That Turn The Other Cheek Thing
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jeanne Assam appeared before the news media for the first time Monday and said she “did not think for a minute to run away” when a gunman entered the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and started shooting.
There was applause as Assam spoke to reporters and TV cameras saying, “God guided me and protected me.”
God apparently told her to end it.
New Life’s Senior Pastor Brady Boyd called Assam “a real hero” because Murray “had enough ammunition on him to cause a lot of damage.”
When asked by a reporter if she felt like a hero, Assam said, “I wasn’t just going to wait for him to do further damage.”
“I give credit to God,” she said.
I never heard of a church outside Baghdad with armed security. OK, St. Peter’s. I guess when you have 10,000 people moving through the place there will be issues.
Assam described how the gunman, Matthew Murray, entered the east entrance of the church firing his rifle.
“There was chaos,” Assam said, as parishioners ran away, “I will never forget the gunshots. They were so loud.”"I saw him coming through the doors” and took cover, Assam said. “I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down.”
“God was with me,” Assam said. “I didn’t think for a minute to run away.”
Assam said she believes God gave her the strength to confront Murray, keeping her calm and focused even though he appeared to be twice her size and was more heavily armed.
Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department.
“It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God,” she said.
Assam worked as a police officer in downtown Minneapolis during the 1990s and is licensed to carry a weapon. She attends one of the morning services and then volunteers as a guard during another service.
Boyd said Assam was the one who suggested the church beef up its security Sunday following the Arvada shooting, which it did. The pastor credited the security plan and the extra security for preventing further bloodshed.
Boyd said there are 15 to 20 security people at the church. All are volunteers but the only ones armed are those who are licensed to carry weapons.
The security guards are members of the church who are screened and not “mercenaries that we hire to walk around our campus to provide security,” Boyd said.
No need. God helps those who help themselves.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:19 pm on Monday, December 10, 2007
5 Responses to “That Turn The Other Cheek Thing”
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December 10th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Christian churches have been attacked wherever jihadi can reach them in other countries around the globe.
It would be foolishness of the highest order for a large congregation to not have some security plan in place.
There’s no slack for folk who volunteer to be slaughtered by pretending it can never happen to them.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
God helps those who help themselves.
A creed that lefties abhor. I prefer to help myself, and not wait for the coroner to bag me for transport to a funeral home.
December 11th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I don’t believe, and never believed, that “turning the cheek” meant giving up self-defense altogether. And there are strong theological arguments against it.
December 11th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
The Vatican’s Swiss guard is better equipped than NYPD SWAT. The crew with the poofy uniforms and halberds are just for show. There’s another bunch lurking in the shadows with the serious hardware.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
The lesson of the twentieth century for Jews was: If someone says he intends to kill you, believe him. With anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry on the rise, and with liberals and leftists giving it sanction, we need to supplement the Lord’s rod and staff with Glocks and Colts.
There is a reluctance to go armed to prayer I know. In the late 1600s a group of Scottish Calvinists called the Cameronians were persecuted by the late Stuart Scottish government to force them to attend churches ruled by bishops, which they considered wrong. They held their prayer meetings in the open, and posted armed sentries in case the government’s soldiers came to attack them. After the Glorious Revolution they formed a regiment in the new Scottish army under William III, the 26th Foot. For the rest of its history, whenever the Cameronian Regiment held services, the unit put out armed sentries in remembrance of this history.
There is no dishonor in defending yourself against bigots and murderers.