Posted on 11/03/2013 5:05:29 AM PST by NYer
From Jihad Watch by Robert Spencer:
Kenyan pastors ask for AK-47s to counter Islamic jihad attacks
Christianity has never opposed self-defense. “Kenyan Pastors Ask for AK-47s Amid Radical Muslim Persecution,” by Fredrick Nzwili for RNS, November 1 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
As attacks on Christians mount in Kenya’s coastal region, some evangelical pastors in the Mombasa area may no longer be willing to turn the other cheek.Worried about attacks against their churches and congregations, some pastors are asking for rifles to protect themselves from suspected Islamic extremists.
The violence intensified on Oct. 20 and 21, when two evangelical church pastors were killed inside their churches. Pastor Charles Mathole, 41, was killed Oct. 20 as he prayed inside his Vikwatani Redeemed Gospel Church. The following day, East African Pentecostal Church pastor Ibrahim Kithaka was found dead in Kilifi, about 35 miles north of Mombasa.
Christian leaders blame the attacks on increased radicalization of Muslim youth. The attacks have occurred amid protests by Muslims that they were being targeted in Nairobi’s war against terrorism.
“Our many churches are not under any protection. They do not have walls or gates. The government should issue AK-47 rifles to every church so that we can stop them from being burnt, our property from being looted and our pastors and Christians from being killed,” said Lambert Mbela, a pastor at Mathole’s church, during his funeral.
Three weeks before the latest murders, Muslim youth torched a Salvation Army church in the Majengo area in Mombasa to protest the killing of the popular Sheikh Ibrahim “Rogo” Omar and three others by unknown gunmen on Oct.4. The same church was torched last year after the murder of another prominent Muslim cleric, Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohammed.
Some church officials say the request for arms reflects a growing frustration with the rising insecurity, but others say the move contradicts traditional biblical teachings on nonviolence, [non-violence doesn't mean that we are obliged to let our loved one's be killed...] or could put churches and congregations at more risk. [?!?]
“I don’t think arming Kenyan (clerics) will ensure security,” said the Rev. Peter Karanja, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, at a news conference in Limuru, near Nairobi, on Wednesday (Oct. 30). [Perhaps he should go out to Vikwatani to take over for the pastor who was killed.]
[...]
Interfaith initiatives in the coastal region have allowed different faiths to live in relative calm, but the attacks are threatening decades of peaceful coexistence, according to the Rev. Wilybard Lagho, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.
“I think we need to restrengthen interreligious dialogue. The problem is in the minds, and we need to win them back,” said Lagho, calling the request for guns a shallow solution to a complex problem.
Yes, dialogue will certainly fix the problem. It always has before, right?
Some Muslim leaders, meanwhile, have backed the pastors’ call for arms but said there should be a thorough vetting of who gets a gun.“It is a good idea, but not all clerics should get the guns. Some are rogue clerics and may pose more danger to other religious leaders,” said Sheikh Juma Ngao, chairman of the Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council.
Yes, of course. It’s the Christian clerics who are the problem, not the innumerable Muslim clerics preaching jihad and hatred of the kuffar.
The storm is rising more quickly in Africa than elsewhere, but it is rising everywhere.
FYI ping!
It is much better to be killed the resist /S
Christians should take care of each other by learning how to defend one another from murderous Muslims.
esus recommended buying a sword for protection, because A-K 47s weren’t around yet.
Islam is frequently translated as “peace.” Its actual translation is “submission.” It means that there will be peace when all have submitted to Islam. There can be no peace until either that has happened or all Islamists have converted. This is going to be a problem for the next five hundred years. The sooner the west recognizes this and takes action the fewer people will die.
That's the problem on the planet, brother.
And because the irreligious will by and large refuse dialogue, the solution is stopping them from killing ... by killing them.
God help us all ... God forgive us all.
It is because the jihadists know that the Christian faith is the REAL fastest growing faith, not theirs and they are in a losing war,
Back in OUR DAYS of ‘bleeding Kansas’ we sent them (anti-slavery folks) “Beacher’s Bibles”—which were cases of Sharpe’s rifles which were the AK 47s of the 1850’s, labeled ‘Bibles’.
This is NOT a new concept.
The religion of pieces.
I wonder what it is like to be torn apart by pliers...
But yeah, AKs seem like the bare minimum step here.
Flame throwers would probably also help deter them.
Maybe Christians from other nations should start coming to their defense. Churches in the u.s. should start funding defense missions. Enough is enough.
Guns maybe a shallow solution, but it certainly will help get the muslim "minds" right to win them back
If they kill me for being a disciple of Christ, I’ll be in good company. Plus I’ll get to go home that much quicker.
The theme of Peter’s first epistle is “first the suffering, then the glory”.
Rev. 2:10 says “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” I remember doing a study on the New Testament crowns... there was none for marksmanship! Has anybody noticed that in the non-African persecuted countries, Christians ask for prayers, Bibles... never for AK-47s?
The Muslims know this and are fighting it.
There is a difference between a nation having an army for defense and a pastor having an AK-47 in church! If country X should attack us or invade us, I’m all for responding. If someone attacks me for being a Christian, like another poster here said, it just means I’ll be home sooner than I expected!
“There is a difference between a nation having an army for defense and a pastor having an AK-47 in church!”
What is that difference, exactly?
Why is self defense, defense of precious life, not supposed to happen in church? What’s the difference to God between suicide and allowing someone else to kill you? Seems sinful to me.
Religion of peace? Isn’t it time we stop listening to baloney? We need to toughen up again like we did during the second world war. We have to stop being like Neville Chamberlain.
Hard to explain, but there is a vast difference between a pastor and a military commander. They serve different Lords. Yes, someone mentioned that Jesus told the disciples to get swords, but He also told Peter to put his sword in its sheath (John 18:11). During the centuries Christians have been persecuted and, when they did not fight back, the Church grew. Look at the growth of the Church in the Roman Empire, or in China today. But when they fought back, well, look at the wars in Europe, Protestant vs Catholic, did that help spread the Gospel? One must also keep in mind the difference between being attacked because of nationality, political affiliation... or for being a Christian!
You didn’t answer the question. Why should a pastor allow life to be taken without a fight with the idea in his head that a bad guy killing him so easily would bring him closer to God quicker?
I mean, the way you have put it, abortion is moral as it kills someone and sends them to God.
I think God expects us to protect life even if we are not military officers.
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