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Piece Be With You


Nothing says "Love thy neighbor" and "Blessed are the peacemakers" like a revolver.


By Philip Gulley

It’s been a tough year for churches, what with declining donations and atheists grabbing a larger market share. Not long ago, a pastor I know preached from the church roof in hopes of drawing a crowd. That’s the first thing I look for in a church: a nimble pastor unafraid of heights.

Dignity is taking it on the chin these days. Recently, Pastor Ken Pagano of the New Bethel Church in Louisville, Kentucky, invited his congregants to pack heat at a patriotic “open-carry” celebration at the church.It’s a tribute to the religious diversity of our nation that Pastor Pagano’s congregation wholeheartedly supported Bring-Your-Gun-to-Church Day. I ran the idea past the Quaker meeting I serve, but they don’t have the theological imagination of the New Bethel congregants, and my suggestion was shot down.

Were I to strap on a six-shooter and step into the pulpit, I bet my congregation would listen with a newfound intensity. Sometimes I’ll be speaking in church and notice people daydreaming. I won’t name names; they know who they are. A shot or two, fired just over their heads, would do wonders for securing their attention. I’d leave the bullet holes in the plaster to serve as an object lesson to others tempted to let their concentration wander.

Curiously, Pastor Pagano was one of the few persons attending the event not to wear a gun—yet one more preacher counseling his flock to follow a course of action he had no intention of heeding himself.

The National Rifle Association got religion and showed up at the New Bethel Church to raffle off a free NRA membership and a pistol. It’s been a banner year for the NRA, which also lobbied Congress to open our national parks to gunslingers. One hundred and five Democrats, along with 174 Republicans, decided in this time of economic turmoil that what our nation needed most were guns in Yosemite. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) inserted this legislative gem into a bill imposing new restrictions on credit-card companies. Coburn was the same genius who wanted the government to cough up millions of dollars to tell teenagers to stop having sex. I’m not bragging, but I do quite a bit of public speaking and would have happily nagged teens for $3,000. We’re both assuming the teenagers would have done what we told them, which might be the weakest link in the proverbial chain.

Guns in church, picnickers armed to the teeth, the government waging war against hormones—all these signs confirm what Pat Robertson has been telling us for years: The end is near.


Visit Philip Gulley's Site Here.






View Comments (2)

Soda Bob says:
    My wife attends her church every Sunday, and I attend with her. And every Sunday, I'm armed. I'm not a violent person. I've never fired my gun in anger or in need of self defense. And I hope I never do (as Jefferson said, one loves to own arms, but hopes never to have occasion to use them). Why do I carry a firearm, everyday including Sunday? Because I know from history and the news that one need not own or carry a firearm to die by the hands of another wielding one. And churches often seem to be magnets for psychos bent on hatred or just simply a soft target. Recall, for example, the shooting just a year or two ago, where an armed nut case came into a church with guns blazing, and an equally armed church member confronted him and took him down, saving lives. "a soft answer turneth away wrath." Perhaps. But sometimes the "soft answer" must be backed up by a strong response. Soft answers are great in an argument, but when those who would do you violence are not met with violence in return, the evil in the world will run rampant. As Thomas Paine said, "The peaceable part of mankind will be continually overrun by the vile and abandoned while they neglect the means of self defense... arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world." Even Ghandi stated, in his autobiography, that "Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the act which deprived a whole nation of arms as the blackest." He also said, "The society which is the most free is the one which is most heavily armed." And this is shown by history and modern events: look to those places where very few people have arms, and those are the places with the most upheaval, violence, and tyranny. And while Jesus may have said, "turn the other cheek," he also said in Luke 11:21, "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe." Now, perhaps that's just a parable, but he also commanded his disciples in Luke 22:36, "if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one" - apparently, their being armed was more important than being clothed! Note also when, in Luke 22:49-51, when one of the disciples cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant, Jesus simply says "No more of this!" and heals the priest's servant... but he specifically does NOT tell the disciples to disarm themselves, but merely indicates that it is not necessary to defend him. In short, a person has the right to self defense and, therefore, has a right to the MEANS of self defense. At all times. This is why I carry to church, the supermarket, on picnics, on camping trips, on hikes in the woods, and so on... because quite simply you never know when you will need the means of self defense, and while attending church is as likely a time (if not more likely) as any other.
Les Paulsen says:
    Hey Phil: I am proud of you. And I know that God is too. Love to you::::::Les

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