1. To fear God and protect His Church
2. To serve the Lord in valor and faith
3. To protect the weak and defenseless
4. To give aid to widows and orphans
5. To refrain from unnecessarily giving offense
6. To live by honor
7. To refuse monetary reward
8. To fight for the welfare of all
9. To obey civil authorities whenever possible
10. To guard the honor of fellow warriors
11. To avoid unfairness and deceit
12. To keep the faith
13. To speak the truth at all times
14. To persevere to the end
15. To respect the honor of women
16. Never to turn your back upon a foe
17. To avoid unnecessary publicity and attention
Every few training cycles, and more frequently lately, someone is offended by material presented in our training. This is problematic because, unlike the culture around us, we refuse to allow ourselves to be muzzled by the politically correct and easily offended.
The offense often occurs because the person does not have a military or law enforcement background and is unable to understand the actual process of protecting themselves and more importantly someone else from someone who wants to do them harm. They’ve usually never been in a real fist fight, never heard a shot fired in anger, never lived or worked in a violent neighborhood and have no earthly idea what the real world is like outside their cocoon. They find the violence and force shocking and simply cannot mentally process it without making unfounded judgments.
They may also be highly disturbed by the massive cognitive dissonance between their carefully cultivated assumptions and reality without the modern cloak of political correctness, woke-ness and double speak/double standards which destroys their carefully nurtured normalcy bias. And, when they cannot refute the facts, they may even take offense at the manner of presentation because the truth disturbs them so deeply.
And finally, many may be afraid of simply hearing such information because in today’s woke culture, just listening to opposing opinions on the sacred issues of race, mob violence, political and judicial corruption, etc. is enough to convict you in the eyes of the mob. Like a dark ages monk, when the theology of wokeness and political correctness is challenged they must cover their ears and run from the room lest they hear heresy and be damned for it.
And so, once again, it behooves us to make a clear statement of our core values:
1. We are not a militia in the modern pejorative definition of that term. We train churches and church security volunteers how to be safer in a very dangerous world. That's it.
2. We reject racism in the historic use of that term. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines racism as: “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” The proposition is illogical on its face and no right thinking person can take it seriously. Like Dr. Martin Luther King we believe that every person should and will be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. And following Dr. King’s logic which was deeply rooted in the classic natural law theories of Augustine and Aquinas we will criticize and oppose bad behavior for its own sake. But, if the person or community committing the bad behavior insists upon defining themselves primarily by their race (the definition of real racism) and demanding that the conversation about their behavior be defined in racial terms we will oblige them and call them what they want be called both in praise and criticism.
3. We reject anti-semitism. Though we may theologically disagree with our Jewish neighbors, we firmly believe that God's covenant relationship with Israel and the Jewish people has never been revoked and that anyone who mistreats them offends both God and man. Further, if called upon, we will defend them as though they are our own flocks.
4. We reject violence as a political tactic. There is a name for people who attempt to influence government, courts and the culture by violence and threats of violence. They are called terrorists. We refuse to call the perpetrators of the current turmoil “peaceful protestors” while they resist arrest, burn down neighborhoods, attack police stations and court houses, block streets and highways to intimidate motorists and kill policemen and first responders.
5. We are not “anti-government.” While we are often highly critical of government figures and policies, we are not anarchists and reject the notion that the government can or should be overturned by mob violence or force of arms either by the left or the right. We do however firmly believe in the right of citizens to criticise the government and to change that goverment when it no longer represents the natural law of God as taught by the Holy Scriptures and explained by Blackstone, Cicero, Augustine and Aquinas.
6. We do not tolerate anti-government militia members, racists, anti-semites, so called sovereign citizens, radical political activists and gang members in our training. We go to great length to check the background of each person we accept into our training and refuse to admit people from these groups. And, if one slips through we will ask them to leave the moment they identify as such or try to recruit during our training.
It is sad that such a statement has to be made publicly but the times we live in are so extreme that basic values have to be spelled out very clearly if we are to avoid unwarranted assumptions. St. Augustine said, “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” That is exactly what we try to do, just tell the truth. And if the truth disturbs you, that is your problem not ours.
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