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

For More of the Arrow Preacher follow on YouTube: 

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

Fallen

Fallen

(Warning Graphic Material)

The world can be a dark place, and sometimes we fall. The men we are shaped by our past. We bleed green, we fight to protect those around us. We fight because we must, because we draw breath. We live to honor our brothers who didn’t. We are trained to carry on in the fight. We are trained to survive and we are trained to push down the pain, to see the next step at all costs. We train for war, we train to live, we train to kill, but most of all we are trained to protect our brothers and sisters of our country.

When the fight is over and we return home for some the fight never quits. We struggle to connect. My fight is no longer the enemy of flesh and blood, but the enemy of darkness. In the last year I have found it harder and harder to connect with people. Not for a lack of trying on my part, I just haven’t had very many connect with me. I’ve struggled to make and keep friends this year. I’ve watched as old friends have moved on, and for reasons unknown have decided I was no longer needed in their life. As this unfortunately feeds into my deepest fear, that of abandonment, it also fuels the darkness that nearly overtook me just over a year ago.

When the world seems darkest and when it appears to be no hope, that’s when one enters dangerous waters. The whispers and lies that wade around the ankles of unsuspecting waders in the waters ready to drag you under. When one bad thing happens after another, it’s easier and easier to get pulled into the muck. When everything you hold most dear falls away how can one survive so much pain? How can someone survive the worst terrors of mankind, loose ones family, and believe there may still be hope? It’s simple, the Devil whispers lies in our ears and sometimes it gets the better of us. Sometimes it takes hold, and what once seemed like an unthinkable response seems to be the most reasonable. The perfect storm that leads us down the dark path, and sadly, a fallen one.

Can you imagine yourself in the mists of loosing everything you cherished most in life? As I watched my life falling apart I couldn’t breath. The life I was living didn’t seem like my own any longer. The air seemed to be sucked from my very lungs. The crushing feeling in my chest as it fell apart. The woman I loved and the family I thought had accepted me for so long in fact, only kept me around because of my wife, who at that very moment was packing to leave. A second time I watched as my wife would leave me. Two marriages, two affairs, and two divorces, and the second time sadly would be more then I could take. As I watched the packing and moving I saw myself as an entire failure. My ability to see reason, to think rationally had been dangerously compromised. A dangerous and unfortunate turn of events that would cause my personal battles to no longer stay hidden, stay buried as they once were. The crashing waves crushed my spirit, the breaking of the dam that would allow the dirty laundry that remained safely tucked away, to flood every inch of what I protected most. The burier that had been built carefully over many years of constant vigilance would be destroyed and years of built up pain, of every wrong step, of every trauma, every set back, every mistake, and every loss would rush down upon me like a tsunami that would be stopped by nothing. A whirlwind of nothing but negative feelings sucked the hope and the things we fight for to stay alive every day, out of my chest, my heartbeat, but hollow. I couldn’t reconcile my failure, my loss, my hopelessness, so it seemed as if there were only one thing to do.

Not every action taken is thought out. Not every action taken offers the comfort or the desired outcome we hope for. Sometimes the mind plays tricks on us, and in times of great stress, great sorrow, those tricks can be equal to the level of pain. Isn’t pain an interesting thing? How we grieve for the loss of a beloved pet. How we feel badly when our favorite TV show ends. How we feel when a best friend parts ways for the last time. Or how we grieve when we loose the ones we love most dearly. There are all manner of ways we grieve but sometimes that grief is so powerful it literally takes hold and we cannot bear to take one more step, take one more breath, and we honestly forget how. How that grief can feel when it’s a lifetime of loss, and how the grief turns to pain that cannot be reconciled. Now what do you do with that pain when you are alone? How do you channel the thoughts from the Devil when there’s no one there to reach out too? Pain can be a powerful motivator, pain of a physical nature, the odd satisfaction of physical pain. Some people use this pain by getting tattoos, they use it to handle the stress of life, the dealing of hard times. People also use another form of pain as a self regulated therapy and that’s cutting. The act of cutting one’s self and using that pain as a release, the endorphins created to mask the physical pain is a drug in the brain that allows a sense of calm. Cutting while frowned upon is actually widely used by young adults and adolescence. Years ago there was another form of pain used by Priests to be used a form of punishment for sin. Self-flagellation, this practice largely used within the Catholic Church ended in the 14th century. It is still used today in some extent. What would you do if the pain inside was more then you could bare? What would you do if the trauma you suffered was a lifetime’s worth all at once?

It’s a strange thing looking back at ones life in an instant. The term seeing your life flashed before your eyes isn’t so farfetched. For some they get flashes of happy times, of loved ones, of things they cared for in life. But what if in that moment, that split second, failure, self loathing, self disgust was all you saw? What if what you saw in the blink of an eye was that you were what was wrong with your life? How would you feel? While I don’t begrudge my wife for leaving, she did what she felt was best for her, I will ever hold love in my heart for her. I have tried to remain faithful to the feelings of forgiveness, understanding, and above all love. She will forever hold a special place in my heart, and even if she may never be a part of my life anymore, I will love her always.

I failed once, the poorly executed plan, I didn’t even check to see if the stupid thing was loaded. Standing on the back porch, a deep breath, and squeezing the trigger while standing on the stairs, the hammer fell, but no bullet. Screaming how much of a failure I was I threw the gun across the yard. I went cursing at myself on the way to pick it up. There my sister in law, not sure what she just saw, I handed her the gun and told her to hold onto that. I stormed back in the house, went to the bedroom and grabbed the black Smith & Wesson 9mm that was loaded, and I stormed out to the front porch. This time I sat down and watched as my wife finished packing the car. She was leaving, and I knew she’d be gone for good. I told her I was sorry for everything, and that she should just pretend like none of it ever happened. I don’t recall if she actually said anything, but she walked out of sight. I was alone, in that no one was within line of sight of me, and that was the moment. I put the pistol to my shoulder, looked at it, and with just a flicker of hesitation, squeezed the trigger. The round ripped through the flesh, the blood splattered out onto my hand and the gun. Everything I saw was dark, hopeless, endless amounts of pain, and I deserved to suffer in physical pain equal to that of my emotional pain because I was the common denominator, I was the center of it all, and I must have been at fault, so therefore, I must be the one to suffer and be punished for my failings. The air left my lungs quickly. The scream from my wife would be etched into my memory like a diamond etching into stone, forever leaving it’s mark. I reached up to hold the hole in my shoulder, but something went wrong, something wasn’t right. Everything was going black, it was supposed to just go straight through, I didn’t understand. I felt someone grab me, but blackness covered my eyes. I no longer heard anything, I was no longer in the world.

Seconds turned to hours as I remained in the world of black. A lifetime in nothingness, no thoughts, no fears, no hopes, nothing at all that connected me to the world of the living. That’s when I heard myself say it, “God I’m sorry!” I never expected to hear a response, but what I heard couldn’t be explained by reason or logic. The booming nature was like a shaking thunder reverberating all over my body, down into the very cells of what I was made up of. My ears pounded with the shaking of the words I was able to make out and understand perfectly even as loud and thunderous as it was. “You’re forgiven!” The jolt forced my eyes open and I could see someone above me. The pain shot through my back and my shoulder, the shooting through my body with each and every breath. “No, let me go, let me die!” I begged the paramedics. They refused, but it was to their surprise I woke up at all. The amount of time I was unconscious was about 30 minutes. Second hand information I would find out later the amount of blood loss should have killed me. I would end up loosing around 6 units of blood out of the average 8. The paramedics fought to keep me alive, and every time I would try to close my eyes, to go back to the blissful darkness, they would bring me back, sternum rubs, tapping me, anything they could to keep me with them. The only thing I actually said that made any sense was to take me to the VA, which they responded almost jokingly, they couldn’t because they weren’t equipped for it, and if they did I’d die. At the time, it didn’t sound so bad. Death wasn’t my intention, but the thought of dying seemed okay.

The thing with not thinking clearly, and being overcome by grief and pain, is the cause and effect of such actions. The bullet didn’t travel straight through, instead it chipped the clavicle, and went down through the left lung, leaving a large 9mm hole and particles of the bullet, before traveling onto the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th ribs before exiting my lower shoulder blade. I apparently pulled the trigger and jumped and the gun was too high. Not that, that’s any kind of good excuse, what I did was beyond reckless, beyond stupid, it was as it turns out, irredeemable in the eyes of some, but not to the Lord.

Here’s the trouble in a nutshell. There are always consequences to poor decisions. In the wake of such a choice, I watched as countless friends jumped ship and swam away as fast as they could. My love of firearms would end as my privileges would be revoked, and every firearm I had sold. I would loose my position at my job, a job I had worked very hard to get. I would loose the respect of those around me, and with the respect, I would loose any and all credibility I had. I would forever have shoulder pain, and troubles with the lung from the shrapnel left behind. Any chance I may have had with my wife vanished with the shot and the scream. I would undergo over a year of therapy, and even with that, more to come. I would eventually loose my job, and my career, and as more and more friends left, the full ramifications would come, and I would once again be standing cross in hand as I would be forced to bare the pain.

Over a year later, I have watched as the majority of my closest friends and allies would leave. I would be left with no direction, no sense of earthly worth, and a seemingly bleak future. Less then a year after the gunshot I would suffer a major neck injury and would require emergency fusion surgery. With the severe rupture of the C5 disc, the possibility of infection became more likely with every passing day, and although I would avoid infection, the lasting affect would cost me my job, and my plans for the future. From all standards of living, the outcome looks bleak. The hits never stopped coming, the wins were few, and the losses were many. How does one overcome such adversity?

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “8 [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”

A part of me died that day on those stairs. What I heard that day is why I came back, and no matter how dark it gets, how much it hurts, how far you fall, we can remember only one thing, God loves us. I was a soldier, and I swore an oath to never quit, never surrender, and until the day comes when the Good Lord calls me home, we can never fall so far that we can’t pick ourselves up. While we will always have our bad days, and no matter the struggles we may face, we have to keep picking ourselves up. If anything can come from such a tragic year, perhaps my story can touch the life of someone struggling. Hero’s are not born, but made. The hero’s in my life are the men and women of the 2nd ID combat team that served with me in Iraq and found the need to be at a brothers side. The loving support of my pastors, and the brave first responders that fought diligently to keep me alive is in part why I fight. I would have my brothers and sisters standing with me fighting, and because they fight for me, I shall always fight. No matter how dark the days, no matter how far I fall, I shall learn how to crawl again, I will learn how to walk, and I will one day learn how to soar above the clouds. I shall never quit because God didn’t quit on me. I shall never fall without knowing God is with me to help me. Yes apart of me died that day, but I also lived. The struggle shall always stay with me, and the ramifications of what’s left in the wake of disaster will perhaps take years to repair, but I shall continue to fight and try. While on this very day I have no idea where my life is going, what I will do, where I will live, how I will survive, if I’ll ever find love again, if I’ll ever be accepted, if I’ll ever make new friends to replace those who’ve left, what I do know, is it’s in God’s capable hands.

Having faith in the middle of the storm is hard. Being able to close your eyes and trust in the leap, knowing that God will catch you, that’s faith. We worry because we are human. We question because we are inflicted with sin nature. We survive because we have God. We thrive because we know Jesus. We all stumble, we all fall, but we cannot learn without it. We will never be perfect in this world, and if there’s anything I hope more then anything in this world, is to not be judged for a moment of weakness for the rest of my life. I don’t know why my friends jumped ship afterwards. I don’t know why I was made to suffer through all I have. I don’t have the answers, and while I still breath on this world, perhaps I never will.

I know I let my brothers and sisters down with my weakness, but I know I have an obligation to live, and to never forget, to spread the word of the Lord, and fight to help those who suffer. We will suffer at the hands of the Devil, we will suffer at the hands of man as it was foretold by Christ. 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Forever will the scar remain on my chest a reminder of the fall of man, and the momentary triumphs of the Devil. I will forever have a scar to remind me of the fight we fight every day. A scar from the battles that are waged in the shadows and we are pawns in a larger picture. We are the soldiers in which the war is waged for souls on this worldly plane. No one ever said you’d make it through life without scars. No one ever said it would be easy. 1 Peter 4:16 “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” As Job before me, suffering is not new under the sun. The suffering of man, testing ones resolve, forging steel, and pushing one to their limits, all comes with the territory of picking up the cross and following Jesus.

No one ever said the cross wouldn’t be heavy, and no one ever said it didn’t come at a cost, but what cost could we ever pay to be worthy of the gift of Heaven? Jesus paid the price and a little suffering now, or in some cases, a lot of suffering now, will be worth it when we sit with Jesus in paradise for all eternity.

When my day comes I hope to regain some of my dignity and self-respect I left on those stairs. I fell, and fell harder then I ever imagined I could have. I have lived with the knowledge of my fallen spirit, and I face the battle to redemption every day. But I say to you, it’s not if we fall, but how we pick ourselves up. So if you’ve fallen pick yourself up, dust yourself off and carry on. There will be dark days ahead, and even the most faithful will be put to the test. When your day comes and you’re facing your last breath, a hope for you is this, may it be of peace and at a time of God’s own choosing. Breathe until the Lord calls you home. Raise no hand to your enemies, instead raise open arms. Bring no harm upon yourself, instead remember that you are a child of the one true King and God loves you despite your faults. God’s love is pure and everlasting. When the days last number comes and you go home, remember 2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing”

 I was a soldier once for this country, now I’m a soldier for Christ. The days are long, and we may grow weary, but eternity is longer, and it’s worth the wait.

 

5.56

5.56

 5.56 is the size of the bullet used in both the AR-15 semi automatic rifle and the M-16, M4, military service rifle. A rifle that is semi automatic with single shot capability is not an assault weapon, it’s merely a rifle. The Assault weapon is defined by more then a single bullet per squeeze of the trigger. Full Auto weapons are not easily purchased and it takes a special federal stamp to do so. Though not incredibly difficult to do, it is impossible without the machinery and know how, the alteration when done with this particular weapon can shoot full auto, it can also hold up to a 100 round drum. The 5.56 is currently known to be the most popular rifle in America and leading rifle in home defense, though not considered to be a very good hunting rile. Sadly this is also the number 1 rifle used in mass shootings, just like the mass shooting that occurred in Las Vegas recently.

At approximately 2208 on October 1st of 2017 shots rang out at a concert in Vegas. 5.56mm rifles were used, .308 rifles were used, and possibly others that have not been released yet. It’s easy to want to respond with hateful rhetoric. It’s easy to attack a certain group of our society, gun owners, or even a political side. It’s easy to allow hate an anger to run wild during times of tragedy. We must remember to love, and to spread that love. Placing blame and getting angry doesn’t help anyone during these hard times.

Ephesians 4:17-19 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” We are all sinners, and those who have rebuked or denied Christ are more in the dark then the rest of us. While this is hard to understand sometimes that darkness will lead people down a path of hate and destruction. In every tragedy there is also opportunity, opportunity to show love, to shower the grieving with the word of God and show the grieving that there is light at the end of their pain.

Politicians will often use these tragedies to attempt to expand on their own personal agendas. While law enforcement is trying to put the pieces together, politicians are licking their chops and the plotting and planning begins. We must not allow the tragedies of this world to be exploited for personal gains or interest. We must instead fall onto scripture to help guide us in our grief. Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

We won’t always understand how someone can be so evil in life, and do so much harm to others. We don’t always understand why innocent people can be caught up in such evil on earth. No matter what we may feel or the questions we may have, know that God is always on the throne. Bad things happen because of sin. God’s heart breaks in such tragedy. We don’t know what God has planned, but we must have faith that God’s plan even if it seems horrible to us, is still perfect. Our hearts may break, our tears will flow, and our dreams be crushed, but God’s perfect plan will happen with our without our consent.

I myself once owned at 5.56mm rifle and I considered it one of my prized possessions. I believe fully in a persons right to choose a weapon to protect their own home, to shoot for fun, to hunt with. While this is a tragedy, and the pieces will be placed together to see the full picture, the debate will once again be raised on gun rights vs. gun control. The point I will leave is, people are evil, cruel, and sinful, and when a person wants to do others harm there will always be a way. No matter the means, no matter if it’s guns, explosives, knives, using motor vehicles, people will harm others to achieve their sick demented ends. The only way to snuff out darkness is by spreading the light. Jesus Christ is the only light we can ever depend on.

 

 

 

 

Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s broke

Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s broke

Isaiah 54:17 17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.”

The arrow is one of the oldest ways to hunt yet we still use it today. A projectile (bullet) has hardly changed at all in nearly 200 years. The guns themselves, though they look different, the ergonomics have made things more comfortable, haven’t changed in functionality. The Brownings .50 cal machine gun, didn’t go through any changes till just recently. For so long the gun didn’t have any alterations despite being as old as it was.

Luke 5:36-39 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.” Jesus isn’t saying that new things aren’t good, what he’s saying is just because it’s old doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value.

Where do we find our valued items? Do we discard the things we have that we stop using; do we discard things even if they can be fixed? Do we place value in things of old?

Many in our society today feel that Christianity, or religion in general is an antiquated idea, that has survived far longer then it should have or needed to. Many feel that religion though once held a valid purpose no longer holds the same function of the days when forward thinking was considered witchcraft.

It’s amazing; recently Nintendo released the NES classic. This is a system that’s based on 25-year-old tech, but we still love it today. No matter how old our faith goes, it has survived the passage of time. Faith springs eternal. Faith James 1:5-8 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.”

 In Star Trek TNG ‘Relics’ Scotty is found alive and well by the crew of the Enterprise 1701 D. As he struggles to find his place on a ship nearly 75 years into the future he and La Forge quickly realize that just because something’s old, doesn’t mean it can’t be useful.

Scotty: Maybe so. But when they can build ships like your Enterprise, who’d want to pilot an old bucket like this?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: I don’t know. If this ship were operational, I bet she’d run circles around the Enterprise at impulse speeds. Just because something’s old doesn’t mean you throw it away.

 Before you pass judgment on something old, remember, look beneath the surface, dig round a little, you never know what kind of treasures might still exist. As for Christianity, well the biggest treasure of all, eternal salvation.