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THE CUTTING EDGE

NEWS BRIEF:  Letter written to the Orange Country Register (8/04/99), Australia.

"It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed, a program costing the government more than $500 million dollars.  And now the results are in: Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent; Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent; Australia-wide, armed  robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent). In the state of Victoria, homicides with firearms are up 300 percent. Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms (changed drastically in the past 12months). There has been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly."

Surprise, surprise!  How can this kind of result occur when the "superior" intellects of governments worldwide have told us repeatedly that gun ownership and gun availability are the reasons so many shooting deaths occur, and why so much crime occurs.  Leftist Liberals shout the same tired slogans, telling Americans night after night after night that we could achieve Paradise on Earth if we would only force everyone to give up their guns.  The Liberal Mass Media is also pouring forth the same nightly nonsense.

Of course, once a lie is big enough and repeated often enough, many uninformed citizens of every Western country on earth will begin to believe that at least some truth must be contained within the lie.  We repeat the warning we have issued before:  Historically, every single Absolute Dictatorship that ever existed has disarmed their people as the very first step of imposing their dictatorship.  Dictators hate it when citizens can own guns, because he then cannot be as brutal as he might want to be, afraid he might start an effective armed insurrection. 

Even today, with the ferocity of American military arms, the presence of over 100 million guns in this country is an obstacle to the coming New World Order that looms as high as Pikes Peak.  This number of guns, and the number of gun owners [estimated at almost 90 million Americans] is overwhelming to the future dictators of the New World Order.  Therefore we are witnessing a most intense drive to get Americans pitted against themselves and against each other.  Americans that own at least one gun are targeted with propaganda to get them feeling guilty about owning guns.  These are the people who turn guns in during an Amnesty campaign.  Americans who do not own guns are encouraged to feel badly against those who do own guns.  Thus, you have Hollywood Liberals tacking a note to Charleton Heston's mailbox after a shooting saying, "I hope you are happy"!

Let us look again at these Australian statistics, to glean all the pertinent data from it we can. 

First, I was struck by the statistic that the elderly are paying for the confiscation of guns by falling victim to more crime. Not surprisingly, the type of crimes being perpetrated against the elderly are the ones in which the elderly feel the most vulnerable.  Since they are not able to fight, or flee, they fear the break-in and the assault type of crimes.  I remember well an incident in Providence, Rhode Island, when an elderly man heard someone come in a window during the middle of the night.  When he confronted the burglar, he discovered the man was armed and pointing a gun in his direction.  The man fired his own gun, killing the intruder.  After investigating, the Providence Police ruled that the killing was in self-defense.  Other police reports incidents like an elderly woman pointing her pistol at a burglar through a side window while he was trying to break in her door.  The burglar was so scared he turned and started to run away at full speed, running smack into a wall!

Nationwide Australian homicide statistics show that murder has increased 3.2 per cent since the guns were confiscated. However, in the state of Victoria, homicides committed with firearms are up a staggering 300 per cent!  Once again, this was not supposed to happen, if you believe the Leftist rhetoric being espoused in the Media, and by self-appointed spokesmen of the Left.

Nationwide, assaults are up 8.6 per cent while robberies using guns is up a whopping 44 per cent!  It seems that criminals have gotten more assertive and confident since the law-abiding citizenry has been forced to give up their weapons.  Now, what was that popular bumper sticker here in America?  "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."  This New World Order "experiment" in Australia has validated this sentiment 1000 per cent.

However, there is a statistic buried in this letter that did not readily jump out at me.  Prior to the confiscation of guns, armed robbery committed with guns had decreased steadily over the past 25 years!  Then, why oh why, did the people of Australia allow themselves to get snookered into giving up their guns?  While I do not know the specifics, I bet they allowed their elected representatives to appeal to their emotions rather than their reason.  I bet the good folks of Australia got all worked up emotionally and allowed their guns to be confiscated.

As we have said in NEWS1320, ["Recent Shootings Prove Need To Allow People To Carry Concealed Weapons"] the real solution to senseless shootings and general crime is to allow people to carry concealed weapons.  All sorts of statistics exist that prove that criminals will avoid their victims to a large degree when they run the risk of getting shot while trying to commit a crime.  In fact, some police have reported that criminals have told them that they move out of a city or town or state that has passed a law allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed guns. Now, we have the real-life experience of Australia to prove our point for us.

DOES THE BIBLE FORBID DEFENDING YOURSELF WITH GUNS?

Almost immediately after we posted NEWWS1320, ["Recent Shootings Prove Need To Allow People To Carry Concealed Weapons"] we received an anguished email from a Born Again Christian who somehow had come to believe that the Bible forbids defending yourself, with deadly force if need be.  We felt empathy for him, because he was obviously so sincere in his beliefs. 

To prove his point, he emailed us back so many Bible verses.  However, they all either were referring to spiritual warfare or to accepting martyrdom during times of persecution.  After attempting to show him that he was not properly applying these Scriptures to this issue of guns, we finally told him the simple fact that Jesus ordered His disciples to arm themselves with a sword before they set out on their missionary endeavors.  Did you know that?  Listen:

"And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." [Luke 22:35-6]

During the first missionary endeavor, Jesus Christ gave far different instructions.  However, now He was sending His disciples out to build His Church.  Jesus told His disciples to take a purse with them for money, and to get a sword, even if he had to sell his garment to get the money for one!  Imagine that, Jesus Christ told His disciples that they were going to have to defend themselves from time to time in that crime-infested Middle East so they had better be armed and ready to defend their very lives.

If this argument still does not convince you, consider that, at the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas Iscariot led the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus Christ in preparation for His crucifixion, the disciples were carrying concealed deadly weapons!  Listen:

"And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him." [Luke 22:47-51]

When the disciples perceived that the Roman soldiers were about to arrest Jesus, they immediately asked Him if they could defend Him with their swords.  Wait a minute!  The only way the disciples could have been able to defend Jesus on the spot, using swords is if they had come to the Garden of Gethsemane armed with swords!  Obviously, they could not have said to the Roman soldiers, "Wait for an hour to arrest Jesus, because we have to run home to get our swords"! 

I repeat:  the only practical way the disciples could even have attempted to defend Jesus was if they had carried arms with them to the Garden that night.  Further, we know that the disciples had no idea what was about to happen to Jesus that night, or else they would not have been so bored as to fall asleep.  Therefore, the only way in which these men -- ignorant of the approaching events -- could have come to Jesus' defense was if they were already carrying swords.

But, even more importantly, the only way the disciples could have been carrying swords on a night they did not expect to need them, was if they routinely carried concealed swords!  The disciples routinely carried swords for protection in the cutthroat society of Palestine in that day.  Further, when the Apostle Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, he was not aiming at the ear, but the head!  Peter was trying to decapitate the servant of the high priest.  He just missed and hit the ear.

To ensure that we understand this issue thoroughly, Jesus was very careful with His statement to the Apostle Peter, as He was healing the severed ear.  All Jesus told Peter as He was healing the severed ear was, "Suffer [allow] ye thus far".  In other words, Jesus was simply telling Peter that he needed to allow this event to continue, because it was written that Jesus would suffer and die for the sins of the world!  Remember how Jesus actually called Peter, Satan, when he protested that Jesus needed to die? [Matthew 16:23]  Similarly, Peter was acting here in actual contradiction with the Plan of Salvation created by the Savior of all mankind!  Once again, Peter was acting in such a way as to aid Satan's plan.

If Jesus had wanted us to know that He did not want us to use arms, concealed weapons at that, to defend ourselves and our sacred honor, He had the perfect illustration that night.  Jesus could have severely criticized Peter and all His disciples for carrying concealed weapons, and using them in His defense.  But, He offered no such condemnation of using deadly weapons.  He only said that Peter must allow this arrest to occur, because, as He had already told them how important it was for Him to die on the cross.

Thus, we have the backing of Scripture that God does not expect His people to simply allow someone to attack them without defending themselves, with deadly force if need be.  Since Peter was defending His beloved Lord, we further understand that God allows His people to use deadly force to protect loved ones.  Since so many people in Christianity today struggle with this issue, we hope this Scripture clears this matter up once and for all.

As for the issue of the government trying to convince us to give up our guns voluntarily, we can only say, "Beware"!  The greatest dictatorship in world history is coming down the track toward us like a runaway freight train.  It is only reasonable to expect they would want to disarm its people, a most daunting task thanks to the foresight of our Founding Fathers.  We must resist all the emotionalism in the world, even as it is being thrown at us right after yet another slaughter in another public place.  The experiment in Australia should tell us, once and for all, that the remedy being offered to "cure" the problem of these awful shootings will not work, and is actually far worse than the disease itself.

I firmly believe that the final disarming of the American gun owners will occur only after two events dramatically change the equation of power.  First, the Rapture of the Church will take many gun owners out of this dimension.  Second, Antichrist will arise amidst great power and personal charisma.  After he has convinced all the peoples of the world that he is God, millions of gun owners will comply voluntarily with his order to turn in their weapons.  These two events will likely so thin the ranks of gun owners that those who still resist will be so small in number that they can be taken out by a house-to-house search by foreign troops trained to be brutal.

Truly, the events of our day tell us strongly that the End of the Age is near.  Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference.