Today, in the nation’s capitol, in downtown Washington D. C., students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, will lead a march against gun violence. It is being called March For Our Lives. Why? On February 14, a former student of their school killed 17 students with an AR-15 rapid-fire rifle on their school campus.
As many as 500,000 people are expected to participate in this demonstration. Over 800 corresponding demonstrations are expected to occur all over the world on the same day, tomorrow. Speeches will begin at noon tomorrow EST. Some of these students have been speaking out boldly ever since this shooting occurred. And they are so articulate and believable and determined to make a difference in their world–to reduce firearm availability in the country so that such events can be greatly reduced if not eliminated.
Many famous Americans have publicly expressed their support for this March For Our Lives. They include the likes of people such as Oprah Winfrey. She is donating $500,000 to it and will participate in the march in D.C.
Hollywood actor and comedian Bill Murray has made some profound statements about this student uprising, comparing it to students who started demonstrations against the U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War. I think he could be right. It could be a seminal moment against U.S. lax laws against gun violence. I have blogged multiple times supporting this sort of thing and condemning the National Rifle Association as an evil organization. In doing so, I lose some readers of my blog. I don’t care! Leave. They are on the wrong side of history on this issue. Maybe they will wake up someday and see the error of their way. We’ve got to drastically reduce this amazing gun violence in our country. About 35,000 people die every year in the U.S. from gun and rifle violence. Yes, 60% of it are suicides. But that still leaves over 15,000 innocent deaths.
I specialize in the interpretation of biblical prophecy. (See “New Gun Laws?” “Another Mass Shooting Due to American’s Insanity about Guns” “Someday No More Guns” “The Doctrine of Imminence Prevents Abolishing Guns“)
My next planned book I’m working on has a chapter entitled World Disarmament. In it, I interpret such biblical texts as Ezekiel 38-39 to show that the world eventually will not only completely do away with guns and rifles, but all modern weapons, including nuclear weapons, bombs, artillery, etc. I believe these texts are supposed to be interpreted literally.
For example, Ezekiel 38-39 is about the final Antichrist, whose title is “Gog” (Ezekiel 38.2; 39.1). At the end of this age, just before Jesus returns, this Antichrist will lead all the nations’ militaries to attack Israel and wipe that little nation off the face of the map. Ezekiel says those attacking soldiers will ride “horses” and be “clothed in full armor, a great company, all of them with shield and buckler, wielding swords…. all of them with buckler and helmet” (Ezekiel 38.4-5). If that isn’t enough, God says through the prophet Ezekiel, “I will summon the sword against Gog in all my mountains [in the land of Israel], says the LORD God; the swords of all will be against their comrades” (v. 21). That’s only in chapter 38.
In Ezekiel 39, the prophet again says on behalf of God about Gog and his forces, “I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand” (Ezekiel 39.3). Ezekiel then predicts when this war is over, “Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them–bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, handpikes and spears–and they will make fires of them for seven years. They will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any trees in the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons” (vv. 9-10).
It should be obvious that with the addition of this prediction about making fires with these weapons and not needing to harvest trees to make fires for the next seven years, these prophecies can only be understood literally because that it how Ezekiel meant them. Yet few scholars, liberal or conservative, who write commentaries about this book of Ezekiel interpret this material literally. The biblical prophets such as Ezekiel do not tell us how long it will take for the world to accomplishment such disarmament of our advanced weapons, so that only primitive weapons will be used in the latter days.
Yet, according the Bible, someday, before the end of this age, there will be no more guns and rifles, no more mass shootings at schools as we still see happening in our lifetime. When this disarmament occurs, it will be one more evidence that the God of the Bible, the God of Israel and of the Christians, really does exist and speaks through his prophets, exhorting us to believe in him and trust our lives to him for all eternity.
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