Craigbythesea
Well-Known Member
For six years I pastored an inner city church in a neighborhood that was so dangerous that it was “off limits” to military personnel. An attempt to kill me was made twice that I know of, and for about six months I counseled a cold-blooded murder. Because of the multitude and severity of the crimes that he had committed, he refused to talk with me in public places in the church, and preferred to use a dimly lighted hallway that led to parts of the church that were not open to the congregation. He frequently got right into my face and could easily have killed me and gotten away with it had God permitted him to do so. My last conversation with this man was a conversation with a gloriously saved, born-again man of God who moved to another community hundreds of miles away to get a fresh start away from his gang. As Christians, we are to fear God, not men! As Christians, it is our responsibility to lead men to Christ—not to shoot them with a gun.
One of our Bible teachers was shot and killed, but only when he chose to position his body between an assailant’s gun and the body of an evangelist preaching in the pulpit—the assailant’s target. I knew our 70-year-old Bible teacher very well and I know for certain that had he had access to a gun, he would not have used it to take a human life. To my knowledge, none of our members ever packed a gun on the church grounds—or, for that matter, anywhere else. Had any of them done so, I would have been very disappointed and wondered why my sermons and Bible studies and been so ineffectual.
I currently live, by choice, in a gang-infested neighborhood where killings by guns and knives are a frequent occurrence, but I do not and will not pack a gun—even though I am frequently outside in the dark after midnight.
By the way—that inner city church that I pastored was kept open every night till midnight seven days a week, including all holidays, so that it would be open to the very worst of the worse when they were doing their thing where they did it. Even though I was the senior pastor with a staff of associate and assistant pastors, I chose to be there at the church and available to the public six nights a week till midnight, and then went to my office in the church and prayed till 2:00 a.m. I then walked home—alone! Our senior counselor often stayed at the church till after 2:00 in the morning because there were so many people needing help. God does not go to bed at midnight, and the Holy Spirit is always there to watch over us.
One of our Bible teachers was shot and killed, but only when he chose to position his body between an assailant’s gun and the body of an evangelist preaching in the pulpit—the assailant’s target. I knew our 70-year-old Bible teacher very well and I know for certain that had he had access to a gun, he would not have used it to take a human life. To my knowledge, none of our members ever packed a gun on the church grounds—or, for that matter, anywhere else. Had any of them done so, I would have been very disappointed and wondered why my sermons and Bible studies and been so ineffectual.
I currently live, by choice, in a gang-infested neighborhood where killings by guns and knives are a frequent occurrence, but I do not and will not pack a gun—even though I am frequently outside in the dark after midnight.
By the way—that inner city church that I pastored was kept open every night till midnight seven days a week, including all holidays, so that it would be open to the very worst of the worse when they were doing their thing where they did it. Even though I was the senior pastor with a staff of associate and assistant pastors, I chose to be there at the church and available to the public six nights a week till midnight, and then went to my office in the church and prayed till 2:00 a.m. I then walked home—alone! Our senior counselor often stayed at the church till after 2:00 in the morning because there were so many people needing help. God does not go to bed at midnight, and the Holy Spirit is always there to watch over us.
