FirePower and Faith

Firearms in the hands of pastors or missionaries seems to have become a controversial subject. There is no doubt that the primary weapons for missionaries and pastors are spiritual - the Bible and prayer. However, does God require full-time Christian workers to ignore Biblical commands, which require self-defence and mandate the protection of one's family? (See: Exodus 22:2; Nehemiah 4: 14; Luke 22: 36; 1 Timothy 5:18).
Sometime ago, while I was engaged in a mission trip to Sudan, I was taking the picture of 4 pastors, each in their clerical collars, and each holding an AK-47 assault rifle. I requested them to put their rifles to one side for the picture. They laughed. "Christians in the West will not understand pastors carrying firearms" I explained to them. They laughed even more. I put my camera down and explained: "pastors in the West do not carry rifles."
The response of one was: "Why not?"

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