Church Active Shootings & Demons

Self-Defense
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A man at a church in Texas pulled a shotgun with no warning and fired two shots. The blast echoed through the sanctuary. Two men fell to the ground dead as believers covered their ears and headed for the exits.

The active-shooter headed for the front of the sanctuary; a churchgoer drew his pistol, took aim, and fired. The killer fell to the ground as several other men moved towards him with weapons drawn. The entire incident lasted six seconds.

This was the horrific scene on December 29, 2019, at the Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas. The church service was being streamed live on YouTube, which captured the entire event.

The active-shooter died from a single shot to the head. The killer had a lengthy criminal history. His ex-wife told NBC 5 in Dallas that he was “battling a demon.”

The churchgoer who stopped the shooter was Jack Wilson, a 71-year-old firearms trainer. Jack was a father of three who had been married for 51 years.

Jack Wilson is a devoted believer in Christ and took the headshot from 15 yards away. He believes God intervened and steadied his hand so he could safely protect his family and life long friends.

in an interview, Jack Wilson said, “I don’t feel I killed a person, I killed evil.”

Concealed Carry Magazine covered this event in the April issue. Did you know there have been 20 fatal church shootings in the last two decades alone? This article got me to wondering.

Are some Active Shooters who target Churches possessed by Demons?

One of the advantages of getting your Concealed Pistol License and becoming proficient is you will have the skills to protect your Church as Jack Wilson did.

Who here carries there gun when they go to Church?

Are you prepared to protect your faith?

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I’ll admit that I don’t. My church has a security team. They let people know that the team is armed, and they ask that others not bring firearms into the building.

I seat my family where we can quickly egress, and I often catch myself thinking how an armed shooter(s) would enter the building, and how I could respond. Perhaps that’s paranoia. But I train regularly on active shooter response, and it forces me to think like that.

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We have churches in our area that will not allow firearms, and will not allow church security. We offer to teach church security teams as donations, no charge, or what they are able to afford. No takers in the last year. Some of us live in sleepy towns, rural areas, however sometimes we say “oh that will never happen to us”, or “it always happens to the other guy.” Am not trying to jinx the concept here, just be vigilant, “head on a swivel” and stay safe.

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Yes

Are you prepared to protect your faith?

About 2 years ago I really started to focus and make my life’s work about this exact topic. So YES, my church family can expect the same level protection my home family gets.

This is going to be based on personal beliefs. I think if you believe in angels you have to believe in demons, just as if you believe in God you have to believe in the devil. We shouldn’t change the Bible, the Bible should change us.

I don’t know enough about demons in the Bible to say whether someone is possessed or not however. There is certainly an evil inside of a person willing to kill innocent people with such disregard. And the only way that evil wins is by good people standing by doing nothing.

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I like this quote, thank you!

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I can’t take credit for it. I heard it somewhere. I believe it was in Lt. Col. Grossman’s latest book ON SPIRITUAL COMBAT.

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All that said, I have plenty of respect for pacifist religions, like the Amish school some years back. That amount of faith is amazing to me. I don’t share that view, but I don’t mock it, either.

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This is how my Church/ Diocese (I’m Catholic) does it. I still carry. Some Churches have the security team wear yellow flashy vests… the pastors/ priests set are in charge of organizing it or appointing other people to organize it and I doubt their judgment on the matter. There are multiple services every Sunday, and to me I doubt they have enough people at each service. (For example, if they have 5 armed people on the security team, but only 1 or 2 per service…) I will also add, it is not illegal for me to carry in my church in my state, so I am not breaking the law. They did have legal no gun signs up at one time… our bishop even went in the news and told the world we put the no gun signs up… he was later advised to take the signs down because it made us a bigger target… this is one of the reasons I don’t trust the decision making on this matter (Our Bishop is a decent man with good intention, BUT bad decisions can be made out of good intent). They have also added an LEO presence on Sundays which I appreciate, and I’m sure is a huge deterrent. That being said, LEOs are still mortal men that can be caught off guard by someone with evil intent. In Dallas a few years back there was a man with a rifle shooting LEOs down at a distance. If a man with evil intent wished to shoot up my Church, he could either A. Walk past the LEOs concealed like I do (but I’m licensed and legal), B. Attempt to take the LEOs out first.

All that being said, my handgun is to assure safety for me and my family. If I can run and slip out of the Church during a shooting, that’s what we’re going to do. I understand that I am not thoroughly trained to like Mr. Wilson (an American hero in my eyes). If using my gun is the best means to protect my family, that’s what I’m going to do.

Maybe, when I’m older and I don’t have little kids, I’ll see if I can join the security team (they require you to be former Leo or military, or have had your carry license for 15 years).

If you look up the story from the original poster, Jack was part of their security team, and they were all really well armed If jack wasn’t there, there were still at least 4-5 men closing in on the assailant. They showed a good example of how to shut that down. I hope our churches in the diocese, and ALL churches can learn from that event. They did well. It’s a tragedy that two lives were lost, and if you look into that story, they should have already asked the man to leave (he was acting very very strange, he was wearing an obviously fake beard, and walking in and out to the bathroom. An older woman near him knew something was up. I have told my wife, that if either of us say “Let’s go” we don’t question each other. We just trust the others judgment and leave.

We have to prepared on many different levels. I will always follow the laws, but I refuse to not carry to uphold someone’s personal/ ignorant/ unwarranted opinion. I carry in church because I have an obligation to protect my family.

As you can see I am passionate about this :joy:. Many people go to Church believing God will protect them, I do believe God protects us, and one of the ways he does this is by giving good people the ability to take action and protect.

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Concealed = No one ever knows if you are carrying.

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It has been my sad experience that human acts of evil do not require a demonic instigator. The human mind is more than capable of plotting and carrying out evil all on its own.

I am fond of the “Two Dogs” theory of human behavior which states that each of us has two dogs living inside us, one is a good dog and the other vicious. How you think and act in the world depends on which dog you feed the most.

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I am in the security ministry in my church and that was horrific. I am fully prepared to defend my church family also. I thank god in heaven that this situation has not appeared in our church. UGLY. I pray for the families of those brothers who lost their lives that day. That was an elevator for them straight to heaven.

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Great post. Thought you might enjoy this link.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/opinion/white-house/351540-liberty-under-law-was-always-rooted-in-biblical-principles%3Famp

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Maybe, when I’m older and I don’t have little kids, I’ll see if I can join the security team

Agreed. Almost all of my decisions factor in my kids. Not that I’m ever (purposefully) unsafe, it’s just a priority thing. I drive differently when my kids are in the car. I interact with strangers differently when my kids are near. I like to think my training would kick in if I found myself in an active shooter situation, but if my kids are with me then I have to get them to safety first.

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This is interesting. I am questionable about the presence of demons in these situations (Unless you consider the Active shooter a demon), but I do believe that Jack Wilson stopped evil in this situation. I also believe the use of “I killed evil” is an appropriate/ healthy way to categorize this situation.

My pastor actually had a sermon that ended with talking about how hurt/ sad/ devastated Jack probably was from taking the life… I kind of rolled my eyes. He said he was probably the “Most hurt out of everyone”. My pastor did affirm that jack 100% did the right thing, but I really think/ hope jack hasn’t lost sleep from this.

Little side note, I get tired of people trying to invoke feelings of sorrow for people who choose to do evil things. I know we often find out sad things that propelled people’s life towards these shootings BUT we must never forget all of these shooters chose to do the evil acts. They did not have to. I also think many of these horrific choices, like the Vegas shooting, they want to go down in history. They want attention. Jack called it evil, he stopped it, and let it be. (I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to figure out why people do these evil things, but I’m afraid we may realize that some people choose to evil things)

I think Jack categorized his actions as stopping evil and hasn’t had any issues sleeping since. The only reason he may have lost sleep or became anxious was shock, but he was a former FBI agent who now teaches people how to defend themselves. I hope his business booms after this, and I hope he sleeps better at night knowing he saved so many lives.

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Yes and yes.

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Sorry, I keep responding, but I just noticed this part of the question. Would I use a firearm to “defend my faith?” No. I don’t believe my religion can be defended with force.

Would I use a firearm to defend people? Absolutely, but I pray I never have to.

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I don’t believe that was the question.

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Exactly. Christianity and our Constitution are inseparable.

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I used to teach adult Sunday school at my church.

Now I carry a CZ 75 SP-01 Tactical every time I go to church so I can protect the flock. Thankfully I have never had to protect the people I love.

I asked GOD for wisdom on this subject and went to the Bible. Here is what I found out about the nature of Demons.

The Devil is a Murderer

John: 8:44-46

The Demon possessed man who attacked a Jewish Priest .

Acts 19:13-17

The Demon-Possessed Boy who tried to kill himself

Mathew 17:14-19 + Mark 9:22

Saul tries to Kill David under the influence of an evil spirit .

1 Samuel 18:10-12+ 1 Samuel 19:8-11

Saul orders 85 of GODS Priests killed plus women and children. The same Saul tried to kill David under the influence of an evil spirit.

1 Samuel 23:18-20

I found a lot more than this. But I want to keep this brief.

Evil Spirits compelled people to kill God’s servants in the Bible, and demons have compelled people to kill themselves.

So Satan using a Demon to compel a person to walk into a church and kill GODs people is consistent with demonic activity in the Bible.

Now this does not mean this is what happened.

Thank you for being prepared to protect your church family.

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I’m sure you’re right, but it’s a public forum so I have to be careful what I agree with. :laughing:

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