Right to Bear Arms

Christian, there is an effort to disarm you!  Are you aware?  In light of recent events, the gun debate has become a huge issue.  Personally, I still believe in the Constitution of the United States and the right of the American people to own and bear arms.  In general, disarming America, if that ever truly becomes the focus, is a bad idea. The right to bear arms is also an idea that our Founding Fathers were passionate about enough that they included it in the design of our nation. However, there is another effort of disarmament that is taking place at this very moment, in this nation, that is far more threatening; it’s the disarming of the Church.

2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “…The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds!”  The New International Version says it this way, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish.” So what are these other worldly weapons mentioned here in scripture, what were they intended to ‘demolish’ and how are they being taken away?

I shouldn’t even have to say this but I will for clarity, our fight is not with each other, those with opposing views, or even our government.  Our fight is bigger than that. “…We are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”(Eph. 6:12)

So what are these powerful weapons that we, the Church, should have in our arsenal; the weapons being stripped from us daily?  Let me name a few; Faith in the Word of God, Prayer, Hope, Peace, and Unity in Christ.

Prayer is not accepted in public like it once was, but really that makes little difference.  No one can keep you from praying.  Reading the Bible is perhaps considered out of style. It was once a priority to Christians to read daily from the infallible Word of God, but now it seems we are willing to settle for the opportunity to listen to a half hour, weekly sermon. Honestly sometimes these sermons even lack much substance, except encouragement.

Each day many of us Christians start without prayer. We live our lives and then end our day without ever talking to the one we call Lord, except for when we need something from Him.  We rarely read from God’s own Word although He has given it to us to be our ‘most powerful weapon’ spiritually.

How can this be?  It’s because we are being disarmed.  Other things are taking our time and our attention, and the weapons of prayer and the Word of God, including our faith in the Word of God, are being neglected.

This is certainly a conspiracy against the church.  It’s certainly a sad testament of our day. It’s certain that we had better take notice.

These weapons, among others, were given to us by Christ himself to demolish the work of our enemy, Satan. They were given to allow us to be strong in our faith and to even spread our faith to others.  You have the right to bear arms, spiritually… Yet these weapons are being taken away; not by our government, or some radical far left special interest group. They are not even being taken away by Satan, although it is by his conspiracy that we are losing them. These weapons of our warfare, that are mighty through God to the demolition of all powers against the Kingdom of God, are being taken away by our own complacency.  We are being disarmed by our lack of passion for the things of God. Are you aware of this? What will you do about it?