SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Can a Christian practice martial arts? One reader asks that question today. Perhaps a better question is “Can a Christian protect his family?”
Wildfire Survivors
We already ran an article last week on Brad Weldon who stayed to fight the wildfire in Paradise, California and was able to save his home. Now he says he will not vacate even with a mandatory notice. He is among a small group of fire survivors who have defied orders to leave and decided to stick it out in the blackened and smoldering landscape. Butte County Sheriff has stated that he doesn’t know how many people were living in the evacuation zones but that they won’t force them to leave. If deputies encounter someone, they confirm that they live in the area, but won’t take any other action. Several of these survivors have stated that they feared that deputies would draw weapons on them when they refused orders to leave, even after the fire danger was over. This one is an interesting article profiling many of these survivors.
Is the 2A Obsolete?
I’m sure you’ve heard the argument that the Second Amendment is obsolete, either from a friend or a politician. Reader C.H. sent in this article that is a brutally honest essay on why this is not a correct assessment. History has shown that every genocide has been preceded by the disarmament of the people. This time around would be no different. (Note: a language warning must be placed on this article.)
Gun Confiscation
Pat Cascio, SurvivalBlog’s Senior Field Gear Editor, sent in this article on the current state of gun confiscation in the U.S. The article looks at some specific details on the recent “red flag” incident in Maryland and compares those details to the totalitarian regime that the Soviet Union used to be. The similarities between the two are downright scary. Things like the names of cops not being released (secret policing), the muzzling of the press, press and public censorship, no specific reason for the red-flag and state powers of arrest suggest that there is no real difference. Basically anyone with a “300 Spartans” patch and the “μολὼν λαβέ” or “ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” written on their sleeves is in danger.
Martial Arts and the Christian
Reader B wrote in with a question:
Can a Christian enjoy boxing or other fighting sports for entertainment as well as self defense training? I’ve always enjoyed a good fight scene, wether it’s real or on the screen and I’m increasingly looking for self defense training for myself. It seems if you want a good, reality-based training, you have to go to the same bloody, tougher arts that so many Christians are hand-wringing over and condemning as sinful (Krav Maga and MMA spring to mind). How do we balance the desire to defend ourselves effectively (and enjoy a sport), with the way we are called to live as Christians? Seems, at least according to these mainstream Christians, that there’s no way to connect the two at all.
I believe that those who claim a Christian should not fight back have misread the Scripture and are actually being disobedient to the Lord. This whole concept has been dealt with thoroughly in past articles on SurvivalBlog and I would encourage you to use the search feature of the blog to read those articles. Basically, a man has a responsibility to protect and care for his family. We live in a sinful world and the Lord has provided instructions for executing that protection which includes taking the life of one who threatens your family if necessary. Martial arts, firearms, dining room chairs, writing utensils – all are merely tools to be used. To properly use the tools all must be practiced with.
San Diego Port of Entry
After all the media bluster about how Trump is racists for claiming that there were criminals in the migrant caravan headed to the U.S. border, we are now finding out that his statement was actually true. Yesterday, the Feds temporarily halted all traffic through the San Diego Port while they made changes and reinforced the border. Over 1100 Marines have been deployed to help CBP officials, hardening the border with razor wire, concrete roadblocks and rebar. Incidentally, the media are apparently showing old footage of illegals climbing the fence at the border there. Any person climbing the fence now would be in the hospital in short order, bleeding massively from all the cuts received by the razor wire. That latest count I’ve seen on the numbers puts the caravan at about 14,000 total. Thanks to H.L. for the link.
Unenforceable Law
A police chief in Washington State has declared that he is looking to shield his city from a new state law that imposes more strict limitations on firearms. Initiative 1639 was recently approved and prevents individuals under the age of 21 from buying semiautomatic weapons. The law also contains provisions for criminal prosecution if you store a firearm where a prohibited person can gain access to it. Chief Loren Culp, of Republic Police Department has declared that he cannot and will not enforce this law as it goes against his Oath of Office. The NRA has already filed a suit challenging the new law.
Harbinger of things to Come
A viral video of a young school child in Japan is making the rounds. Apparently, Japan has mandatory vaccinations. The video cuts in with about half the class of what appears to be first graders holding their arms and wailing in pain after receiving the shot. One young girl is running from the teacher who is attempting to hold her for the shot. At one point, the teacher grabs for her and she fends him off by slapping his hands while one of her schoolmates attempts to hold here. eventually, the teacher corners her and then drags her by her hands to a chair where he proceeds to sit down.
The young girl then promptly kicks him in the groin and runs away. While the video is amusing to watch, it does bring forth an anger about mandatory vaccines. I’m not ani-vax, but I sure am against forced mandatory vaccinations. This is a subject where the parent should have full control over the decision. Thanks to DSV for the link.
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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
Unenforceable law, It seems to me that storing a weapon where a criminal can get to it is just like having your money in a bank and you being criminally charged when a robbery occurs. How about the owner of a convenience store that is robbed and the criminal buys a gun from another criminal that stole it, they would of course have to prosecute both the bank and convenience store owner. As usual this is just a bunch of empty headed politicians doing feel good legislation to pander for votes with little thought for unintended consequences, as well as squandering tax payers money defending stupid laws that are routinely struck down by the courts. Wake up, out there.
I like the analogy.
The empty headed politicians in this case were funded by Bloomberg and Allen with others of their ilk. $$$
The Second Amendment Foundation has joined the lawsuit.
Where politicians are concerned, there are no unintended consequences, regardless of the outcomes. Making criminals of normal citizens, the deaths of innocents, the restrictions on the human rights of all Americans, the minimizing of the meaning of citizenship, etc. It’s all intentional. They get the exact results they want, no matter how bad they are. 95% of all politicians, no matter the party, are corrupt, evil people.
NO, your favorite politician is probably not a good guy.
If you are not a jaded as I am about American politics, you just are not paying enough attention.
Just so you know, the NRA is not our friend. They are wolves in sheep clothing. They endorse candidates that support gun control.
Which vaccines do you think children should not get or to put it another way which diseases do you think they should get? If this were some experimental thing I could maybe agree with you but it is probably one of the worst possible parenting choices to not get those life saving vaccinations. The arguments against them are all based on baseless and false claims by people (Jenny McCarthy) too stupid to know that they know nothing about healthcare. Nothing says incompetence as a parent like failing to protect your children from disease.
@Anon,
That would be a straw man argument. Again, I explicitly said that I am not anti-vax. However, I am very much in favor of parents retaining their right to raise their own children. I am totally against “forced vaccination”. However, since you asked, I am against any vaccine that contains or has used aborted fetal tissue in the vaccine or in its research. I am also against any vaccine that contains any non-kosher ingredient, whether that be toxic chemicals or unclean animals. As you would expect, I hold to that position for religious reasons. Forcing me to give vaccines that contain such ingredients is an absolute abominable violation of my faith. Thanks for calling a religious conviction stupid – it shows where you are coming from on the issue. Note that there are also vaccines such as “hpv” and others that are unnecessary and should not be made mandatory.
Not vaccinating Children in School could endanger Children who should not be vaccinated, because it enhances the Risk of infection for those Children.
@ThoDan,
What you are referring to is the concept of “herd immunity”. There is no meaningful data to this theory when it comes to vaccinations. Not only is that theory not based on vaccines and viruses, it’s not even founded in human research. In effect, it’s meaningless. It sounds logical, but there are no statistics to back it up after years of research. Over the years we’ve seen the “rate” at which herd immunization occurs rise from the original “55% of the population” to the current number of “95% of the population” and it still doesn’t work. China has immunization rates near 99% in certain areas and they still have large outbreaks even among the supposedly immunized groups. Herd immunity is a utopian fantasy that does not exist in reality.
And we haven’t even touched on the issues of “public school” yet…
More than one Doctor for Children told me the exact opposite, the Sources of anti vaccination Groups were more than absurd, over a hundred years old.
btw i´m a strong believer in a Quality public School System. Not every Person has the ability to teach or does understand the Topic well enough to teach or at least be of any use helping to learn understanding the Topic.
One of those Persons was my Teacher for four years, but most of my teachers were good, some great.
@ThoDan
Sadly, there is as much misinformation among doctors as the general population. It is in the vaccine companies best interest to have doctors on-board because they tend not to push medical procedures that they don’t believe in. I’ve heard Doctors tell me incorrect information many times. What you have to realize is that just like our educational system, a degree doesn’t magically confer wisdom and as you well know, statistics can be bent to lean in pretty much any direction you want. Doctors are just normal people with advanced degrees in medicine and lots of practice, but they don’t know everything. Just like we tend to repeat what we’ve been taught, they do the same thing. It is a rare doctor who actually has the curiosity and temerity to question everything. Actually, it’s a rare trait in humans in general anymore.
Public School is one of the reasons that trait is so uncommon. Our current model for public school has its roots in the Prussian system of education (just as our current “law enforcement” also has its roots in the Prussian model of law enforcement.) Remember, these are the models that created National Socialism (Nazis). The goal isn’t education or keeping the peace. The goal of these systems is about control and uniformity.
Don’t buy into the lie that the average person can’t educate their own children. Don’t buy into the lie that those in authority always know best.
I’m with you. Vaccines containing aluminum or mercury should be given to no one. Would any sane person willingly inject aluminum or mercury into their own bodies? And yet they do when they get vaccinated for almost anything, worse still injecting aluminum and/or mercury (some vaccines have both) into their own children. All too many of our vaccines do contain aluminum and/or mercury. I’m of the generation that used to be taken to measles parties, and chicken pox parties, and, if I remember correctly, mumps parties. My parents just wanted to get it all over with. They were doing the right thing. This is how herd immunity used to be done. Get sick once, immune for life.
As for the HPV vaccine, the vaccine is far worse than the disease. More people get deathly sick from the vaccine than actually get cervical cancer from the disease. Since HPV is really just genital warts, maybe people should teach their children to refrain from sexual contact until they are older, or at least to use a condom when they do.
As for ThoDan’s remarks: The children who are actually spreading the diseases are the ones who have been forced to take the vaccines. He should pay better attention. I suggest starting with the medical writers who regularly contribute at LewRockwell.com, he could learn a thing or two about reality.
Christians and martial arts;
Remember that two of the disciples of Jesus were armed IN HIS PRESENCE. He told them to sell their cloaks and buy swords. They bought two and He said that that was enough. When Peter cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, Jesus said to put it away, that those who “live by the sword will die by the sword”. In other words its all about the defensive. Don’t go looking for a fight. If the fight comes to you, then defend you and yours. I don’t see a problem with Christian participation in the martial arts as long as it does not become your “god” and as long as the skills are used in self-defense.
The Holy Second Amendment (2A);
The 2A DOES NOT confer any right. It is a restriction on government, not on the individual. The individual has a pre-existing right of self-defense. This right pre-exists all “laws” and government rules, regulations, legislation, and all other forms of tyranny that the mind of man can dream up.
Please tell me what infringement the Holy 2A has prevented in the past 230 years. That’s right none. The Republicans are as guilty as the Democrats in ignoring the restriction the amendment places on the government.
So what is the point of keeping the Holy 2A? If it is repealed nothing changes. Every human being STILL retains the pre-existing right of self-defense. If the Holy 2A is repealed I will go on owning my defensive arms. Simple.
Holy Cow! I can hear the bleating now!!
Repeal the Holy 2A!!??!! God forbid!!!!
Calm down!
The crux of the problem is that our right to life, liberty, and property are supposed to be unalienable. Meaning the government cannot put a lien, or legal claim, against them. But that is exactly what has happened. This is why the government can drag you into one of their “courts” and prosecute you for any minor infraction of their legal claim against your rightful liberty.
Until we as a people understand what has been done to our unalienable rights and reverse it nothing will change regardless of how much we worship some ink on parchment.
If you do not think the Second Amendment has done ANY good all you have to do is look at the Countries that do not have one>.
The individual people in the countries that don’t have a 2A STILL have a pre-existing right of self-defense because they are human beings that exist on this planet.
The 2A merely puts the government on notice that they cannot infringe on an individuals pre-existing right of self-defense (to keep and bear arms). The 2A is not some magical incantation that will make the government violence brokers (politicians) leave our unalienable rights alone.
I cringe when some well-meaning soul bleats about “muh second amendment rights” or “muh constitushunal rights”. It means that they don’t seem to understand the nature of the battle they are in.
And the defense of others.
See St Augustine of Hippo for more
Snotty Boy,
Many politicians and voters do not believe in God and therefore do not acknowledge our God-given, unalienable rights, whether we do or not. Without the 2A there is no “legal” fall-back position and as Vietvet said, look at other countries that don’t have a 2A.
I do agree that most gun owners will not voluntarily surrender their guns, especially in a martial law situation. But I do think we need the 2A.
Why do we NEED a “legal fallback” for a pre-existing right that cannot have a legal claim levied against it in the first place?
It is up to the people, individually and collectively, to ensure that no legal claim against their rights exists. The way the tyrants accomplished this was to move the country FROM common law TO statute law. Under common law no legal claim against “the right of the people” can exist.
This is WHY we have firearms. This is why Jefferson said that the tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants from time to time. To put the tyrants on notice, whether they acknowledge our rights or not, that we can not and will not be separated, in any form whatsoever, from our unalienable rights.
Most people I’ve talked to or interacted with online know nothing about this. All they can do is bleat about “gun rights”, “constitutional rights”, a return to the constitution, and on and on, never understanding why nothing changes for the better and not understanding the nature of the war they are in.
Sad.
Do some research on common law versus statute law. Its the beginning of a rabbit hole that has no end.
They will not repeal, that requires a fealty to the Constitution that, in reality, does not exist in that den of evil known as Washington, D.C. All they have to do is choose to ignore it.
There is no way in h**l that 38 states would vote to repeal the 2A. State capitals would be surrounded by angry citizens armed with pitchforks, torches, and AR-15’s. The stench of fear would make the state capital buildings smell like old rancid outhouses.
So the feds, the politicians in Washington, would choose to ignore the “supreme law of the land”, and there is nothing we could do about it except to launch the war these scumbags so desperately want. They don’t care how many millions of Americans they have to slaughter to get to the totalitarian dictatorship they have wet dreams about instituting.
As I read these items, I am left with this in reply:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. “ – Romans 13:8 (KJV)
Of course, each of us is given free will to choose what constitutes “love one another”.
In the meantime, I offer my gratitude to all of you who make this site what it is.
Carry on.
Christians and violence-
I believe the person that wrote in essentially has some problems with violence, hence the tone of the letter as well as the differentiation inferred with the “MMA” statement.
Violence has been with us since Cain whacked out Abel and it will be with us until the last fire comes down and consumes Gog and Magog at the end. The Lord Himself kills probably millions at the end.
There is a huge difference between not starting violence and becoming used to violence, especially as survivalism relates to this.
I would submit that a martial art like Systema would be a great answer for this sort of person, as a lot of psychological issues like fear, anger, etc. are dealt with. These guys can fight very well without much of these issues.
Like in anything else, it’s what you put into it. I have done combatives regularly most of my adult life and regularly fight big guys half my age. Technique, staying calm, common sense and good movement sees me prevail over most of the “go go go!” aggressive types and at the end of 5 minute rounds they wonder why they are gassing and have tapped three or four times and I still have all my breathe and are calm.
Violence will be with us till the end. No where are we commanded to be slaughtered and not fight. Some liberal christian might quote “turn the other cheek” but I believe that was designed to be between BELIEVERS when one wronged another Believer.
Japan has the worlds oldest universal health care system,it was implemented in the 1920’s to increase the military effectiveness of the population in advance of the “East Asian Co-Prosperty Sphere”. The true reason for universal health care is military-political control of a population
1) Doctors spend 12 years in gaining a medical education and then gain up to 40 years experience in actually saving peoples lives. Medical research, medicines and procedures are subject to peer review — as well as scrutiny by medical boards and the insurance companies.
2) Anyone who has looked at history — at the MILLIONS of people and children who used to routinely die in pandemics — will have NO tolerance for anti-vaxxers or in people thinking that their unqualified opinion should have equal importance in setting public policy.
If you want to have an opinion on a subject that puts peoples lives at risk then go to medical school. And don’t insult doctors who have to pass far tougher tests than posting on the Internet.
In my opinion, the idea that the entire medical community –doctors who deliver our children, save people from accidents and who have greatly increased the human lifespan — would engage in a conspiracy to enable bad medical care is utter claptrap.
3) You don’t want to vaccinate your children — fine. Then keep them at home under public quarantine. That is a well defined power of government. Typhoid Mary didn’t like it but the death rate fell rapidly once she was put in prison.
@Don,
This is the exact attitude I was talking about. Our culture has this fascination with education. A “degree” magically confers all wisdom and knowledge to a person according to our society. I’m not disparaging anyone, I’m just being realistic. As a terminal cancer survivor, I took control of my own health long ago. Doctors are just ordinary people too. Funny how we treat them as gods, yet medical science constantly changes. Ever notice how what was “the absolute truth” in medical science last year (or even a few years ago) suddenly isn’t now? As our understanding of things increases, we change. Without that change, there can be no progress. Without questioning what is, there can be no change. In the medical field, absolute is absolutely not absolute. I stand by my assertion that there is missinformation within the medical community just like there is in the rest of the world. I am not intentionally disparaging any doctors, but you will find a diverse opinion among them on every subject. If you haven’t seen it, then you are intentionally not looking for it. That’s the primary reason “second opinions” were established.
Again, learn what the term “herd immunity” actually means because you have a gross misconception of it’s meaning.
Of course, this whole subject is off topic. The original topic is that parents should have the right to make choices for their own family. Are you suggesting that you believe that government supersedes parental authority in non-criminal matters? Are you for more government interference in the management of families? Do you really believe that the federal or state government can make decisions over your family better than you can? Or does that just apply to families that make different decisions than you? At what point do you draw the line on what influence big government can have in your personal life?
If herd immunity doesn’t exist then what happened to smallpox? Killed roughly 400 million people in the 20th century — how many outbreaks have we seen recently?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox
And somehow I don’t think measles in the USA fell from 600,000 cases a year to less than 100 just because a bunch of hippies formed a circle in the 1960s and chanted “OOmmmm”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity#/media/File:Measles_US_1944-2007_inset.png
@Don,
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what “herd immunity” is. You need to look at the original research on what that term means before commenting on it.