Articles by PGF

This looks like interesting handgun training with only 50 rounds expended. But that’s no fun, you better have more and run it multiple times.

The only thing I know about Kansas is from the band Kansas, and it’s the songs “Dust in the Wind and “Carry on Wayward Son.” If I had to guess, I bet people from Kansas are fine, upstanding Americans who likely live in peace in a rather nice state. Seriously, look at some of the natural beauty in that state and tell me it’s not gorgeous. Well, today, we are talking about Kansas, and learning something beyond a few 1970s rock songs. Today we’re learning the handgun standards the Kansas police employ with the Kansas CPOST annual firearms qualification.

What We’ll Need

The Kansas CPOST Handgun qual is fairly simple and won’t cause you to go broke on ammo. All you’ll need is 50 rounds, which isn’t bad. In terms of magazines, that’s up to you. You could stop the qual to reload your mags or just bring four average 9mm magazines. I suggest at least two mags, but the qual doesn’t require a particular number.

Train like you fight or how you’ll most likely be carrying should a self-defense situation arise. Included is information about the rig he used, but for the average personal defense minded CCW, train just the way you EDC.

Obviously, we’ll need our handgun. It’s a police qual, so I went with a duty-sized handgun with the P320C that’s optically equipped with a ROMEO2. You’ll also need a holster. I used an L2C fit to a battle belt. While it’s not a police belt, it’s a close replication. The CPOST also requires a single target, and the target is either a standard FBI Q or an IALEFIQ. We aren’t Kansas police, so we can make it up as we go. I used a simple Sage Dynamics target, which is admittedly smaller and more challenging to hit.

The FBI “Q” target, or bottle target, is actually just the lighter-shaded “bowling pin” shape, but the above image better represents the purpose of using this target. If employing it, the object is to hit the Q at center mass:

The article continues…

We will also need a barricade of some form to train behind. You can improvise your own or employ something like the PTSB Lite. I’ve been using an old blue barrel, and it seems to work pretty well for what I need.

Scoring

Scoring is very simple. Shots have to hit the bowling pin of the Q target. There is no call for headshots or specific body portion shots. To pass, shooters have to score a 70% or higher, which means 35 shots have to hit a fairly big target. Any shots fired outside the time limits are misses.

Hitting the Range With the Kansas CPOST Qual

What you should know about this course is that there are no required or timed reloads. Ammo management and reloads are entirely on the shooter. If you are shooting a string and run empty, you have to reload and keep shooting. This can make things interesting and force you to either reload quickly or plan ahead.

Stage One: 1.5 Yards

Yep, we start up close and personal with your target. This likely simulates an interview position and situation that goes bad. At the beep, you have to step to the rear and then laterally. At the same time, you have to draw and fire three rounds into the target. You have a total of three seconds to get it done.

There are six stages, some of which are multi-phase; the longest is 25 yards. You can always tighten the training down with smaller targets and timed runs. If I were to do these drills, a different target would be in order; the plain white bottle isn’t great. See the rest at the link.

Source:

Safely handling a firearm and improving marksmanship at the range is just the beginning for armed citizens and professionals. Follow this Hierarchy of Combative Firearm Training to understand what skills are necessary, and in what order they should be learned.

According to my Webster’s Dictionary, training is defined as “to instruct so as to make proficient.” Instruct means “to teach, educate or inform,” while proficient means “highly competent, skilled.” Thus, combative handgun training, in my mind can be defined as follows: Teaching a person to be highly competent and skilled in the use of a handgun for personal defense. How much skill do you need to proficiently take care yourself? Who knows? For me, it’s as much skill as I can develop because it will be my life on the line, and my life is really important!

The three levels of combative pistolcraft. (from Dave Spaulding, found at the link)

Base Level: Essentials

The Essentials level provides the foundation for everything else to build upon. Compare it to placing your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel when learning to drive. The fundamentals include safe handling, grip, body position (aka stance), sight alignment, sight picture, loading and unloading and, most importantly, trigger control. You know, all of the things that keep the gun running.

The grip should use both hands and cover as much of the grip as possible. The grip is the human contact with the firearm, place as much skin on the gun as you can. Any area of the grip left open will provide an avenue for recoil to carry the gun off target, making quick, follow-up shots more difficult. And follow-up shots may be needed to end the fight.

I’ve quit using the term stance as it relates to shooting a handgun because it really doesn’t matter where your feet are situated. As a matter of fact, it’s quite likely they will not be where you want them when you need to shoot. What is more important is keeping your body in a position that allows you to deliver multiple shots in multiple directions without being thrown off balance. In general, this means you must keep your shoulders over your toes and your knees unlocked.

Clearing a stoppage or malfunction is a requirement for any piece of machinery, but in a gunfight it is a life-saving skill. For semiauto pistols, you must be able to clear any malfunctions quickly and easily, which is not as hard as it sounds. Someone just has to show you how to do it. Revolvers are a whole different matter. A quality revolver runs under very extreme conditions, but when it malfunctions it usually requires a trip to the gunsmith. Some would say this is an advantage of the revolver over the pistol — I will leave that up to you.

While many wish to debate using sights versus point shooting, I’ve found neither is very important if the shooter can’t control the trigger. Without trigger control, the muzzle won’t stay in alignment with the target, and the shot will miss regardless of the system used. Only hits count, so while I admit I’m an advocate of sighted fire, I’m an even greater advocate of trigger control. Without it, everything else is a doomed to failure.

All of the skills taught and practiced at the Essentials level are required to keep the gun running in a fight. That is why I say they are essential. While some may consider one skill more important than another, ask yourself, which skills will be needed to win your gun fight? That’s right, you don’t know. So, having a mastery of all will be required to rapidly adapt to the situation faced.

Ultimately, the most essential of essentials is a combative mind, but you won’t find that listed among the classic fundamentals of shooting or taught in basic marksmanship classes.

Continues at the link with mid-level and upper-level interactive combatives.

“24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. 26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. 27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: 28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.” – Acts 18:24-28

This section of Acts is a tightly-knit example of discipleship to us today. View it in this context and not merely as a historical aside.

Introduction.

Not necessarily enjoying character studies from the Bible; nonetheless, we find several important markers in Apollos of a man willing to mature in his faith and serve Jesus Christ. Some folks suspect Apollos wrote the New Testament book of Hebrews. But in any case, he received instruction, verified what he was shown by searching the Scripture, grew thereby, and preached Jesus Christ whithersoever the Lord sent him. That, brethren, is Christianity in a nutshell, as God would lead and have us serve; yield yourself unto God as one who has been made alive from the dead, making yourself an instrument of Christ.

Many are willing to be taught but never verify, with God, the integrity of the instruction. That’s how they end up in Christian-sounding cults. Many are eager to be instructed and do absolutely nothing with what they’ve been taught except enjoy a good feeling. They also err. Worst of all, some folks claim to know all they need, rejecting a love for God’s holy word when they should take it upon their honor to become a lifelong student of the sacred writ.

These few verses from Acts teach us exactly how to grow and serve. You might object, saying that you’re not called to preach, but we are all witnesses for Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15), and how shall you answer the man seeking God except you know His holy word to expound the truth to them more perfectly, as Aquila and his wife did with Apollos? Your faithful service may be the spark by which Holy God raises another Spurgeon, Whitefield, or Edwards! Look at what mighty work Aquila and Priscilla did by spreading the truth of Jesus Christ.

Points of instruction.

First, learn by personal study and seeking sound preaching for the purposes of growing in the faith. Growth is sometimes uncomfortable; get over it; God desires your service, having saved you to walk in the works He has foreordained for you to accomplish, and the kingdom needs you, for what kingdom can flourish with ignorant and slack citizens?

Second, verify in Scripture the accuracy of all teaching, taking no man’s word it, but praying for understanding from holy God alone, searching the Scriptures for yourself. Apollos did, so should you search the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11); are these things so? He took seriously the public responsibility of carrying the marker Christian with his name.

Thirdly, be a life-long learner of the word of God. Please don’t allow the understanding that you will never comprehend the entire Bible to discourage you. But apprehending the walk of faith rightly, you are blessed never to stop learning, growing, drawing nigh to the throne of God, bringing glory to Christ, and being sanctified for Father God’s great purposes, which we can only see half darkly now, but knowing all will soon be revealed. Apollos learned (Verse 25), and continued to be instructed (Verse 26).

If we knew all the answers, it wouldn’t be faith! It’s an honor to be born again; look at the gift you’ve received, and pray to the Giver that you will walk worthy of your calling in Christ.

Notes from the text.

In verse 24, we find that Apollos is a student of the word of God, mighty in the scriptures. Believing firmly in the providence of Holy God, it seems to us that Apollos was sent to Ephesus for this very reason; to meet and be further trained by Aquila and his wife. The Christian ought to see life as something other than random chance but readily accept the fortuitous meetings that the Lord appoints. And the Lord may also present a negative contact from which to learn. In all these, give thanks unto the Father because He loves you enough to continue enlightening you in the faith. Also, by the foreordination of God, for whatever practical reason Apollos may have perceived he was traveling, the Lord was already making him an evangelist by practice.

Doing what the Lord says is critical for the life of the believer to continue to walk in faith. The whole object of this life in Christ is to live by faith, from initial salvation to serving Him in love and truth, up to the end, in reliance on Him to take us into heaven. Your faith brings glory to the Father through Christ, our Saviour. And your failures prove His will; we often say the will of God is found in the Holy Bible. If you think you’ve heard from God, yet it doesn’t align with Scripture, then be cautious. For Apollos, he was a man of the book.

In verse 25, Apollos is shown as having been instructed yet willing to be further advised and also to teach. Though, being a student of the Old Testament and a disciple of John, he knew that Christ must come, but he lacked complete knowledge of the New Covenant. Sound encouragement for us on this point is found in the duty Apollos took upon himself, and Acts 17:11 also applies.

He had received some formal training, it appears, but as Mark Twain may have said, don’t let your schooling get in the way of your education. Apollos continued to pursue the truth of God’s word, adding more completely to what he had been taught.

Life for the believer is much different on this side of the cross for us, than for the Old Testament saints. We have the historical record of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And for Apollos, a firm foundation in the Old Testament; though he didn’t have the New Testament, it was being written upon his heart as he received the truth of Jesus Christ from the disciples and apostles. What more excellent advantage have we also to have the New Testament record, yet we do less with it?

We are supposed to share the Gospel with the lost and encourage the saints. Hide the word in your heart that you might not sin against God, but then share it with others that in so doing iron would sharpen iron among the brethren, and sow the seeds of faith by His word among lost souls for they must all hear of Christ our King.

In verse 26, we see again that Apollos is willing to be instructed further, and beyond doubt if he hadn’t heard, Aquila told him that one Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and the New Covenant had arrived. John 14:1 comes to mind.

These few verses are as much about Aquila and Priscilla as Apollos. They found a man of good faith and taught him in the way of a disciple of Jesus Christ. They did it on purpose with a goal in mind; they took him and expounded unto him the way of God by intentionally training him. It may be that nobody sets about to teach you how to grow in the Lord, but in either case, you must, as Apollos and Aquila did, prepare yourself from Scripture, seek faithful saints from which to learn, and also teach. This section of Acts is a tightly-knit example of discipleship to us today.

Aquila didn’t pursue unwilling subjects to conform them into good little cultural Christians. Sent by God, he found a man, able, willing, and seeking.

In verses 27 and 28, having been converted by grace, Apollos taught and preached with all the more boldness. Even if you only teach a man for a brief season, as Aquila did, or in just a few points of doctrine, you may be setting firm foundations in a future preacher or teacher, missionary, or evangelist. This is serious stuff and oughtn’t to be viewed lightly or pursued haphazardly. All of Heaven desires these things from you, and God will prepare and equip you if, and only if, you will walk by faith, learning from failures as much as from successes, relying on the word of God as your preeminent source and guide.

Conclusion.

Apollos showed publicly, from the Scripture to the lost, that Jesus was the Christ. This requires some things; prayer, knowing the Scripture (study/reading) to present, carrying your bible, and expounding on it to lost souls. Also important is being strengthened and encouraged in the religion by assembling together with other believers. None of this is difficult, but it will take time, commitment, and, most of all, faith.

And so we see the confidence of Aquila, his faithful wife by his side, and Apollos to go where God leads, be taught by others, study the word, and then to go make more disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:18-20).

These look like fun family handgun exercises or for an Independence Day cookout with friends. These drills are functionally important, and a challenge with other shooters is an opportunity to sharpen your skills.

Have you been to the range in a while? If you have, did you do any fun drills or did you just stare at a paper target and dump ammo downrange? A lot of us don’t go to the range as much as we should because life just gets in the way. Work and other activities make it hard to find time, but the cost of ammo is also a contributing factor.

I remember buying ammo by the case and shooting until there were blisters on my finger. But that was back in the day when ammo was about the same cost as candy. Now, ammo is equivalent to little gold coins that make you cringe every time you pull the trigger. I recently sighted a hunting rifle and every time I fired the gun it cost me $1.50. That adds up quickly when you’re not paying attention and get the trigger jitters.

But the good news is there are plenty of fun drills you can do that don’t burn through gobs of ammo. Getting some quality training, having fun, and not spending all your money sounds too good to be true, right? It’s not. You just need to spend a little more time setting up the range for various drills. Drills and exercises on the range are designed to improve specific skills. This could be accuracy, weapon control, speed, or a mixture of them all. And the good thing is most of them do not require a ton of ammo. Let’s look at some fun drills you could be doing this summer.

Mag Change Drills are discussed along with transition drills, but what he calls the Big-Little Drill can be important. It’s good to train your mind in a few things when shooting targets of various sizes and distances. One aspect of handgun shooting distance is to train your mind that the target is just smaller, not further away. The distance challenge can change the mind’s perspective on handgun shooting and cause less accuracy than simply viewing it as a smaller target at the same range. Also, our perception of a threat not standing squarely to us, presenting a quarter turn or only their side, can change our perception of how to hit the target when we can simply view it as slimmer; center mass is center mass. Those are some mental things to consider for practice; it may help.

Here’s the Big-Little Drill, you can always improvise or modify targets as resources dictate:

I have no idea if this is a real drill or if my drill instructor in the police academy made it up, but it’s fun. For this drill, you can use metal targets or random bottles and other items laying around asking to be shot at. This is an accuracy drill, so you start out with the largest item on the left and move to the smallest on the right.

Mixing the sizes up or shooting from the outside in or inside out for subsequent rounds is a good idea.

I set mine up at 25 yards to make it more fun. I normally use a pop bottle or milk jug followed by a 16oz bottle or something comparable. Next a pop can and then a shotgun shell for the smallest item. If you want to add more items in there, go ahead. The idea is to start with the biggest item and move to the smallest. This drill will also work with rifles, you just set it up further out.

I have metal targets in different sizes, but there is something more satisfying about watching the bottles fly through the air when you hit them. I like to run this drill with my lever action rifle at 50 yards and 75 with my AR-15. One of my old instructors would use the drill at the end of the day so we could shoot at the bottles and cans from our lunch break. Golf balls are also fun to shoot at if you want a really small target.

Check out his other drills at the link, and remember, gun time is a fun time.

First: Saving Our School Children from Tennessee Politicians

Tennessee politicians left our students defenseless, and we have to save them. A celebrity-seeking mass murderer killed students in a Nashville private school. That should be a wakeup call that the Republican controlled legislature and Governor have failed us again. We need angry parents to change the status quo and save our kids. As grim as this sounds, there is plenty of good news. We also know how to reduce and to prevent mass murder in our schools. Tennessee parents have been ignored for too long.

[…]

More parents want their children protected at school than want them unprotected. You might think that volunteer defenders at school are rare, but you would be wonderfully wrong. It surprised me too, but we found a higher fraction of teachers who were willing to be armed first responders than the fraction of people who carry concealed in public. (18 percent of teachers vs. 8.0 percent of the general public).

Much more at the link.

Next: (A poll) Tennesseans Want Dangerous People Removed from Community Instead of More Gun Laws

According to a poll published by co/efficient, most Tennesseans would prefer that dangerous people are removed from society rather than removing guns from the hands of potentially dangerous people.

“In the poll, Tennessee voters dramatically retreat from their soft support of proposed Red Flag Laws and do not see this as the solution to their safety concerns when informed that Red Flag Laws merely take guns away from dangerous individuals but do nothing to prevent them from causing harm by some other means. Red Flag Law support erodes even further when informed that there are existing laws to take threatening individuals out of the community right now,” the poll said. “Tennesseans largely support recently passed legislation that puts police officers in schools and believe enforcing the current laws on the books is an effective solution to keeping their families, communities, and state safe.”

Polls can be made to mean anything, but more is at the link.

Cornered Cat:

Words mean things. For example, the word “training” does not mean the same thing as the word “education.” In the same way, the word “practice” does not mean the same thing as “training”, and neither one is the same as “testing.”

Education, training, practice, and testing are all needed for robust physical skills development. But none of these words means the same thing as any other.

The word “training”, in particular, has so often been abused by shooters that it has all but lost its actual meaning. This is too bad, as it expresses a really important concept.

What is “training”?

Let’s look at the word’s meaning in other domains:

Driver education happens in a classroom. It is followed by driver training. Driver training happens on the road, with a teacher watching carefully from the passenger seat as you perform the skills you discussed in class.

College education also happens in classrooms. It is often followed by on-the-job training, which is supposed to involve a qualified other showing you the practical realities of doing the job you studied in school. The observer should look at the work you do and give you feedback on how you are performing the skills the job requires you to perform.

Proper definitions are always important; in them are the details of learning. The article covers training, practice, and testing. Read it all.

Prior, on ticks and Lyme disease.

Summer is here, and with it, four-legged critters, but they aren’t the only things in the woods that can harm you. The thing about snakes is they can be just about anywhere when it’s warm.

Important factoid: Most snake bites are strikes to the hand; check the area before working or grabbing things.

Source:

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a medical toxicologist and emergency physician at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. I have treated 600+ snakebites and direct one of the busiest snakebite services in the U.S.

I also love snakes and consider myself a member of the herpetology community. And I want to help prevent any bad outcomes (for both humans and snakes) if a snake-human interaction goes awry.

I hate snakes, especially Cotton Mouth Moccasins which can range widely in color and markings.

These are the recommendations for pre-hospital treatment. I will have a different post dealing with hospital management.

Found at the link: Snakebite Management (in hospital) – Pit Vipers.

If you get bitten by a snake you suspect is (or may be) venomous:

1. Get away from the snake. No need to hurt the snake just because you’re angry, and you don’t want to incur additional injury.

 

2. If you (or someone else) can safely and quickly get a picture of the snake, great, but don’t waste time or risk a second envenomation. Ultimately, pit viper (rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths/water moccasins) envenomations are diagnosed clinically. As are coral snake bites, but most people can identify those. Just pray you have a doctor who knows what he or she is doing (see below)

If you can take a picture, you can shoot it first. Just sayin’. Pro tip: birdshot in .410 for a handgun. Outdoor Life lists several options with pros and cons for each. It may be illegal to kill snakes in your area; 3S treatments may apply.

3. Remove constrictive clothing and jewelry

4. Position the affected extremity appropriately. This is a little controversial, but some things are clear. For pit viper bites (which account for > 95% of the venomous snakebites in the U.S.), DO NOT PLACE BELOW HEART LEVEL. Almost all pit viper bites cause local tissue injury, and placing the affected extremity below heart level will cause the venom to collect in the extremity and will increase the hydrostatic pressures in the extremity. This will increase the potential damage to lymphatic vessels and increase the likelihood of some degree of permanent injury, such as post-exertional swelling. For copperhead and cottonmouth bites, in which local tissue is highly likely but the likelihood of systemic toxicity is low, I recommend placing the affected extremity ABOVE HEART LEVEL. In rattlesnake bites, it is reasonable to keep the affected extremity AT HEART LEVEL.These variations are for pre-hospital management. Once in the hospital, the affected extremity should always be elevated. This is emphasized in the unified treatment algorithm.

5. Get to an appropriate hospital. If you are having life-threatening signs and symptoms (e.g. airway issues, low blood pressure) get to the closest hospital for stabilization. They can then transfer you if needed to an expert. Otherwise, proceed directly to a hospital with a snakebite expert. If you interact with snakes a lot or are outside in snake-endemic areas, you should investigate your regional hospitals to locate one or more specialists. I can help you with this. It’s a pretty small community.

6. Avoid dangerous and/or stupid interventions:

• DO NOT cut and suck. All this does is make a wound worse and potentially introduces bacteria into the wound

1. • DO NOT apply a tourniquet. There is no benefit in cutting off an extremity’s arterial blood supply unless the patient is bleeding to death.
   • DO NOT apply any sort of constriction band or pressure immobilization for pit vipers. For the same reason that we do not place the affected extremity below heart level. The American College of Medical Toxicology has a position statement on this.
   • Pressure immobilization IS reasonable for coral snake bites.
   • DO NOT use electrical shock treatment. It does not “neutralize the venom” or whatever nonsense advocates claim. But it is a good way to cause permanent injury.
   • DO NOT apply heat.
   • DO NOT apply PROLONGED icepacks. A few minutes at a time is okay (say, 5 minutes on, 10 minutes off) but prolonged cryotherapy is bad for the tissue.

7. DO NOT use one of those commercially-available suctions devices. They don’t remove venom. They just suck. See the best-titled editorial ever here.Do not bring the snake to the hospital. A dead snake can still envenomate you, and I hate when people kill snakes. And as much as I like snakes, I do acknowledge it becomes a logistical difficulty when someone brings a live snake to the ED. And, as I said before, we don’t need to see the snake to provide appropriate treatment.

I love when people kill snakes.

Part One

“7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. 9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” – Genesis 4:7-9

We know the story of Cain and his brother Able, the first sons of Adam. God had respect for Able and his sacrificial offering and not for Cain. Cain became jealous and killed his brother, for which Cain was cursed, yet received mercy; God spared his life. Cain missed the covenant offer of God, as has, seemingly, every modern Christian who speaks of this passage.

There’s more to the simple story than those things the New Religion has taught us. And modernity, at the hand of its leaders, has done a very effective work of evil to purposefully destroy the family tribal unit. Look carefully at verse seven; there are three phrases. The first is straightforward: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” When not distracted by the second, within the third, we find an incredible covenant offer from the Almighty to Cain, that of the elder brother toward his younger, pointing to the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12) to come and ultimately to Christ. “And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”

The older brother’s responsibility is set forth; an immutable truth of our nature made in God’s own image is evident. The younger brother’s desire is toward his older brother, and so rule by authority is indicated, informal in the family structure but quite evident in nature, that older brothers have a serious responsibility. (So, too, do men and women more mature in their faith have duties toward the babe in Christ.) Their preferred inheritance position, the right of the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15-17), is not only grace from God but appears contingent upon doing rightly toward God that not only the father and mother may well train the younger brother and all children.

It’s a blessing to see a family well raised, whose children are toward the first male, accepting his station over them in prayer and support that as the parents age, he may be the head, well pleasing in God’s sight. There are several examples in Scripture where the older son is unrighteous, and the younger gets the blessings. These are set forth, in part, as instruction by exception, a warning against disobedience to God’s design purposes for the family. The Left has so demolished the family design of God that these assertions may sound odd to the American ear.

The first two phrases in verse seven are the covenant blessings and curses. “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”

Within each covenant of God are blessings offered for well-doing and curses forwarned for sin against Him, a little instructed fact in the modern American churches that you would be well to heed and obey; study and teach your church and young.

Even as parents age, the eldest brother, if he is right with God and in good standing among men, shall hold the leadership role and dominant position, which extends to all the families that each sibling will birth. If taught, understood, and accepted, this simple fact of God’s created order will permanently bind the more extensive family into a tribe. Don’t allow children to marry somebody that doesn’t love God, obey Him, and like their siblings! The more we study the Scriptures, the more we learn that modernity has many subtly crafted deceptions pointing men to “go their own way” and “do their own thing.”

In many sections and demonstrations, the Bible shows the truth of God’s desire for tribal blood unity. There is no replacement for the family.

The common application is not to let the sun go down when in conflict with your brother. Be the bigger man, even if you are justified, and seek reconciliation, knowing that the object is for Christ to be glorified whether your brother receives you again unto himself or not. Christ said; forgive seven times seventy. The New Religion would say forgive them in your heart and be done with it, but that’s not what the Bible says; go to your brother and by much prayer seek in earnest, true communion in Christ one with another again. (Matthew 5:23-24, 18:22, etc.) The context of this post is family, sin in the church among the brethren (Matthew 18:15-17) is a somewhat different aspect. Still, it may well apply, the end of which may be deep regret, for sin can surely destroy a family, church, tribe, or nation, and has by many examples in the holy Bible, history, and today as witnessed by our own eyes.

To extrapolate the covenant offer, we’re on firm Scriptural authority as evident in nature. The older brother has duties from birth. This God calls blessings. But the poorly trained, woefully, and even negligently prepared Christian older brother today may consider the benefit of ruling over his younger brother a burden. The younger’s heart desires to be loved, taught, and led by his older brother; he seeks his older brother’s approval. When young and old alike are inadequately trained, the family-tribe structure is broken for generations to come setting the younger siblings, men and women, adrift.

Remember that the trouble started over faithful service to God and obedience to His law-word. So what of Cain? His younger brother did well, so Cain became wroth with anger, killing his own brother and committing the first murder. Cain should have been filled with joy at the faith of Able. The Fifth Commandment, as with all the commandments of God, do not present in a vacuum. Many instances highlight it in the law and prophets and even by Christ, which we’ll see.

In verse nine, Cain uttered the famous and oft-debated question to God: Am I my brother’s keeper? The debate went on in the Old Testament days and is ongoing today as to how this applies, but the context of the discussion needs to be understood. Christ, having fulfilled the law of the Fifth Commandment, we now salute each other as brothers and sisters in Christ for this reason.

——-

Part Two

“33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” – Mark 3:33-35

If you study this section but leave out verse 35, you err. Jesus’ family came seeking to speak with Him. Far from rejecting his mother and siblings, Christ welcomes the brethren by obedience to the faith which is belief in the Father of all.

First, Jesus did not reject his family! If you’ve been taught this, as plainly as possible, we say flatly, that’s wrong. James (not the brother of John), also the son of Mary, became what would be the head of the church in Jerusalem by obedience to God through faith in Christ, his eldest brother. This would not have happened except with Christ’s blessing. Connect the dots to Cain and Able, for that was a point of Christ’s statement to the crowd who had been taught for dozens of generations about Cain’s transgression.

Secondly, God’s covenant purposes shown in Genesis four and Exodus 20 are not ended in the New Covenant but are being fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Of course, blood kin remains essential; Jesus in no way whatsoever ended the family but demands, by divine right, as the firstborn Son of God who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5) that He be obeyed not only by bloodline but by faith in our one heavenly Father. Jesus is the first raised from the dead, and so too, those birthed anew by the Spirit (Romans 6) are born again to follow Christ now and also resurrected from the dead at His return.

Christ’s role as the eldest heir, with us brethren, requires our acceptance, according to His preeminent power. The mind of the older brother is that we are taught well in all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). The good news is that Jesus isn’t Cain; the better you do in the faith, the more well-pleased He becomes; Cain’s error unto death becomes our benefit unto eternal life in Jesus Christ. Let the heart of the older siblings be likewise. By position, Christ is the firstborn Son, rightful heir to the throne, we being joint kingdom heirs with Him. Jesus Christ is the ultimate example that we should follow Him in faith.

Christianity is dependent on the person of Jesus Christ, and we should here insert, lest we fall into the New Religion ourselves or backtrack into the last century’s liberalism, that in no way is Jesus like unto sinful man. Quite the opposite; anything good in us is solely due to Christ’s sinlessness. He washed us from our sins so that one day, in eternity, we will be perfected, but unlike Jesus, we will always retain a moment of cleansing by faith in His power to save us from our sins. Though He is our eldest brother and Jesus calls us friends (if you keep His commandments), it’s not because He is like us, but because we are being remade into a son of God, yet only Jesus is holy and perfect without sin. We mustn’t regard Jesus as merely an example of a good man who pointed the way to have faith in God, but Jesus is the very object of the Christian faith, our Saviour and Redeemer.

We could note that Joseph, the husband of Mary and likely much older than her, though it’s not mentioned in Scripture, is likely dead by the time Jesus attains thirty years. But in any case, Jesus has no father but that which is above! Read what He said in Mark again; who is our father, the man who is from God by obedience to Christ! We know Jesus is God, but from the standpoint of His statement is speaking in the authority of the eldest Son.

The New Religion would state mealy-mouthed platitudes about how the Church can replace the family, but this is a lie straight from the pits of hell. (Neither can the State replace family.) Yes, faith in Christ may divide the unfit from the faithful; train your children with all seriousness, straight from the text of the Holy Bible, show the covenant foundation of the family and how sin, the greatest of which is a rejection of Christ, separates men from Father God and separates us from otherwise lost, yet beloved blood kin as well.

Fathers must take their role seriously as subordinate to the living God yet head of the family as its priest; without hyperbole, we contend that all civilization hangs in the balance. Open your holy Bible, get down on your knees, and implore the God of glory upon His throne, by the mercies of Christ Jesus, that He teaches you to do these things, to be steadfast day after day in training the generations to bring Him the glory.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

Third, the sons of perdition are not, emphatically and without backtracking, our brother. The workers of wickedness living in sin, though you might do good unto them from time to time as you ought, are not in the family of God, are not the sons of God, and are not the brothers of Christ; have ye no part whatsoever with them! “For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother.” Your duty to them is to show them the Scripture, how that Christ died for their sins and was buried, and how He rose again on the third day from the grave according to Scripture; that if they have faith in His payment to God for their sin, and would be converted by Christ, God will save them from the wrath of hell. If your church is full of unrepentant sinners, throw them out, or go find a real church. Again, do good to lost man as you will, especially if called by God for the purpose of assisting the broken so that they may hear of Christ.

You are, without doubt, the keeper of your brother in the faith and those by the blood that they too may be of one faith with all the saints of God.

Therefore, examine the perils of a flippant attitude toward God’s law word or misunderstanding God’s covenant nature, and know that only through faith can your family, local church, and nation be saved. God’s indelible covenant impressions shown in Scripture by offering blessings and curses abound in all we do, and none can fare well in violating the New Covenant in Christ’s blood.

The life of the Christian is not about what you can get from God but what you can give. You can have the cross of the blood covenant in Christ, as seen from heaven’s holy hill, affixed to your family crest, the power of the resurrected Christ through the sword of God, which is His word emanating from all that your tribe says and does that when the sons of men look upon your family line they would know there is a righteous, just, Holy Spirit filled people, seeing that God is real, His power emanating from the men and women who walk according to the potency of the mandate of heaven. A mighty generational work will be done in those that pray rightly – calling down the power of heaven that Holy God would fill them with all that honors His exalted name – that they might walk in the truth and not depart from it.

This is one of those posts that could go much longer, and the topic is by no means exhausted but thus ends our writing here. Though God appears to judge America now, do a multi-generational work of righteousness in faith that the Kingdom of God, which now is, may stand the test through your family.

——-

Prior Notes to the Rebuilders: Warnings From The Wall, Every Christian is a Christian Nationalist, Restitution is the Law of God, Reaping the Whirlwind, The Effect of Righteousness.

Older video but interesting.

All three articles are available here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The articles are detailed with graphics and data, providing excellent information for use in AR-related training if you can apply it. Each has a short related video. Video to Part One below.