Guided by the Holy Spirit--my bullet

How would you feel about seeing armed security guards at church? Fortunately for the members of New Life church in Colorado Springs, they had one. A gunman, the same killer who had slaid two college students involved in Youth With a Mission, entered the sanctuary and killed two sisters and wounded their father and two others before armed volunteer Jeanne Assam ordered him to surrender and give up his weapon. When he refused, Ms. Assam opened fire and—in her own words—the Holy Spirit guided her to kill the assailant. Watch the video of her description of events here.

By contrast, the Rev. Al Meredith refused to place guards at his Baptist church, saying “I want the church to be a welcome place for sinners.” Seven people died in 1999 in a violent attack on a Wednesday night teen prayer meeting.

UPDATE: His name is MEREDITH. MEREDITH!

It seems that on the one hand, Rev. Meredith is right. God promised us that he would command his angels concerning us, to keep us in all our ways. Does it show a lack of trust in the Lord to post security in the sanctuary?

On the other hand, what message does it communicate to worshipers, especially the newcomer or visitor? Does it say to them “Sinner, keep out?” or does it say “We care enough about you to want you to be protected and safe, no matter the cost?”

It seems like these random murderers think that the choicest victims for their slaughter are those they perceive to be defenseless. A strange, unwanted teenager shoots 9 people dead in a women’s clothing store in an Omaha mall. An evil, diabolic killer takes his assault weapons into a classroom building at Virginia Tech, where he knows it is a “gun free” zone. Another of Satan’s minions brutally kills helpless Amish girls in a one-room school house.

Gun-control advocates fail to realize that limiting the second-amendment rights of law-abiding citizens only increases the possibility of murder or other armed assault because of the perceived helplessness and powerlessness of the victim(s). In the case of the New Life church, the legal, concealed weapon of a volunteer security guard may have prevented an even worse tragedy from occurring.