I love firearms; from air guns to big mamma jamba .50 cal machine guns. The Heckler and Koch USP Expert in the picture is one of my favorite handguns to shoot; a .45 ACP caliber beast that has a double recoil spring, octagonal barrel with an o-ring, adjustable sights, de-cocking lever and ten round mag. I grew up in a family that loved hunting and shooting rifles and pistols, and 12 gauge shotguns; back in the 50s when I was born, hunting was just part of life; my grand father hunted, my father hunted, my brothers and I hunted; and shooting guns was part of the fun growing up; I almost lost my left index finger playing with an air rifle when I was six, that was no fun.
Hunting or shooting is a great family experience; it teaches kids to be responsible and improves their confidence, they learn about safety and raises their ethics; besides the fact that there is great fellowship between father and son. Learning to handle a gun and to shoot it is one of the best skills a young man can have; and hunting the right way teaches a man to be humble and humane, plus it puts food on the table.
Unfortunately, I live in California; where people hear "gun" and they freak out; they have no idea what the constitution of the United States says about citizen's rights and the least about the second amendment; a great majority is ignorant of the great freedom this country provides and the awesome responsibilities they have just for being "American". I know by experience, that where guns are prohibited, the government is usually repressive; owning weapons is a great freedom and great responsibility but it is the only way to assure I can protect my safety and my family; I think everyone should own a gun.
I came from a country where owning guns are the exclusive privilege of the government, the .45 ACP caliber handguns are illegal and only the army can have them; so after I became a US citizen, the first thing I did, after voting for a republican president, was to go get a Springfield Armory M1911A1 G.I. Model pistol; of course in .45 ACP; the legacy of my friend John Browning; aaah, freedom at last. Real freedom for a man like me is to have a KJV Bible and a .45 ACP on my nightstand. Of course, if you have kids, they better not have access to your guns, that is just common sense.
I still love to shoot, and yes, I still have guns, in fact I have access to more guns than when I was a kid, and I still want more, the flesh is never satisfied.
King David; a man after God's own heart; also loved shooting, and he was good. He probably used a .50 cal sling against Goliath; one of the first terrorists known to man. Great men of war have also been great men of God, like Washington, or Cromwell. I'm not advocating war, what I'm saying is that the more faith a man has, the more valiance he has against evil.
We, the children of God; are on a daily war. We wage battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places; and that is besides the constant struggle that goes on between the Spirit and the flesh; this is a war that has already been won, we have already attained the victory in Jesus; but we are still in a war, nonetheless.
The flesh fights against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; says Paul in Romans, and we all have that war inside. If you have kids, you have to teach them to battle early in life; don't let them get beat by their flesh, or at least show them how to use the weapons.
Paul said, again, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; they are not made with hands; they don't have a specific caliber or twist in the barrel; but they are powerful in God, he says, to demolish strongholds, and to bring down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; to bring captives back, to bring prisoners of war, the imaginations and thoughts of the heart.
What are the weapons of our warfare? The only one I know is the word of God; which is the sword of the Spirit; and then prayer is also a weapon. Of the list of armor in Ephesians, the only weapon is the sword. It cuts, it pierces deep; down into the division of soul and Spirit and of marrow and bone; it is the discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart, right where the battle is, in the heart.
The children of Israel wandered for 40 years through the desert; and the main reason that happened is because they constantly complained; nothing satisfied them. From the food to the water, all was "waah, waah, I don't like it"; and some people today are just like that; "waah, waah, I don't like it"; a constant dripping of water from the roof.
The flesh is never satisfied, I said; the lust of the eyes, the pride of life; enemies that need to be fought constantly, everyday, the battle against the flesh and the world with it's system of philosophies and empty deceit. Do this, do that; buy this, buy that; look like this, look like that; buy, do, appear; etc, etc.
Once the flesh gets what it wants, it wants more; you get some money, you want more; you get a new car, you want a better one; you bought a house, you need a bigger one; you got a rifle, you want a another one; you shoot one inch groups, you want half inch groups; etc.
The struggle is great for those who have the Spirit inside; now imagine how it is for those who are dead in trespasses and sins. There is no struggle. Dead people do not struggle with anything; they just do it, as Nike says.
People who are in darkness just follow the desires of their flesh and of their mind, with no fight back; it is a normal thing for them to do it; they are just like Paul says in Ephesians 2: children of wrath. The wrath of God is coming upon the children of disobedience, and if God Himself doesn't do something about it, they will not either.
To me it is sad to see some brothers that struggle all the time; they know where the answer for their anxiety is, they know what to do but they just don't; it is a mystery to me; but I know God will get them to get into the bible eventually; God always wins. The word of God is the source of strength and of peace for me; the word of God is the thoughts of God; and when I am reading and studying it, I am thinking like God thinks; that is where the change comes from.
God is awesome; He chose me before the foundation of the world; He predestined me to become a child of God through adoption by Jesus Christ to Himself; He caused me to be born again; He put His Spirit inside of me; and He gave me faith to believe. He increases my faith through His word and He will preserve me and complete the work that He started. It is all His doing; all of it. I don't have to have a list of goals, and I don't have to struggle; if I do, it is just my fleshly mind getting int he way of His doing.
I am not saying that I don't struggle anymore, or that I don't worry anymore, or that I don't doubt anymore, or that I don't flesh out anymore; I do, but it is getting better everyday, I know because God shows me everyday. He is faithful, I am not.
At any rate, I am still alive, and I am still fighting against the flesh, but one day it will be over; in the meantime, I will keep on doing what I'm doing; and encouraging those who need encouragement. I will also keep on shooting my guns. So if you read my blog once in a while; be encouraged, if you struggle with your flesh, be encouraged, it is a sign that you are in Christ; and if you hear "gun' and freak out, go get one and learn how to shoot it, it's a blast; have fun, read your bible and subscribe to the NRA.
Ciao.
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