Kentucky Methodists
Take Stand Against Gun Control
as reported by Barry Bright
and Greg Lippman
http://www.FreeKentucky.com
This item can also be found at http://www.freekentucky.com/Stories2000/methodists.htm
Editor's note: This is an email I received from a Kentucky Methodist who is apparently fed up with his church's national ruling body. I think it's pretty much self explanatory...
From: "Greg Lippman" <glippman@apollo.chapel1.com>
To: <bbright@freekentucky.com>
Subject: Preaching from the pew.
Date sent: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 11:35:42 -0400
Dear Mr. Bright,
The United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference that met in Cleveland, OH this past spring passed a resolution that the UMC wanted the U.S. Government and the U.N. to ban the private ownership of all handguns and "some rifles" (namely "assault rifles") in the U.S. and other countries in the world.
Some really upset members of a local UMC came to me to write a counter resolution for them to sign, and the following is the result of that effort. Now, several preachers and members of other Methodist Churches have signed on as well with their own copies.
This "declaration" went before the board of the first church involved, to be voted on to see if they were going to put it before the entire congregation for ratification. It was sent to the full congregation, and
most of the members, including the pastor, signed the document.
We will have to wait and see how many other Methodists sign on to it. It ought to get someone's attention. The finished product was sent to the Bishop of the Ky. Conference of the UMC, and it was handed to the District Superintendent of this district of the church.
It was also sent to the general offices of the UMC in Washington, D.C., the General Board of Church and Society, this district's congressman (Dr. Fletcher), and KY's two senators. Like I said, "It ought to get someone's attention." What lies below is a copy of the text that was signed by over sixty (60) people from a small country church in Central Kentucky.
This is to let you know what has been going on in the UMC and in this church in particular.
One of the board members of this local church would not sign this document because he is a local politician. That essentially labeled him as an "opportunist" or one who goes with the political wind of the time for his own advancement. I guess he was just leaving the "options" open for his career.
When the document was handed to the District Superintendent, he said that "he had no dog in this fight." The preacher's wife, an anti-gunner, said that the declaration was no big deal.
When push becomes shove, it will be interesting to see their faces and to see if they have changed their minds about not having any stake in this fight.
The governmental body of the UMC has been this way and has pushed this anti-gun agenda for years, but the time has come for us to put our "money" and our action where our mouths have been all these years.
It is time for us to stand up with these grass-roots members of the United Methodist Church and tell the churches, the government, and the media to stop this communist-socialist crap.
It is time for us to take our stand with regard to the issue of individual freedom and not just the freedom of
the U.S. Government to do what it wants to do.
It is time to make our thoughts and voices be heard before it becomes necessary for us to have to make them heard through the bark of our guns.
It is time for us all to seize the opportunity to do more things like this declaration and to counter every editorial, every letter to the editor, every article that is anti-gun and anti-freedom.
The time has come for us to inundate the media, the internet, and our representatives in Congress with our beliefs and our position on individual freedom and our right of self-defense.
We must do this so that those who think they have "no dog in this fight" will come to realize that they have more here at stake than they know or care to admit.
I really appreciate all you have been doing through the medium of freekentucky.com in regard to this issue.
I pray that the Lord will keep His hand on us all and guide us through this struggle......and will bless your efforts to restore reason and freedom to this land. Keep your sword sharp and bright, and use it for Freedom's sake.
In service to the Lamb and to Liberty,
G. Lippman
To the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) and to the Board of United Methodist Bishops . . .
We, as Children of God and as members of the United Methodist Church, do hereby state that the General Conference of the United Methodist Church and its governing council have overstepped their bounds on matters of national political policy regarding the banning of private ownership of certain firearms.
We believe that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees governmental recognition of the inalienable, individual right to have and to use firearms not only in our own self defense, but also as a means of keeping government in the hands "of the people" and as the ultimate check in the system of checks and balances to limit the political ambitions of those who would seek absolute power. By its resolution in the General Conference of 2000, the UMC is trying to influence the U.S. Government and
the United Nations to establish statutes that would destroy this right and eventually our own system of government, controlled "by the people."
For this reason, we, as members of the United Methodist Church, do not recognize nor will we tolerate our church's position on this matter. We therefore declare that the General Conference of the UMC and its board of Bishops do not speak for us, or as our voice to the world, regarding matters concerning the right to have and use firearms. We will keep our firearms, whether they are handguns, any type of rifle, or shotgun, and we will encourage others to do the same. In addition, we will notify our political leaders of our stand, and we will press them to make our voices heard in the halls of government. We will not allow the conference of our UM Church to adopt socialist, elitist, or globalist political positions that will leave us defenseless, throw our congregation into the enemy's camp, and destroy our local body of believers. We have already lost several church members over this position that the UMC has taken. We demand that the UMC and its governing body return to its rightful place and concentrate on the mission of its original vision, that of changing the world by bringing lost souls to salvation in Jesus Christ.
While continuing to support our own church, we will review our financial support of the UMC in general and will take appropriate action where necessary, unless the resolution on banning of handguns and certain types of rifles is rescinded. We will not support, nor will we fund policies, ideals, or beliefs that are contrary to our own . . . . for we will not pay for our own destruction.
Name Address
If you are a member of the United Methodist Church, here is your chance to
tell them to get off the communist wagon.....
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