NOTE: I'm not debating my religious faith with you. I really couldn't care less what YOU think makes a Christian and whether my faith is good enough for you. This is about an issue my church has adopted, not the ignorant arguments over what makes a "real" Christian. I know who I am and you're not changing. I was a Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist before settling in what I found to be right for me.
My church has decided that it is going to side with gun control instead of our God-given, biblically enforced rights. It wants to use the protection of the 1st amendment to violate my rights protected under the 2nd amendment. I find that quite hypocritical and frustrating. I've written a lengthy letter to my church leaders and here is the text of it:
Bishop,
First, please understand this is in NO WAY personal to or a reflection on you as my bishop. I realize y'all were required to read that letter today in church.
While I'm not currently present to attend church until the end of the semester in December, I have been made aware that a letter was read in Texas churches today regarding the law that will take effect next month. First of all, the letter is completely inaccurate that the Law changes anything about the legality of guns at church. It has been legal to carry a gun in Texas churches since 1995 when the concealed carry law was passed. However, this year, the legislature recognized that the language was confusing and clarified it to remove the prohibition completely and continue to allow churches to put up signs just as before. The same changes also allow churches to have security without having to get security licenses.
I have an honest question that I would like to be pushed up through the stake and to the area leadership. If the church is going to prevent me from defending myself while I go to church, while I'm at church, and as I'm going home from church, is the church going to accept responsibility for the fact that I am disarmed and cannot defend myself or others should something happen to me on the way to my car or while I'm sitting in the pews? Crazy people and those with evil intent don't care about signs or the church's letter.
Does the leadership realize that in Texas the only people who can carry into a church are those who have a license to carry a handgun? The conviction rate for any criminal act of a Texas license to carry holder is 0.3%. That's any crime from a class b misdemeanor to a felony. The policy, however, allows for law enforcement officers to carry in a church, but the conviction rate of the law enforcement community is 1.9%, which includes any class b misdemeanor up to a felony, which is still a low number compared to the general public. So why is the church allowing people who have a six time
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCyY4pcebjo
Killeen, TX band 7 Years Today playing for troops at Fort Hood on November 6, 2010 for the Rock the Hood event, marking the one year anniversary since the Nidal Hasan shooting that killed 13 brave American troops at home.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZzXpc253Y
On March 14, 2023, President Biden signed an executive order titled "Reducing Gun Violence and Making Our Communities Safer." The EO does nothing of the sort. In fact, it does nothing at all. A Cadbury egg has more substance than this executive order. However, the most important aspect of this EO is that it exposes the true intent of the gun grabbing leftists in our country.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atni9fDGWnY
NO FLAG needs to be flown over our city besides the American, Texan, and Temple flags. That's it. No rebel flags. No confederate flags. No BLM flags. No "Pride" flags. Nothing! And I'll make that opinion known.
Paypal: cj@cjgrisham.com
Cash App: $cjgrisham
Venmo: @cjgrisham
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPoxaHolr30
The section of law I'm quoting in this video comes from Texas Government Code, Title 5: Ethics, Subtitle A: Open Government, Chapter 551: Open Meetings, Section 551.042, which states in entirety:
"Sec. 551.042. INQUIRY MADE AT MEETING. (a) If, at a meeting of a governmental body, a member of the public or of the governmental body inquires about a subject for which notice has not been given as required by this subchapter, the notice provisions of this subchapter do not apply to:
(1) a statement of specific factual information given in response to the inquiry; or
(2) a recitation of existing policy in response to the inquiry.
(b) Any deliberation of or decision about the subject of the inquiry shall be limited to a proposal to place the subject on the agenda for a subsequent meeting.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993."
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/SOTWDocs/GV/htm/GV.551.htm
Pay close attention 551.042(2)(b) where it specifically notes that government bodies are expected to discuss things, just not engage in "deliberation or decision" making. Temple City Council has NEVER responded to public inquiries, at least not in the past 4 years that I've been back home full time since joining the Army.
It's about time that we take back our country, starting at the lowest level, which is our cities and towns. Our elected officials have forgotten what the purpose of public office is. It's NOT to control the people, but to protect and serve them.
City of Temple officials are finally waking up to that.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h-XIEqgcNk