News to no one who watches and listens.

Russian agent who infiltrated the National Rifle Association says Ukraine should not hand out weapons to its citizens in case a child gets hurt.

Maria Butina condemned the embattled country’s leadership for dishing out more than 18,000 guns to civilian volunteers in an effort to drive back Russian invaders.

But that is apparently not acceptable for the convicted spy, who told Russian state media TV show Vremya Pokazhet on Saturday that “people don’t know how to handle them and a child might be killed at home”.

Gosh.  You mean the NRA is anti-gun?

I guess support for red flag laws, the NFA, GCA, bump stock ban, the Hughes Amendment, and AWB is for the children too.

Part One

Part Two

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” – Acts 17:11

This is Part Three of several posts about growing and maturing in Christ to accomplish the works that He foreordained for you to walk in. In later posts, we’ll look at serving within the body of Christ (Church) and then specific technical instruction in how to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with lost sinners. Here we’ll discuss personal Bible reading and study.

If you say that you’re saved by the grace of Holy God and have never read the book that He left for you, shame on you! Men died to write it. Men died to make it a household item. Jesus died that it might all be fulfilled. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35 that “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” God has preserved His word supernaturally by His will that you might know Him and have specific instruction on how to proceed to implement His kingdom while we anticipate His return. Please read the book; it’s all in there! You’ll answer to God one day. And we’ll leave it at that before this turns into a much-justified tirade.

If you love the Lord that saved you, the Holy Spirit should fill you with the desire to be salt and light, in His strength and righteousness, to the wicked and depraved world. Christians should change the environment they are in. This is the mandate of the Great Commission; to conquer the world in the name of Jesus Christ by effectively wielding the sword of God, which is His word; you have no right to settle for less. How can you wield His sword if you don’t know it?

Read for comprehension by examining the text with singleness of purpose; that you might know Him and His mind toward you. You should do personal Bible reading and study time daily. It’s best to set a specific time for this each day.

When reading the Scriptures, pray and ask God for at least four things: To reveal what is happening in the text. To reveal what He needs you to learn from it. To teach you what He wants you to learn. And ask Him to reveal personal application for your church, family, and self.

Context is king. Many religions claiming to be Christian have taken just a handful of verses and made a religion from them. There are 66 books within the Holy Bible. You must seek to know who wrote the individual book you are reading and studying and the overarching purpose of God in giving us that book. All Scripture is given us for instruction (2 Timothy 3:16), but knowing who the intended audience was and the occasion of the writing is critical to understanding sound doctrine as applied to the Church today. The Holy Bible is not a book of mystical, vaguely knowable sayings. You can understand it when studied in context.

Let’s start at the beginning. For brand new Christians and other infants, the book of John in the New Testament is a great place to begin personal reading and study. It lays out the simple fact of who Jesus is, how much God loves you, what He’s done for you, and who you are to God.

Here is how to grow; challenge God to prove His word. Now, don’t take that wrong; we don’t confront God or seek a duel of sorts, desire for God to show you that His word may be proven true. Our topic verse in Acts 17:11 at the top says: “…searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Don’t be afraid to tell God that you can’t hear the text, don’t understand it, and need His help to show you His purposes in judgment, grace, and instruction in righteousness.

Interrogate the text. Don’t take any man’s word for what the Bible says. Search the Scriptures daily for yourself! Are these things so?

A goal in reading and study should be to have family Bible study, but how can you teach your children if you are still ignorant? How can you know what your pastor teaches is accurate if you refuse to grow in the faith and knowledge of God by reading His word? How can you be a mature Christian soldier serving our King while remaining in darkness and ignorance?

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” – 2 Peter 3:17-18

After reading John, read the whole New Testament. It’s ok not to understand it all at first. Read from Matthew to the end of Revelation, asking God to reveal His word to you. The reason to start in the New Testament is that what happened two thousand years ago when Jesus was here is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The books of the Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament were fulfilled in (by) Christ Jesus. Reading the New Testament is like reading the answers to the test before taking it. We have the answers to the prophecies of the coming of the Son of God to save His people, raise up a Church, restore righteousness in the earth, and end the curse of sin and death since the fall in the garden.

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” – Jesus in John 17:17

Next is some practical reading and study instructions for anybody. Although God’s word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11), those ‘read the Bible in a year’ plans are essentially a waste of time. After reading the whole New Testament (perhaps twice?), start back in Genesis and begin your reading cover to cover. There is no end to the growth in grace and knowledge of God as He reveals His holy word to you. There is no goal; read and study for the rest of your life to know Him that loves you and saved you from eternal torment. You’ll never attain to the end of the knowledge of God in this life; it’s an ongoing relationship with Jesus that matters.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Study a book going verse by verse, writing down what God reveals. The first book to do this with, again, is John. While studying in this manner, at times, you may simply be paraphrasing the word, but at others, God will bring the Scripture to life, and you’ll end up writing half a page about one verse that God is showing you. Pray for understanding and write down every thought working your way through the book a little at a time. Not only will God show you very personal things, but in writing about what you read, you’ll have to think and justify your understanding of the word of God and its meaning. If you have the Holy Spirit, you will grow very quickly doing this. Of course, without the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit of God, nobody can understand the word of God to any helpful degree of truth, especially the deep things of God.

You must be serious about reading and studying God’s word. This way, when you come under the sound of preaching, the Holy Spirit of God connects sections of Scripture, concepts, and related verses which will bring the word of God alive during the preaching. Otherwise, you sit there, not even knowing if what’s being said is true! If you know the word of God, no man can lie to you about God by soft-peddling perversions of the true and living God who is mighty to confound and destroy by His judgments, merciful and loving in His graces; for He is the only righteous One that exists.

Here are just three good reasons to study Scripture:

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” Psalm 119:130

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” – Psalm 119:11

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

The word of God brings us into the light of truth and will change your simple mind to maturity. Coming into the knowledge of Christ consistently rebukes us from sinning against God that we may be steadfast in the faith unto the end. The word of God brings faith; we are to walk by faith, not by sight.

You must read and study the Scriptures to gain an in-depth understanding of God and the ministries He would have you serve in.

Note how not one extra-biblical text or course is mentioned here. Personal prayer with reading and study is done on top of any instructor-led or guidebook-driven studies. Personal prayer and bible study do not replace church going. And going to church does not replace personal prayer and bible reading & study time. You must do both.

News of War.

As the war in Ukraine continues, thousands of anti-tank missiles are on their way to the war-torn country from NATO member states and other countries to repel invading Russian military hardware and forces.

A total of 18 countries will be sending military support to Kyiv following a plea by Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov to send the besieged nation anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.

“We need as much Stinger [anti-aircraft] and anti-tank weapons as possible,” said Reznikov, seated at a conference table with a Ukrainian flag behind him. “In order to provide for reliable procurement of equipment, you may deliver it to Poland. From there we will transport them across the land and quickly saturate our defense.”

Here’s the thing about tank columns.  First, they must be able to sustain with both fuel and food, as well as other issues such as medical care, communications, batteries, power supply, etc.  That means ensuring security for lines of logistics.  Splitting off formations or splintering the column means you cannot do that.

Second, unless they splinter off, they are vulnerable to assault and loss of the entire column in the formation.

Third, the comms must be secure such that the enemy doesn’t know what you’re doing in advance.  The U.S. ensures this with encrypted communications going through MilStar uplinks.

Based on my reading assignments, the Ukrainians have so far caused huge problems for the tank formations because of two weapons: the Javelin, and Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones.  Of course, these are both stand-off weapon systems.

This is fortunate for the Russians because if they had faced down a couple of A-10s, the formation would already have been destroyed by now and it would just have been a matter of collecting bodies to send home.

Never forget the Iraq Highway of Death.

At that time it was mainly helicopters and A-10s (with A-10s doing most of the heavy lifting).  Thus far the Russians haven’t been able to ensure security for logistics, have already tried to splinter their columns (that led to disaster), and finally, they aren’t able to engage in secure comms.

More and more evidence is emerging that the Russian forces rely on civilian radios and mobile phones for their communications. Our source in one invading unit confirms this.

This photograph is said to show a civilian radio captured by Ukrainians.https://t.co/ppwYktFsaD

— CIT (en) (@CITeam_en) February 28, 2022

Even in the first Iraq war, the M1A1 tanks used crisscrossing routes and other modern tank warfare tactics (here think Marine Corps satellite patrols) to avoid enemy fire and never give them a chance to lay in fires against U.S. tanks (see the Battle of Medina Ridge).  What the Russians are currently pursuing is more akin to tank warfare as it was planned half a century ago.

They can still win, but this will get much more bloody in either case.  But the Russians aren’t fighting German tank columns in WWII.  They’re fighting Javelins and drones.  A lot has happened in 70 years.

This is entirely intended to be a tactical analysis.  Please refrain from geopolitical remarks in the comments.

Learn from these mistakes.

Ammoland.

The Senate is taking swift action on constitutional carry as they previously promised. On Wednesday, at 1:00 PM, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear House Bill 272. After that, it will receive a final vote on the Senate floor on Thursday. Please contact your state senator and ask them to SUPPORT House Bill 272.

Uh oh.  Boss Hogg (Bobby Timmons) won’t be happy.  The good news is that he may blow a gasket before he tries to repeal the second amendment.

Do the right thing folks.  Don’t strike out.

Prior: Alabama House Passes Permitless Carry Bill

Part One

In subsequent posts, we’ll discuss Bible reading and study, serving within His Church, and seeking those that Holy God would save by His grace. Here in Part Two, we’ll briefly examine prayer.

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” – James 1:22

Doers of the word bring glory to the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. Hearers only will fall into deception, and worse, self-deception. There is no worse place to be than living in a lie and thinking that you’re alright. God didn’t call you and choose you for you to be a spectator.

As a believer, geometric growth in Christ is experienced when you do these four things simultaneously. Personal prayer; praying like you mean it. Personal, self-motivated daily reading and study of the Bible. Assembling together to not only hear preaching but to minister and serve each other in a group of Bible believers (church). And sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with lost souls outside the body.

Prayer is simply talking to Holy God. Don’t forget that He is Holy, but you can and should speak to Him about everything. Here are just a few verses about prayer.

“Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.” – Psalms 54:2

“I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.” – Psalms 3:4

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” – Psalms 34:4

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” – John 15:7

In John 15:7, Jesus starts with the word if. If you abide in Christ and His words abide in you.

It’s not possible to explain prayer to you in a way that would adequately convince you that God answers prayers. Prayer is one of the things that you have to do for yourself to see the work of God in and all around you. The excuse that God will work His sovereign will and His great purposes will be accomplished anyway is a lame excuse for not praying. Prayer is about bringing a change in you, brothers and sisters, by the power of God. Prayer will change you from somebody who occasionally sees glimpses of God’s kingdom into somebody who sees the work of God in action. This happens by prayer and actively seeking to effect the bringing in of God’s holy kingdom to glorify the Father through prayer, study, and service. You can see so much more of the workings of God when you do the works of God. Don’t show up before the throne of God slack.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

God knows what things you have need of; what God wants is you! God wants all of you.

All we can say is pray. Pray seriously. If you’ve never prayed for more than five minutes continuously, then you’re not serious about knowing God. After about five minutes of prayer, all the fluff is gone, all the rudiments of daily desires and needs evaporates, and you’re left only with what God actually desires to hear from you; your helplessness, depravity, sinfulness, desire to live in His righteousness, your deep moral conflicts in a world beset by sin and wickedness, how very thankful you are to Him for His grace and mercy, and much more.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” – Psalms 51:17

Once you arrive at a broken spirit and contrite heart, then can Holy God make of you a vessel worthy of the name; Christian, learning to grow in Christ and serve by building His kingdom while we anticipate the fullness of His glory starts with prayer.

When seeking to be fully immersed in the Kingdom of God, you can see the answers to prayer in real-time as you serve; if that is, you are serious about serving in the kingdom. In that case, God will give you specific charge of, probably informal at first, ministries to teach, comfort and encourage the saints, and to seek the lost that God would make His own. This only happens through doers of the word. Not to get sidetracked about the apostate churches in America, but the informal is where most of the actual work of God is getting done today anyway.

There is, of course, the incorrectly labeled “Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6. Start reading in Matthew 6 verses 5 through 15 to get a more complete context. You can pray in this model if you choose, and nothing is wrong with that. Vain and mindless repetition of these verses, however, is as the heathen do. If you want to know the actual Lord’s Prayer, read and study John 17. It’s the Lord’s prayer for His disciples. Everything spoken of in John 17 by our Lord can be directly applied to you today. But he didn’t pray that prayer for them, or you, to be useless pew sitters. That prayer in John 17 is for those who would risk their necks in service of our King as He brings in His kingdom. John 17 is not just a great prayer by Jesus; it’s a teaching tool about righteous prayer in the will of God and a life of dedicated service to bring glory to the Father through His Son.

You’re losing your civilization because you won’t work the works of God to confront the sin all around us, being filled with the Holy Spirit through prayer. It’s that simple. Christians are surrendering the field to the enemy. It’s a real battle that starts with prayer.

James 5:16 says in part: “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” If your prayers aren’t being answered, carefully look at that “righteous man” part. Shed any unrepentant sin. Recall to mind the tasks God called you to that you put away or never pursued and set about to serve in them. Prayer avails much for them that are in the will of the Father.

Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five

If the Lord allows, we’ll look more thoroughly in subsequent posts at prayer, bible reading and study, gathering together (church), and spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It’s ok to need training, and it’s certainly preferable not to be led astray into falsehood. A sure foundation of biblical training ensures that we don’t depart from the truth as believers.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (The book of Proverbs, Chapter 22, and verse 6)

An infant Christian is a new believer regardless of how many years that person has been alive. The purpose of early doctrinal training for a new believer is to set the sure foundations of the truth about Christ in their heart.

And sadly, many believers have been saved for some time but have never been trained in the essentials of what it means to be a Christian. These also remain in their infancy because they have never been guided or weened, from the milk of the word onto the meat of the word of God.

Those who refuse to be trained and refuse to take it upon themselves to grow and serve are not only a hindrance to the work of God but can be destructive to the work of the body of Christ that God has ordained. Don’t be this person!

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” 1 Peter 2:2-3

The word of God is the milk by which a believer will grow. By taking the milk in abundance, a Christian will grow to desire and need the meat of the word. Christians must come off the milk and learn to eat the solid food (core) of the more difficult passages and deeper doctrines of truth that Holy God reveals in His word.

The word of God exercises the believer’s mind, which will give you an understanding of good and evil and the ability to discern both the spirit of the truth of God and the spirit of evil and error.

“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:13-14

This discernment comes by reason of use in earnest daily prayer with bible reading, asking Holy God to teach you what the Bible says. Without the word of God, you will be misled into error and into following after evil without even knowing it. TCJ is a blog about rulers, weapons, and warfare. Understand that all wars are spiritual wars and that they are won in the counsels of Heaven long before we see the results on earth. These wars are not limited to international conflicts but to your church, family, and self. If you don’t take seriously the rigorous pursuit of the study of the word of God, you can’t even see the war; you can’t discern the truth of good and evil and the spiritual warfare that rages all around you. This war also would take you captive into corruption if you allow it. You’re in this war whether you like it or not.

The Holy Bible shows us God’s great purposes in grace, and in judgment, and for instruction in righteousness. The answer to every question that any believer may have will be found in the word of God. Glory not, except in the Lord.

“But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:24

Holy God is delighted to show you the depth and the breadth of His glorious kingdom and what great things He is doing, but you’ve got to want it. You must pursue Him. Christians give glory only to God.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” John 10:27

A goal of every Christian must be that they grow and mature in Christ. This will not happen unless Christians do it on purpose. And it’s not actually a goal; it’s an attitude of purposefulness throughout life because you love God and want to serve Christ. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), Jesus says that Christians must “teach all nations” to observe the things that Jesus has commanded. We must be shown what Jesus desires for us to do in service of Him.

Every Christian runs the risk of becoming a permanent infant, therefore always needing the Bible explained to them either through preaching or extra-biblical writings and commentaries or both. Coming under sound Bible teaching and preaching is essential; while reading books about the Bible may be interesting, neither is the same as reading and understanding the Holy Scriptures through prayer and study. You must learn to communicate with Holy God on your own. The word of God is God’s words. There is no other inerrant source for God’s teachings.

We communicate to God through prayer. And God communicates to the believer primarily through the reading and study of His Holy Bible. All Christians must learn how to communicate with God by allowing the Holy Spirit of God to guide and teach them. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s word as you pray, read, and study directly from the text of the Bible.

George 1.

“There are no white hats in this conflict except people who are protecting their homes.”

And I would add “loved ones.”

I remain extremely happy with their strength of position on the 2A preservation act.  It looks like patriots in Missouri are preparing to shoot down a bad gun law.

Among the few gun restrictions left in Missouri is a ban on concealed carry in churches, among a handful of other locations. Under current law, legal gun owners with carry permits may bring their guns if they receive permission from church officials.

I didn’t know about this Missouri law, but the replacement makes perfect sense.  I recognizes the right of carry, while elevating property rights to the top.

If a church is anti-liberty and doesn’t allow firearms, they should have to post like businesses or offices or any other buildings do.  This would also be a convenience for firearms owners.  If a church doesn’t allow carry, it helps them to turn and walk away when seeing the sign at the door.

News from Georgia.

Georgians would be able to carry firearms without a permit under controversial legislation the Republican-controlled state Senate passed Monday.

Supporters said Senate Bill 319, which passed 34-22 along party lines, wouldn’t change state laws governing who can possess guns or where they can carry them.

“This law is simply to remove an unnecessary burden from law-abiding citizens,” said Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, the bill’s chief sponsor. “Criminals do not care about a carry permit.”

[ … ]

Senators defeated an amendment introduced by Sen. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, to require background checks of Georgians seeking to buy firearms in private transactions, including at gun shows or flea markets.

Good.  It’s good that they shot down that amendment, and it looks like constitutional carry will pass into law this year in Georgia.  The governor (who is a putz trying to position himself for reelection) has committed to sign it.

Interesting idea.  I would never have thought of that.

I don’t get failures like that, but I can see it happening if you use cheap ammunition that is out-of-round or balloons upon firing it.  Or perhaps it might be much more probable with extremely hot weapons after firing a lot of rounds without a chance to cool.