Disarming Americans 

By Jim Killebrew

[March 15, 2014]  Disarming Americans continues to be a priority for many who continue to believe it is the gun, not the person holding the gun, that kills people. A favorite reason for gathering up the guns is the shootings in schools and other public places like malls and theaters. I am not really a gun advocate and I really do know that times have changed since our Founding Fathers penned those words found in the Second Amendment of the Constitution in the 18th century. The real problem is that we cannot readily talk in any logical, germane manner since the crux of the problem lies in what society has and is in the process of rejecting. From my perspective, I believe we have become so secularized in our society by purging all aspects of spirituality and belief in a personal God of creation that we talk only in terms of the symptoms of the evil in society and never actually mention the root cause of the problem.

Think about it. We as a society irrationally (although most believe it to be rationally) are actually killing 1.2 million human beings through abortion each year simply because we think it is a "woman's right" to do so. As bad as it was at that school where 26 people were killed, 20 of whom were children, on that same day we killed over 3,000 younger children, all within the legal parameters of the law. Not only that: If we speak against that practice (of abortion on demand), we are accused from those on the left of being some kind of "phobic" personality or of starting a war on women.

No, guns are just symptomatic of the underlying evil that exists throughout the world. We have billions of people who, in the name of their religion, will continue to make war, try to kill all "infidels" who don't believe as they do, fly jetliners into buildings, killing as many as they can, and use weapons of mass destruction to kill millions of their own people just to maintain their own personal power.

As a society we are kicking God out of our government, our schools, our universities, our businesses, our organizations, and a secularist society has tried to pen Him up behind locked doors inside a building we call church. The only reason His judgment has not yet been delivered (as in the days of Noah) is because there are still a few in the world who continue to call upon His name and worship Him. There will likely not be any worldwide evangelical revival movement with the masses turning back from relativism and reaching out to an absolute God Whom many of the world's population believes does not exist.

So, having said all that, I think ours is a position of waiting for the day of the Lord and His second coming. We will pray, evangelize, keep preaching the Gospel and depending on the Holy Spirit to guide us and work through us. Within that context, God will add daily to those who are being saved. But insofar as the secular world is concerned, the committees, organizations and various administrations will continue to seek out man's trying to find a utopia where murder, hatred, covetousness, the worship of false gods, materialism, lying, cheating, stealing are not in play. The problem with that is that the "Prince of the power of the air," who is the personification of evil, will continue in his deceit and trick most people into believing the truth is a lie and his lie is the truth. I believe, however, God is all-powerful and nothing can change His plan to trick Him to take away our salvation that He has freely given to those who believe in the saving grace of the work that Jesus did on the cross. There is another variable at play, however, in our lives here in America.

We have been socialized in the arms of freedom and independence. Don't misunderstand what I say about independence. When he grabbed the sword to cut off the ear of the one who wanted to arrest Jesus, it was Peter who was independent; Jesus was the one who was dependent. Jesus had submitted Himself to His Father in heaven; "Not My will, but Thine be done." In some ways we are much more like Peter than we are like Jesus. We have the "John Wayne" mentality and behaviors that push us to believe that "might makes right." We are American, and nobody in the world is going to push us around! We pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and show "true grit" when the chips are down.

The very idea of submitting to another and becoming a "slave" (closer to a bond-servant than a state of being owned by another) is a repulsive notion in our society. We seek power, being number one, being on top, successful in all our pursuits, wealthy, intelligent, and all the other markings of "being our own man (or woman)." We want to break down all the "glass ceilings" and achieve "equality" with each other, and yet still retain the edge over others. Indeed, part of the "American dream" is that we seek celebrity, reward accomplishment and seek out those who can help us along the career path to greatness. To turn from all that is viewed somehow as un-American, and most people would not choose that for themselves.

We delude ourselves into thinking that we can live lives in the palace and still play around the manger. So we have given ourselves a pass that we can speak where God is silent and remain silent and turn aside where God has spoken. We are filled with patriotism and pride in our national heritage and sometimes believe that God needs a nudge to get rid of the bad guys. It is not a popular idea to assume that Americans would stand in the arena while the Romans let loose the lions. We would identify more closely with the gladiators wielding our swords than the Christians huddled in prayer in that instance. And yet, truth remains. With God as our mighty right arm and our strength, if He stands for us, who can be against us? It may be that some will face that question sometime in the future even if disarming Americans never materializes.

[By JIM KILLEBREW]