Displaying items by tag: church

On Sunday morning, two people were killed by a gunman at the West Free Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. Thankfully, the church had a team of armed volunteer security and within seconds of the initial attack, Jack Wilson, head of the security team, drew his weapon, fired a single shot and killed the attacker.

The church service was being live streamed at the time and the entire attack was caught on video. The video was removed from the church website but it was captured and posted to multiple sites. The video is shocking but I think it’s worthy of viewing. It does show the gunman killing two innocent people but it also shows the heroic actions by multiple parishioners. The video, which you can watch here on offgridsurvival.com, is from a camera across the room, I want to point out that it’s not a close up of horrific violence. Just so you know what you are getting into. (If you click the link above you have to scroll down a bit to Video 1, in order to watch it). 

Jack Wilson, the man who killed the gunman, is a reserve deputy sheriff and a firearm instructor and a volunteer security officer at the church. The gunman has been identified as 43 year old Keith Thomas Kinnunen who has had several run ins with law enforcement but, due to his death, Kinnunen's motivation for attacking the chruch remains unclear. The names of the two victims have now been officially been released as Anton Wallace and Richard White, both of which were volunteer security officers, and during the attack White was reaching for his weapon as he was shot by the gunman. 

Tiffany Wallace, daughter of slain Anton, witnessed the attack and said the gunman was wearing a fake beard and a wig and was wearing a long dark trench coat. No one recognized him but no one had any reason to believe he was dangerous. She said the gunman said to her father, “drop it” before opening fire. According to witnesses her father, a deacon at the church, was holding a communion tray. 

Tiffany’s interview at NBC can be viewed here. 

After the attack, Jack Wilson released this statement on his FB page:

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. -Fredrick Douglass former slave, abolitionist

Just recently, while speaking at an event, I heard a preacher ask the question to the congregants why, in the state that America is in today, it is that ministries such as Franklin Graham, James Dobson, Pat Robertson etc have not taken to the streets in protest concerning corruption within the government (Matthew 16:17-19). Many of these national ministries are put up to keep the people down (1 Kings 13:33). The fruit proves the seed (Matthew 7:16).

In fact, they are driving support to created opposition, teaching men to submit to corrupt government rather than God's moral law (Deuteronomy 4:6). Scripturally, they have it backward (Isaiah 59) and upside down (Deuteronomy 17:9).

https://sonsoflibertymedia.com/franklin-graham-our-country-could-begin-to-unravel-if-trump-is-removed-from-office/

Franklin Graham, "Our country could begin to unravel" if Trump is removed from office.  

Why does Billy Graham have a Hollywood star? Only one thing can explain it...

Now after I heard the preacher bring forth his question, I thought that was a good question to those who are not paying attention.  Yet, there is an obvious answer to those who are paying attention.

“Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach." -Isaiah 30:1-5

The first thing I would have you take notice of is that America’s favorite preachers are not the standard of Christianity.  Christ Jesus is the standard.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” -Acts 4:12

If the coaches in the NFL have lost as many games as preachers in America have metaphorically lost (prayer, abortion, marriage, etc.), they would have been thrown off their teams long ago. 

The hierarchies in the American Church are the problem.  They have forfeited our possession (To the other evil team) through false doctrine and through their inactions over and over again. They are the reason that corruption prevails within the walls of government and why, because they don't preach out against the sins that they themselves are guilty of (Luke 6:41).  How could it be otherwise when corruption prevails within the walls of the Church?

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” -2 Peter 2:19

These are also the ones that have somehow convinced the rest of Christendom that luke-warm is the temperature that the Lord has set when it comes to His children and how they are to live out their walk, and yet Jesus stated the contrary in Revelation 3:16:

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

“By the time the average Christian gets his temperature up to normal, everybody thinks he has a fever.” -Watchman Nee

How diametrically opposed to Scripture can Americans become?

Hebrews 1:7 tells us “Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.”

Benjamin Franklin stated that "Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world."

What the Church in America has become is a group of saltless, effeminate and spineless men who fail to judge themselves (Psalm 119:30) and, therefore, have no power to confront the world (Matthew 7:3) with the message of repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2).The church is called to bear testimony against corruption (Matthew 10:18). And because they fail to be the salt, they are simply trodden under the feet of men. And so it is. The Spirit of the Lord will not bear witness to their compromise and lies (1 John 5:9-12).

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” -Matthew 5:13

What do we hear from the Church hierarchy today, "Let's pray.  God is on His throne. Jesus is coming back. Just trust Jesus" (Throw your hands up in hopelessness). Yet again scripture commands Christians that they are to occupy till He comes (Luke 19:13). 

These hirelings are teaching the congregants to stand down instead of standing up in protest with their lives, if need be (Luke 12:4). The church is to be the barracks that soldiers of the cross are to be spiritually equipped (Ephesians 6:12-18).

They are opening up the gates to the wolves (John 10:12) so that the sheep may be devoured (Matthew 26:15).

These ministries have taught their congregants to submit to what God has commanded to throw off (Daniel 3).

“For now the common song of all men is, 'We must obey our kings, be they good or be they bad; for God has so commanded.'  True it is, God has commanded kings to be obeyed; that which they commit against His glory, He has commanded no obedience." –John Knox

The American Church will call for prayer and yet fail to act.  The hirelings of the day apparently have forgotten to read the book of ACT's. The scripture is clear on this matter: “The body is without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).

“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” - Frederick Douglass 

“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;” -1 Timothy 1:18 

Christianity is a battle waged against invisible foes who are always alert and ever seeking to entrap, deceive and ruin the souls of men.

I end with E. M. Bounds who stated "The Christian life is no picnic or excursion. It is not entertainment or a pleasure trip. It involves effort, wrestling and struggling (Acts 14:22). It demands putting forth the full energy of your spirit in order to frustrate the foe and be, in the end, more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). It is not a flower-strewn path, no rose-scented affair. From start to finish, it is spiritual warfare. It is a battle, not a game. From the moment they first draw their spiritual swords, Christian warriors are compelled to “Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3).

What a misconception many people have of the Christian life! How little the average Church members appear to know of the character of the conflict and its demands upon them! How ignorant they seem to be of the enemies they must encounter if they are to serve God faithfully, succeed in getting to Heaven and receive the crown of life! (Matthew 7:13) They scarcely seem to realize that the world, the flesh and the devil will oppose their onward march – and will totally defeat them unless they give themselves to constant vigilance and unceasing prayer (Revelation 12:17).

It is just at this point that I mean to highlight the professed Church’s greatest defects. There is little to nothing of the soldier element in it (2 Timothy 2:3). The discipline, self-denial, spirit of hardship and determination that belong to the military life and are so prominent in it are lacking in Christianity. Yet, my friends, the Christian life is warfare from the beginning to end."

Remember, God is willing to give the Church that for which it is willing to fight, but you do not get the victory without a fight. 

How is the Church in America at peace with corruption that is at war with God?

Time to start reading and acting for ourselves, for we will answer for what it is that we do, and what it is that we do not do (2 Corinthians 5:10), for we see that the professors in the American church will not. 

"Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" -Psalm 94:1

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Bradlee Dean is a guest contributor to GCN news. His views and opinions are his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of the Genesis Communication Network. Bradlee's radio program, The Sons of Liberty, broadcasts live M - Sat here at GCN. This is an edited version of an op-ed originally published by Sons of Liberty Media at www.sonsoflibertyradio.com. Reprinted with permission.