I want to look more into the shooting in Las Vegas and make some things more clear. Our ministry mostly deals with Islam, so when we see a terrorist attack, naturally, because the majority of terrorist attacks have been in the name of Islam, we start looking in that direction.
Let me be clear in what I am going to say. Not every Muslim is a terrorist, but the majority of the terrorist attacks are done by Muslims in the name of Islam. The government has a definition of terrorism, and I have a problem with it. Basically, they are only looking at what the motive is behind the heinous act. It has to be done for a religious or political reason. I believe we must also look at who is the victim of the attack. If the attack is indiscriminate toward the public, it is a terrorist attack. The objective is to cause terror and panic in the hearts of the public.
If the attacks are strictly against soldiers, or against a government, they are not terrorist attacks. Had 9/11 been an attack just on the Pentagon, or the White House, had it been an attack on the military and political arm of the United States, it would be a different story in my book. They went after the public by flying their planes into the towers, where the victims would be innocent civilians. It was an attack designed to instill terror in the hearts of ordinary citizens. This classifies it as a terrorist attack, regardless of the motive. Whether the Las Vegas shooter was motivated by a political, religious, or some other motive, it was a terrorist attack.
I believe it is premature to say the motives of this attacker was related to ISIS. ISIS has claimed that he was a convert to Islam, and one of their soldiers, but thus far there is no evidence to back this up. Some of you may have misunderstood what I said yesterday. I specifically said, ” Since there is no evidence provided, we, at Fortress of Faith are not saying that it was an Islamic attack.”
I have a very close friend in Las Vegas, who is an Arab and very familiar with the issues of Islam. We are looking into this subject, and right now there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of the shooters ties to Islam.
I did say that it would not surprise me if the liberal media, those who are anti-right, anti-conservative. and anti-Christian, would put this attack under the alt-right. They are trying to do just that. They are trying to make him a white supremest or something like that. They want to make him out to be a Nazi or a Fascist, which by the way are both socialist movements, and socialism was left wing, not right-wing, the last time I looked.
I suspect that the shooter was just purely evil, that he was mentally deranged, perhaps. We are all trying to figure out the motive.
I said there were two things the left would come down on. The first would be for more gun control. Automatic weapons are already severely restricted. They are now going after the “assault rifle.” They will be going after all semiautomatic rifles next. There is a device being sold that causes a rebound and causes you finger to automatically keep triggering the weapon, causing a machine-gun effect.
I believe that the laws are sufficient to ban automatic weapons. I think we need to follow through with banning modifications that make a semiautomatic rifle behave like an automatic rifle.
Let’s take a look at what the Bible says. It says that we should arm ourselves to defend ourselves. Jesus is speaking in the following verse:
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 22:36)
He says that if you don’t have a weapon, you should sell something and buy one. Why? In Luke Chapter 11, He told us:
When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: (Luke 11:21)
When a person is strong and armed, his home and his goods are in peace. He is not telling us to take up arms and resort to violence against others. When Peter took out his sword and used it against those coming to arrest Jesus in the garden. He cut of the servant’s ear and the Lord healed the servant and said:
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52)
The Lord didn’t commend Peter, He rebuked him. The New Testament permits, and even encourages owning weapons for the protection of your home and your goods.
The reason this battle over gun control keeps coming up, and it will continue to do so, is that liberals believe that man is inherently good. The Bible teaches us just the opposite. It teaches that man is inherently evil. It tells us that the sin nature has passed upon all men. We are born with a sin nature. We don’t have to teach a child to lie and steal, it comes naturally. Sin is in the very nature of man.
The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Our founding fathers knew this. I didn’t have these quotes in front of me yesterday, but let me give them to you today.
Quotes from our Founders
They knew that Government and their laws could not CONTROL MAN TO DO GOOD.
Washington said…
“Let it simply be asked, ‘Where is the security for life, for reputation and for property, if the sense of religious obligation desert?”
He was telling us that if the religious constraint is not there, there can be no security for life, reputation, and for property.
Washington’s Farewell Address has been missing from college text books – largely due to its religious content –
Thomas Jefferson said…
“The precepts of philosophy laid hold of action only… (but Jesus) pushed his scrutinizes into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and he purified the waters at the fountainhead.”
He said that there must be something to control him at the very beginning of a man’s thought. He said Jesus scrutinizes the heart. God has put His law in the hearts of men. This is the religious constraint that is necessary for political prosperity.
In Matthew 5, Jesus said The law says don’t kill, but Jesus said don’t hate. He equated hatred with murder. If you prevent the hate, you will prevent the crime of murder. He also said if you control the lust, you will control the adultery. It all starts with the thoughts of men.
The Founders pointed out to us that only religion can stop crime before it gets started. We cannot create a law that will control the hearts of men. Because all crime comes out of the heart, you can’t control crime until you control the heart. There must be something within the person that goes deeper than the fear of the law.
John Adams said….
”There is no government in the world able to make a person to do what is right or able to control those who do not wish to be controlled…
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
How true this is!
The gut reaction that makes liberals want to blame the weapon is a denial of the real problem. If you take away the guns, you will then have to take away their knives, if you take away their knives, they will use their vehicles.
None of these instruments used to kill today existed when Cain killed Abel. An evil heart will find a way to do what it wants. Religion, especially Christianity, controls the heart. The more we repress religion and the Bible, the more we will see things like the shooting in Las Vegas.