"But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Timothy 5:8
Fathers and husbands are required by Almighty God to provide for their families. This includes not only providing food, housing, clothing, education, medical care, love, discipleship and spiritual guidance, but also protection. Of what worth is all the other provision if one does not provide protection as well? Anyone who fails to provide for their family has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever. In fact, those who refuse to protect their young are worse than an animal. What animal will not fight to protect its offspring? God has equipped every one of His creatures with some weapons - whether horns, claws, teeth, talons, stings, and hooves for fight or flight. Why would humans alone be excluded from self-defence?
Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that: "He who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." Luke 22:36
The Law of God is clear. "If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed." Exodus 22:2
The Law of God establishes the basic right of self-defence. Any person is justified in defending himself, or his family, whenever they are attacked or their lives are endangered. Any weapon is permissible for use in self-defence. The Law of God does not say that the homeowner is guilty if he uses a sword, but innocent if he uses a club. The issue is not one of weapons, but the right and duty of self-defence.
Faith and Action
We should not be too quick to judge and condemn others for doing what the Bible commands them to do - to take reasonable precautions for self-defence and for the protection of their families. Yes, of course, our primary weapons are the Bible, prayer, faith and persuasion. Just as our primary spiritual food is the Word of God. But that does not stop us planting seeds, harvesting crops, shopping and preparing food!
Christians must be balanced and we need to recognise that sin comes from the heart of man (Mark 7:21-23). There is no point blaming a tool, a cold metal inanimate object, for the evil in men's hearts.
Pacifism is in defiance of historic Christian teaching. The 39 Articles, the Foundational Statement of the Church of England, states clearly in Article 37: "It is lawful for Christian men to carry weapons."
The Westminster Catechism, considered the finest expression of Biblical teaching, states under the 6th Commandment that the prohibition against murder requires as our duty: "All careful studies and lawful endeavours to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting, by just defence, against violence, protecting and defending the innocent." (Q135).
"Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked." Proverbs 25:26
Liberty Teeth
The first president of America, George Washington, declared: "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To secure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honour with all that is good."
Switzerland's Strategy for Survival
If you want peace, prepare for war.
Peace is achieved through superior firepower. This sums up the Swiss attitude towards peace and freedom. The land of William Tell, Ulrich Zwingli, William Farel and John Calvin, with its deep mistrust of central governments, its abiding love for God's Word and for life and liberty, remain a bastion of freedom through armed neutrality.
"The nation will continue to exist only if it is strong enough to defend itself." "We have a small army, yes, but it is made strong by our traditions." General Guisan in his book: "Our People and its Army" asserted that military defence has two essential components - moral force and material force. A young man at his Confirmation received a sword and could not marry unless he possessed a Bible and a firearm. The local assemblies of lawmakers each carried a sword as a symbol of liberty when they gathered for legislation. Days of military recruitment were festivals with processions, flags and music. Being capable of military service is a physical certificate of health. The warrior spirit exhibits itself in the arts, literature and architecture. The army is the incarnation of the federal republic. The people are the army, the army is the people. The army provides education for citizenship. "We owe it to our ancestors, always appreciate freedom and independence… It is better to die than to live in slavery!"
The Swiss Shooting Federation (SSV) was formed in 1824: "To the promotion and perfection of the art of sharpshooting, an art beautiful in itself and of the highest importance for the defence of the Confederation." Shooting festivals became one of the most important unifying activities in the community. It has always been Switzerland's high level of military preparedness, as a nation of sharpshooters on skis, that has proved an effective deterrent to would-be aggressors.
Switzerland is the only European nation which has proclaimed that, in the event of an invasion, any announcement of surrender is to be regarded as enemy propaganda, that every soldier must fight to the last cartridge, and then with the bayonet. Their published and openly proclaimed military strategy is to make any invader pay a severe penalty for violating their neutrality. The standing order is: Keep fighting. No surrender. No retreat. Fight to the last bullet and blade.
Foundations for Freedom
To limit a person's access to lethal weapons is to limit his ability for self and family defence. Weapons control interferes with our basic right and responsibility for self-defence. Ultimately gun control can deprive you of your right to life. The right of citizens to use lethal force to defend themselves is a great deterrent against thieves and attackers.
Those who choose not to have firearms still benefit from those who do. Even if only one in twenty people are armed, it still acts as a restraint on potential attackers who are not certain who is armed, and who is not. The deterrent value of armed citizens against crime cannot be overestimated.
"Do not be afraid of them, remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses." Nehemiah 4:14
From these, and many other, passages of Scripture (including Numbers 32:20; Judges 5:8; 1 Samuel 13:19-22), we can see that a man is responsible to be armed and prepared to protect his household.
"A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well." Proverbs 25:26
The Deadly Deception of Pacifism
When these Scriptural principles are ignored the results can be tragic:
The Christians at the Elim Mission Station in Rhodesia were such convinced pacifists, that even within a few kilometres of Marxist Mozambique during a vicious war, they refused to be armed. They had neither fence, nor dogs to protect them. They refused to allow the security forces to station some guards for their protection. When communist terrorists visited Elim, the missionaries provided them with food and medical supplies. 
On one fateful night, 23 June 1978, ZANLA terrorists of Robert Mugabe herded the nine missionaries and four children onto one of the fields. In front of the parents, they hacked the children to death. Then, in front of the husbands, they raped and tortured the women to death. Finally, they brutally murdered the men. Yet, so effectively had their pacifist beliefs neutralised them, that there was no attempt at resistance. The men stood by and watched ruthless terrorists butcher and abuse their loved ones.
In November 1987 a similar massacre took place at New Adams farm in Zimbabwe. Their sincere belief in pacifism disarmed the 16 precious Christians and made them helpless victims to a frightful slaughter.
English Legal Tradition
English legal tradition has always recognised the right of free citizens to possess and carry weapons for self-defence. King Alfred the Great (871 - 899) laid the foundation for English law. The Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 formed the preamble for these laws. While abuses, such as disturbing a meeting by drawing a sword, were prohibited - the basic right to bear arms was entrenched.
The laws of King Cnut (1020 - 1023) declared self-defence to not only be a right, but a duty. Those who failed to assist a person under attack were to be fined. Similarly, anyone who "illegally disarms a man" were to be fined.
The Magna Carta of 1215, the first written restriction on the powers of government, and the grandfather of all Bills of Rights, guaranteed the right of all free men to bear arms.
The English Declaration of Rights of 1689 recognised "the right of having and using arms for self preservation and defence." Other free states entrenched this right to obtain, own, carry and use weapons for self defence, including most notably the United States of America and its Bill of Rights. So important and basic was this considered by the American Founding Fathers that they placed it in the Second Amendment - straight after religious freedom!
If these foundational principles for freedom seem extreme, or outdated, then consider recent history:
Rwanda was a Gun Free Zone
On 6 April 1994, one of the most dreadful campaigns of mass murder was unleashed upon the Tutsi people of Rwanda. In just over 6 weeks more people were killed with machetes and clubs than had died from atomic weapons in all of history. The MRND Hutu government of Rwanda instigated, organised and launched the systematic slaughter of the Christian Tutsi minority after enforcing a rigorous gun control. As the population had been previously disarmed, they were helpless to defend themselves against the state which now had a monopoly of weapons. Over 800,000 Tutsi Christians were murdered.
The confiscation of weapons made the massacres possible - by disarming the targeted victims. The holocaust in Rwanda again confirmed that limiting the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families is an open invitation to criminals to attack the innocent.
Gun Control Precedes Genocide
The genocides perpetrated upon the Christian Armenians in Ottoman Turkey from 1915 - 1917 were preceded by gun control and gun confiscation. The massacres of millions of Christians by communists in the Soviet Union were preceded by gun control and gun confiscation. The massacres in Europe from 1939 - 1945; in Red China from 1949 - 1976; in Uganda from 1971 - 1979; in Cambodia from 1975 - 1979; and in Rwanda in 1994 – all were preceded by gun control legislation, which effectively disarmed the targeted victims.
The Greatest Killer
A gun free sticker would not have helped these people, because the greatest threat to life is not from firearm accidents, nor even from criminals. The greatest killer in the 20th Century was secular governments who had disarmed their own citizens. Approximately 160 million people were killed by their own governments, in over 40 communist states, just in the 20th Century alone. These were not foreigners killed by invading armies during times of war, these were citizens killed by their own governments in times of peace.
Tyrants Prefer Unarmed Victims
Gun control deprives potential victims of their best means of protection. A free people need to be armed. Disarmed people can be easily exploited and oppressed. If a government does not trust its citizens with weapons, then the citizens cannot trust the government with power. A government that fears its people is itself to be feared. No government should ever have a monopoly of force or weaponry.
Deal with the Murderer
The underlying arguments for gun control seem to be that the availability of weapons causes crime. But this has not been the Biblical position. Genesis 4 records the first murder when Cain killed Abel. God's response was not to ban rocks, knives, clubs, or whatever murder weapon may have been used, but to banish the murderer. It is the murderer’s heart that is the problem, not the weapon used. 
In Genesis 9:5-6, God instituted capital punishment for murder. "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man." This death penalty for murder was repeatedly restated (Exodus 21:12-15; Leviticus 24:17-22; Numbers 35:33; Matthew 5:17-18; Acts 25:11; Romans 13:1-4; Revelation 13:10).
However, nowhere does the Bible advocate weapons control. The Bible does record the control of weapons by the Amalekites and the Philistines (Judges 5:8 and 1 Samuel 13:19-22) but it condemns these restrictions on individual defence as a pagan attempt to centralise excessive power.
A Bad Workman Blames his Tool
If firearms caused crime, then Switzerland would be a violent, lawless country, because every citizen has weapons of war stored in his home. Yet, despite having millions of military type rifles, and a great many other firearms and weapons of war, in private homes, overall firearm abuse is so low as to be insignificant. Switzerland has the lowest burglary and murder rate in the industrialised world. How many mass murders take place in gun shops, on shooting ranges, or in police stations, where firearms abound?
Also, in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, when tens of millions of soldiers returned to their homes, with millions of surplus firearms sold on the open market (the South African government were selling .303 rifles for just R2 each), and hundreds of thousands of captured souvenir weapons, there was actually a sharp decline of violent crime in the USA, Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
However, later, with the advent of "the permissive society", and as church attendance decreased, along with the explosion of the drug culture and the sexual revolution - then violent crime increased. Clearly, guns do not cause crime. People in rebellion against the Laws of God cause crime and violence.
Gun Free is No Guarantee
Nevertheless, we in South Africa have an organisation called Gun Free South Africa which regularly claims that: "a person who uses a firearm in self-defence is more likely to be shot than someone who does not" and "the cases of people attacked and robbed of their guns - and often shot with their own guns - far outnumbered occasions when somebody successfully defends themselves with a gun!" (Loaded Issues, GFSA leaflet). The same leaflet asserts that criminals are more likely to attack armed victims! 
Criminals Prefer Unarmed Victims
These incredible assertions are decisively refuted by the facts. A US Department of Justice report on a Survey of Incarcerated Felonsfound that the greatest deterrent to crime is armed citizens. 60% of convicts agreed that they would never attempt to rob a victim if they thought that he or she might be armed. 74% declared that their greatest fear was being shot by a victim. 57% stated that they feared armed citizens more than police. Every year, armed citizens legally shoot four times more criminals than do policemen.
Crime Control
An American study, Crime Control by Gary Kleck, reported than a million times a year US citizens use firearms to defend themselves against criminals and to prevent a crime (2,740 times a day). In 98% of these cases, the mere brandishing of the firearm proved sufficient to deter the attacker. Only in 2% of the cases did the citizen find it necessary to kill, or wound, the criminal. Gary Kleck began his studies as a gun control advocate, yet, after his research, became convinced that it was counterproductive. He now opposes government interference in the rights of citizens to obtain and use firearms for self-defence.
A Rapist's Nightmare
A US Justice Department study of more than 32,000 rapes or attempted rapes, found that the best protection against rape is for a woman to be armed. When a potential victim of rape was armed with a firearm, or a knife, only 3% of the attempted rapes succeeded (Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Rape Victimisation).
Resistance Increases Chances of Survival
A South African study, by John Mann of SAGA, researched 206 cases of armed private defence (not including police or military personnel) in the Gauteng area. In summary he calculated: 677 attackers to 246 defenders/victims; 81% of attackers had weapons, 71% had firearms. 36% of the attackers were killed, or arrested, by the defenders. 64% of the attackers fled. Only four armed defenders/victims died (confrontational survival rate of 31 to 1). No bystanders/innocent parties were injured by actions taken by the defenders. In his conclusion, Mann observed: Potential victims can expect multiple attackers. When an intended victim has used a firearm in defence, four out of ten attackers were killed, or arrested; six out of ten attackers ran away. When an armed victim resists, their chances of surviving the attack are increased by 31 times (3,100%).
More Guns - Less Crime
John Lott of the University of Chicago law school conducted an exhaustive study on the relation of firearm ownership to crime. His 18 years of thorough research of all the data, for over 3,000 counties of the United States, was published under the title: "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws."
Lott's scholarly study exposes the falsehood and folly of many Gun Free SA guestimates, claims and assertions. For example, the GFSA claim that most people are killed by a friend, family member, or someone they know. The often quoted statistic is that 58% of murder victims are killed by an acquaintance. What most people do not realise is that this so-called "acquaintance murder" category includes gang members killing other gang members, drug buyers killing drug pushers, taxi drivers being killed by customers they picked up for the first time, prostitutes and their clients and so on.
Zero Tolerance
The vast majority of murders are not committed by previously law-abiding citizens. 90% of adult murderers have had previous criminals records as adults. It was this fact that led the New York Police Commissioner to institute the successful Zero Tolerancecampaign that dramatically decreased the incidences of crime in New York City. They observed that serious violent crime was committed by people who had committed a wide variety of minor crimes first. To counteract this early contempt for the law, New York police now deal severely with all breaches of the law - to instil an early respect of the law and for the rights of others. 
Concealed Carry Deters Crime
John Lott documented in his comprehensive study that states with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest decreases in violent crime. Those states that allow adults to carry concealed handguns have seen a consistent annual decrease in murders, rapes and robberies. As more people obtain concealed carry permits there is a greater decline in violent crime rates. This he attributes to the fact that criminals are deterred by higher penalties and the most significant deterrent for a criminal is the possibility of being shot by a victim. Lott also documented that each additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about three to four times more than an additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.
Violence Predates Firearms
Gun Free South Africa advocates imaginatively promote the "dream... of a country where there are no guns." The suggestion that violence would magically decrease if we could only have gun control reveals an ignorance of both history and human nature. Of course, history records that violence was prevalent prior to the invention of firearms in the 15th Century! Attila the Hun, Ginges Khan and Shaka Zulu managed to kill millions of people without firearms.
The Sharp and Blunt Facts
In fact, contrary to the impression created by GFSA, most murders in South Africa do not involve firearms at all. Knives and other sharp objects and clubs are used to murder more South Africans than firearms do. Does GFSA suggest we ban all knives, sticks and rocks?
E-TV Debate
This was very humorously demonstrated during a TV debate that I took part in with a judge who supported GFSA. The interview took place downtown at the E-TV studios in Cape Town. The judge, answering the question as to how he got involved in supporting Gun Free South Africa, said that he had been involved in dealing with the brutal Bains Kloof murder some years ago. It was a terrible, gruesome murder he said. "Although it didn't actually involve firearms" he noted, in fact, the terrible way in which they were suffocated in plastic bags made him wonder whether it wouldn't have been more merciful had they been murdered by firearms. Nevertheless, he realised that "something had to be done" to outlaw firearms!
The Big Question
On another TV interview on SABC 2, The Big Question, I was debating Rev. Alan Storey of Gun Free South Africa. When the interviewer asked me to justify my position I quoted a number of Scripture verses mandating self-defence and family defence. The interviewer turned to Alan Story and said "Well, Peter has quoted a number of Scripture verses in support of his position. What verses from the Bible can you quote to support Gun Free South Africa's position?"
Rev. Storey spluttered and stammered. "Well, actually, there aren't any" he admitted. "But, not everything in the Bible is Biblical!" As the studio audience exploded in laughter, he added: "Well, what I mean is not everything in the Bible is Christian!" There was even more laughter and I responded: "What kind of theology is this?" Sometimes one's opponents in a debate destroy their own arguments more effectively than you can do yourself.
Some people do use firearms for evil purposes, but far more people use firearms for defensive purposes - to prevent crimes from being committed.
Children Injured by Guns
On another occasion, I was debating two Gun Free South Africa advocates in Cape Town in a public meeting. Dr. Van As, of the Red Cross Children's Hospital, called for tougher gun laws because he was sick and tired of treating children wounded and crippled by gunfire. This was the first time that I had heard this argument, so, in trying to understand the situation, I asked him: "How many of these children are gang members or criminals that were shot by police, or in self-defence, by victims of their crimes?" His answer was: "All of them!"
Later, upon investigation, I found out that only four patients a month at the Red Cross Children's Hospital were gunshot victims, and almost all of those were from illegal guns in the hands of gangsters. Numerous of the patients were actually gang members themselves.
The Main Causes of Injury to Children
It does not seem logical to disarm licensed firearm owners when they are not even the problem. But further research revealed that the vast majority of casualties admitted to the Red Cross Children's Hospital that year were for falls (2,338 cases), motor vehicle accidents (1,030), burns (532), assault with blunt or sharp instruments (208), and poisoning (744). Even dog bites (91) were more numerous than firearm wounds (50) for that year.
Vastly more children die each year from bicycle accidents, car accidents and drownings than from firearms. Children are 1,450% more likely to die of a car accident than from a firearm. Should we outlaw all motor vehicles?
During the height of the Gun Free South Africa campaign I wrote the following letter styled on GFSA arguments, which was published in a number of newspapers in the country:
Car Free South Africa 
Everyday the newspapers, the radio and television carry stories of yet more South Africans killed, or maimed, by one of the most dangerous weapons that the state allows our private citizens to possess. 
Children are mown down in front their schools and homes, and others are orphaned, when their parents fall victims to these same instruments of death. Doctors in emergency units in hospitals countrywide are daily inundated with victims. Last year there were 511,605 incidents involving these lethal devices. In these incidents 7,260 lost their lives, 21,265 sustained major trauma, and a further 52,097 were fortunate to escape with only minor injuries.  
Everyday too, the media reports yet more of these dangerous devices stolen from their rightful owners by criminals. Many of these are subsequently used in the commission of robberies, cash-in-transit heists, hijackings and murders. The number of unlicensed or in-illegal-possession is impossible to estimate. Even those in the possession of law-abiding citizens have led to lethal accidents.  
All too often we read of children that use their parent's vehicle to show off and, who through unfamiliarity, lack of training, or negligence, kill themselves, their brothers or their friends. 
It can be argued that law-abiding citizens derive pleasure from these lethal implements and that many people are collectors that own them for their aesthetic appeal, or as investments. Others require them in the course of their daily work, or involved in one of the many sports that use them. Yet, despite the rising death toll, and injuries, caused by these lethal weapons on our streets, and the horrific and graphic images that assault us daily in the media, the numbers of vehicles in the hands of South Africans continues to increase. 
The proliferation of these lethal devices should be of major concern to all citizens, yet figures show that last year 859,752 new licences were issued in South Africa. Data on the number of vehicles in the hands of police and other government departments are less readily available. Each year, more people are killed by motor vehicles in South Africa than by firearms. Should we outlaw all cars?
Improve Safety Features
​No, the solution to the horrific carnage on the roads is not to ban motor vehicles, but to improve safety features in vehicles, to educate drivers, promote the use of seat belts, and severely punish drunken or reckless driving. As with motor vehicles, it would not be right to erode everyone's rights, or to take away everyone's freedom, because of the criminal activities and carelessness of some. 
Doctors Kill More People than Firearms Do
Actually, vastly more people die of medical malpractice each year than from firearms. The American Medical Association recognised that 93,000 patients die each year due to medical malpractice by doctors. Another 110,000 patients die from unforeseen reactions to prescribed medicines. We can also add the number of babies killed by doctors through abortion. Approximately 80,000 babies are killed by abortion, legally, with taxpayers money, in South Africa alone, each year. In the light of the fact that doctors kill more people each year than firearms do, it seems very hypocritical for any medical officer to blame a cold, metal inanimate object, a tool, for the evil that some people do.
Armed Citizens Save Lives
However, we recognise that doctors save more lives than they take. That is exactly the same for motor vehicles and firearms. Transport carries life-giving food and medicines to those who most need it, and patients to hospitals where they will be treated. Everyday countless crimes are prevented, hundreds of potential victims are protected, and many tragedies are averted, by armed citizens. Armed citizens save lives, but unarmed citizens all too often become helpless victims.
When three PLO terrorists opened fire on a cafe in Jerusalem, they were promptly shot by armed bystanders. The one wounded, surviving, terrorist was recorded as complaining: "We were never told that the civilians in Israel were armed!"
It is every man's duty to be armed and prepared to protect the innocent and to defend the defenceless. May God enable us to be fast and accurate.
"But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially those of his household, he has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Timothy 5:8

Dr. Peter Hammond

Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: (021) 689-4480
Fax: (021) 685-5884
Email: mission@frontline.org.za

MURDER SPREE
The Firearm Control Act concentrates on disarming the potential victims of crime, rather than on dealing with the criminals.  There are an average of 2.5 million crimes reported in South Africa every year.  Over the last ten years a quarter of a million South Africans have been murdered.  This  includes 1600 farmers who have been murdered in over 8000 farm attacks.  There has been an average of 77 farm attacks per month, and a farmer has been murdered, on average, once every second day for ten years.  The murder rate in South Africa is eight times higher than the international average. 
However, instead of restoring the death penalty deterrent, the ANC government has concentrated rather on seeking to dismantle the Commandos.  The 180 Commando units with their over 50 000 part-time soldiers, carry out thousands of operations every year, many in support of border control, and protection of farms.  The Commando system goes back to 1715.  With the removal of the Commando units farmers will be even more vulnerable than ever before. 
FAILURE OF JUSTICE
It is evident that the justice system in South Africa is failing.  With only 430 arrests for every 1000 crimes reported, and only 77 convictions for every 1000 crimes committed, and with less than 8 of these being sentenced to two or more years of imprisonment, it is clear that most criminals in South Africa are getting away with murder.  With reports that South African convicts have a 94% recidivism rate (that is, 94% of all persons released after serving a sentence immediately become involved in crime again) it is apparent that our justice system is failing to rehabilitate convicts, or to provide a deterrent to repeat offenders.  Soft judges make hardened criminals. 
DISARMING THE VICTIMS
Yet, in the light of this endemic crime, the ANC government is pressing ahead with an unworkable Firearm Control Act, which is designed to massively reduce the amount of firearms in private hands.  Effectively this means reducing the number of licensed firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens.  Disarming the potential victims of crime is easier than going after the crime syndicates.
ILLOGICAL AND UNETHICAL
Considering the fact that there are an estimated 9 million illegal firearms in South Africa, more than double the amount of registered, legal firearms, it would appear both illogical and unethical to focus on disarming the registered firearm owners, who by definition are law abiding.  Even the Minister of Safety and Security himself has testified in Parliament that the percentage of crimes committed by legal firearm owners is “statistically insignificant.”  So, considering that legal firearm owners are not the problem, why should the government be focusing so much attention and expense on disarming the potential victims through more rigid firearm control laws, rather than re-instating the death penalty as a deterrent for violent crime? (Just as the Forestry Department spends so much time in deforestation - chopping down “alien” trees - instead of planting forests!)
It is an undeniable fact that criminals prefer unarmed victims.  Armed citizens save lives, but unarmed citizens too often just become helpless victims. 

CAUSES OF CRIME
Alcohol abuse has been found to go hand in hand with South Africa’s new culture of violence.  Most homicide victims have been found to have high concentrations of alcohol in their blood.  Most murders have tended to be committed in summer, on Friday and Saturday nights and in and around taverns, bars and shebeens.  Most suspects arrested for murder and rape have been found to have used drugs or alcohol immediately prior to the crime. Yet, rather than clamping down on alcohol and drug abuse, the government would prefer to blame a cold metal inanimate object for the crime rate.
MANUALS FOR RAPE
A South African Police Service report noted that“in 1996 the Films and Publication Act was passed legalising pornography for the first time in the history of the country.  This made it possible for child abusers, rapists and paedophiles to obtain all the material they needed.  Statistics tell the story as South African Police Service records show that child rape increased…over 400%.” The police report further stated that:  “Research with child sexual offenders reveals that all have used child pornography.”  Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice.  
The National Institute for Crime Prevention (NICRO) has estimated that there are approximately 380,000 rape cases in South Africa every year.  Yet, as the rape rate just soared, the conviction rate of rapists has plummeted.  Less than 7% of reported rapists are ever convicted! 
Yet, instead of clamping down on pornography, the government would prefer to wage war on legal firearm owners.
FUELING CRIME
The legalisation of gambling in South Africa has also fueled the crime rate.  Numerous investigations and commissions have documented that:  “With legalised gambling comes an increase in bribery, fraud, extortion and bankruptcy of both businesses and individuals.  The twin principle goals of legislation, namely revenue raising and crime control are incompatible…There is also an increase in bankruptcy, alcoholism, child and wife abuse and other crimes which accompany gambling.  This requires more police, more jails, more social workers, lawyers, judges, court cases, public prosecutors, public defence attorneys, etc…gambling is destructive to society!” (Make A Difference) Crippling debts, family break-ups, divorce, theft from companies in order to fund gambling habits and suicides proliferate with casinos, lotteries and other gambling.
Yet instead of evaluating the role of gambling in fueling the crime rate, the government would prefer to pretend that firearms in the hands of responsible citizens are the main problem.
VIOLENT VIDEOS
Over 3000 psychiatric, psychological, medical, paediatric and sociological studies have researched the effects of mass media on behaviour.  The influence of violent films and TV programmes on violent behaviour is now so thoroughly documented as to be irrefutable (Media-Wise Family). 
Yet instead of clamping down on violent films and ultra violent computer games, the government would prefer to pretend that it’s not the steady diet of violent “how to be a criminal” films that fuels the crime epidemic in South Africa, but these cold, inanimate, metal tools we call firearms.  It is a bad workman who blames his tools, and it is foolish to blame the evil that men choose to do upon any tool. 
PRODUCING CRIMINALS
One should also consider the role played by the education system in fueling the crime rate.  The dumbing down of our education system through the Outcomes Based Education, Curriculum 2005, must be considered.  (The Life Skills class assignment where students were tasked to plan a bank robbery comes to mind as one of the examples of an outcome we surely don’t need any more of in South Africa.) The compulsory sex education, situation ethics, evolutionism, and general anti-Christian bias of the Education Department has lowered moral standards and undermined the ethical foundations of our young people.  Academic standards have plummeted as well. 
THE GREATEST THREAT
The greatest threat to life in the 20th Century was not firearm accidents, or crime, or even wars!  More people were killed by their own governments in peace time than were killed by foreign invaders in war time.  And every genocide of the 20th Century was preceded by gun-control.
GUN FREE ZONES
Some years ago I attended a workshop held by Gun Free South Africa.  After articulating their vision of a South Africa where no private citizens would have any firearms at all, and where only government officials would carry guns, the GFSA speaker asked the audience if we could think of any countries in the world where such a system had been instituted.  Immediately several members of the audience suggested:  “Yes, the Soviet Union”; “Red China”; “Cambodia”; “Cuba”; and then I offered:  “Yes, Rwanda.  Rwanda was a gun-free zone.  I’ve just returned from walking knee deep in corpses in churches in Rwanda.  The MRND government in Rwanda had implemented complete gun control, confiscating all weapons from civilians before they launched the genocide to wipe out half-a-million Tsutsis.”
The GFSA speaker responded angrily to this feedback from the audience by abruptly ending the open discussion and terminating the meeting early.  It must be frustrating for such idealists to be presented with the facts.  Gun free zones are open invitations to homicidal maniacs.
The fact is that at least 180 million people had been killed by secular governments in the 20th Century.  We’re not talking about people who died in wars caused by these secular humanist states, because that would massively increase the body count.  Over 180 million people have been killed by their own secular humanist governments in the 20thCentury.  And each one of these massacres were preceded by gun confiscation. 
TRUST AND FEAR
So why would any government want to limit the means of self-defence in the hands of law abiding citizens?  A government which does not trust its own citizens with weapons, cannot be trusted with power.  No government should have a monopoly on weapons. 
A government which fears weapons in the hands of its own people, should itself be feared. 
FIREARMS SAVE LIVES
Every now and then a horrific tragedy involving firearms hits the newspaper headlines.  Gun free advocates then use these media events as an opportunity to advocate their disarm-civilians-agenda. 
Some people do use firearms to commit horrible crimes, but far more people use firearms to prevent horrible crimes from being committed.  Firearms are used as much as five to six times more often for defensive purposes than for criminal purposes.  Even those who choose not to have a firearm, still benefit from those who do, as the criminals generally know who is armed and who are not.  The deterrent value of armed citizens against crime cannot be overestimated. 
Every day countless crimes are prevented, hundreds of victims are protected and many tragedies are averted by armed citizens.  Armed citizens save lives.  It would be criminal to interfere with any husband’s duty to protect his wife, or any father or mother’s duty to protect their children. 
FIGHT CRIME
Instead of harassing and penalising responsible, law abiding, licensed firearm owners, the government should concentrate on improving our criminal justice system, trying to help the correctional services keep the convicts in jail, stop mollycoddling the criminals and handcuffing the police, crack down on pornography, prostitution, gambling, violent videos, alcohol and drug abuse, and re-institute the death penalty for murder. 
As it is impossible for any police force to always guarantee the safety of every citizen, no hindrances should be placed upon the right of law abiding citizens to obtain and use firearms for self-defence.  As the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by criminals with unlicensed weapons it is clear that restricting the right of citizens to own, carry and use legal firearms cannot prevent crime.  Disarming the potential victims of crime can only serve the purposes of the criminal. 
Criminals prefer unarmed victims.  Armed citizens save lives.  No matter what, make sure that no one takes away your right to obtain, carry and use firearms for the protection of your wife and children. 

​Dr. Peter Hammond is the author of Biblical Principles for Africa, Holocaust In Rwandaand In the Killing Fields of Mozambique.

The day after the government released their "statistics" on how crime in South Africa is on the decrease, my motorbike was stolen from behind a locked gate. The previous week I had spoken, along with Mr Kent Durr and Steve Swart, both Members of Parliament, at a Victims Against Crime dinner in Durbanville. That same day, a good friend of ours was murdered in Durbanville.
Reverend Pieter Victor heard his neighbor screaming for help, and rushed around to help. He found three armed men tying up this woman. He intervened and was shot dead by the assailants. Rev. Victor was 68 years old. Peter Victor was the founder of Straatwerkers - a dynamic evangelistic ministry which for the past decades has been mobilizing young people onto the streets of Cape Town, to win prostitutes, pimps, night club customers, and other street people to the Lord.
It is ironic that having survived several decades of ministry in some of the most dangerous parts of our city, that he should be murdered in what we would consider to be a "safe" suburb. Rev. Victor was a courageous and principled man of immense integrity. He frequently had the courage to confront the highest powers in the land with their corruption and he boldly proclaimed the Word of God in some of the most unpromising and difficult situations. He was a very good friend of Frontline Fellowship, and had spoken at several of our courses and seminars. Over the years we had entrusted several of our key people to Rev. Victor for discipleship training on the streets. When a 68 year old pastor can be murdered it hardly seems appropriate that a government can brag of "winning the war against crime".
A shocking report by United Christian Action indicates that the murder rate is even worse than the official statistics have so far admitted. "Murder in South Africa" reveals that barely 6% of all serious crimes in South Africa result in a conviction. It is also calculated that South African convicts have a 94% recidivism rate (that is 94% of all persons released after serving a sentence immediately become involved in crime again).
Last Sunday night I had the opportunity to debate on national television (SATV 1) with, amongst others, Officials of the Ministery of Safety and Security, and Gun Free South Africa. The subject was Crime and Gun Control and the programme was "Let's Talk" - an hour long programme at prime time.
As I pointed out, the greatest threat to life is not from firearm accidents, nor even from crime. In fact not even warfare has been the greatest killer in the last century. The greatest threat to life in the last century has been secular governments which have disarmed the population. Over 160 million people were killed in the 20th Century by secular governments, mostly Communist governments, which had disarmed their population. These were not people killed in warfare, or caught up in the cross fire of conflict. These were disarmed civilians deliberately targeted by their own governments. In 1915 the Ottoman Turkish Government murdered 1,5 million Christian Armenians. The Armenians had first been disarmed by gun control laws.
In the 1920s and 1930s Lenin and Stalin murdered over 36 million mostly Christian peasants in the Soviet Union. Nazi Germany is accredited with 13 million victims. The Nazi Law on Firearms and Ammunition and Weapons Law, March 18, 1938 is remarkably similar to the proposed Firearms Control Act in South Africa.
Under Mao Tse Tung, over 60 million people were murdered by the Communist government in China.
Idi Amin in Uganda slaughtered over 600 000 Christians in the 1970s in Uganda. The Firearms Act of 1970 was used by Amin's dictatorship to disarm the population first.
Pol Pot's holocaust in Cambodia, which slaughtered over 3 million people, was also preceded by gun control.
The Holocaust in Rwanda, which killed over 800 000 Christian Tutsis was similarly preceded by firearm control legislation.
As history testifies, every genocide of the 20th century was preceded by gun control. The greatest threat to life is not crime or warfare but massacres by secular governments, which have disarmed their populations. Criminals prefer unarmed victims and so too do tyrants.
Incredibly the Gun Free SA and ANC spokesmen on the programme spoke of self-defense as "a privilege", not a right! The present Firearms Control Act would give the Minister of Safety and Security sweeping powers for search and seizure - even without a warrant - and arbitrary authority to grant or withdraw licenses at his sole discretion.
The present paranoia against firearms has not been shared throughout most of church history. Christians have always maintained that evil comes from the heart, mind and soul of individuals. A bad workman blames his tools. We cannot blame a cold, metal, inanimate object for the evil that men choose to do. While many men have misused firearms, many others have used firearms to protect the innocent and to prevent evildoers from having their way. Far from Christians in previous centuries having an aversion to firearms, not only were swords and rifles freely brought into many churches, but the pastors were often some of the best shots in town. During the American War of Independence, an enormous amount of pastors served as officers in the Continental Army under General George Washington, fighting for independence.
Pioneer missionary, William Carey, whose landmark book, "An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians", the book which launched the modern missionary movement, listed as essential equipment for any missionary "knives, powder and shot." Mary Slessor, the missionary to Calabar, included Maxim machine guns in her check list to a mission team coming to a very violent, slave trade ravaged area of Nigeria.
Dr. David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary and explorer who first landed in Africa in 1840, was well equipped with some of the most advanced weapons then available, including a six-barreled revolver. On occasion Livingstone was compelled to use his weapons for protection from wild beasts and to persuade slave traders to set their captives free. At one point, when criticised, Livingstone stated: "I love peace as much as any other man, in fact, I go quite beyond you, for I love it so much I would fight for it." Blessed are the peacemakers - not the pacifists. To make peace requires resolution, courage and action.
Bishop McKenzie, of the Church Missionary Society, was involved in several firefights against slave traders in the Shiri Valley (present day Malawi), and set many captives free.
Francis McDougal, the First Bishop of Labuan, reported an attack by pirates in 1862: "My double barreled Torry's breechloader proved a most deadly weapon, for it's true shooting and certainty and rapidity of firing."
Many religious readers today would be shocked and horrified to read such reports in present day missionary newsletters. Perhaps the comfortable and prosperous surroundings that most Christians in the West have enjoyed for so long have blinded us to the harsh realities that most Christians throughout the centuries and in less fortunate parts of the world today, have had to face. An unbiblical pacifism has gripped many Western Christians.
When world famous cricketter turned pioneer missionary, C T Studd, undertook the first baptisms in a river in the Congo, he needed to fight off the crocodiles with a revolver in one hand while baptising the new converts with the other!
David Livingstone was mauled by a lion and endured numerous attacks by slave traders.
Missionaries such as these faced dangers which we can hardly imagine. We should not be too quick to judge and condemn others for doing what the Bible commands them to do, to take reasonable precautions for self-defense and the protection of their families. Yes, the primary weapons of missionaries are the Bible, prayer, faith and persuasion. Just as our primary spiritual food is the Word of God. But that does not stop us planting seeds, harvesting crops, shopping in the market and preparing food. Christians must be balanced, and we need to recognise that sin comes from the heart of man (Mark 7:21-23). There is no point blaming a tool for the evil in man's heart. Pacifism is in defiance of historic church teaching.
The 39 Articles, the foundational Statement of the Church of England, states clearly in Article 37: "It is lawful for Christian men to carry weapons". The Westminster Catechism, considered the finest expression of Biblical teaching, states under the 6th Commandment that the prohibitions against murder requires as our duty "all careful studies, and lawful endeavours, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting, by just defense against violence, protecting and defending the innocent." (Q135).
Under Sins Forbidden, the Westminster Standards includes: "the sins forbidden in the 6th Commandment are: 'all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in the case of public justice, lawful war or necessary defense; the neglecting of the lawful and necessary means of preserving life; and whatever else tends to the destruction of the life of any.'" (Q136). In other words, God's Word forbids any Government restrictions or interference in the right and duty of self defense, it also forbids us neglecting these means for protecting the innocent.
The Common Law has recognised this, including the Magna Carta of 1215 and the English Declaration of Rights of 1689 which were foundational to the United States Bill of Rights. All these recognised the right of all free men to keep and bear weapons for self defence.
As the first President of America, George Washington, declared: "Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To secure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honour with all that is good."
"Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked." Proverbs 24: 26.
"If anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" 1 Timothy 5: 8.
"… he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." Luke 22: 36.
"If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed." Exodus 22: 2.
The full report, "Murder in South Africa: A comparison of past and present" by Robert McCafferty, is available from United Christian Action. It can also be viewed on the web: www.frontline.org.za
​
Yours for faith and freedom 

Dr Peter Hammond

Frontline Fellowship P.O. Box 74, Newlands, 7725 Cape Town South Africa
e-mail: admin@frontline.org.za ​

Dear Friends
Imagine being asked by the leader of the terrorist group, which attacked your church, to come to a political rally celebrating his home coming, in his home village! I had met Letlapa Mphahlele several times before – the first time was in Parliament. I also took him to my home church for a Sunday morning service and visited Victor Verster prison with him to share the Gospel with the Azanian People Liberation Army (APLA) terrorist whom I had shot during the St. James Massacre. But this time it was 1700 km from Cape Town, in his home village at a Pan African Congress (PAC) political meeting, surrounded by 1000 PAC adherents who probably saw me as an enemy! (APLA is the military wing of the PAC)
The Bloemfontein Court has withdrawn charges against Letlapa. I struggled with whether I should attend or not. I believe that the Civil Magistrate has the Biblical responsibility to punish the guilty, yet we as the Church are God's ministers of grace who have to "forgive those who trespass against us". I understood that attending the meeting was controversial but I saw this as a great opportunity to take a stand for the Gospel and show the forgiveness we can have through Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord.
Our Director, Dr Peter Hammond, read the first verses of Psalm 27 as the Frontline Fellowship office staff prayed me off on this outreach: “…The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? … Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear …”
What an experience it was to attend the home coming ceremony of Letlapa, the APLA Commander. After flying 1400 km from Cape Town to Johannesburg, an old school friend, Theunis Roux, who initially talked me into going to the meeting, drove me the 4 hours to get there and all the way back to the airport again.
Our arrival at Letlapa’s home was uneventful. The excitement only started when I was introduced to the President and Vice-President of his Pan African Congress political party and didn’t know who either of them were, even when he said: “Do you know him?” My answer was: “No!” - Great start!
Shortly afterwards Theunis got into a conversation with the vice-president who brought up the explosive issue of ‘land reform’. The political argument, which Mugabe has so exploited in Zimbabwe, goes that the Whites stole all the land from the Blacks. Theunis was not impressed by the political rhetoric and started correcting the vice-president on points of fact. Now there isn’t much you can tell Theunis about the land reform laws because he has a “Doctorate in Constitutional Law” specialising in property and he sat on the committee that drafted the law under discussion – Greater start!
Thankfully Letlapa took us away to meet the Queen; that’s right, we went to the home of the Queen of the Mphahlele People. Letlapa brought greetings and we thanked her for the privilege of coming to visit. We then left to meet with other dignitaries and all of us went together to her home again and she joined the front of the party and we walked to the hall for the meeting. We were ushered onto the stage and were seated. Soon over a thousand people had filled the hall.
It was a frightening experience, walking into a jam-packed hall with revolutionaries in the audience, many of whom would happily see me killed at any moment and probably be proclaimed a hero for it; people who were known to be violent and who hated Whites. The hall was overflowing, the aisles were full, and people were standing in the doorway and peering through windows from outside.
The local tribal chief was the MC. He was brilliant; he made it very clear that all 22 speakers at the meeting would not be allowed more than 3 minutes each, and he strictly enforced discipline on the speakers. Seeing that most of the time I didn’t understand the language of the speaker, I set about whilst on stage, to reduce my speech for the announced time limit.
My turn came to speak and the MC introduced me as a survivor of the APLA attack at the St. James Church. I mentioned to Theunis that I am relieved that they introduced me in this way and not as the person who shot back at the APLA assailants. Theunis answered that they would hardly introduce me as the man that shot back at the APLA cadres and chased their heavily armed “soldiers” away. The MC then proceeded, stating that I would be given 15 minutes to speak. What? I’d just reworked my speech to fit in with his stated time limit!
I based my speech on the Gospel leaflet written by Dr. Peter Hammond: “The World's Greatest Revolutionary”. The full document is attached to this e-mail.
In summary, I mentioned The World's Greatest Revolutionary was a second-class citizen in an oppressed nation under foreign occupation. It was a time of violence and hatred but yet He lived a life of love. He was arrested, beaten, whipped, spat at, thorns shoved into His head, nails driven through His hands and feet and a sword thrust into His side. His message was so revolutionary and the authorities so threatened that they posted guards to guard His corpse in the grave. Those present listened intently and even groaned as I mentioned the suffering this Revolutionary went through.
I carried on that the grave was later found empty and that He is believed to have risen from the dead.
The revolution grew after His death, even though vicious persecution of His followers took place. The Empire tried to destroy His teachings; His followers were stoned, burnt and eaten by wild animals in stadiums while crowds cheered on. Other followers were tortured and massacred yet they returned good for evil, love for hate and lived lives of joy and faith. The blood of the martyrs appeared to be the seed for the continuation of the revolution. It is said that for every one that died in the Arena, 10 stood up in the stadium to replace them.
The Empire was defeated from within and taken over by those peace-loving people.
I ended: “A revolutionary life, with a revolutionary message, Jesus Christ has continued to make a revolutionary impact on millions of people all over the world. I call on you to join me in this revolution.”
I delivered two boxes of Gospel literature, including the Jesus film in the English and Afrikaans languages and 58 N.T. Bibles for the community.
I further explained that I had a historical document; in fact it was in their local Northern Sesotho language, which covered the life of this Revolutionary. I handed the Bible over with a handshake to Letlapa. In it was written: “Dear Letlapa, I pray that you will join me in following 'The World's Greatest Revolutionary', Jesus Christ. Yours, Charl van Wyk. (John 3:16).
Letlapa was very happy that I had come to this event. Try and imagine a White man arriving in a township, in the middle of nowhere, driven to on some dirt roads, to meet with people who believe that the Whites have been the cause of all their suffering and pain and were willing to murder for their ‘just cause.’
Letlapa in his speech said, “Let us follow the example of Ginn Fourie and Charl van Wyk, the two tireless builders of bridges who are today here with us.
“Charl had survived Azanian People Liberation Army (APLA) attack on the St James Church. He has every reason to hate me, the person who ordered the attack. But he chose to understand and forgive. Thank you Charl for your understanding and forgiveness.” 
They were to plant a tree in remembrance of those who died in the St James Massacre after I had to leave to get my flight back home. The following day, Letlapa left a message on my phone thanking me on behalf of him and his family for my attendance and also for the gift (Bible) I had given him. 
I am grateful to those who played a part in this outreach, for their time, money, prayers, etc. Thank you to all who made this a successful outreach. May the Lord be pleased to bring many of these people to repentance and faith in Christ that we may welcome them into God’s family.
May Jesus Christ be glorified and “…the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab 2:14

Yours in His service

Charl van Wyk
​
Related items:
PS The background to this event is detailed in my book “Shooting Back – The Right and Duty of Self-Defence” available from Christian Liberty Books in South Africa (Tel: 021-6897478).

Why not indeed? The present paranoia against firearms has not been shared throughout most of Church history. Christians have always maintained that evil comes from within, from the heart, mind and soul of individuals. A bad workman blames his tools. We cannot blame a cold, metal, inanimate object for the evil that men choose to do. While many men have misused firearms, many others have used firearms to protect the innocent and to prevent evil doers from having their way.
During a slide presentation in a Church in America, the pastor objected to the Christians in Sudan taking up arms against the Sudan government. I asked him what Americans celebrate on the 4thJuly? He seemed somewhat confused, so I reminded him that their founding fathers had unilaterally declared independence from Great Britain on 4 July 1776. The British called it a rebellion.
The American colonists took up arms against the crown because the British had failed to rule the Americans in accordance with the Magna Carta of 1215, and the Declaration of Rights of 1689. King George had violated his Coronation Oath. The American Founding Fathers maintained that the British government was no longer an authority to be submitted to, but a tyrannical power to be resisted. How then could Americans object to Christians in Sudan doing what they had done in 1776?
I then pointed out that in the entrance way to their Church they had a framed, colour picture on the wall of early American settlers going to Church, carrying their rifles with their Bibles. I reminded him that many Churches in America in the 17th Century fined men if they came to Church without a rifle! 1 Timothy 5:8 requires men to make provision for their family, and declares that any who fail to do so deny the Faith and are worse than an infidel! Churches penalised members who showed such irresponsibility as to fail to carry a weapon for the defence of their family members.
I then had to point out that Sudan, today, with slave raiders kidnapping children, burning crops, looting cattle, poisoning wells, destroying Churches and crucifying pastors, is far more dangerous than America was in the 1600's.
Far from Christians in previous centuries having an aversion to firearms, not only were swords or rifles freely brought into many Churches, but the pastors were often some of the best shots in town. During the American War of Independence, an enormous amount of pastors served as officers in the Continental Army under General George Washington, fighting for independence.
Pioneer missionary, William Carey, whose landmark book, An Enquiry Into The Obligation Of Christians, the book which launched the modern missionary movement, listed as essential equipment for any missionary "knives, powder and shot "
David Livingstone, pioneer missionary and explorer, who first landed in Africa in 1840, was well equipped with some of the most advanced weapons then available, including a 6-barrelled revolver. On occasion, Livingstone was compelled to use his weapons for protection from wild beasts and to persuade slave traders to set the captives free. At one point, when criticised, Livingstone responded: "I love peace as much as any mortal man. In fact, I go quite beyond you, for I love it so much I would fight for it." Blessed are the peacemakers not the pacifists. To make peace requires resolution, courage and action.
Bishop McKenzie, of the Church Missionary Society, was involved in several fire fights against slave traders in the Shiri Valley (present day Malawi), and set many captives free.
Francis McDougal, the first Bishop of Labuan, reported an attack by pirates in 1862: "My double-barrelled Torry's breechloader proved a most deadly weapon, for its true shooting and certainty and rapidity of firing."
Many religious readers today would be shocked and horrified to read such reports in present-day missionary newsletters. Perhaps the comfortable and prosperous surroundings that most Christians in the West have enjoyed for so long have blinded us to the harsh realities that most Christians throughout the centuries and less fortunate parts of the world today, have had to face. An unBiblical pacifism has gripped many Western Christians.
When world-famous cricketer, turned pioneer missionary, C.T. Studd undertook the first baptisms in a river in the Congo, he needed to fight off the crocodiles with a revolver in one hand while baptising the new converts with the other!
Adoniram Judson, America's first foreign missionary to Burma was captured on the high seas and incarcerated in a French prison, from which he escaped. Later he was imprisoned and tortured in "death prison" in Burma for eighteen months.
David Livingstone was mauled by a lion and endured multiple attacks on his life by slave traders.
John Paton, missionary to the cannibals in the New Hebrides Islands, described being encircled by cannibals "in a deadly ring and one kept urging another to strike the first blow."
Missionaries such as these faced dangers which we can hardly imagine. We should not be too quick to judge and condemn others for doing what the Bible commands them to do, to take reasonable precautions for self-defence and for the protection of their families. Yes, the primary weapons of missionaries are the Bible, prayer, faith and persuasion. Just as our primary spiritual food is the Word of God. But that does not stop us planting seeds, harvesting crops, shopping in the market and preparing food. Christians must be balanced and we need to recognise that sin comes from the heart of man (Mark 7: 21-23). There is no point blaming a tool for the evil in men's hearts. Pacifism is in defiance of historic Church teaching.
The Thirty-Nine Articles, the foundational statement of the Church of England, states clearly in article 37: "It is lawful for Christian men to carry weapons." The Westminster Catechism, considered the finest expression of Biblical teaching, states under the Sixth Commandment that the prohibition against murder requires as our duty "all careful studies, and lawful endeavours, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting by just defense against violence protecting and defending the innocent." (Q135).
Under sins forbidden, the Westminster standards includes: "The sins forbidden in the Sixth Commandment are all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in the case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense; the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life and whatever else tends to the destruction of the life of any." (Q136). In other words, God's Law forbids any government restrictions or interference in the right and duty of self-defence. It also forbids us neglecting these means for protecting the innocent.
Common Law has recognised this, including in the Magna Carta of 1215 and the English Declaration of Rights of 1689, which were foundational to the United States Bill of Rights. All these recognised the inalienable right of all free men to keep and bear weapons for self-defence.
The first president of America, George Washington, declared: "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To secure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honour with all that is good."
"Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked." Proverbs 25:26
"If anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Timothy 5:8
Peter is the author of "Security and Survival", "In the Killing Fields of Mozambique" and the newly released "The Greatest Century of Missions."
Dr Peter Hammond