The Holy Bible & Self Defense

I'm not an advocate of violence, but I do believe in righteous self defense. I am also a Christian and get tired of having to defend my faith against other Black folks who believe something else and ignore the fact that we are all oppressed or mistreated by the system against us because we are Black, and not because of our religion. Black People in the United States of America seem to be the only folks on planet Earth who can participate in their own genocide while praying to God for deliverance, and march and sing about it as if continually suffering injustice and being murdered is godly or honorable. We spend so much time celebrating our suffering that we have disarmed our will to genuinely fight back to the point where nobody even respects us, and the upcoming generation doesn't want to listen to us. When called to arms to defend our loved ones or admonished to defend ourselves we instead choose to go hide behind prayer. YAH didn't even allow two of his greatest leaders, in Moses and Joshua, to always use prayer as their defense or action when he had put it in their hands to take action about a situation.

EXODUS 14:15-16; "And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16) But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."  #GoForward

JOSHUA 7:10; "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?"  #GetUp

A people always on their knees will never be able to stand on their feet against their enemies, and prayer was also taught from a "standing position" just as much as it was from a kneeling posture. MARK 11:25; "And when ye STAND praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." We are to forgive so we don't seek ungodly revenge or do things with the wrong motives, but we are not to be fools in forgiveness thinking we are being pious concerning those who haven't even sought forgiveness nor care too, or repented of their evil acts. Every human being on Earth has the right and expectation to defend themselves, their loved ones, or their property. God Almighty has an expectation that we will defend those who can't defend themselves. Whenever your enemy or those who side with them approves of how you fight them back then you are only fighting against yourself on their behalf as an ally of the evil seeking to dominate and destroy you. That's suicide!

PSALM 82:2-4; "How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3) Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4) Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked."  #DEFEND  #PROTECT  #SelfDefense

Kneeling before God Almighty is an act of humility unto one's creator, but standing up to your enemies against injustice in self defense is not a sin but a requirement of self preservation. We take the power out of our prayers by not getting up and truly walking by faith with meaningful actions to produce the results we prayed about. We've been deceived into believing that our faith is suppose to be passive, and have forgotten that our Savior was not only "The lamb of God" but he was also "The Lion of the tribe of Judah" and no passive punk. Even Adonai Yeshua Moshiach (Lord Jesus Christ) knew when it was time to stop praying or talking and pick up a whip to beat the wicked who were taking advantage of others out of his house and overturn their system, not once but twice.  

JOHN 2:14-15 (ESV); "In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15) And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables."  #MeaningfulActions

We talk a good game but only truly follow Christ so far, and once he picks up the whip is when we seem to stop and aren't willing to genuinely overturn anything for our betterment in truth. Christ told his disciples to "watch and pray" which means sometimes you have to pray on high alert with your eyes wide open. Stop closing your eyes and mouth to the injustices and abuses going on around you as if they will go away if you just pray or ignore them.

MATTHEW 26:41; "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  #WATCH  #PRAY

Yeshua our Lord had to give himself up as a sacrifice for us all as the requirement to redeem us back to YAH from the curse of sin by his own blood, but he was wise enough to have his disciples arm themselves with two swords to take into the garden the night of his betrayal. LUKE 22:38; "And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough." Why? It wasn't to protect him but to protect them. Simon Peter used his sword out of zeal in defense of Christ, and was only warned by Christ basically not to live by the sword; meaning don't retaliate against others in revenge or let violence be your way of life like those who came out against him. Christ told Peter to put away his sword so that he could fulfill the prophecy of the Holy Scriptures, and never condemned him for his act of defense. Yeshua was more than capable of defending himself but there was a bigger plan at work that he had to fulfill for which he made that very clear in the Scriptures. 

MATTHEW 26:51-54; "And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 52) Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53) Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54) But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" 

Some of us are going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice so that others of us can have a fighting chance not just to survive but to actually overcome to live in some kind of peace with dignity and respect until the Lord himself returns to set things right once and for all. The Bible advocates 2nd chances and not pursuing revenge for wrong doing such as is meant by "turning the other cheek", but it never advocates not being able to defend yourself or loved ones. MATTHEW 5:39; "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." After you've run out of cheeks then what? If the people oppressing, abusing, and killing you are always telling you to pray but never advocate your defense so you won't fight back then you are a fool for listening to them. We are not to avenge ourselves as an act of retaliation in revenge, but he never said we couldn't defend our own in standing for what is right. "Vengeance" as an act of revenge is condemned by scripture, but vengeance as an act of righteous defense is allowed.

PSALM 149:5-7; "Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6) Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7) To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people."  #TALK  #FIGHT

ROMANS 12:19; "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."  #VENGEANCE  #REVENGE 

In the book of Judges out of 30,000 God Almighty chose only 300 men to make up Gideon's army because they were vigilant like a guard dog and not fearful or careless when they went to the waters to refresh themselves like those who bowed down carelessly and did not watch while they drank. We don't need everybody to come on board to help the advancement of Black people and empower us. We have a lot of careless, simple minded, fearful, cooning, ignorant, and hot headed folks who will do more damage to our cause than help it. It only takes a few who are united by our common cause to stand together without compromise and not lay down in passive surrender, but be willing to fight spiritually, mentally, economically, socially, politically, and even physically for our God given right to exist and live equally on this planet where we are. We only need those who know how to kneel in prayer and get up fighting. If you won't stand up in faith then don't waste God's time kneeling in fear asking "What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)?" He already told you and showed you what he would do; now what are you going to do?  ~ I.J. West  

JUDGES 7:5-7; "So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6) And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7) And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place."  #DELIVERANCE