by Skip Coryell
I don’t like all these different denominations. There is only one gospel, one Truth, but people just like to disagree, and they can’t leave simple things well enough alone. Some people say God is one person, while others argue that he is three in one (a trinity). Some people insist that the Sabbath is on Saturday instead of on Sunday. Others argue about the end times, (i.e., when will the church be taken up to Heaven). Will it be before the great tribulation, during it, or after it? Christians argue about eschatology, demonology, hamartiology, and angelology. All these “ologies” keep trying to clutter up the simple Truth of God’s love. I don’t like that, and I think we should just cut through all the crap and get back to the basics of Christianity. God loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place so that we could live.
It doesn’t matter which day is the original Sabbath. Just pick a day and keep it holy. It doesn’t matter if God is three or one. He knows who he is and that’s what matters to me. Do I have a guardian angel? I don’t know. I’d like to. (If I do, then he’s not speaking to me lately.) I don’t worry about the rapture or the great tribulation. It doesn’t matter to me. Besides, I’ll find out when it happens and not a moment before. My job is to keep my heart ready at all times and not be surprised when Christ returns. I’m a simple man, and I take simple views on everything. Greater men than me all disagree, and they can’t all be right. So I may as well make up my own mind, because after all, in the end, God is going to judge me on what I choose. The experts will be made low, regardless of their claims. There is only one expert: God. Everyone else is just taking their best guess.
I’m the same way about the philosophy of personal defense. I’ve done a lot of talking these past 170 pages or so, but I don’t know any more than the next guy. For all you know, I could be full of crap clear up to my eyebrows. I won’t be offended if you disagree with me. Just read it, take what makes sense to you, and disregard the rest. People claiming to be experts worry me. I will never presume to know the mind of God. I’d like to know, and I’ll always strive to know, but, in the end, it’s still my single opinion, my one tiny, little voice, crying out in the wilderness with no more weight than anyone else’s. I like the Crocodile Dundee approach to God: “Me and God. We be mates.”
Yes, I am a simple-minded man, perhaps too simple, but it works for me, and I’ve always been a very practical person. If something doesn’t work, then I have no use for it. I’m not a pacifist, and I’m not a bloodthirsty warrior. I’m in the middle. When I’m attacked, then I defend. I don’t believe God has any problems with that. I believe that self defense is consistent with God’s character, with the works of his hands, and with everything Jesus said in the Bible.
But some of you are quick to quote scripture, to say, “What about turn the other cheek? What about love your enemies?” Those are both good questions. Bottom line for me is this: I don’t believe that God lacks common sense. He knows what works for us and what doesn’t, because he designed us and knows our thoughts and feelings. I may not know the mind of God, but I do know the mind of man.
There are sheep; there are sheepdogs; there are wolves. No place in the Bible do I see where God would prefer us to quietly be slaughtered. (The Jews already tried that and it didn’t work.) I see many hypocrites today on the subject of using deadly force to protect one’s self.
For example, the Roman Catholic church teaches in section 2264 of the catechism:
“Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore, it is legitimate to insist on one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow.”
But here in Michigan, the Catholic church came out against the concealed carry bill; they actively lobbied against its passage. How can you teach the moral use of deadly force, but then try to deny people the means to employ it in self defense. This is inconsistent.
And what about the fundamentalists, the so-called right-wing fringe, who insist that human life begins at conception. They claim that abortion is murder, and that the life of that baby should be protected. I agree with them. But some of them would argue for the innocent life of an unborn baby, while simultaneously insisting that the rest of us walk around unarmed, without the means to protect other innocent life, whether it be a child or an adult. This, too, is inconsistent, a chasing after the wind.
Innocent life is innocent life, and all innocent life is worthy of protection. There is a time and a purpose for everything under heaven. I make it a point to stay clear of beliefs that don’t employ common sense or which are inconsistent.
Every once in a while, I’ll have a Christian come to me and say, “God came to me and told me that you should be doing . . . .” You fill in the blank, because it doesn’t really matter what they tell me. My answer is always the same. “That’s odd, God didn’t tell me that.” I have learned to make up my own mind about my beliefs, and I encourage you to do the same. Don’t be bullied by pushy, religious people, claiming to have absolute Truth. Because they don’t know any more than you do. God is God, regardless of what people say about him. He knows who he is.
We can argue about this all day, but none of the arguments matter. What matters is what works. The rest is all theory and opinion.
When I’m sitting in the McDonald’s playroom, and a man walks in brandishing a gun, his life is forfeit. I will kill that man as quickly as possible. To do anything less is to violate the will of God and the nature of my own humanity. I could never, with a clear conscience, stand idly by and watch another innocent life be taken. I could never live with myself afterwards.
Juxtapose that to the pacifist, who would stand beside my child, my son or daughter, your son or daughter, and watch them gunned down in cold blood. I have no respect for the pacifist. They are free to choose their own death, but not the death of others.
I remember seeing a movie called “The End of the Spear” in which several missionaries chose to be butchered by primitive natives, rather than to defend themselves. They reasoned that it was okay if they died, because they would go immediately to heaven, but if they killed the natives, the unbelievers would go to hell. I respect that kind of pacifism. However, I suspect that if the wives and children of those missionaries had been present and threatened, they would have chosen a different course of action. It is immoral to allow a defenseless, innocent life to be taken without a fight.
I believe that pacifism to its extreme is sheer lunacy. Examine the words of the most famous pacifist of all. In June of 1946, when Gandhi was speaking with his biographer, Louis Fischer, he said.
“Hitler killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.”
Fischer then asked: “You mean the Jews should have committed collective suicide?”
Gandhi replied: “Yes, that would have been heroism.”
Anyone who can’t see the lunacy of that mindset is crazy as well. There is no heroism in sheep. They stand on the hill and go “Baa”, as they’re being slaughtered.
Ted Nugent has made the following statement many times: “To be defenseless is irresponsible.”
He is right. Sheep are born and bred for one purpose: to be killed and to have their parts processed into something useful by predators.
If I am a sheep, then I am a hybrid sheep – a cross between a lion and a lamb. I have grown fangs and claws, and when the wolf comes knocking, I start rocking!
No one kills me or my family without a fight.
Yes, I agree with catechism 2264 of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. It is moral to defend an innocent life even if it means killing the guilty. God will not hold this against you.
I suppose that’s pretty simple, but like I said, I’m a simple man.
“For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
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br /> 2nd Timothy 1:7
Spirit of Fear
A while back I was over at a friend’s house and he was showing me his incredible gun collection. He had old flintlocks, shotguns, rifles, civil war pistols - you name it, he had it. Inevitably, the topic turned to politics and gun-hating politicians such as the Clinton gang, Chuck Schumer, and Sarah Brady.
And as we talked, it became apparent to me that this man was very passionate about guns, hunting, liberty and the Second Amendment. I’d known this man my whole life, so I already knew that he came from a patriotic, hard-working family held in high esteem in our community. But then I asked him about an article I’d read in my NRA magazine, and he said, “Oh, I don’t get that magazine.”
I pressed him further. “You are a member aren’t you?” His answer both shocked and disgusted me. “No way! I don’t want to end up on some government hit list. As soon as I join the NRA, then the government will know I own guns and they’ll come after them.”
I was immediately revulsed, and I wanted to say something like this:
“You no good, lazy, no-account coward! How dare you desecrate the blood of our ancestors with your apathy and lack of scrotum! You don’t deserve the guns you own!”
But I let those thoughts slip on by me into the ages, and said something less caustic, hoping to shame him into action and reality:
“If you’re this terrified of your own government, the people you voted for and elected to govern you and your family, then you’ve got bigger problems than just losing your guns. We all do. You may not want to hear this, but you’ve just described a communist regime, not the United States of America.”
His response was less than I’d hoped for, and he didn’t change his mind and he didn’t join the NRA. My respect for him has since dwindled. But here’s the way I see it. This poor man is under the false notion that if he lays low, doesn’t make any waves, and keeps his head down, that somehow the BATF will forget that he has those 33 guns in his closet. The old phrase “out of sight - out of mind” cannot be applied here. And as far as government lists go, think about this one. Have you ever bought a firearm hunting license? If you have, and, if the government is compiling a list of treachery and confiscation, then chances are, you’re already on the list. Now there’s a government list that must be huge!
So this friend of mine thinks he’s being clever by staying off in the shadows. He thinks that by not openly crusading to keep his inalienable right to keep and bear arms, that he is in some way hoping to keep his own gun ownership unnoticed. This will not happen. His own cowardice serves only to ensure his demise and hasten his own slavery. Besides, if he doesn’t have the guts to stand up for what he knows to be right, good and true, then he is already a slave.
I am reminded of the Apostle Paul, an expert at learning contentment while in bondage.
Philippians 4:12-13 “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I Have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
It is indeed possible for a man living in chains to feel free inside; and that, my friends, is liberty of the deepest, strongest kind. But an unshackled man who cowers within, who sells his soul for a foolish sense of false security; will never be free. He carries his prison with him, and he is a willing participant to his own slavery. That is not just my opinion, but the opinion of all free men who have lived, and breathed, and pumped the blood of liberty before me.
That being said, I choose to be content, minus the chains of slavery. I for one will not be shackled! I will fight now! I choose to fight the bonds of tyranny at every turn, even in its present form of political subtlety and deception. Why? Because I like to fight? Because I have all this extra time on my hands with a wife, five kids, and three
jobs? No! Because I am bound by my honor as a free man, by my duty as an American, by my vow to God and to my country! I still remember the taste of freedom. It lingers on my tongue like a calling muse; like the cool waters of an oasis in the desert, it quenches the fire in my veins and the discomfited spirit in my soul!
God made us to be free! And that is why we must resist every liberal, subversive, incremental attempt to forge, one link at a time, the chains that would serve to bind us and separate us from God and the liberty he has for us. And that is why I fight now rather than later.
As I write, I am reminded and inspired by the great American and patriot Patrick Henry:
“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
The means to ensure our liberties are still in place, but they are being rapidly eroded by an out-of-control government determined to carry out their own self-serving agenda. We must get out and vote and campaign and scream at the top of our lungs as loud as we can! WE WILL NOT BE SHACKLED! WE ARE FREE MEN AND WOMEN! WE ARE AMERICANS, AND WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!
Much better to regain our lost freedoms now politically than to be forced into the last resort of our ancestors who shed their blood and the blood of their sons and daughters from behind every tree, rock and shadow.
Fellow Americans and patriots, please join with me now, standing shoulder to shoulder, crying out against the wrongs and injustices of this world. Make your voice heard. And always remember this: “God is on our side, only because we are on His.”
I speak in all humility, diligence and the urgency that was once our founding fathers’. Their blood cries out to us! Defend and protect! Safeguard the heritage we bought for you! The torch of freedom has been passed to you. Pass it on to your children!
If you haven’t joined the National Rifle Association (www.nra.org) please do so today. If you live in my home state of Michigan and haven’t yet joined Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (www.mcrgo.org), then don’t wait any longer. There are other groups too, such as IowaCarry.org, and “Ohioans for Concealed Carry”. Many states have their own pro-Second Amendment group, and if yours doesn’t, then go ahead and start one. Get in the fight!
Carry your weight. Join in and help the rest of us shoulder the load. Freedom is not a burden, but it is a heavy responsibility.
“In 2007, many citizens of Iowa who have demonstrated their ability to safely handle a firearm and who have never been convicted of a felony or a violent crime still cannot legally carry a firearm …”
— Sean McClanahan, IowaCarry, Inc —
Hawkeye Carry
I was born and raised in Michigan, and I lived there for 49 years. And then the unthinkable happened: I moved to Iowa, away from family and a lifetime collection of friends. I honestly never thought I would do that. I was very happy in Michigan, but what’s that old saying: “Life is what happens to you when you’re not looking.”
I wasn’t paying attention, life happened, and when I woke up, I was living in Iowa, surrounded by friendly, downhome people and the tallest corn I’d ever seen. I still miss my friends, my colleagues from MCRGO and TNUSA, and my family in Michigan, along with the trees and the hills, but I am happy here and putting down good, healthy roots.
I remember that when my wife first came to me about an excellent job prospect she had in Cedar Rapids, that I resisted her attempts at persuasion. I didn’t want to move. But, like any man in love, she wore me down and I eventually gave in to her charms. However, I didn’t go without a fight, and I held on to three key demands: 1) The kids must have a good school system. 2) The hunting has to be good. 3) I have to be able to get a concealed carry permit.
Well, I did some checking, and the schools are good, the hunting is even better, and that left only the CCW situation, which was a mixed bag at best.
Initially, I didn’t believe it would be a problem, since I viewed Iowa as a very conservative area. I just assumed that anything rural would naturally translate into pro-g
un. I was wrong. In fact, after doing some checking, I came to realize that Iowa was a “may-issue” state, and “shall-issue” was barely on the legislative radar screen. At first, I ruled the move out, but then, quite by chance and with a little help from Google, I stumbled across a wonderful little group called IowaCarry. They are now incorporated and growing, but, at the time of my moving research back in November of 2006, they were just a small online talk forum espousing the dream of shall-issue concealed carry in Iowa. I clung to them like a life raft, floating in a sea of corn.
