcast, a VLOG, and I was attempting to create something new. I wanted to stand apart from the world, I wanted to be different, because I am different. I began doing Christian content in my Green Arrow suit. I was told I shouldn’t do that. Someone I know and trusted encouraged me to stop filming in the suit. Even though I was hurt, and I disagreed with the reasoning, I obliged and stopped filming in the suit. It’s now been almost six years and I haven’t filmed a single video in the suit. A part of me died that day. I was being made to conform to the ordinary. Stifel my unusual individuality. I’m a nerd, a Christian, and I wear things like cloaks, a tunic, and a kilt. I wear Boston Scallys. I collect swords, and Lego, Batman figures, Star Wars items, and Star Trek ships. I take photos in the snow wearing a cloak and brandishing a sword. I have battle ready light sabers around the house, just in case the power ever goes out, or I need a blunt object for intruders, or just for fun. I have come to realize I am not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve witnessed a lot of people leave my life without a single word as to why. Did they ever actually care about me, because from my point of view, and I’ve asked this many times over, “how could they leave, didn’t they care about me at all?” When I was a child, I was confronted with the same problem from my mother. See… Mom had some personal stuff, and she couldn’t be the mother she should have been. I have come to understand that I have abandonment issues. Even though I have deep rooted childhood trauma, and I fear abandonment, I don’t display the standard “insecure attachment style”. As a kid I experienced abandonment. I experienced being left alone physically, and also years of being alone emotionally. I often said, if mom loved me, she would change. If she loved me, how could she do that? I didn’t understand psychology the way I do today.  I hold on tight because I don’t want people to leave, but I am incredibly kind and understanding. I’m often willing to talk about all manner of things, but recently have discovered I rarely stood up for myself. I would allow people to talk down to me. I would allow people to step on me, and get everything they wanted from me. Married twice, I would often find myself hurt by something, and when I would bring it up, I would be the one apologizing for bringing it up. I was not allowed to feel hurt and moreover, I was not allowed to talk about it. People are flawed individuals. I am a flawed individual. What I am is a red blooded, emotion filled, Holy Spirit led Christian conservative. There are a great many people who don’t like that at all. 

It’s been a long road for me, and as I continue to deal with those who have recently left my life, I have to come to grips with the fact that I matter. My feelings matter. I have control over my own actions in life. While I am not willing to say I am perfect because scripture clearly tells us we are not, and I know my shortcomings, what I am willing to say is I have often done very little to deserve how I have been treated. I have had a history of allowing people into my life who only used me for my kindness, what I could offer them, or people who were nice, just to be nice. Only a few have held me as more than just a casual friend, and even then, many of those who did see me as a close friend, have also left my life. I have watched as people I love have used me, then discarded me once I no longer offered anything useful to them. This may sound melodramatic, but in reality, emotions aside, these are the facts. After my emancipation, and moving to a new city, having to make new friends, after leaving everything behind, I tried to latch onto people. I tried to make very deep friendships. Over the years I have found very few people that have had the same feelings towards me, then I do them. How do I manage this hurt in my life going forward? Seek Jesus, and know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. 

John 14:1-4 14 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way where I am going.”

My heart has been greatly troubled. Broken, shattered, and the only way to heel is to seek and find biblical counsel. Find answers in scripture. Seek what God’s word says on the matter. 

John 14:18 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” 

Jesus comforted his future Apostles. The terminology of being called and described as orphans enters into my very soul. While I am not an orphan, I know what it’s like to be left alone. In one sense I have a small taste of what it’s like to be an orphan. My Lord Jesus giving His disciples comfort, comforts me 2000 plus years later. I have been told I chase friendships, and in reality, what I need to be chasing is Christ. If people will continue to fail me, what I need is to appreciate those in my life, even if they are few, who stay. I need to focus on my family, and most importantly I need to focus on my relationship with the Lord. This doesn’t remove the hurt in my heart that exists, but it does send me back to scripture. I must also remember that when Jesus was headed to the cross, after being betrayed by Judas, leaving 11 of the Apostles, 10 of the 11 would run, hide, flee from those who put Jesus in binds. John was the only one at the foot of the cross watching his Lord be crucified for our sins. That being said however, when Jesus returns, he shows love, kindness, and most importantly forgiveness towards his Apostles, most notably Peter, who didn’t just run, but denied knowing Jesus. Jesus shows us the model of what we should be, and who we should be. 

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

I am crushed in spirit. I am brokenhearted. Losing someone recently, who was very close to me, and very influential in my life, has left me with a deep cut, a wound that has rattled me. While my foundation is solid in the Lord, I am 100 percent certain, because I have grown so close to the Lord I am better at withstanding the hurt and pain I feel. I am not sure how this will affect my life going forward, but in life we are creatures of the now. We cannot live in the past. We cannot know the future. All we can do is make one decision after another. We can only decide how to handle and manage each second of our lives. In those actions, we understand cause and effect. Our choices have consequences, and we must face those consequences both good and bad. We must do all these things to the Glory of God. We must make our choices based on what brings our Heavenly Father a smile upon his face. We are not saved by our works, but our works when done in the name of the Lord acquire treasure in heaven. That treasure is not for us, but for us to present to Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We all get hurt by people. What I need to ask myself, is if I’m going to allow someone so much influence over my life, that I give up who I am to please them, and try to get them to like me by hiding or changing who I am to get them to like me? Or, will I be myself? If someone likes me for who I am they will choose to want me in their life. I have to believe it is better to be myself, then to constantly try to please others by sacrificing myself to do it. I allowed the Arrow Preacher to die. I allowed my spirit to be crushed, and I allowed the happiness and joy I once had to bring both fun and education of Jesus to the world, to be suppressed to please others. Will I continue to hold back who I am, or will I rise above, rising like the phoenix from the ashes that was once my old self burned and buried? 

Continue to grow in the Lord. Continue to find peace with who you are. We cannot ever be comfortable living in sin, but being different, being a little strange or weird is not something to be ashamed of. Yes, I wear cloaks in public. Yes, I dress funny, or sometimes use movie quotes in normal conversation, or have an odd office space, full of collectables, and art of my favorite characters in fiction. All of my time being forced to ‘grow up’, having my childhood taken from me, and having very little has left me embracing the desire to do now, what I never could before, collect. In my youth I was forced to skip over important years of my life enjoying being a kid, through it all however, I never became bitter, angry, or hostile towards anyone. I kept my childhood ‘self’ alive, and I never allowed the world to kill him completely, even if that kid was buried deep down. Yes, for a time that little boy was suppressed and hidden, but after I met the right woman, and after I moved onto the path of serving the Lord daily, that person, started coming back. The Lord uses tragedy in our lives to push us. The Lord uses hurtful things to continue to forge us into something else. “We must learn to be more like the Sword of Griffandor. Be strong, be forged in the sanctification of our Lord Jesus Christ. Allow Him to shape our hearts, and our lives to look like Him. We cannot be forged like this though if we hold onto everything of the past.” (The Arrow Preacher, The Forging Of My Soul. https://thearrowpreacher.com/2025/04/10/the-forging-of-my-soul/)  Like the Sword of Griffandor we must only take in that which makes us better. We must face this world daily and not give in to the Devils desire to break you, or to separate you from God. The Devil desires you to abandon your quest, the path the Lord has set you on, and in many cases, getting a believer to turn their backs on God altogether. “We must learn to Love all, to remember not to allow ourselves to be burned by the fire, instead allow it to burn away anything and everything that isn’t used to live a Godly life. While fire can burn away a life, it can create wonderful pieces of art. A sword for instance is a beautiful creation, a hand-crafted piece of steal that is forged in fire. A sword can break under great pressure, or can withstand the persistent blows it may endure to be used in protecting ones self.” (The Arrow Preacher, Forging Steel. https://thearrowpreacher.com/2017/08/11/forging-steel/)

While I was serving as a chaperone to the youth in my church, there were three young ladies who were quite obviously different. You could see their nature in the clothing they wore. Every week they wore clothes that were not of the normal. Sometimes it was old fashioned colonial style clothes, or even a hint of gothic mid-evil style. Sometimes it was a hint of steampunk, but no matter what it was, it was not clothes from Walmart. They wore these clothes every week, and didn’t care what anyone thought of them. They wore them because it was who they were. They weren’t trying to wear them for attention, perhaps quite the opposite. They wore them because they liked them. I admired those young ladies, and it often led me to wear what I liked as well, even though what I wore was very different. All this to be said, my journey is far from over. My path is one of continued service to my Lord Jesus. I will no longer answer to anyone else about how I choose to serve my Lord. I don’t care about the views or attention, but I will do everything I can to reach the unreached. I will continue my journey to reach the nerds, to reach the cosplayers, to reach veterans. I will allow the old me to return, so I can put on my true face. I no longer want to hide who I am. I don’t want to live that lie anymore. Who I am is not a sin, I’m just different. So, ashes to ashes, we all fall down, but I will rise again, a phoenix from the fire, different than what I was before, stronger, and more confident. Back to the path, back to the mission I was set on so many years ago. Today, I am still meeting new people, and some of them while new, haven’t run for the hills as I’m more open about who I am. Today, I know who I am. I am a child of God, I am created and loved by God, I am a soldier for Christ. We must be pulled back, before we can be let lose to fly, be an arrow for Christ, fly, fly towards the target the Lord has given you. Never quit, never surrender. Go in peace, go in love, go in courage, go with the strength of God behind you. 

“Live Long and Prosper”

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What Bakes My Noodle : ♾️ Worldview (YouTube Podcast)

A Christian’s worldview in an ever changing societal environment. How to get beyond the milk and learning how to wield a Christian’s greatest asset, the Word of God (the sword).

Come join me as I discuss a Christian worldview verses a secular worldview. How we should focus on facts and knowing scripture well enough for us to determine our beliefs about world events. But no matter what to be loving, caring, and willing to pray for those who may try to hurt us.

Sojourn

Sojourn:

“Not all who those wander are lost” Tolkein. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, living off the land, yet he was never lost. Christians often find ourselves living in a world designed by Satan to be hostile to Christians who do not stay silent about their faith. While martyrdom is fairly common place in places where the church is under constant attack, it’s less common here in the U.S. Recently a brother in Christ, Charlie Kirk was martyred for his faith in a public assassination/execution. In the wake of his death, many have begun to stand up and scream their faith from the highest mountain tops. Social media is flooded with new voices coming from the darkness to debate in the public square. College campuses have seen these new voices take on the secular world with boldness. Silence one voice and many will rise to take its place. 

For a long time, I stayed quiet about my faith, afraid of pushing people away because I wanted to feel like I belonged. For a long time, I filled my life with those of the secular world, but as long as they called me friend, I overlooked blatant sin. Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:14, 14 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” How can a Christian live in this life and do so with so few standing beside them? Scripture tells us not to forsake the assembly (Heb 10:25). We must learn to stand together, join together, and together let our voices be heard. We are sojourners in this life, citizens of heaven (Phill 3:20). We are given warning in 1 Peter 2:11 11 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens (Sojourners) and strangers (Exiles) to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” We must learn how to do this though, learn how to walk as an ambassador (2 Corinth 5:20) for the Lord. 

In order for us to be ready for the war we face on earth, we must learn what each piece of the armor is for, how it works, and why. We must prepare our fingers for battle, the spiritual battle. We must be prepared to give up one’s life for the Lord if called upon. Scripture tells us to have a defense of our faith (1 Peter 3:15), to be able to articulate the Gospel to the non-believer. We must acknowledge that Paul calls us a soldier for Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 3 “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” We know we will suffer for Christ because to pick up ones cross as we are called to do, Matthew 16:24 24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” We are to deny the lusts of this world, the lusts that draw us away from The Kingdom of God. When we focus on the riches, the baubles of this world, we take our eyes away from the Kingdom, and thus, that object becomes an idol. We must guard our eyes, our minds, our bodies of the draw of Satan, the desires that make us feel good in the moment, but empty and dead in the end. 

The righteous man will fight the good fight, and train his mind, his body, and his soul for the battle ahead. We as soldiers must be prepared for the journey we face daily. The first thing we must do is the use the belt of truth. (Eph 6:14) What is truth, the Gospel, Jesus, the Bible is truth. Next is protecting your heart with the Breastplate of Righteousness. We must protect our heart, and allow God to make us born again, turning our heart from stone to flesh. From dead men to alive. Put on the Sandals of the Gospel of Peace. Everywhere we go we must walk with that peace. We must be willing to share the gospel and spread truth with every step we take. We must know that the sandals allow us to dig in when the storm comes, like cleats on the football field. This allows us to bury our feet into the ground with the spikes on the bottoms of the sandals. This symbolizes not giving into the attacks of Satan. Not allowing the secular world to change, alter, water down, or compromise the Gospel, the Truth of Jesus Christ. We must then take up the Shield of Faith. Knowing that the war is upon us, and the flaming arrows from Satan will reign down all around us, the shield protects us in our faith. There will be times when Satan will reign down hell upon us, and we must learn to ‘get small’ behind that shield. Allow it to take the arrows, allow your faith to absorb the attacks knowing that this is not home, and there is a far better place awaiting the believer. What is a little suffering compared to the eternity of Heaven? Little Christian, protect your mind by wearing the Helmet of Salvation. Be mindful of what you watch, read, and listen too. Guard your tongue and know that the tongue can build up or tear down. Proverbs 18:21 says the tongue has the power of life and death. What we say is a representation of what’s in our hearts. We must use the helmet to protect against the propaganda machine of the deceiver. Social media has leveled up the Devils ability to push his narrative, his lies, and desensitize us to the lies he spreads. 

Finally brothers and sisters, take up the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. Ephesians 6:18-20 18 “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” The sword is the gospel, and with the spirit of God with us, we take our prayers to the Lord. We lift up our daily and continuous prayers before the Throne of Grace. Since we are against the spiritual, our weapon is the spiritual kind. The truth we find in scripture is the one and only truth, the way to heaven, and the way to life. Outside of the truth in scripture is death. For those who are not born again, for them, life has no hope. Death and darkness await the unbeliever. Many however, would be happy to lift the sword towards the believer of Jesus Christ. The sword of the spirit must be trained with. We must learn scripture, for there may come a day when the physical Bible we all have may be outlawed and we must rely on what we have stored in our hearts. If the Bible was banned today how much would you have to rely on? We must train our minds, train our souls for the war we are in. We must study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15) 

Little Christian, run the race, run with endurance, and never grow tired of doing good. Never grow weary, for when you do, pray to the Lord, and allow Him to give you rest in the knowledge that our suffering is only for a little while. When we find ourselves nearing the valley of death, do not be afraid. We wear the full armor, and this armor we never take off after we put it on. Never give the Devil one moment of opportunity where he could exploit your complacency. We wear the Armor which is the attributes of God upon ourselves. Each piece is an attribute of God, so let us run with assurance that if God is for us, who can be against us. Train to fight little Christian, train as if your life depends on it, because it does. Train to face the enemy and know that the moment you put on this armor the deceiver, the lion that wishes to devour you will begin the hunt. Be prepared for the fight to come. 

We know that time is a vapor in the eternity of Heaven. We are a mere speck of time and our opportunities must be taken advantage of. We are called ambassadors, so we represent the country we call home. Let us represent Christ well. Let us share the gospel to the unbeliever spread the seeds of the Gospel everywhere we go. Let us face this fight together, and walk with a humble heart. Let us be rid of the pride and lusts that once held our hearts, and walk with meekness. Women, be women, be the helper God has called you to be. Be the nurturer of your home. Be the soft tone, and be the home for the husband to escape the snares of life. Husbands, guard your home and protect it. Be the spiritual head of the household, and be willing to die for it, as Christ died for the church. 

Ephesians 5:22-30 22 “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body.”

We each complement one another, and we must see each role as a place in a military squad. We have our duties, our responsibilities, and when we fill our rolls as God has planned, we can fight the fight together, instead of fighting one another or fighting the world alone. We are a team, one body, one flesh, and we fight together. 

As a sojourner of this world, we all should have the same goal, please the Lord. In all we do let us do to bring glory and pleasure to God. When we finally finnish the race, let us do so with honor and present ourselves as a “olah tamid” a perpetual daily burnt offering to the Lord. This is where the Hebrew word for disciple comes from “talmid”. When we reach heaven let us be the disciple we are called to be. Let us be a complete burnt offering to the Lord, let us have given everything to the Lord and there was nothing left to give when we leave this life. Let our service to the Lord be a sweet aroma. And in the end, let us hear ‘Well done my good and faithful servant.’ Let us keep our eyes upon the Lord, and seek always the Kingdom of God. 

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Consequences 

Consequences 

Consequences: A result or effect of an action or condition. We as humans live here and now. We cannot predict the future, but we can in some ways be responsible for what happens. We are given the opportunity of free will to decide what we want to do. When we have a choice between two roads, one that leads to destruction, one that does not, we have a choice. Each choice has a consequence. We often want to blame others for the situation we are in. Sometimes our situation is caused by others, but in reality, we still have our own choices to make. How do we respond when things go wrong because of others? How do we respond when things go wrong because of ourselves? As Batman said “It’s not who I am underneath, but I do that defines me.” Who are you blaming for your woes? Who are you blaming for your own actions? And when the consequences come because of what you do, how are you behaving and how are you treating others? 

When a person who’s been a repeat offender gets mad when family or friends no longer help when time after time, wrong choices continue to be made. Who’s to blame? When someone continually puts themselves in harm’s way or in toxic relationships and environments when they have options not too, who’s to blame when things go bad? In the whole of human history, we have seen what happens when the bill comes due, and we have to then answer for our actions. Adam when confronted by God quickly turned the attention off of himself, and said, “The woman YOU gave me.” A bold statement, that in one foul swoop Adam blamed both the woman, and God for his actions. Now, let’s not forget that the actions of Eve cannot be undersold either. She had a choice, a chance, and in that moment of temptation from the snake, she thought in her mind, “I could be like God.” And perhaps even further, ‘if I could be like God, I don’t need God.’. Her actions and the subsequent lie that came, and behold, sin entered into paradise, eternity was fractured, and time began ticking, the slow decay of life and death. Cause and effect. This isn’t a new concept, and one, I do not feel the need to reinvent, so instead, I shall borrow what’s already been said. “Causality my love.” The Merovingian’s wife, she said this to her husband when she betrayed him and led Neo, and the others to the key maker. Unfortunately, even though cause and effect is often highlighted with high stakes in the movies, life can be more subtle. 

A wife is struck by her husband. She returns to him after leaving for a week. In time though she continues to return, even if the violence continues to escalate. The process inevitably repeats itself. Who is at fault? The man, of course, but unfortunately and as callous as it may be, the women who went back the first time, and then continued to return afterwards. Actions no matter how we may understand the want, the desire to overlook someone’s behavior, or even try to justify it, at the base root, actions have consequences. Someone picking up a syringe that first time, pressured by friends to shoot heroin. Is it the friend’s fault, sure, but the root again stems with a single starting choice, to be there, to pick up the needle, and not to say no. Everything after can be excused by the inevitable snowball as life gets away from us and we get trampled by the very snowball we ourselves created. Scripture tells us many warnings of such events. David is one. 

Here’s a king who was considered by many to be great, anointed by God. The kid who won a war, defeated the giant who made men quiver in their armor. The boy whose hand did not cut the head off the king who pursued him. David who chose not to go to war with his men, but to stay and be exactly in the wrong place. We all know the story, David and Bathsheba. Choices that led David to be on that roof, looking down at Bathsheba cleaning herself. David who didn’t look away. David who knew who she was after asking her identity. David who brought her to the palace. David who got her pregnant. Then, the man who at this point allowed the snowball to escalate tried to hide, to conceal the truth, and in doing so resorted to murder. That baby died because of David’s sin, and his choices. Only because he was king was his own life not forfeit. [(David is king. While the law states the offender should die, no one has the earthly authority to kill the king. David also has not had the baby Solomon, which is Gods plan for the line for Jesus to be born. We also see, only the King can affect or change how the law is the be carried out, when his son raped his sister. David does not act to pass the death sentence required by law, effectively pardoning his son. This leads to Absolom performing an effective coup against the throne and plunging the country into civil war. God spared David the earthly penalty for his crime, and chose a different punishment instead, the death of the child. Anyone else would have been stoned to death for the same crime.) Added after publication.] How far can a person be driven when our choices lead us along like the carrot on the end of a stick. 

GOD’S WARNING: 

1 Peter 5:8 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

We must keep our minds sober, for when we cloud our judgment sins often happen. When we are told to put on the full armor of God, this tells us we are soldiers. Ephesians 6 for the armor. In 2 Timothy 3 “3 Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” As a soldier we must be prepared for the battle. As a soldier in Iraq, I often found myself on duty as something known as QRF (Quick Reaction Force). I needed to stay alert and ready to go on mission at any time. I cannot say how many QRF missions I went on as it was too many to count. As a soldier I knew and understood the need to be ready for the fight, and to be fit to fight. As a soldier I understand that if I do not practice with my rifle, I will not be mission ready. As such, if I do not read my bible and attend worship, I will not be fit to fight the forces of evil. I also understand that in Ephesians we are told that Eph 6:12 “12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” As a soldier having put on the sandals of the gospel of peace, how then do we hold fast when the Devil attacks? We get our answer in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” Being like Christ is our choice and chance to resist the temptation of sin. Will we sin, sure, Paul reminds us that in Romans 7:15 “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Scripture gives us what we need to live in the world that hates us so much, and in doing so resist the Devil with everything we have.

I’ve counseled a lot of people over the years, and one thing that has remained a constant was the person ignoring advice, and finding themselves in the same problem over and over again. In life, we must put our pride and ego aside to look at ourselves and see our actions do have consequences. While I do understand sometimes our situation is impacted by the choices of others, this is a reminder that sin doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Sin affects everyone around us, and we cannot do much about the actions of others, but we must stay vigilant to police our own actions. While we understand that sin happens, we must be ready for the wave occurs when it happens near us. A person’s actions will indeed hit us, and sometimes it’s a tsunami and it destroys relationships, and lives. As a Christian we must keep our wits about us and remember the words of Dumbledore, “Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy”. Being a Christian has never been, and will never be easy. This means we as Christians will face difficult choices along the way. Will we be swept up in the ways of the world, or will we maintain our choices to be that representation of Christ? It’s easy to want to help someone you feel sympathy for, but it’s also okay to forgive someone and set healthy boundaries. We do not want to accidentally enable continued bad behavior. There must be true repentance sometimes for us to be able to help someone in need who has, in the past abused the kindness and caring of others. It’s okay to say no.

Even when we know people who make bad, unhealthy choices, all we can do is pray for them continuously. We need to pray for people, pray for their choices and souls, and be kind in telling them the truth. We must be gentle but stern in our delivery, never resorting to our impulses to sin, but rather hold fast to our Christian faith, and our need to do our very best to be Christ like. 

We live in the present, and we can only control this very moment. Let us be in control of ourselves, and represent Christ the best we can in each moment of each day. 

Have a blessed day, please leave a like or comment, and if you’d like to message me you can email me, the email can be found in the about me page.

For More Christian Content Follow The Below Links

Arrow Preacher Podcast:

https://youtube.com/@thearrowpreacher6920?si=wvVC80iHWsSSkRY1

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https://peacenotfear.wordpress.com/

Free Speech: The True Meaning

Free Speech: The True Meaning

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about the freedom of speech, particularly recently of those being infringed upon, or allegedly infringed upon. Before we dive into this topic, let’s look at what the constitution says about free speech.  

Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There’s a lot to unpack in this paragraph but let’s take a simple quick look. Congress being the subject matter’s main character. Simply put, the who is congress. What, the what is fairly simple, cannot pass laws in violation to some simple thoughts, speech, press, assembly. In recent days, many people have become upset at the firing of Jimmy Kimmel over something he said on his show. Well, let’s look at what he actually said on his show. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Obviously this has been found to be incorrect, as the kid by both family and eye witnesses was indeed radicalized by the left. Jimmy’s quote it would seem, came to control a narrative and purposefully muddy the water and mislead people into believing a lie. The biggest point is though, the FBI, and local law enforcement had already shed light on the idea that this was someone radicalized by the Left, as Kimmel’s show was September 15th. CK was shot on the 10th. Intentionally lying even after devises had been collected, and information given to the public, Kimmel lied and made up his own narrative, not as a joke, but as a political narrative. One thing I want to point out is this, ABC is a subsidiary company to Disney, which has been known to swing far left for many years. Also, I would like to point out that the TV show “The View” is also owned by ABC and have been hit with massive slander lawsuits against right leaning conservatives. Yet, the view and all of its hosts are still working for Disney (ABC). Remember this, Disney is a business, and businesses are in the business of making money. If the Kimmel late night show has had problems, or perceived problems, and wasn’t profitable, of course the show would get canceled. But, remember, at the root of the problem, Kimmel made a bold statement lying to the American people. His firing was from the network, not the government. 

The truth is this, Jimmy knowingly spread a lie, and lost his job. What is so different about Jimmy and the other hosts on the “View”? Honestly, I don’t know. The view has lost Disney a lot of money in court cases, and yet they are still around. Regardless, in the same breath, when Gina Corino was fired for speaking truth about Covid and the vaccine, no one said a word on the left about her right to free speech. Let us remember one other note, the former president when he was speaking his mind, was removed from twitter. Twitter and a network TV show are not the same thing, and yet like many others who were censored during that time period on social media, it was actually at the bequest of the Biden Administration that censored millions of people on social media, including the former president of the United States. This is actually against peoples 1st amendment rights, but nothing was done about this. Those in charge never faced accountability for their coercion of the tech companies to silences the voices of millions of Americans not happy with the covid-19 mandates. Even listening to old speeches from the left during the time of the Biden admin about censorship, and then the speeches given within the last 24 hours of this publication, the lack of empathy or sympathy is staggering. Let’s look at free speech though, and determine if either of these was in violation to their first amendment rights.

In a short answer, no, neither of these things is a violation of free speech. Free speech does not mean freedom from consequences of what you say. While we may disagree, Disney is a private company and they have the right to fire someone for what they say, if what they say goes against what the company wants for their image, or if they feel what’s being said will cause financial troubles. Now, yes, that seems like it may be a slippery slope, but even within the context of the two people we are referring too here, Gina’s comments turned out to be true. Her concerns over the way covid was being handled and her realistic concerns over the ‘vaccine’ turned out to be both reasonable, and accurate. Jimmy’s comments were neither, in fact, with just a hair bit of time, it turned out to be false. One lied, one told the truth. Jimmy was not fired by the right, or even because of anything the right had to say, he was fired by a left leaning organization, that has kept members of the view in place. Why the difference? Some have suggested his contract was about to be up, and there was no desire to re-up his contract. Instead, they found cause to remove him early. This is speculation, but if it’s true, it had very little to do with freedom of speech, nor Disney’s stand point on the Kirk assassination, but more about money and business. If Kimmel truly feels he’s being wronged, he has the right to take his firing before a court to see if a mistake was made in the eyes of the judicial system.

Since the Kirk assassination there have been many who have been fired from their jobs or expelled from schools because of social media posts, or their actions being filmed. Once again, I say this, the First Amendment does not guarantee anyone’s right to say whatever they want free of consequences. “In 1789, this meant that Congress was prohibited from engaging in the practice of “prior-censorship” – prohibiting a speech or publication without advance approval of an executive official. The courts today give a much broader interpretation to the clause.” (McClellan, J. 2000. Pg 418) This next session is what I want us to focus on. “This does not mean, however, that the First Amendment guarantees any absolute or perfect freedom to shout whatever one wishes, print whatever one likes, assemble in a crowd wherever or whenever it suits a crowd’s fancy, or present a petition to Congress or some other public body in a context of violence.” It goes on to say “The Constitution recognizes no “absolute” rights.” (McClellan, J. 2000. Pg 418) 

Members of the left side of the political spectrum had no problem when people were getting fired from their jobs for speaking truth about Covid during the 2020-2021 years. People were being censored on the right for their concerns over the vaccine, their unwillingness to take it, or opposing the ‘science’ that was being touted as absolute truth. Many disagreed with the closure of schools, or the effectiveness of masks, who would find themselves without a Facebook page, or worse, without a job. Later, it was revealed by Facebook and others that the government urged them to take down information referring to the Hunter Biden laptop, anything referring to covid that didn’t fit their narrative, even though those things were true. In fact, this was in absolute violation to the censorship the constitution referred too, as a violation of the rights of the people. Where was the outrage over government censorship? The first amendment does not protect speech that may be violent in nature, or even lying. 

I wrote this recently on a different platform: 

“I think people may have a misconception of what “Free Speech” means. Let me give you an example… If you go to work, and you tell your boss to “F” off, it’s likely you won’t have a job anymore. If you slander someone and ruin their reputation and damage their life in some way by telling a lie, you may face and be guilty of slander before the court. Same for libel (Slander in written form, Thank you Spider-Man). All of this to say, while we do protect free speech, such as going to a soldier’s funeral and protesting at the funeral (West-Boro Baptist Church in the early 2000’s). These things still come with consequences. I was very clear in my last message what I thought about this, but if you say things, your business has every right to decide if your words and actions represent the company or not. Words and actions still have consequences. Free speech does not mean no consequences, it means you have the right to say what you wish. You cannot yell fire in a crowded room. So, free speech does come with some common-sense exceptions. I would not feel safe, or comfortable seeing a doctor who cheered on the death of another human. If you have a business, you do not want to put off half the population of the US. Remember what they said in John Wick? Consequences. It’s important to pray for one another. It’s important to come together and cool the fire. As the famous Bob Marley once said, “Don’t worry, about a thing, every little thing’s gonna be alright.” Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord. And we shall continue to share the love and life of Christ with everyone. Seek first the kingdom of God and you shall be saved. Be in peace, and go in peace.” (Arrow Preacher, 2025) 

We must be knowledgeable about what we say, and the sheer number of the masses claiming their free speech has been violated, doesn’t understand the constitution. Private businesses, and organization have the right to let people go from their employ if what they say is violent or incendiary in nature. Free speech is not an absolute right with absolute immunity to whatever you want to say. While we must be cautious as a nation even within the private sector how we respond to someone’s comments, we should not be virtue signaling and cherry picking based on political sides. In this authors opinion it’s strange that Kimmel’s show would be canceled from the same network that allows the View to constantly get themselves in trouble for slander. It’s more likely that the ratings on Kimmel’s show were a major contributing factor to his firing. It also seems to me that the left are now seeing the swing, the turnaround, the uno reverse, to years of censorship and cancel culture finally coming back around. 

Free speech comes with responsibility. We must be careful with what we say because in the age of digital warfare, many people have chosen to be vicious and cruel, uncaring, and vile. We as Christians have the responsibility to share the gospel in a time when the hatred for the Christian is once again becoming publicly evident. In recent days the quote, unquote free speech has revealed that people are no longer just in disagreement, but are also callus and apathetic about the death of another person. When we begin to dehumanize people because of their beliefs we lose our humanity. When we as a people celebrate criminals or even murderers, over someone who simply and respectfully debated others in a public forum, we have lost something. Desecrating memorials or attacking people at a vigil, shows that the devil is in fact winning ground. Scripture teaches us that we must fight against the devil. “Ephesians 6:12 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We have seen the continued attack and hatred towards Christians in recent years, and this will not stop any time soon. We must continue to speak the truth, even when we are hated because of it. We must continue to stand up and proclaim the name of Jesus, even when people attack us for it. We must continue to wear the full armor of God and prepare ourselves by keeping sober minded, “Romans 12:21 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Evil and violence will never be defeated by perpetuating more hate and more evil deeds. We must remember that while speech does come with a cost as I have afore mentioned, we must remember what scripture says. “James 3:6-8 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” We will never be able to stop people from being evil, or their hatred, but what we can do is continue to pray for them. We must pray for our enemies and ourselves to focus on a Christ centered life. “Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” 

A few days ago I also wrote this. 

“It’s been a few days now. As I scroll social media, I find my heart swelling with emotion. Evil reigns here on earth. But our Lord Jesus reigns in Heaven over all.  What evil meant to destroy, Jesus will use it for good. I am filled with so much heart breaks from my brother whom I just met, passing, the anniversary of my father’s passing before I met him, my best friend’s death anniversary is approaching, my dear Riley my service dog nearing the end of her life, I am broken. Jesus is my Lord and I know he was Charlie’s Lord as well. Yes, tears continue to fall for my brother in Christs family, but I know CK was met by Jesus, a martyr’s welcome. A crown of glory was placed on his head and we here are left to pick up the pieces. We will continue to spread the gospel, unapologetically, but in love. It’s not loving to lie to someone, so we tell the inconvenient truth to the unbeliever. We will continue to fight against the powers of darkness here in this world. We will pick up the pieces of our broken hearts, and wipe away our tears, but we will fight. For those celebrating his death, and maybe some of you reading this, I preach and teach the same messages as CK did, should I also die for my beliefs. I am public about the gospel also. Should I be taken from my family? If you wonder why those are being fired from work for what they say, it’s this simple truth, when you celebrate violence, and you work for a company, work with kids, or the medical field, or other, how can you be expected to treat others whom you’re supposed to serve, if you so publicly hate those who might be conservative? How much is my life worth, when I believe many of the same things? In this time of brokenness, let us pray for those around the world who turn to violence. Those who threaten or propagate violence in their lives, let us pray for them. Church, be strong, courageous, but be firm. We may be broken, but we are not out of the fight. Jesus, thank you for being Lord over my life, for saving me and lifting me out of death. Bless this nation that I have sacrificed so much for. Turn hearts from the black sludge they are to heart of flesh, on fire for you. Thank you, Jesus, and watch over and protect us. Amen.” 

I pray that because I am conservative that others would not wish for my death. I pray that while I am a Christian, I am not marked for death by someone with evil intent. Those celebrating and trying to mislead the people about the ideologies of the Charlie Kirk assassin are doing so for a purpose of hiding the true nature that is befalling this country. Hatred, and violence are becoming the calling card for those who disagree and do not care to continue to have a reasonable, peaceful debate of ideas and thoughts. The perpetuation of hate and lies must stop. We can disagree about policies, and ideas all day long, but once we start lying to protect those ideas, or to mislead the people to believing in something that is not true, we risk the collapse of this Republic. We must be honest and truthful, and as Christians we are called to share that truth lovingly. We must not celebrate death, for each and every death of the innocent is still a tragedy. The celebration of the death of the unborn is a vile and evil thing. The celebration of a man taken from his family and children is tragic. It is quite possible that the perpetuation of hate speech is exactly how and why the CK killer turned to evil, as he became radicalized at school, from those who use inflammatory language to bring people to hate the other side. It’s interesting to see those call Charlie a racist, when he did a great deal for the black community. It’s interesting that the left, the side of tolerance, would attack him for him sticking to his beliefs as a Christian, and that being true to himself. How can you claim tolerance, and then attack a man who truly lived out his faith both publicly and privately. He didn’t do anything violent, or vile, and yet he is attacked as if he did. Not very tolerant if you ask me. 

I would like to point out a simple truth. The left has come to a point where they openly call themselves socialists, or in some cases support communism. This same side has gone to calling the President as bad as Hitler. They say the right is full of fascists. However, these tactics go back to Hitlers 1925 manifesto Mein Kampf. In the writing is something known as the ‘technique of repeating a big lie, to make it believable. The following is part of the ideal. 

  • The Big Lie: Stating a complete falsehood and repeating it often enough that people begin to accept it as fact. Hitler argued that “in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility”.
  • Name-Calling: Attaching negative labels to opponents to bypass rational thought and incite an emotional reaction.
  • Creating a scapegoat: Blaming a specific group for a country’s problems to unify followers and justify aggression against that group. In Mein Kampf, Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s woes.

The Truth: The truth is the left has become a party that hates religion. The party that wants population control and is doing so by devaluing human life including the life of the unborn baby. Devaluing the life of anyone who stands in its way to control. By calling the right Nazi, and fascist, if done enough people will begin to believe it. This while attempting to radicalize the kids of this nation to believe that socialism, and communism are far better options than freedom and capitalism. The socialist parties over the world have always started by limiting freedoms one by one and calling it safety. We are seeing this happen around the world. People being arrested for speech, and for prayer. The banning of simple items such as katana’s, machetes, firearms, mace, pepper spray, etc, in the name of safety. While the right is not innocent in all of this, the right is not calling for the murder of babies, and the right generally is also not or has not celebrated the death of a public figure such as Charlie Kirk. Both sides do need to come to a cooler point for us to be able to share ideas, and disagree. In this nation we are built as a nation by those who believed in God. While some where deists, some were Christian, some perhaps catholic, all believed we as a nation should be rooted in faith. John Adams said this, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Jay said this, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” Many argue we are not a Christian nation, but over and over again, while the founders did not want to establish a set governmental religion, it was firmly believed that those who founded this country had a strong belief in the Christian Bible. 

Charles Spurgeon said this “Sin and Hell are married unless repentance proclaims the divorce.” We as Christians have a responsibility to point out sin in both our government, public figures, others around us, and within ourselves. We must seek to repent of our sin, at the same time sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a loving way to those who are still asleep in their sins. Spurgeon also said this “If you have no wish to bring others to heaven, you are not going there yourself.” We must share the gospel and do so from a point of kindness, but also loudly. I firmly believe we are seeing a shift within our country, where those who hate the Christian nature of America have been attacking her from within for many years. Water down Christianity, get generations to turn their back on the Christian faith, then watch as Satan begins to work. Spurgeon said this “Satan can make men dance upon the brink of hell as though they were on the verge of heaven.” Have we not seen the celebrations, and the heartless postings, and quotes from people that show the lack of humanity? Yes, indeed, I believe this shows us Christians, the nature of those whom we now fight against. The forces of darkness have risen and now cover the land. 

Those who hate you for your faith, who like the recently spoken words of the Dearborn Michigan mayor who told a Christian resident that he wasn’t welcome in the city anymore, simply for sharing his belief as a Christian, against a Muslim who killed many.  This in the heart seems to be a moral collapse. C.S. Lewis said this about moral collapse, “Moral collapse follows upon spiritual collapse.” In his recent book “Wimpy Weak and Woke- How Truth Can Save American From Utopian Destruction” John Cooper said this, “Today, truth is viewed as a matter of perspectives derived from experience. To deny someone’s experience is to deny ‘Their truth.’ To deny ‘their truth’ is not only a denial of their suffering, but of their very existence. This is because in postmodernism, the closest thing to ‘real’ is one’s experience.” We must focus on the truth. When lies are told, it doesn’t matter what side of the fence, we must remember we aren’t supposed to lie. Yet, when it came to Charlies “truth” house democrats slandered his memory on the house floor. Where is your tolerance for someone’s truth now? There is absolute truth, and scripture is our measure of what is true. Voddie Baucham said this, “The Ninth Commandment simply states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). However, this commandment carries more weight than one can imagine. Falsehood and lies are reprehensible because they not only harm those to and /or about whom they are told, but they also blaspheme the very character and nature of the God who is truth (John 14:6), whose very Word is truth (Psalm 119:43,160; John 17:17), and whose very essence is that of ‘the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). (Voddie Baucham, Fault Lines). In the heart of the matter, Jimmy Kimmel lied on national television. He knew he was lying when he said it, and yet for the click bait, or for the ratings, or just to rile people up, he said it. The consequence of his words was to be fired. It is not because of the right, it’s because of what he said. Words cannot go without consequence. Words carry weight, especially when you are a public figure. Both sides have been guilty of this, and we must remember that not everything said needs to carry this kind of response. For instance, J.K Rowling has often been highly critical of the left and its LGBTQ agenda and stance. This is her opinion. It does not cast a lie on a person who committed a public execution of a political and religious figure. They are not the same. If you do not like what she said, you don’t have to support her by buying her books. Stephen King recently lost his publisher because he lied about something Charlie Kirk had said. Without doing any research he made a claim that Charlie had said gay people should be stoned to death. For this blatant lie and slander about someone who was just killed, his publisher dropped him. The difference between J.K and Stephen was the slander. It was a false narrative that led to the decision to drop King from their platform. When Gina was fired from Disney for her statements about covid her thoughts and opinions turned out to be true, not a lie. As I stated before, if someone such as a doctor celebrated the death of another human, I as a conservative Christian, would not feel comfortable having that doctor as my doctor. Would I be safe in that situation? 

We must be careful that we protect the people’s right to free expression and speech, but this is not a blanket freedom. There are exceptions to the rule, and in the recent week, we have seen dozens of examples of people taking speech too far, and expecting to have no consequences for their actions.

In the book “The Christian Left” (By Lucas Miles), it highlights the ongoing problem where “Christians who have adopted (either knowingly or unknowingly) leftist, socialistic, and communistic thinking, ideals, values, and innovations.” This ongoing hijacking of Christians, leads me to one point, Satan is working hard to destroy. When someone on the right calls someone on the left a socialist, or communist, this isn’t actually slander, or hate speech. The left have now openly admitted to being socialist, and we know socialism is a cousin to communism. Both socialism and communism are anti religion. The government or leader is often deemed to be their ‘god’. In every version of socialism or communism religion is either banned, or controlled by the government. Free speech is also controlled by the government, and rights such as second amendment gun owning rights are often disbanded. While all Nazis were fascists, not all fascists were Nazis. The unusual truth is the left is moving more Marxist, socialist every day, however there is still a difference between what they believe and fascists. Many use this world flippantly, but the truth is the left is absolutely supporting socialism, and its ideals. All this to sum up, we must be careful what we as a people say. Words do come with consequences, and as my old law teacher once said, “It’s not slander if it’s the truth.” The key here, is that it must be true. The government is not forcing any company to fire employees over their beliefs. The government has recently leaned on schools to reign in some rhetoric that has led to violent protests. Going back to the 1st Amendment, you do have the right to your opinion, but your protest must be peaceful. Burning down buildings, attacking police officers, throwing bricks and stones onto police cars from overpasses, etc. does not constitute as peaceful. We all need to take a step back, and work together to live in this place peacefully. We must have peaceful dialogues and we must stop being so hateful towards one another. We as Christians must expect that the enemy will continue to gain ground if we do not stand up and without shame, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us continue to speak the truth of Christ, and never water down the gospel. Let us be sober minded and prepared for the deceivers’ schemes and attacks. Let us love our neighbor as ourselves, and be in constant prayer for the enemy. Let us show love and compassion to those who are need of prayers. Let us pray for those who are anti-Christian, and who wish to be rid of the church. Let us pray for those whose eyes need to be opened to what Christ might have for them. Let us not rejoice in the consequences, but rather let us pray for them to seek and know Jesus as Lord. I wish no one would perish to the eternity of Hell, but that all would come to know the love of Jesus. This world as it falls further and further away from Christ is one step closer to its destruction and judgment. Let us continue to be the salt of the earth, and the light of Christ. Let our goal be to make heaven crowded. Let us take the gospel by the sandals of peace, and share the good news with all whom we encounter. Be at peace, and go in love. 

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Reference Citations: 

Baucham , V. T. (2021). Fault Lines The social justice movement and evangelicalism’s looming catastrophe. Salem Books. 

Cooper, J. L. (2023). Wimpy, weak and woke: How truth can save america from utopian destruction. John L. Cooper. 

McClellan, J. (2000). Liberty, order, and justice: An introduction to the constitutional principles of American government. Liberty Fund. 

Miles, L. (2021). The christian left: How liberal thought has hijacked the church. BroadStreet. 

The Passing of A Saint

The Passing of A Saint:

In 2016, after I put that bullet through my shoulder, I began a new journey. Over the next couple months, once I dealt with my life being flipped upside down, I began to hear names in the Christian circles, to include John MacArthur. I realized that I heard that name before, and after thinking about it for a bit, it was the name on my Bible. Within a few months I began listening to sermons he had given. Over the years since then, I have listened to a hundred or more sermons from John MacArthur. My walk with Christ was fueled by many videos, podcasts, and books by MacArthur. His zest and zeal for the truth, fueled my desire to grow in Christ and with it, wisdom and discernment. Without MacArthur, I’m not sure I’d be who I am today. 

Everyone has a roll to play in God’s tapestry of His Story. 

Romans 9:21 
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use ( or Dishonor )?” 

No matter who you are, God has a plan for your life. God had a plan for Pharoah, Harod, Benito Mussolini, and Hitler. In reality, no different than, Moses, King David, Paul, Martin Luthor, Charles Spurgeon, John MacArthur. We are all sinners before the cross, but before Christ in our lives, sin is sin, punishable by eternal death. The blood of Jesus washes that sin away for those who surrender to Christ, and repent of our sins. Thus, the transition and distance ourselves from those aforementioned individuals who performed awful and unthinkable evils. In our time there have been several pastors who have guided and been shepherds of sheep. MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Voddie Baucham, Paul Washer, who have, in this author’s humble opinion, joined the ranks of the great theologians from church history. 

All those who walk in righteousness, who carry the name of Christ, die as saints. Ephesians 1:15 “15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,” here Paul is giving gratitude to the believers at Ephesus. While I do not believe Pastor MacArthur would have rated himself highly, I believe he would have rated himself at least with the believers, the body of saints. I believe his books, and teachings will live on, and my prayer is more people come to hear his messages, and read his books so they too will know have a moment in their lives when they give their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I am a sinner, saved by grace, and death is prevented by mercy, where a dead heart used to exist, now a heart of flesh, forever changed by the blood of Jesus. God uses everyone, but some, like Pastor MacArthur are much more visible, prominent, and far reaching. To his family my prayers are with them during this time of sorrow and loss. But to the believer, rejoice in the life used by a righteous and holy God. My heart is torn, one of sorrow, that I will not hear a new sermon preached by such an eloquent and educated theologian, but also of envy, that he has gotten to meet his savior, and now sits in the presence of Jesus himself. What a day that must have been, a day of rejoicing from all the angels when such a beloved man went home, his tour of duty finally ended. A soldier, a Captain in the earthly army for Christ. Pastor MacArthur’s flock will surely miss him, and I cannot imagine the sorrow they feel right now. As I sit here and right this, I cannot help but cry for a man I’ve never met. I pray though that while people remember Pastor MacArthur, it’s Jesus they see. The work of Jesus through a devoted man. Rejoice that Pastor MacArthur went home to be with HIS Lord and Savior, and one day, I’ll meet him in glory, and sit with other prominent saints that went home before. 

To Pastor MacArthur: My dearest brother in Christ. We will keep the torch lit, and we will continue to fight the good fight. By your obedience and teaching many came to know the Lord Christ. We will continue to fight the good fight till we too are called home. Thank you for your thousands of hours of study, and dedication to the truth that is Jesus Christ. While you would not want people to remember you, but that they would see Christ, I assure you, your legacy will inspire others to seek Christ, and they too will come to know the everlasting love of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Thank You, for all that you did to help build the church. Rest easy now, we will take the reins, though, I say, on my best day, I don’t think I’ll ever know as much about God’s holy word, as you did. Be at peace, and enjoy Heaven. I’ll see you soon, when my time will end, and I will also be welcomed into glory. Your Brother in Christ, Arrow Preacher. 

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