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Back in the late eighties I worked in a convenience store. This was back when gas was $1.16 a gallon. People would hand me a five dollar bill and say “I’ll take five on pump number whatever. After this happens a few hundred times a day the five dollar bills make very impressive stacks. This was long before debit cards or pay at the pump so we took in large amounts of cash. Behind the counter the owner placed a sign that I read all the time . Never count money or have cash where customers can reach it. and in big letters LETS KEEP HONEST PEOPLE HONEST! Or in other words it said let’s not lead people into temptation! There’s a lot in the Lord’s prayer but today I want to focus on the line and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. But while we’re praying to remove temptation for us remember not to temp others.
Working at a convenience store not only involves a large amount of cash there is always the chance that you can kill someone. If someone comes in to rob the store then you can take the gun from under the counter and shoot him. Not only could this fulfill your dreams of killing somebody, but it will make you famous, you’ll make all the local news and you will become a hero. My problem was there wasn’t a gun behind the counter. The only gun we had was in the bottom of the drop safe and it was locked. Every morning the owner’s daughter would open the safe empty the money into a bag and take that the pistol with her to the back office. She would count the money at the desk with the gun on top of the desk which was probably a good idea since there would be several thousand dollars of cash on top of the desk. This meant if I was going to be a hero I would have to take away the gun from the robber. But I always asked myself this question; if I wanted to rob a convenience store would I pick the store with me behind the counter? I don’t think so! Sticking a gun in my face would only get me mad. And I don’t think that would be a good idea. I worked there a little over a year and I was never robbed. But I thought about it a lot. Suppose someone did try to rob me and I took the gun away I could shoot him, I would have the legal right to do that, but the more I thought about it yes I would make a name for myself and be looked up to by a lot of people. Would killing someone over a few dollars in the register be right? After all they weren’t robbing me they were just after a few dollars in the register, although I would probably that it personal, I realized that I shouldn’t take it that way. As time went by, I decided if I ever was robbed and I took the gun away, I thought the best thing to do was to point the gun in the robbers face until his eyes got really big, then take the gun and pull it away from him and tell him to get out! don’t do this again. That wouldn’t get me on the news, but I thought that would be the right thing to do. You mean I would just let him go, maybe it would be the right, I don’t know you may say he would just rob someone else, then again maybe not. Nothing like ever happened, and if it did I would probably been the one shot.
Why wasn’t there a gun underneath the counter? Shouldn’t there been one there just in case? A lot of people believe they should sleep with a gun nearby, just in case. Could this be a lot more about a fantasy about being a hero than self protection? Isn’t that gun there just to make you “feel” better, more safe? If there was a gun beneath the counter those scared girls would shoot no telling how many people or they might shoot their self in the foot. The same thing has happened where scared people have shot and killed family members with that gun by their bed that was there, just in case. Put yourself in my place working in a store that’s being robbed or if your in your bedroom, do you pull the trigger if he’s just standing there? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil? If you yield to the temptation and pull the trigger, are you doing evil? I’m not talking about man’s laws. Should a Cristian pull the trigger just because he’s sacred or for the thrill of it? You may say that I have given this way too much thought, but my job of working behind the counter, by myself, till 1 am it was a real possibility. If you have a gun in your bedroom you really need to think about all and I talking about all the things that could happen. It’s more likely that something you had to protect you will instead be something that will cause a tragedy. My advice would be to put your faith in God to keep you safe and not in your gun and your own abilities. Now I know a lot of people will laugh at me for saying that. What would a Southern Baptist pastor tell you to do? Are Southern Baptist pastors teaching what the Bible has to say about guns or what the Republican party and the NRA believes about guns? Are they leading their followers into temptation?
I was inspired to write this today by a comment on Face Book from a Southern Baptist pastor in Oklahoma. His dad used to be my pastor back in the day, OK back when I was a little kid a long time. From what I can see on Face Book he pastors a large church. I’m proud he’s my friend on Face Book and also so far he has not unfriended me. Why would a pastor of a Southern Baptist church unfriend me? Well that’s a short story. After a couple of years of posts praising Trump, I was compelled to write a comment. I’m not going to say what he posted that made me so mad until I make another post totally on that subject. But last week I made another comment on his very inappropriate post for a Southern Baptist pastor to make about New Zealand banning assault rifles. I decided I would comment on that. It wasn’t a very long comment, all I said on my comment was: It appears your hope for your treasure in heaven is a AR15 made of gold. What kind of response did I get from that comment. Well it turns out I received the greatest response anyone would ever hope for. I just went to his timeline, both posts that I commented on and other similar posts were REMOVED. I just now found this out and I’m still not quite over it. Could it be that my comments started this Trump loving Southern Baptist pastor to start thinking about what he is spreading on Face Book. On his first post which I’ll give my thoughts on tomorrows song, it was removed. All of the pro-gun post were removed. It is possible to reason with a Trump worshipper? I didn’t think so but it sure appears that’s happened or at least I hope that’s what happened.
Now back to lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, does posting pro-gun views lead others into temptation and maybe commit evil? The Apostle Paul mentions the “feeble minded” and what about those people do they not read Face Book posts? Is it good that a feeble minded person has a loaded gun in their house? The NRA will say it’s everyone’s right to have guns. Maybe today’s post will at least make one person think, at least a little.