By Robert Stitt
Texas has always been synonymous with guns, so it’s no surprise that a number of Texas pastors are arming themselves at the pulpit.
Time magazine published a report on Brian Ulch, an associate pastor at Trinity Lighthouse Church in Denison, Texas, who carries both the Word and his Glock with him into church service. When not preaching, Ulch is providing firearm training to other Christians for self-defense.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, pastors are eligible for free gun training.
With the murder of nine members of a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, many Black pastors are taking up arms.
Just last week, Pastor Benny Holmes from the Church of New Beginnings in Baytown, Texas, shot an intruder that busted down the door of the church to burglarize it.
While South Carolina does not currently allow guns in churches, North Carolina does.
Pastor Brenda Stevenson of New Outreach Christian Center in Charlotte has been following the news and is joining the growing number of armed pastors.
According to MyFox8, Stevenson said, “We need protection. I want them to know ‘Have no fear. God is here,’ but we got two more members. Smith, and Wesson.”
The potential problem with pastors and guns is that, while spiritually suited and well-versed in the salvation of souls and spiritual battles, many are not mentally prepared for a physical battle, nor do they have the thought process necessary to draw a firearm with the intent to shoot.
One pastor, in particular, has fought back and has found himself in legal woe. Last August, Rev. W.L.T. Littleton of Greater Morning Star Baptist Church in New Orleans shot at two men, as they were fleeing, who were stealing copper pipe from the church . Littleton hit one man in the back of the head twice, and missed the other. The thief who was shot lived and is suing Littleton.
Pastor Littleton is now facing criminal charges for the shooting.
While some pastors have changed tunes about guns in church, others still refuse to arm themselves. “This is a place of peace. … This is not a place for guns,” said Pastor Baron Mullis of Atlanta’s Morningside Presbyterian Church.
One thing is certain, criminals will now have to think twice before committing crimes in black churches where members are up in arms about praise and worship, without protection. If not, instead of Miranda rights, they may now be read their last rights. Courtesy: All Christian News.