The US Government crime investigating agencies will see these Muslim names, but the official word will be that there is no connection to Islamic terrorists. The US Government is desperate to convince Americans that terrorist acts are only one off generic crimes.
The moral we must take away from this information is that churches need to watch their Facebook pages carefully. If you see Middle Eastern names coming up in the Comment section of articles, you need to double security around your church.
You cannot expect the US Government, or even your local law enforcement, to take Islamic terrorism seriously. The common attitude of national leaders toward Islamic terrorists is that it will not get any worse than it is now. Furthermore, there really is nothing the US Government can do to prevent acts of terror by ISIS, ANTIFA, and other such terrorist groups. They have a wide open nation in the USA in which to choose targets and attack.
YOU ARE THE ONE, PASTOR. Either you will take aggressive measures in security for your church, or you could be the next target.
I have a couple of suggestions which 99% of you Baptist pastors will tell me are heresy. You are a jack ass if you wait until over half your people are in the morgue before you take this seriously. And, as usual, I say that in all good Christian charity.
1. Do not allow anyone to attend your church house services who is not a member, or who can be proven to be safe by a member who invites the stranger. The early Christian Church did its evangelism OUTSIDE the assembly meetings and gatherings. The early church fathers tell us that Paul did his evangelism in downtown Ephesus during week days. He held his Bible Institute in the Hall of Tyrannus. The early church fathers also made it clear that church gatherings were ONLY for worship and edification, not evangelism.
2. Stop advertising special events that will pull large crowds. You are not called to get the numbers up. It is the Holy Spirit who adds to the Lord's Church, not you. Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. If you live to see the day you pack the church house to the walls, standing room only, you may live to see the day of a massacre like we just saw in Texas. The hard truth, preacher, is that you are not feeding the sheep when you are wailing away at some lone sinner in the pew to get saved. You need to teach your people to win souls six days between Sundays. I told you that you would hate me for this list.
3. Preacher, you must have at least three members, for every fifty people, packing heat legally in every service. If three men had stood and drawn on the gunman in Texas, he might have fled without trying to shoot. Even if he shot, well prepared men would have dropped him at once. Also, have one of your ladies packing heat. This would be the lady in the nursery or who sits toward the back. If a gunman enters, he will not think of a lady as a threat, and she will have the drop on him.
4. Preacher, YOU must have a permit to carry, and carry everywhere you go. Have your handgun in the pulpit when you preach. You have the best shot at a gunman, and he will be looking to kill you first. If you want to stay alive and protect your people, you will be prepared. Just do not leave your gun laying around carelessly. Also, go to a shooting range, and set a target at the distance of you pulpit from the front door. Do not stop practicing until you can put a group the size of your hand in the heart of the target image. Also, learn to shoot for the head. These creeps wear body armor.
5. Wear body armor when you are having services at the church house. Keep the doors locked when you are in the church house alone in your study. When any group meets at the church house, like the youth, or the ladies fellowship, you or some other man MUST be on hand carrying to do security duty. Tell anyone carrying not to bow and close their eyes when the people pray together. Watch and pray.
6. When you see a man with a gun enter the door, or you hear "Allah u Akbar," shoot to kill. If the man has a machete, order him to drop it or be killed. Make sure your security man in the entrance of foyer is not in the line of fire from the pulpit to the front door so that you can shoot without worrying about hitting your own man. Keep one man outside the church house moving about watching anyone approaching the church. Strangers need to be sent away, even if the security man must pull his gun to stop the stranger. Require your security people to go to a rifle range and do target practice regularly. Discuss your plan if a car comes at the church trying to run over people. Every gun should be out and firing at the driver through the windshield. You may want to have large stone blocks brought in and placed around the entrance.
7. Put security cams inside and outside the church with the screen in the sound room, or put the monitoring station in the back of the church where one man can keep watch at all times. Once a service starts, all outside doors must be locked. A security man should be outside at the entrance to let well known people in. Your security men must wear mic/ear bud communications so that they can be put on alert by whoever sees a threat. They should also carry pepper spray or pharmaceutical grade ammonia in a spray bottle. Your outside security men must call the police at once about anything suspicious, like a car driving slowly past the church. Keep an eye on the parking lot for anyone trying to plant a bomb.
8. Tell your people that when they hear the code word, like "SECURITY" shouted, to drop to the flood and take cover. Push children behind desks or other objects for cover. Tell your men that whoever is carrying should stand and prepare to take the gunman out. But, warn them about avoiding hitting anyone who is not the adversary. Let the men know that bullet holes in windows are not important. They are a lot better than bullet holes in people. Tell you men to keep their guns at 45 Cal. or less. The ideal gun is a Colt or Taurus 45 Cal. revolver loaded with 410 shot gun "Personal Defense Rounds." This gives the defender a better change of taking out the gunman. A revolver is preferred because, if a defender is wounded, he can pass the gun off to another man who can easily use it. During an emergency is no time to learn how a gun works.
9. Put a dead bolt on the nursery door so that the ladies in the nursery can slam the door shut and lock it from the inside. If you have a window so that the nursery ladies can see the service from inside the nursery, replace the window with bullet proof glass. Adding a steel barrier below the window would be appropriate.
10. Pastor, you must henceforth be far more careful about welcoming new people to join right in and participate or become members. Get their full name, and learn by conversing with them where they work and any other background info possible. Then, spend the money to do a full search on them at an online background checking service. Do not be shy about asking the police to do a background check on someone new who wants to attend your church. If they have ANY criminal or vile moral heritage, tell them they are not welcome. If they become angry, bring them up from your cam memory, and ask every man in the church to have a long look at them.
11. Finally, pastor, TEACH the people that Jesus told his disciples to get a sword in the Gospel of Luke. Teach them that defending your family is part of providing for the family as taught here: 1 Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
11. Finally, pastor, TEACH the people that Jesus told his disciples to get a sword in the Gospel of Luke. Teach them that defending your family is part of providing for the family as taught here: 1 Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
When you and I were kids, these things were not even contemplated. But, we live in a different world today. The man of God, any man in the church who is born again, is responsible to defend his family and the family of God. We are now living in an era when we are called upon to be prepared for more deadly threats than in past Church history.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
To talk about this, you are welcome to contact me using my information AT THIS PAGE.
You can find a larger discussion of local church security HERE IN MY ONLINE JOURNAL. Before calling to talk, please read this article. Your question may be answered there.
To talk about this, you are welcome to contact me using my information AT THIS PAGE.
You can find a larger discussion of local church security HERE IN MY ONLINE JOURNAL. Before calling to talk, please read this article. Your question may be answered there.
