Some time ago, I was invited to speak at a July
Conference in West Virginia to be hosted by the
popular nationwide radio preacher, Pastor Butch
Paugh. I have never met Butch personally, but I
have had good fellowship with him via the
telephone and I believe him to have a great love
for God and country. I was especially pleased to
be invited to a conference where some of the most
eminent patriots of our time would be present,
like Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt and Sheriff
Richard Mack. I felt privileged to have the chance
to meet Dr. David Manning, the famous Black pastor
from Harlem, in person. The schedule of speakers
can be seen on the Call to Decision web site at
http://www.calltodecision.com/2010.htm
However, a few days later my balloon got busted,
not “burst,” when I received information that
Michael Bray was going to be a guest speaker. Bray
was not listed as one of the speakers until after
June 1st, however Pastor Butch had announced the
fact on his radio broadcast. Wikipedia has a full
layout on him at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bray.
According to the relatively benign Wikipedia,
“Bray is an American anti-abortion activist
convicted in 1985 of two counts of conspiracy and
one count of possessing unregistered explosive
devices in relation to 10 bombings of women's
health clinics and offices of liberal advocacy
groups in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Initially sentenced to 10 years in prison, he
agreed to a plea bargain and served 46 months from
1985 to 1989.” He has also written a book,
A Time to Kill, in which he defends killers
of abortion doctors, such as Paul Hill, Scott
Roeder and others. To learn about Bray go to:
http://terrorism.about.com/od/groupsleader1/p/MichaelBray.htm.
Michael Bray
When I found out about this, I wrote Pastor Butch
a kind email explaining that I did not feel it
would be appropriate for me, as Pastor Emeritus of
the Indianapolis Baptist Temple and the National
Director of the Biblical Law Center, to speak at a
conference in which Michael Bray would be one of
the speakers. I also told him that I felt it was
not right to have left Bray’s name off the
roster of speakers on the Call to Decision
web site, even though the name had been mentioned
on his radio broadcast. My reasoning was
that some people, who were making plans to attend
the seminar, only visit the website for their
information, while others might only listen to the
radio broadcast. In a few days, Pastor Butch
responded that he was sticking with Bray as a
guest speaker and gave the following arguments.
(1) Pastor Butch -“While I could never tell
someone that what Brother Michael did several
years ago and has already paid for with jail time
was the right thing for them to do, I cannot truly
blame him for his actions.”
Bray may have “done the time” so to speak, but
he hasn’t repented of the evil that he did and
Pastor Paugh is upholding him on that. The
scripture is clear on this issue. “And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.” [Ephesians 5:11]
(2) Pastor Butch - “No one was hurt with the
stand he took, and who knows how many babies he
may have saved.” “…if he saved one
baby's life it was worth the effort in my personal
biblically held convictions. If he saved one
baby, how many of their children have they saved
over the following generations?”
“Whether we feel he was right or wrong in his
actions I certainly do not question his sincere
desire to serve Christ.”
These are purely pragmatic and emotional
arguments, made without any scriptural basis and
which are totally unworthy of a minister of the
gospel of Christ. In the scripture, we read
“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams.” [1 Samuel 15:22] The Prophet Samuel
continued his message to King Saul with these
words, “For rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of
the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being
king.” [1 Samuel 15:23] There have been many men
that have been sincere but sincerely wrong.
Whether it is evangelism or discipleship, we are
not to base our service to Christ on the body
count in Sunday school or the number who walk the
aisles during the invitation.
Pastor Butch Claims Neutrality While Standing
With the Murderers
In the above exchanges, Pastor Butch tries to
remain neutral but makes his position clear. In
phone conversations with listeners of his
broadcast across the nation, he has done the same
thing. However, he then gets on the radio and
makes his position clear in no uncertain terms
that he supports the bombers of clinics and the
killers of abortion doctors. He has also fortified
his stubbornness on this issue with a newsletter
to his supporters in which he defends his position
and castigates those who oppose him.
This is total hypocrisy. If it is biblical, then
why don’t Pastor Butch and his cohorts lead the
way in bombing abortion clinics and killing
abortion doctors? His excuse is that God doesn’t
call everyone to do this. This is pure hogwash and
won’t fly biblically. It is true that God does
not call all believers to the same office of
service, such as a foreign missionary, but he does
call all to support missionaries. King David
referred to those who “tarried by the stuff.”
In fact he said that they were to be included in
the dividing of the spoils. [1 Samuel 25:13;
30:24] On this basis, if God doesn’t call
Pastor Butch to bomb abortion clinics and kill
doctors, then he should help finance them, which
means that he would end up in the same jail cell
with them.
Pastor Butch, Bray, Eric Rudolph and others are
like the Muslim Imams who influence weak minded
people to strap bombs on themselves and walk into
market places but never do it themselves.
Pastor Butch Doesn’t Stop With Abortion
Clinics and Doctors
In an e mail dated June 01, Pastor Butch says
“…there is one thing for sure, if a murderer,
rapist, kidnapper, sodomite or others who commit
capital crimes are put to death as COMMANDED by
the Bible they will not commit such acts again.”
So to be consistent Pastor Butch, Bray, and
Rudolph’s Army of God and all of others of this
mindset should organize vigilante squads to begin
the systematic killing of those mentioned above
because as Pastor Butch has declared, it is
“COMMANDED by the Bible”. Where would the end
be? This is no different than the Muslims with
their “Honor killings” allowed under Sharia
law where fathers and brothers can kill their own
daughters and sisters for committing fornication,
etc.
Pastor Butch – There is Only One Bible
Pastor Butch says “…the Bible is NOT two
books, but ONE!! The laws of God are NEVER
going to be changed or negated” “If Christ did
NOT follow the law to the letter than we are
totally without hope my friend. Matthew
5:17-18 will prove that.” “Think not that I am
come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For verily I
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled.”
Pastor Butch seems to be saying that there is no
difference between the Old and New Covenant. If
this is true, it would totally wreck the church to
try and fit it into the O.T. sacrificial system.
The scripture is clear that, “…the law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ” [John 1:17] The Lord Jesus not only kept
the law, but He met every demand of the law.
He was totally without sin, so that He could be
that perfect sacrifice for sin. However, the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 shows that
there is a clear distinction between the Old and
New Testament.
Pastor Butch – “Even Paul prayed that Satan
himself would destroy people in the hopes their
souls would be saved.” [Butch Paugh e - mail
dated [5/31/10]
This refers to a man in the Corinthian church who
was living with his father’s wife and who Paul
instructed the church to put out of the assembly.
He said to turn him over to Satan “for the
destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” He didn’t
say for the church elders to execute him. Now in
the Old Testament they would have, because Israel
was a Theocratic state where the civil and
religious was joined together. [Deuteronomy
22:21-24]
Pastor Butch – “God Requires Cleansing of
Innocent Blood”
Following is an excerpt from Pastor Butch’s May
2010 Newsletter
“By the time you receive this month’s
issue, our sixth seminar will be less than two
months away. The opposition to this seminar
has been horrific! We even lost two radio
stations in Buffalo, NY because of one of the
speakers and my strong stand against the murder of
the unborn. It is amazing and sickening to
me that the number of “Christians” that simply
will not go beyond their comfort zones to save an
innocent babies life! Talk about hypocrites!
Pro. 24: 10-12. I realize that a lot of
people truly believe that we are wrong in
our stand. All I would ask them to do is
search the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation
and show us where a righteous God winks at the
shedding of innocent blood. Here are a few
scriptures that should be considered. II
Kings 24: 3-4, Numbers 35: 31-34, Deut. 19: 10,
Ps. 106: 36-40, Pro. 6: 16-17, Is. 59: 1-16, Jer.
19: 1-5, Jer. 22: 3 and Joel 3: 19. Notice
the references to “innocent blood” in all of
those scriptures. There are many more.
Now please look at Gal. 5: 19-21, Rev. 21: 8 and
22: 15. Pretty clear, huh? Look at one
more, please. Acts 7: 51-52. You will
plainly see that the blood of Christ was required
at the hand of those that betrayed him. Have
we not betrayed the unborn? Answer
honestly.”
Pastor Butch is saying here that only the shedding
of blood can cleanse the land of innocent blood.
There is much scripture to support this position
and history also bears out the evidence of this
principle. No doubt the judgment is already
starting in our own beloved nation for all of the
innocent blood that has been shed, not only the
blood of the innocents in abortion, but wars and
other atrocities too numerous to mention here.
However, individuals acting on their own through
the random killing of abortion doctors, could
never rectify this problem. However, the
scriptures Pastor Butch mentioned in the
newsletter above were, at the time they were
given, addressed primarily to the leadership of
the nation and only indirectly addressed to the
people to call them to personal repentance for
their sins. The N.T. scriptures quoted by Pastor
Paugh are not even worthy for comment, as they
have absolutely no bearing on the subject matter.
However, it should be noted that in the O.T. the
death penalty was carried out by the proper civil
authority, and individuals did not do this on
their own. Please note the case of Achan
[Joshua 7:25]. In the situation of Phinehas,
who slew the Israelite with the Midianitish woman
and stayed the plague, it should be noted that he
was a priest/judge. [Numbers 25]
Pastor Butch, Bray, Roeder and the Killers have
a Biblical Defect
The Lord Jesus said, “…Do ye not therefore
err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither
the power of God?” [Mark 12:24] Obviously Pastor
Butch, Bray and others have gone into serious
doctrinal error because they are not “rightly
dividing the Word of Truth.” [2 Timothy 2:15]
In an email dated June 01, he makes the following
errors:
(1) Pastor Butch - “The civil government was
implemented by God to further His kingdom on earth
just as the family and church was.”
There is not one verse of scripture, either in the
Old or New Testament, to support such a statement.
Both the family and the church have their own
sphere of responsibility from God, but it
isn’t to bring in or further the Kingdom of God
on earth. Christ will set up His Kingdom, after he
puts down Gentile world rule, which course will
run “until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled” [Luke 21:24]. After this happens, the
Lord Jesus Christ will visibly return in all His
Glory and reign on this earth (literally) for
1,000 years [Revelation 19:11 and 20:6]
Local churches were given the great commission,
which involved three things only: Evangelizing,
baptizing (gathering them into local churches),
and discipling (teaching) them. [Matthew 28:18-20]
The task of the local churches is to gather a
people for Christ’s name to populate the Kingdom
of Christ, not to establish the Kingdom. [Acts
15:14, Romans 11:25]
(2) Pastor Butch - “We are accountable to see
that they (government) stay on that line.
Roms.13 proves that also.”
There is not one verse in Romans Chapter 13 that
even remotely supports this statement by Pastor
Butch. In fact, it speaks to the contrary.
It says, “Thou shalt not kill.” [Romans 13:9]
It also says in that same verse, “and if there
be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself.” But let us read
further, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
[Romans 13:10]
Once something has become legalized by the State,
those State authorities having responsibility for
the enactment of those laws will one day be held
accountable before God. This applies to our
current law makers concerning the abortion issue,
as well as those authorities who delivered our
Lord up to be crucified. They will be held
accountable [Matthew 12:31-32, and Acts 2:23].
However, within the scriptures it is clear that
churches or individual believers acting on their
own, must obey God rather than man, if an enacted
law is in conflict with the law of God [Acts 5:29]
Even so, it is unbiblical for the church, whether
by the collective body or by a single member, to
take up the sword, except in acts of self defense,
which The Lord Jesus himself gave the authority,
“…and he that hath no sword, let him sell his
garment, and buy one.” [Luke 22:36] To
Pilate, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of
this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then
would my servants fight…,” [John 18:36]
(3) Pastor Butch – “Crime MUST be
punished!!! It is the duty of
"Godly" civil authority to do so, BUT
when they refuse to and promote and do evil
themselves it falls back to the people to correct
the problem. So says our forefathers in the
Declaration of Independence, and what they did in
1776 was "illegal", called treason and
much worse. Why are we any less accountable?
While I would NOT do as Bray or Roeder did I will
not condemn them. That is up to Christ to
judge His servants on their sincere efforts to do
what they believe is His will. When a
lawbreaker of any type is in the process of
committing a crime and someone stops him from
committing his evil that my friend is a righteous
act. Time and eternity will judge who was
right in their actions. Please go to our
website and watch the video concerning the
atrocities that were "allowed" by the
Germans in WW11. There is NO difference
except that we have the murder of three
times as many as they did.”
The Issue is Authority
First we would say to Pastor Butch, “Time and
eternity” is not the judge for the churches to
follow at this present time, but the Word of God.
[2 Timothy 2:15] We don’t have to wait on
time or eternity, both the Old and New Testament
teaches that retributive acts against evil by
those other than proper civil authority are wrong.
[Matthew 5:38, Le 19:18, Proverbs 20:22, Romans
12:17-19]
The most important issue here is that of authority
and not of righteousness [Philippians
3:4-9]. When someone kills in self
defense, or even the defense of another, he has
the authority of God [Luke 22:36] and also from
the state to do so. When a person kills an
abortion doctor, he has no such authority from God
or from the state. The only other place that he
could get this authority would be from the family
or patriarchal authority, and there is no
authority for the father usurping the authority of
the state in the N.T for preemptive killings. When
one performs acts in this manner, he therefore is
in rebellion both against God and the state for
his actions, and he must pay for his sin (crime)
of presumption [Numbers Chapter 15]. When Dietrich
Bonhoeffer and the others in Germany tried to
assassinate Hitler, which cost them their lives,
they were acting under the authority of German
Army Officers (lesser magistrates) and therefore
they were not acting as vigilantes or terrorists.
Paul Hill
Many today are teaching that our founding fathers,
when they signed the Declaration of Independence
in 1776 and severed their bonds with Great
Britain, were guilty of the sin of rebellion. In
my opinion, these charges are wrong. Our founders
were not rebels, and they did not act on their own
as terrorists. They said in the Declaration of
Independence why it was not an act of rebellion to
sever ties with England. Also George Washington
led his troops under the authority granted to him
by the Continental Congress. Everything that
happened was done under proper authority.
One of the evidences of God’s judgment on
America today is the fact that He has not raised
up a lesser magistrate for us to follow, so that
we can have a legitimate right to obey our God
given right to dispose of ungodly and unlawful
government. But to do it on our own, without
authority, would be rebellion and anarchy. It
would be no different than what they had in the
French Revolution, the Watts Riots and other riots
that we have seen in America and around the world.
The scripture says, “But these, as natural brute
beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil
of the things that they understand not; and shall
utterly perish in their own corruption; 13 And
shall receive the reward of unrighteousness,…”
[2 Peter 2:12-13] When Peter writes of Paul, we
further read, “As also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things; in
which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they
do also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know
these things before, beware lest ye also,
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall
from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. To him be glory both now a forever.
Amen” [2 Peter 3: 16-18] Are Peter’s words
important today and also to this discussion?
The answer is a resounding “Yes!”
Believers Have Always
Served in the Military
Through the centuries, believers have always
served in the military. Scripture supports
this activity. [Exodus 30:12-16] They even
served under Caesar, until they were required to
worship him as a god. It was then that they
refused serving him and suffered untold torture
and death. This will no doubt happen again in the
future.
In the Civil War in England, Baptists served under
Cromwell when they saw it as a religious liberty
issue and desired to keep the Catholics from
coming back into England. They also fought under
Washington in 1776, and on both sides during the
American Civil War. But never in the scriptures,
nor in history, do we see individual zealotry or
vigilantism being justified as Bible Doctrine.
In fact the Zealots were condemned in the N.T. era.
Josephus in the
Jewish
Antiquities states “The Zealots were a
fourth sect, founded by Judas of Galilee in the
year 6 against Quirinius' tax reform."
He further states, “They agree in all other
things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have
an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that
God is to be their only Ruler and Lord."
Many in America seem to be in this same mode of
thinking today. They have almost made liberty
itself “license” if not a god. It has
always been known that many were upset with the
Lord Jesus because He would not use His powers to
over throw the Romans and set up His Kingdom. The
crowd even chose the popular zealot leader
Barabbas, who had committed murder in the
insurrection, over Jesus at the crucifixion. Even
one of the twelve disciples will ever through
eternity be remembered as Simon Zelotes (the
zealot) before our Lord turned him into a gentle
“fisher of men.” [Luke 6:15] As much as
we love liberty we must never allow it to eclipse
the words of Paul to the Corinthians, “For I
determined not to know any thing among you, save
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” [1Colossians
2:2]
In the New Testament, there are two swords that
are applicable to this issue. One is the physical
sword, which was given to the government in order
to keep man under physical control [Romans 13].
The other, God has given to the church. It is the
spiritual sword, which is the Word of God, known
as the “Sword of the Spirit” [Ephesians 6:17
and Hebrews 4:12] Being armed with that sword, we
seek to conquer the souls of men. The Lord
Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men,” [Matthew 4:19], not killers of
men.
When they came to take the Lord Jesus, Peter tried
to use the physical sword, and our Lord said,
“Put up again thy sword into his place: for all
they that take the sword shall perish with the
sword [Matthew 26:52]
James and John, before being corrected by our
Lord, would have fit right in with these bombers:
“And when his disciples James and John saw this,
they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to
come down from heaven, and consume them, even as
Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them,
and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are
of. For the Son of man is not come to
destroy men's lives, but to save them.” [Luke
9:54 –56] When we read the passages of
James 3:13-18 and John 3:17, we see how the Lord
Jesus transformed these men and their thinking.
Our prayer is that the same thing may happen again
today!
They Deny the Power of the Gospel
I asked a young man who grew up in our church and
graduated from our high school what he thought
about this issue. He said that in his opinion
those who resort to such tactics represent a
fundamental denial of the power of the Gospel
because they have demonstrated by their actions
that they do not believe that the Holy Spirit is
at work making the Resurrection power unleashed at
Christ’s raising efficacious in the world,
effectively denying that Jesus rose from the dead.
Then he went on to tell of an abortion Doctor back
east who was invited to attend a Bible study in a
home. He was afraid to go for fear that no one
would receive him. His friends assured him that
that would not be the case. After several weeks of
attending, he came under deep conviction for his
sin, repented in great contrition, received Christ
and is now going to churches giving his testimony.
I thought of those words of Paul, “For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek” [Romans 1:16]
Would not someone have been justified in killing
Saul of Tarsus? He said “And I punished them oft
in every synagogue, and compelled them to
blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them,
I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”
[Acts 26:11] He would have been the Adolph
Eichmann of his day. But what if someone had
killed him? Perish the thought. From the human
viewpoint there would have never been a Paul the
Apostle and the Gentile church, and you and I may
have never been saved.
No Example in Scripture or History of
Retaliation by True Believers
Believers have suffered untold torture and
suffering throughout the 2,000 year church age.
Our promise is very clear-The Lord’s disciple is
called to a life of suffering:
“And if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together.” [Romans 8:17]
“Which is a manifest token of the
righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also
suffer:” [2 Thessalonians 1:5]
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with
him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:”
[2 Titus 2:12]
When Stephen was stoned to death the church did
not fight the authorities. In fact he prayed,
“Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”
[Acts 7:60] He could have prayed for the
believers to avenge his blood, but he did not.
When Peter was in prison, the church did not send
out commandos to try to break him out; rather they
were praying. [Acts 12:12]
Can anyone recount a sadder scene than what our
Vaudois believing ancestors experienced? They
suffered, knowing that as Paul said, “…the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us.” [Romans 8:18]
The Earl Shilton Baptist Church in England knew
the turmoil of persecution as early as 1626 AD.
This church connected its existence back to the
Waldenses. This terrible event that we relate took
place on January 25, 1655 when the wicked Gastaldo
drove them from their homes; and their persecution
culminated in their horrible massacre on April 24
of the same year. Their slaughter is
indescribable. “Little children were torn from
the arms of their mothers, clasped by their tiny
feet, and their heads were dashed against rocks or
were held between two soldiers and their quivering
limbs torn up by force. Their mangled bodies were
thrown on the highways or fields, to be devoured
by beasts. The sick and aged were burned alive in
their dwellings. Some had their hands, arms, and
legs lopped off and fire applied to the severed
parts to staunch the bleeding and prolong their
suffering…fathers were marched to death with the
heads of their sons suspended round their
necks.” [This Day in Baptist History II
- BJU Press Pg. 310]
This repression was not from the Catholics, but
from the Presbyterian Parliament ruling at that
time. Did a people ever have reason to retaliate?
Obviously yes! However, they did not and suffered,
while waiting in faith. The day came, some
forty-five suffering years later, and the
Toleration Act was passed in England. Out of their
suffering, this act gave a large measure of
Religious Freedom. Later, it gave full Religious
Freedom, which resulted in great churches being
built in the 18th Century, churches like Charles
Haddon Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle and
many others. “Here is the patience of the
saints: here are they that keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus.” [Revelation
14:12]
In this country, there are many areas void of
abortion clinics. These were once areas that held
many. God still answers prayer; maybe we should
try it and see. Pastor Ernie Sanders in Cleveland,
Ohio goes out every week, rain or shine, cold or
hot, and ministers at the abortion clinics along
with pastors and laymen in his area. They have
saved untold thousands of babies’ lives not
counting those that have been reached for Christ.
Of course we could name many more because their
names are legion that are involved in the ministry
to the unborn and also in the Crisis Pregnancy
Centers, etc.
Pastor Butch Claims Attacks Are Hurting His
Conference
In his May Newsletter, Pastor Butch writes,
“The opposition to this seminar has been
horrific! We even lost two radio stations in
Buffalo, NY because of one of the speakers and my
strong stand against the murder of the unborn.”
He continues, “orders have dropped by at least
80%. Phone calls are down to three to four a
day…”This so far it seems, will be the
smallest turnout we have ever had for a seminar
because of the controversy over most of our
speakers.”
I don’t know about “most,” but I do know
that there is controversy over one speaker and he
is Michael Bray: the bomber of abortion clinics
and author of the book A Time to Kill. It
is so tragic to see a good man, such as Pastor
Butch Paugh, totally lose all perspective just
because he has bowed his neck in stubbornness over
this issue.
Pastor Butch announced recently on his broadcast
that Sheriff Richard Mack has withdrawn as a
speaker. He has said grievous things over his
broadcasts about those of us who have opposed him
on this issue. He has said that we are trying to
sabotage his meeting. He has called us cowards,
panty waists, that we have lace on our drawers and
a number of other descriptive adjectives that are
more fit for a back alley than from a preacher of
the gospel. In subsequent broadcasts, he has said
that if we are Christians then we are immature,
still on milk and not meat. However, none of this
is true, and in a letter to Pastor Butch, we told
him that we were writing this paper and would be
releasing it soon on the internet.
Paul the Apostle said, “Ye have not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin.” [Hebrews
12:4] Pastor Butch uses this passage and
says that this is his justification for the
killing of abortion doctors, sodomites, rapists,
adulterers, etc. This Biblical passage means just
the opposite. It is referring to the blood of the
Christian believer who is willing to shed martyrs
blood in resisting sin and evil. We believe in
non-violent resistance just as the disciples did
in the N.T. when the authorities demanded that
they take a license to preach the gospel
“…Peter and the other apostles answered and
said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
[Acts 5:29] Then the scripture says, “And when
they had called the apostles, and beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the
name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed
from the presence of the council, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his
name.” [Acts 5:40-41] I will assure you that God
received far more Glory through their actions than
if they had taken weapons and fought against the
Council. Abortion fighters that have been beaten
and hauled off to jail have accomplished far more
than the Paul Hills, Scott Roeders, and Michael
Brays have or ever will accomplish.
I have been arrested four times for standing
against state tyranny. I spent 10 days in the Key
Road facility in a hot Atlanta August without A/C.
I’ve been in the Federal Penitentiary in Chicago
for not giving up the records of our church to a
Federal judge. I was one of those who was hauled
off to jail in Montgomery, AL when they took the
Ten Commandments Monument away. I was with the 100
that were hauled out of Faith Baptist Church of
Louisville, Nebraska on Oct. 18, 1982 over the
school licensure issue. Of course, this is
nothing compared to what others have suffered for
Christ, or their country.
I was also carried out of our church in
Indianapolis when it was raided by 100 Federal
Marshals after a 93 day siege on Feb. 13, 2001,
because we believed that Christ was the head over
His church and not the IRS. We were
criticized severely because we didn’t invite the
militia to come to our aid with weapons. We were
castigated in some quarters for not having a
shootout with the Marshals. Those who talk like
that don’t understand the nature of the Beast.
That’s what the authorities wanted us to do.
They can win a battle like that all day long, but
they can’t win a battle against people whose
weapons are spiritual and not carnal. We chose and
still choose the “spiritual sword.” If we had
succumbed to our fleshly desires, it would have
cost the lives of untold numbers of our people.
But more importantly, it would have cast a black
eye on the cause of Christ for which it may have
taken years to recover.
My Thinking Has Become More Clear on This
Subject
I must confess that my thinking has not always
been as clear on this subject. Not until I
was driven to my knees with my Bible in hand and
sought the mind of God has it all come into focus.
I basically used to take the position Pastor Butch
is taking. I could have never killed an abortion
doctor, but I was influenced by the “justified
defense” argument. It also helped when I
reread Paul Hill’s article,
Why Shoot an
Abortionist, giving his rationale before
killing Dr. John Britton and his associate:
http://www.armyofgod.com/Paulhillindex.html.
It is one of the saddest pieces of literature ever
written from the pen of man, in my opinion. There
are many problems with it. The main one being that
it won’t hold up to the light of scripture.
“Why is it OK to use force, even deadly force,
to protect a classroom of kindergarten children,
but it is forbidden to use force to protect
pre-born children slated for abortion? Are
pre-born children worth less than post-born
children? If so, we have tacitly admitted that a
mother DOES have a right to kill her unborn child!
Her unborn child is somehow sub-human and NOT
entitled to an inalienable Right of Life.”
There is only one simple answer to this question:
AUTHORITY! God will hold those parents, the
participants and the state responsible for the
killing that goes on in the abortion clinics. We
are responsible to do what we can do, but that
does not include adding blood to blood. Until God
is pleased to raise up a lesser magistrate for us
to follow, who will put down this reign of terror,
we have no choice but to use whatever means God
has given to us to stop this carnage. This
includes a wide range of things far too lengthy to
discuss here. People may not like this answer but,
in my humble opinion, there is none other from our
divine Rule Book, The Word of God.
Thankfully, we have a clear example in the
scriptures of another man that faced the same
dilemma. His name is Moses. He saw far more
atrocities at the heavy hand of Pharaoh’s wicked
government than we have seen. Among his people
Israel, he witnessed the slaughter of all the girl
babies over a long period of time. How long we
don’t know. Moses thought the problem of his
people’s slavery and suffering could be solved
by Force and not through Faith, so he slew an
Egyptian who he saw “smiting” a Hebrew. If you
examine the text closely, Moses used the same
logic that the killers and bombers use today.
Never the less it was murder, and Moses had to
flee as a fugitive into the wilderness. The only
reason God could allow him to return was because
the statute of limitations had run out, after he
had been in the desert those forty years, and
there had been a regime change in Egypt. God
delivered the Hebrews by force, but it was His
Force and their Faith. “And God heard their
groaning, and God remembered his covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” [Exodus
2:24]
I am now convinced that those who take the
“justifiable defense” position are no
different than the Moslems who support Jihad, but
would never resort to participate in strapping
bombs on their own body and walking into the midst
of a crowded mall. They too believe in the
“justifiable defense” and “collateral
damage” theory and believe it necessary to save
more lives in the long run. But in the end,
they will have to at some point be taking the
place of God and making decisions as to who lives
and who dies. On this issue, neutral you cannot
be.
We need to go back and reread the great Hall of
Faith, not Hall of Force, in Hebrews Chapter 11.
It says, “By Faith” fifteen times. Paul said
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds.” [2 Corinthians 10:4] Maybe
God’s people should remember what we possess and
try these powerful and effective weapons of
spiritual warfare, before we resort to these
carnal weapons that have been proven not to work.
It would be better to use David’s five smooth
stones of faith instead of Saul’s big sword and
armor of flesh, which scripture has told us does
not work?
Before ending this article perhaps we should
remember two men who thought they should practice
the “eye for an eye” principle by taking the
law into their own hands, and by doing so did
irreparable wrong. They were Simeon and Levi, the
rebel sons of Jacob, who by treachery, to avenge
the rape of their sister Dinah committed by Prince
Shechem, slaughtered not only Hamor, King of the
Hivites, but also all of the males of his nation.
When Jacob knew what his sons had done, he rebuked
them and said, “Ye have troubled me to make me
to stink among the inhabitants of the land.”
[Genesis 34:30] What a difference in those words
and the instructions that our Lord Jesus gave the
disciples at Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.”
How many more children are there like Paul
Hill’s, who will grow up without a father,
because someone thinks they are doing the will of
God by taking the law into their own hands?
Hopefully, this article will be helpful in putting
this issue in proper perspective.
