SELF DEFENSE
Self defense is the right to defend oneself in the event of an attack. It is the duty to protect one's life and that of one's family. How should the Christian interpret this duty before God? Does he have the responsibility to defend his family and his person?
I admit that I hesitated a long time before getting into the subject. Jesus did not defend his life, the apostles did not either. There seems to be a noticeable difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The commandment instructing man not to kill comes from the Old Testament.
Thou shalt not kill.
Exodus 20:13
In the Old Testament, this is what the Bible teaches us about a theft:
If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft;
Exodus 22 :2-3
In case of theft, at night, if the thief dies, there is no guilt. However, if the thief dies in the light of day, it is a murder. Why? In the day we can see the person, it is easy for us to report him to the authorities that will ensure his arrest and trial. At night, it is dark, we do not know if the thief is armed or if he has murderous intentions.
So during the day, we can judge the situation and if we see that it is a simple theft, we must put the case in the hands of the authorities.
Of course, if it was a threat or an armed attack. The context of self- defense finds all its meaning and answer in this same biblical text. Naturally, if one must protect one's life or that of one's family, one must defend oneself against the aggressor and if he loses his life, it is a self defense just like in the case of uncertainty during the night.
King David had to wage war on many neighbors with long teeth all over Israel. A vanquished people were generally exterminated by the victors. Imagine Israel, the people of God against assailants armed by the devil. As the Bible testifies, David was a great warrior.
And the women answered one another as they played, and said Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 1 Samuel 18 :7 and
And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands 1 Samuel 21:11 and
Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
1 Samuel 29:5
The Old Testament clearly shows the right to self defense with quotes like
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Exodus 21 :24-25
During the glorious days when Israel conquered the land of Canaan, there were five (5) cities built for individuals among the people who killed unintentionally, without self defense. Let me give an example, a merchant with his ox having killed a man involuntarily. People had to flee to one of these cities; otherwise the avenger of blood could kill them. The individual considered to be an involuntary murderer was to remain in one of these cities until he appeared before the assembly to be tried. The deadline for appearance was until the death of the high priest in office. After this time, the murderer returned to his hometown from which he had fled. The avenger of blood is a close family member of the victim and sometimes a distant family member. They acted out of duty to avenge the victim, according to the Hebrew law.
And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment.
Numbers 35:12
And
That the slayer that killeth any person unawares, and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
Joshua 20 :3
In the Old Testament, among the Hebrews, we see that the situation of self defense is identical in a state of war as in civilian life in a state of peace. You had to defend your life if you thought that you or your family was in danger. The death of the aggressor did not bring guilt on the person defending himself at night.
These laws were instituted because the people of God had to survive other peoples while punishing the wicked within Israel.
The New Testament creates ambiguities for some. It is a new spiritual people established among all pagan nations around the world. This people have no real country and must be integrated in the laws of the countries where these Christians settle. We have seen in chapter 5 of my book The Rapture of the Church and the Shadow of this World that the Catholic countries from the Middle Ages to the present day are for the most part governed by men of little virtue and especially not Christians. I wonder about the virtue of most popes to this day, about the Crusades and the Roman Catholic inquisition. Christian values and especially SALVATION THROUGH GRACE, being swept under the table. Undoubtedly, countries like Canada, the United States and others have received several true persecuted Christians in Europe. Despite this, born-again Christians are a minority compared to the population of these countries. So, most people in these countries are pagans going to hell, sometimes baptized Catholics. How many Catholics have preferred to save themselves by their works, rather than seize SALVATION THROUGH GRACE? The Catholic Church has hidden this SALVATION from them preferring to control its flock. All these fooled people recognize Christ without going to SALVATION through the GRACE that opens the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, many Catholics served the devil and their murderous instincts in the institution of the inquisition. Among the nations, there is no true Christian country. Nowadays, we speak of secular countries.
These Christians among nations do not have to make laws like countries; Whereas Israel in the Old Testament was a country. Jesus tells these Christians through generations to follow instructions, my book: The universal church with fraternal love addresses this issue in detail. These Christians among the nations must integrate themselves into it in this way. Do you see the difference? Christians do not constitute a nation to judge, but they have to integrate within pagan nations around the world. The way to integrate is as follows. It is known that as a born citizen of a country, the Christian becomes naturalized and Christendom may not necessarily move from one generation to another. Consequently, the Christians of the country of adoption will remain always minority in that country.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt
not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.... Romans 13: 1-14
And
For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Romans 13 :4
Certainly we must pay our taxes in the country where we live and respect the Christian laws of the land. I am referring to civic responsibility and all that glorifies the Lord. However, if the country is administered by the evil one like in the case of Nazi Germany, a communist or Muslim country prohibiting the right to be a Christian; are we obliged to obey or denounce our brothers and sisters in the Lord? Are we obliged to deliver Jews and rebels to the regime? Yet the law requires it. What law? The law of God or that of men? If you refer to the passage of Romans 13: 1-14 saying that all authorities are from God. What will you do the day the authorities ask Christians around the world to surrender in order to be executed? When these same authorities ask you to act against the Word of God? When these authorities will prevent you from earning a decent salary to take care of your family and shut you up in the ghetto of the type of citizen without right, but with full obligation like now? I am convinced that when Paul speaks about this, he is thinking in terms of Christian integration and value. Of course, it amounts to saying: Obey God rather than men.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29
Jesus also said:
You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it be salted? It is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Matthew 5 :13
This boils down to saying that if you truncate Christian values for pagan values, what will remain of Christianity? Each of you must be vigilant about the laws that our governments institute if such laws are in opposition to the liberties that Christ gives us as Christians, at that time, you are not obliged as Christians to obey them.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 12 :19
There is a big difference between revenge and self defense. Self defense requires a response to an immediate situation putting your life or that of your family at risk while revenge is exerted after an event of the past. Revenge is ruminated and thought, while self defense is instantaneous.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 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.
Matthew 5:38-39
You can receive a slap and present the other cheek. But with a punch, I would be hesitant. Certainly, it is better not to use violence. But if your abuser does not understand this language, you must use self defense as a free man across the nations. However, if you are persecuted in a country and that leads to captivity, as a Christian, you must be gentle and docile as lambs in the image of Jesus.
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. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Mathew 26:52-54
Jesus had a ministry known to all through Isaiah 53 (700 BC) and Psalm 22 (1100 BC). He had to go to the slaughterhouse like a lamb to erase all the sins of the world. This is called, SALVATION by the divine GRACE.
Jesus also said:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-19
The law of the Old Testament gives the right to self defense. Similarly, the Christian faith of the New Testament, based on the love of God, the love of one’s neighbor, and of men integrating into pagan nations, recognizes the right to defend yourself when you are a recognized and asserted legal citizen, provided that it is not motivated by vengeance. Jesus invites us to live in peace while trying to avoid quarrels, situations and places with animosity. To exercise a profession honestly respecting Christian values. You must live in peace and in love as a Christian across the nations as stipulated in the Bible and love your neighbor as yourself. My book: ‘ The Universal church and fraternal love’ available at www.denisboivin.org, deals with this subject. The first Christians as new people were persecuted by certain nations. These Christians could not use self defense because they were not recognized as legal citizens of these nations. In the same way, in a nation that does not recognize Christianity, you cannot use violence to integrate yourself, you must accept persecution. Each nation has its own laws to respect as Christians, jewels of God during the Era of GRACE. You must judge the laws passed by the nations which are contrary to the holy doctrine like that on abortion which is murder, the prohibition to read the Bible, the obligation to report fellow Christians to the various authorities. In the near future, the world will be so much in a state of sin that it will declare the Bible as hate literature, hunt down Christians and vote laws to destroy them by decapitation.
Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning ; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.
Genesis 9:5-6
AFTER THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH AND DURING THE GREAT TRIBULATION SELF DEFENSE WILL BE SUSPENDED
I speak this way, because there will be a time that is coming soon when nominal Christians will have little place to hide within nations. Christians will be new citizens through a global pagan nation that will hunt them to death by decapitation. Indeed soon after the rapture of all true Christians from this world and the first resurrection of the dead, a great tribulation that will last seven (7) years shall start. It will be directed towards new Christians who will not be sealed by the Holy Spirit and the Jews. The Antichrist will make sure that every man will have to bear a mark on his right hand or forehead in order to sell or buy. Christians around the world will be hunted down; and if they are caught, they will go into captivity to be beheaded. You will not have the right to make guerillas and if you are caught by someone stronger than you, then you will go into captivity. Will you have the right to self defense? Listen to what God says to you:
He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Revelation 13 :10
In reality, this means that during this time, no one will be able to wage guerrilla warfare and kill in the name of Christ. Those who will take this path will be considered by the Lord as murderers despising his name; and shall be judged as such by men and God. The laws of contempt that the world will vote against Christians to regroup and better decapitate you, should not be respected. Do not go into ghettos and do not behave like the Jews of Hitler's time massacred and led to the slaughterhouse because they did not have the Holy Spirit in them. It means hiding and trying to survive at all costs during the Great Tribulation according to the rules established by God. DO NOT MAKE FRIENDSHIP WITH UNBELIEVERS - THEY WILL DENOUNCE YOU. TRY, to reach the time of the Millennium. Seven years will be counted from the rapture of the church to the Millennium. As for the Jews, they also had their instructions. The Bible says there will be a great conversion among the Jews. Currently, this conversion is underway in Israel. One third of the Jews will be spared, those of Judea will have to flee in the mountains (Matthew 24:16), the others will have to leave the cities and flee to the desert (Revelation 12: 6 and 14). Christians and Jews who have passed through this time without being caught by the world government will enter the Millennium stage.
Consequently, the man who will try to defend his family without killing and who will succeed to overpower the oppressors will be approved by God. If he is defeated, he will go into captivity. Of course, this excludes ambushes, a Christian military force or a shootout without any issue. If you kill, you will be judged as murderers by the system in place and its laws. This probably means that you will not be judged worthy of having a Christian death before God and His Son. You will have to behave like Christians with all the zeal that the early Christians had for Christ.
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
Hebrews 11:37
Remember that those who will live during this time will not be sealed with the Holy Spirit. Subsequently, you will have to walk to death by decapitation; otherwise you will FOREVER be banished from the sight of God if you worship the image of the beast or accept the mark. Sometimes I wonder how many people will convert after the Church and the Holy Spirit are taken from the earth. How will they hide? How will they find their way without the Holy Spirit in them? How will they eat? With all the known and unknown technologies: satellite, infrared, drone, camera smart phone and others available to the world government nowadays, it will be very difficult for these Christians after the rapture to reach the Millennium. But there will be ... Few and with the help of God.