Gun Control

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:10-11)

I am a “Will Rogers” sort of guy. He never met a man he didn’t like. I can’t quite reach his level of character, but I get pretty close. It takes a lot for me to not like someone. One of the notable exceptions is Bill Maher, the political pundit and so-called comedian. He just irritates the snot out of me. I have obviously never met him personally, and I hope I never do. The man makes me furious every time I see him on television, which will be obvious in my tone in this blog post. He is the total embodiment of arrogance, ignorance, disrespect and disgust. He recently did a DVD titled “Religulous” which was a spoof about religion being ridiculous. I got a copy and watched it – why, I have no idea. It is like purposely jabbing yourself in the forehead with an ice pick. I wanted to vomit, take a shower, and burn my clothes just to get the stench out of my life.

The last time I saw Maher was on the Leno show a few days back. We are a few weeks removed from the tragic shooting in Arizona that took the life of six people and left a US Congresswoman fighting for her life. The first ambulance had not even arrived on the scene before all the pundits began speculating as to the cause of the tragedy. Everyone and everything was blamed except for the deranged maniac who pulled the trigger. Maher took off on a rant against the NRA, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, “right-wingers”, and anyone else he doesn’t like. Since he is the polar opposite of Will Rogers, that would include most every group and institution on earth.

As much as I would not ever want to be around the guy, I wish I had been on the show. I would have said, “You know, Bill, the nut case who did this was an atheist – LIKE YOU.” Why is it that no one tried to blame Madelyn Murray O’Hair or the other non-believers? Where was the call for a Federal law to ban all atheists?

I support the second amendment right to bear arms. Granted, some of this stuff is a little crazy. We should have the right to hunt, shoot for sport, and defend ourselves, but I often wonder where a 200-round-a-minute assault rifle fits in that. Bambi is not that mean. But the call to disarm the population when an incident like this occurs is counter-productive. Without getting into a heated debate over this controversial issue, let me take it to the spiritual realm for the real lesson.

The most important aspect in securing the peace and establishing a society based on respect of the law and of life is to arm the population with the “sword of the Spirit”. The lunatic in Tucson was an atheist. But these things happen too often as well with those who tote the Bible around. David Koresh in Waco years ago is a classic example. After his fiasco took the lives of about 80 people, some were blaming God, the Bible, and religion for the problem. They were saying that if we could just get the Bible out of the hands of the people, these things would not happen. I beg to differ. The “wacko in Waco” used the Bible to deceive and control his people. He began with the Bible, then twisted it for his own purposes and sinful desires. Who was the first being to do that? (Hint, Satan in Genesis chapter 3) He would have had absolutely NO chance whatsoever with me or my church members. Why? Because we are “armed to the teeth” with the sword of the Spirit. The answer to these types of things is more Bible, not less. Peter told us to, “arm yourselves likewise with the same mind…” (I Peter 4:1). Paul said, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (II Corinthians 10:4). The more we study our precious book, the better equipped we are to defend ourselves from the “wiles of the devil”, and the less likely we are to even think about nonsense such as occurred in Arizona or Waco. A Federal ban on atheists would be nice, but obviously wishful thinking and never to be accomplished (until Jesus returns). The real solution is to “strap it on” with the book until that time.