Posted on 06/13/2016 5:25:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, my wife and I realized that her only brother, Douglas, used to work at the World Trade Center. Was it possible he was among the victims?
Tragically, although he no longer worked there regularly, he was doing a trade show there that day and he perished along with 3,000 others, leaving behind a wife and two young children.
Four years ago, a graduate from our ministry school was assassinated by Islamic terrorists while serving in an impoverished Muslim community in the Middle East. He was like a spiritual son to us, and he also left behind a wife and two young children.
So, I write these words with pain and with empathy for the victims of this latest terror attack, the deadliest on our shores since 9/11. I also write these words knowing that these deaths will be politicized for better or worse in the coming days. How should we respond to this tragic carnage?
1. Our first response can only be shock, grief, and outrage. It doesn’t matter if these people were at a gay club or in an office building. They are fellow-human beings who were murdered in cold blood. Whether they were murdered in a straight bar, a sports stadium, or a park they were murdered nonetheless and without any justification.
If you tell me that the punishment for homosexual practice is death, I’ll tell you that the Bible prescribes the death penalty for all kinds of other sins practiced by Christians all the time (see Romans 1:29-32; the list includes gossip and envy).
Now is not the time to point fingers.
A young woman who works in our ministry texted me moments ago. For a number of years she lived as a lesbian and often performed in that very nightclub. She wrote, “I think I’m in shock. I feel like some of my friends had to have been victims.”
Yes, these were family members, friends, and co-workers, and before we politicize this massacre, we must grieve over it. May the Lord have mercy on the wounded and on the family members of those slain.
2. We must take Muslim terrorism even more seriously without condemning all Muslims. At Muhammad Ali’s funeral service, leftist rabbi Michael Lerner said, “We will not tolerate politicians or anyone else putting down Muslims and blaming Muslims for the actions of a few people.”
A few people, as in perhaps 200-300 million Muslims worldwide who are sympathetic to radical Islam? A few people, as in the few responsible for the 28,576 deadly Islamic terror attacks since 9/11, including 60 in the first 7 days of Ramadan, resulting in 472 deaths?
Reports indicate that the Orlando murderer, Omar Mateen, “became a person of interest [to federal authorities] in 2013 and again in 2014,” and the FBI “at one point opened an investigation into Mateen but subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation.”
Similarly, the San Bernardino killers were missed by federal authorities, resulting in another bloodbath.
At the same time, there are plenty of peace-loving Muslims in America who are not only appalled at this violence but who now fear for their own lives.
Our response must be measured.
Whatever it takes, we must devote more energy and resources to rooting out Islamic terrorism from our land (perhaps Israel can help us with this?), even if it means making some Muslims uncomfortable. They, are on their part, can show their good will by working aggressively with American authorities to expose Islamic terror, while those who are not so forthcoming will thereby mark themselves for further scrutiny. At the same time, we cannot demonize all American Muslims.
Again, our response must be measured.
3. We must renounce all rhetoric that leads to violence without restricting freedom of speech. It is one thing to say, “You gay vermin deserve to die, and I’ve got a bullet waiting for you!” It’s another thing entirely to say, “I love you as my neighbor and I’m committed to your well-being, but I believe marriage is the union of a man and woman.”
Unfortunately, in a climate in which religious freedoms are already under serious attack, this terrible massacre could have a chilling effect, further restricting our freedoms, as God-fearing, people-loving Christians will be lumped together with radical, murderous Muslims.
A Christian colleague of mine posted on Twitter, “Just read reports of the act of terrorism at the night club in #Orlando. I’m so grieved by this. Come Jesus.” Someone responded, “Your work creates a culture that dehumanizes us. That makes it easier for people to kill us. Don’t grieve, repent.”
You can expect comments much more intense than this in the coming days from political leaders, journalists, social media experts, and entertainers, as if Christians who renounce violence but who teach that homosexual practice is sinful in God’s sight were complicit in the slaughter of men and women in a gay bar.
Not surprisingly, someone posted on my Facebook page, “I blame YOU and people like you for the tragedy in Orlando. As of now, 50 people are dead, 53 injured, including at least one police officer, due to homophobia. And you, and your ilk spreading your messages of hate daily directly contribute to senseless tragedies like this. . . . SHAME ON YOU!”
I responded, “You're attacking the wrong person. I get death threats and death wishes on a regular basis from the LGBT community, but I will continue to preach the love of God.”
Our words must be guided by truth and love.
The recent guidelines passed by the European Commission in conjunction with Microsoft, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, while well-intended, could also have a dangerously restrictive effect, as they target “racism, xenophobia, and all forms of intolerance.”
What exactly is meant by “all forms of intolerance”? As I’ve documented for years now, calls for “tolerance” often result in acts of extreme intolerance towards others.
4. We have an obvious gun problem in America, but gun free zones are not the solution. I personally don’t believe that when our Founders guaranteed our right to bear arms they envisioned our inner-cities being war zones and police being outgunned by criminals and terrorists. At the same time, as in many mass murders in America, the Orlando massacre was in a gun free zone.
Is there some middle ground that can be found between the two positions? If we forget about our political viewpoint for a moment and simply talk about common-sense safety, is there no solution we can find? I am no expert in this area, but I have to believe that there is a better way.
Having said all this, let’s return to where we started.
This is a time for mourning and pain. May God have mercy on America. We are a broken nation in need of massive restoration and repair.
I agree with everything but point four. The police are not outgunned by the scumballs.
I have a friend who is a weapons training officer for a relatively small department. He showed my one of the handful of full auto M-4’s they have. He said he doesn’t envision a time when they will ever use them, but they have them just in case.
Yesterday, my sons and two friends were comparing airsoft guns in our back yard and shooting at a trash can. The yard is too small for a battle.
Some pajama boy called the police who stopped by for a friendly chat. Since the Jammy boy mentioned that the boys had guns, one of them was carrying an AR-15.
It was a short friendly conversation that ended with some smiles. Just the way it ought to be. But, he was not outgunned by anyone.
Eliminating gun free zones and allowing national concealed carry would solve many problems. While I like Constitutional Carry, I don’t have a tremendous problem with background checks and permits, providing the cost is not astronomical.
The "better way" is to cease demanding that good citizens refrain from defending themselves. There is no 'middle ground'. There is either the right to keep and BEAR arms, or there is disarmament.
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Ask the dead in Orlando. Or Paris. Or San Bernardino. Or ...
To Everything There is a Season
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Yes, the Clinton Tweet was from November 2015, the Phoenix one was yesterday.
On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed in this country by Islamic terrorists. None of them died from a gunshot wound. In 2013, the Tsaranev brothers killed 3 people and wounded 264 others at the Boston Marathon. They did it without using a gun. As you said, we do not have a gun problem in this country. We have a terror problem.
Don’t think so. Isn’t it LGBT, not LBGT?
Who is Michael Brown, and why is he writing for Townhall?????
Then Sunday, this happens, taking Hillary out of the news.
HOW CONVENIENT. Just a coincidence, right ?
Does anyone know what the time is?
Let’s be clear, Hillary: you can talk about peace, you can talk about healing, you can talk about ‘gun problems’ all you want.
None of that pandering and hand-wringing to pretend to the world that you care (I know you don’t) will help anything.
Your administration has been in charge for a whole spate of these attacks over the past 8 years. You didn’t even lift a finger to stop one happening on your watch to your own people.
Attacks against Americans are still happening with regularity because you haven’t actually done anything - anything - other than talk.
You don’t care to solve anything - you only mean to exploit this for your own purposes.
Get off the stage. Your audition is over.
Here is the biography of Dr Michael Brown, the author of the op-ed
Michael L. Brown is the founder and president of FIRE School of Ministry in Concord, North Carolina, Director of the Coalition of Conscience, and host of the daily, nationally, syndicated talk radio show, the Line of Fire, as well as the host of the apologetics TV show, “Answering Your Toughest Questions,” which airs on the NRB TV network. He became a believer in Jesus 1971 as a sixteen year-old, heroin-shooting, LSD-using Jewish rock drummer. Since then, he has preached throughout America and around the world, bringing a message of repentance, revival, reformation, and cultural revolution.
He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a visiting or adjunct professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Fuller Theological Seminary, Denver Theological Seminary, the King’s Seminary, and Regent University School of Divinity, and he has contributed numerous articles to scholarly publications, including the Oxford Dictionary of Jewish Religion and the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament.
Dr. Brown is the author of 27 books, including, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the “Church” and the Jewish People, which has been translated into more than twelve languages, the highly-acclaimed five-volume series, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, a commentary on Jeremiah (part of the revised edition of the Expositor’s Bible Commentary), and several books on revival and Jesus revolution. His newest books are Can You Be Gay and Christian: Responding With LOVE & TRUTH to Questions About HOMOSEXUALITY (2014), The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys for Sustaining Personal Revival (2015), and Outlasting the Gay Revolution: Where Homosexual Activism is Really Going and How to Turn the Tide (2015).
Dr. Brown is a national and international speaker on themes of spiritual renewal and cultural reformation, and he has debated Jewish rabbis, agnostic professors, and gay activists on radio, TV, and college campuses. He is widely considered to be the world’s foremost Messianic Jewish apologist.
He and his wife Nancy, who is also a Jewish believer in Jesus, have been married since 1976. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Deport illegals!
Expel muslims!
Gee, I wonder how we would know that. They never say so. They never condemn the terrorist acts. They never take any action to reform their Imams. They cheer in the streets after a slaughter like this.
In fear for their lives? Fear from whom? Other Muslims most likely. They should be willing to die to prove their religion is peaceful. But they do not.
And don’t forget guys, it’s okay to say “mandate”. Nowadays, some people might hear it as “man date,” but then we know where their minds are at.
It’s clear to me that islam and civilization are incompatible.
Guns are not the problem, and this person invalidates their entire "carefully written" statement by such tripe. I am not going to take the rest of it seriously on the basis of that.
I am sure he is an nice guy and all, and that he has found God and Jesus, but the entirety of his article sounds more like the mindset that is going to get more of us killed. I have found that our main shortcoming as conservatives in our discourse with liberals is that we grant them their premises without questioning them, and we spend all of our time and energy arguing the finer points of their invalid premises instead of dismissing it out of hand, and this is a prime example. I reject that premise and reject the entire argument as a result.
I have said it before, people who are here and are now American citizens have to be treated as such until there is specific, individual reason not to. That is our bed and we have made it. So I will buy (from a Constitutional standpoint alone) that we can't judge all muslims on the actions of a few. That won't stop me from judging them on their actions, because that is MY Constitutional right, but I am not going to call for rounding them up.
And allowing any more of them into this country in large, unexamined blocks, as Liberals wish to do, is madness.
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