Freedom Alert: March 10, 2009

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The tragic church shooting and death of Reverend Fred Winters, pastor of First Baptist Church , Maryville Illinois, has once again raised the under-reported issue of violence directed at Christians and churches.

Terry Sedlacek, a 27-year-old man, has been charged with murder for shooting Pastor Winters through the heart while Winters was preaching on Sunday, and with aggravated battery for wounding two worshippers who fought to subdue him after he pulled a knife. One of the parishioners remains hospitalized in serious condition. Sedlacek is being held without bond and remains hospitalized in St. Louis with self-inflicted knife wounds.

Anti-Christian hostility is reaching a new, more violent level. Churches used to be sanctuaries that were regarded as sacred, unfortunately now all church leaders must be prepared to defend their congregations and themselves from violent acts even with the use of deadly force.

Self-defense is not just a right, but a Christian duty. Jesus told his followers, “If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Jesus did not send his disciples out unprotected into a hostile world. In a world filled with gun violence, Christians must be prepared to respond with appropriate force to defend their family, neighbors and themselves.

It is not virtuous for Christians to be a soft target for the hateful and deranged. Church leaders have a moral duty not to tempt a crazed gunman to come and shoot up their congregation by being unprepared.

Thank God for the courage of the congregants that stopped the shooter in Illinois before any more were killed. We can only speculate, but had a member of the congregation been carrying a gun perhaps the shooter could have been deterred from killing the pastor or at least subdued without assaulting and injuring others. 

There ought to be a law!

Last year, Georgia State Representative Tim Bearden pushed for the Second Amendment Protection Act that would allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons into churches.

“Anytime you have gun free zone… a criminal knows that there are no fire arms there to deter them from taking as many lives as they want and then their own,” said Bearden. “We just thought that it is important for churches to be protected. Some churches on private property should be allowed to make their own decision on whether or not to allow concealed weapons to be carried.”

Although the Act failed to pass, Bearden said that they would be working on a new bill that would make its way into the Georgia Legislature this year.

Recent church shootings

• February 18, 2009: A man committed suicide in front of a cross at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.
• November 23, 2008: A gunman killed his estranged wife in a New Jersey church as Sunday services let out.
• November 1, 2008: Federick L. Davis was charged with murder after fatally shooting Cincinnatti minister, Rev. Donald Fairbanks Sr., while he was attending a funeral in Kentucky.
  
• July 27, 2008: Two people were killed and six wounded in a shooting rampage at the church in Knoxville, Tenn.
• December 9, 2007: An estranged young man kills two young adults at the ministry Youth with a Mission (YWAM) before driving to Colorado Springs church, New Life, and opening fire on the congregation just after church was let out. A total of 5 people were killed, including the gunmen. An off-duty security officer, Jeanne Assam, was able to stop the shooters rampage.
• August 12, 2007: A lone gunman, Eiken Elam Saimon, opened fire in a Missouri Micronesian church, killing a pastor and two other churchgoers.
• May 20, 2007: A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Moscow, Idaho, Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.
• Although not at a church building, the Oct. 2, 2006, attack in Lancaster County, Pa., by a gunman who killed five girls and then himself at an Amish school.
• May 20, 2006: Louisiana. Four were killed by a man at Jesus Christ Church.
• Feb. 26, 2006: Michigan. Two people were killed at Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church by a man who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend. He later killed himself.
• April 9, 2005: A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church in College Park, Ga., where he had once worked as a security guard.
• March 12, 2005: A man walked into the services of the Living Church of God in Milwaukee and open fired immediately, killing seven people.
• Oct. 5, 2003: A woman opened fire in Turner Monumental AME church in Kirkwood, east of Atlanta, killing the pastor, her mother, and herself.
• March 12, 2002: During Sunday Mass, Peter J. Troy fatally shot Rev. Lawrence M. Penzes and parishioner Eileen Tosner.
• Sept. 16, 1999: Seven young people were killed when a man opened fire during a prayer service for teen-agers at the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

ACTION ITEM

1. Pray for First Baptist Church in Maryville and especially the Winters family.
2. Ask your church leaders if they are prepared to defend you and your church family.
3. Sign our Church Self-Defense Declaration.

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