1 Samuel 13:19 “Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:”

1 Samuel 13:20 “But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.”

Gun control is the theme of the day. And so what better time to talk about being armed and “gun control” than from a Biblical perspective!

…The verses quoted above is what happened in the Holy Bible in Israel’s history under their first king, king Saul… when the Philistines, an enemy nation, disarmed them in order to dominate and control them… and they took away their swords and spears so they couldn’t do anything about it. … seems logical.

The Bible ties issues of arms and freedom and domination together. The hint in the word “gun control” is “control”. For the vast amount of people who would never let God have any control over any part of their life, or so they think, we’ve quickly become a nation renowned for control! And in need of it apparently, and we will discuss why, because a nation that departs from God does need more and more control measures in place because guns are not safe in the hands of a society that is ungodly.

When you depart from God, you also depart from freedom, and being trusted with that freedom. There was a man full of devils who Jesus saved in the gospels, and guess what we learn… that before he met Jesus they had been chaining him up to try and stop him doing all the scary crazy stuff he’d do… they had to control and restrict him because of what he’d do with his freedom if he had any. You wouldn’t have wanted a gun in his hands!

But we will get to all that, sorry if this is a bit long, but hopefully worth the read!

One thing I found really interesting about the story taken from 1 Samuel 13 is that we are told that although the average Israelite was disarmed, two Israeli people did have swords… The king and his son. And that’s just like how it is today… because when guns get taken away from the average citizen.. guess who still has guns protecting them?

Look, our country may have been pushing God out, but religion is still alive and kicking here. Just our religion is government. We are becoming known as a “nanny state” such is the government involvement in our life. And government religion is not new, they’ve been doing it in China forever, they have their preachers too, just switch on one of the government owned media networks which will and do convert you to their way of thinking… but this was going on in the book of Daniel also, government was so high on itself there that you had to pray to it! King Darius passed a decree that if you didn’t pray to him you’d be chucked in a den of lions!

Government does everything for us now “let us take care of it” style… including our thinking, it saves for our retirement for us because we don’t have the brains to do that, it feeds us, it gives us hope, it dictates our mood, it makes us happy and sad, it educates us, it permits what we can say and do… it even promises it truly cares for you and can save you… but it didn’t die for you and can’t save your soul from sin, death and hell… be it left or right wing. It didn’t love you enough to do that, nor does it have the perfection or power to. It may tax you to death, but it won’t save you from death! A real trap in our country is believing in government but not in God. It’s a real downgrade.

Look, the Philistines were able to achieve in that society back then what ours is trying to do now. They brought in heavy regulation on Israel, they knew, restricted and permitted what Israel were allowed to have and do, and if you wanted so much as to sharpen your weed whacker you had to go to them for permission to get it done, and they dictated even the most intricate part of mundane life. We are well on course for that level of oversight!

But the thing is… with that said… you actually need high levels of regulation and government control in a country that has departed from God. That’s the kicker here. Because when you kick God out of society, it becomes unsafe… because “safety is of the Lord”. No Lord, no safety. And because it’s now unsafe, now more and more controls are needed to protect you… for your good! See, you don’t feel safe if your neighbor has a gun, because of what he/she might do with it, they can’t be trusted with it.

You need but speak to older folk who knew different times from previous generations, times of far greater God consciousness… where an unsaved person back then was probably more Christian than your average church goer now… and they speak of a time unthinkable even inconceivable to us now… where kids would play in the streets, jump on buses and trains and parents not know or even need to know where they went for the day, without even needing to worry about whether they’d ever see them again. It wasn’t even a thought that someone would pick them up and abuse them. They didn’t lock their cars or house… they didn’t have to shut off, concrete, wall, door and bolt every entry point to their home for fear of invasion…

…but see, when God left because we wanted him to, something else came in. And we became unsafe. And we needed a more and more controlling government to deal with it. Guns and machetes weren’t safe in people’s hands anymore, even trucks near large crowds… because more and more government intervention is required to keep society from ripping itself apart… because any society without the fear of God now is replaced with dread of man and what your neighbour will do who’s conscience does not have God residing or ruling in it “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts”

Our ungodly society is proving God more and more right. Because when people have God’s Spirit in them, they could be handling the nuclear codes and you would have nothing to fear, but now it’s scary if someone has a kitchen knife what they might do with it, because God is so far from their thoughts, and mankind without God in his mind is well and truly a scary thing. This was happening pre Noah’s flood too… and Jesus told us “but as the days of Noah were”

…You wanted society without God’s rules to cramp your sinful style? You got it! … We asked for this and we got it when we forsook God’s perfect law of liberty, it is he who gave us the freedom in his laws that endowed us with a way of life that is fast becoming a memory, no longer reality. No amount of legislation of man can restore it either, even if your hope is renewed everytime at the next election, like you and your little vote, and the functioning of democracy and a politican’s practiced smile, catchy slogans and empty promises will somehow change something…!

… because there is only one piece of legislation that can bring back safety… salvation… it is the legislation in the heart of law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and if that law was in your neighbors heart, you wouldn’t need to check all your windows were bolted shut, it wouldn’t concern you if that neighbor had firearms. You wouldn’t need to check your spouses messages to make sure she was being faithful, if God was in his/her thoughts. See, God in our society makes our society FREE. But our society made it clear Christ is no longer welcome here “And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.” … you wave goodbye to freedom and safety when you say ciao to Christ though… and now we can’t be trusted with guns. See, your guns are taken from you because you cannot be trusted with them what you might do with them… so you have less freedom.

I’ve got a dog, called Boss, and he enjoys freedom because he knows law, my law is written on his little heart, he loves to obey it, but the good thing for him is that he gets to enjoy a life without many restraints because of these laws which allow him to be free. Without a fence he doesn’t disappear, therefore he doesn’t need to be locked up on a chain to make sure he doesn’t. A dog meanwhile that cannot be trusted with freedom has to be locked up, how many people have a dog that bolts as soon as a crack in a door is left open… and as a result that dog has less freedom, they’re always chained up and restricted… See what the issue is here? Gun controls are proving the inferiority of our society in a post Christian era. The more godly a society is the less law it needs! Exactly as the Bible says… “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,”

And so, the reality is, you need more and more governance in a land without freedom through Christ’s inhabitation of the Spirit. And you should fear a person that does not fear God and what the limitations of such a person’s evil imagination might be. If that person is not governed by loving God and loving his neighbor as himself, if that person is not governed by “thou shalt not commit adultery” “thou shalt not covet” “thou shalt not steal” “thou shalt not bear false witness”… you do have plenty to worry about…

It’s no surprise that times and issues like this have correlated with a rise of Christianity touting itself as free of God’s “law” like its a dirty word. Just totally not understanding God at all. Course you’re under law, more than ever in our country! If his law is not written in your heart, there’s going to be plenty written in parliament for you, to keep people safe from you! …You know … in the last days, that the Bible says all the nations of the earth are going to go to Zion just hoping to hear the law of God because they’ll see that much value in it… would you belong in such a new world if you’re so opposed to Gods law now?

And for a nation with Christians that call every law of God, and any who dare revive their dead conscience of it, as “legalistic”… well just think about this, you’re truly living in a society more legalistic than the Jews had. Our state and nation has many more laws than God’s people had. Because the more wicked a nation, the more laws it needs … “For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged”…

…Anyway, we have digressed! So we learn at this time in Israel’s history that the Bible says the Philistines were spoiling Israel. When one nation spoiled another nation, that is to say they took everything they had. That’s the principle behind bearing arms… not liberty to commit crime with them, but power to preventing an enemy from taking everything you have because you have no means to resist.

And I really would rather focus on the spiritual sense, because that’s what God is concerned about. See, whatever is happening in Australia is happening, I can’t do much about it, neither can you. And as Christians this world is just a pit stop on the way to where our membership and citizenship and conversation and hope really is. … But what the Bible does teach is that you must be spiritually armed! You see, the Bible teaches that you and I have a real enemy of our soul, Satan, who wants to take everything from you, and once you lay down the weapon he fears, you invite him in to do just that, even while thinking you can befriend the beast. How many lion tamers end up devoured by their own kitty cat.

What a book the Bible is! It has truths that apply both spiritually and physically, personally and publically, privately and nationally!

… did Jesus ever talk about arms? Well yes, he told Peter to put his sword in his sheath, and somehow that’s been made into a case for Christian pacifism, when that’s got exactly zero to do with what Jesus was saying. …Peter had a sword, and he swung it and did damage with it, and Jesus rebuked him, because what was Peter doing… trying to keep Jesus from going to the cross to do what he was born to do? Peter was in the wrong fight. And Christian, know the fight you’re in. You’re not called to overhaul our political system, because you won’t, you can be salt and light in it, but the cause is salvation of souls, not making people share your political views.

People tried making Jesus king in the gospels… and he refused. Doesn’t that tell you anything? And before his crucifixion, Jesus said to Pilate, a Roman governor, in John 18:36 “ Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

What fight are we in? Jesus said “come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Fight for the salvation of soul and spirit! Take people with you into the kingdom of God! Let Jesus Christ possess the kingdoms of this world as he has promised at the time appointed of his Father, you’re not going to elect him there a second beforehand…. This world hates him! If he ran for prime minster tomorrow he wouldn’t get elected in. The Jews were given a choice between Barabbas, a murderer and robber, and the holy Son of God… guess who they chose? Not Jesus!

Look, Jesus did directly talk about arms in the context of spiritual conflict and authority and the importance of being armed in protecting and preserving freedom… Luke 11:21 “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:”

What Jesus was teaching here is that being armed is crucial to being free… they are directly correlated. He said the purpose of arms is to keep what is yours, to ensure and preserve your peace, to protect your family and home… which is what soldiers with guns did for our country to ensure the freedom we have.

As a Christian, know this, when you got saved, you entered a conflict that has been going since the garden of Eden, you are in a spiritual battle, and as Paul told Timothy … “fight the good fight of faith” and “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

And the Bible tells us in Ephesians 6 to “put on the whole armour of God”… Just look at soldiers today, what do they have? Body armour, helmet, bulletproof vests… guns… they are equipped for conflict, to defend, protect and preserve their and our lives and freedom.

Look the reason you need to be spiritually armed is because Satan is a murderer, Jesus said that, and Satan will be coming for you and your family. He will come for your marriage. He will come for the hearts and purity of your children. He will come for your testimony and sanity. He will come for your relationship with your spouse. He will come for God’s calling upon your life. …What are you going to do about Satan, your spiritual enemy, if you have no armor of God?

Satan respects the weapon God gave us to deal with him… if he finds you without a weapon, there’s nothing for him to fear or stand in his path. People respect arms, that’s why people put warnings of CCTV at the door of their home, because if you show “strength” or potency to defend your premises and person… you rarely have to use the force you have, because people won’t want to mess with you.

We are living in a time where many Christians are like Israel was back here. Disarmed spiritually, wide open to being conquered by the devil. Or they swapped out the sword for a water pistol. And the tool they’ve got isn’t fit for purpose. Your NIV? Your ESV… that’s a blunt agricultural tool, not a sword for fighting Philistines. You’re not going to find your cutting edge in a book that’s been revised and adulterated by man, a weapon who’s potency has been filed down like the Philistines did to the point of where not even the enemy is worried about any power in it.

God has given you the ultimate weapon for the spiritual conflict… his word, the word of God, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”

In the text quoted above, the Philistines were very smart, they took away every smith, not smith as in John “Smith”… but smith as in , people that were able to furnish people with swords. Not too many people handing out God’s word in our land are there. Not many people you can go to who you’ll emerge from with God’s word in hand. Our society needs preachers of God’s word who believe it and declare it.

When we swapped out the King James Bible for “I can’t understand that language” and picked up Bibles so easy to read that we didn’t even read them, we swapped out a sword for secateurs. And only one of those is really fit for purpose in battle. God already gave you the right tool for the job, he didn’t say swap it, he said study it and exercise it. Yeah, maybe you can’t use it well now, but that’s what training and use is for. The more you use something and familiarize yourself with it, the better you get with it.

In ww2 if you didn’t know how to use a cannon to nail tanks, you didn’t abandon the cannon, you learnt how to use it. And when you start to use something and get good at it, you’re hard to separate from it. Why most Christians forsook their Bible was because they didn’t use it. If you had no use for it, just like anything you have no use for, it’s much easier to be discarded… or surrendered. Esau sold his birthright because it had no use to him, it didn’t mean it wasn’t precious he just didn’t realize it’s value!

Grow attached to the Bible! Be like Eleazar, who’s hand clave to his sword in battle he used it so much. You’re not going to find peace with Satan, you’re going to have to bruise him or he will you! And don’t be afraid. Jesus is still King of kings and Lord of lords, the powers that be are ordained of God, get back to the Bible, get a burden for souls on your heart, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And well done on making it this far, God bless you!

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