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Brian Heitman's avatar

Good words, Keith, as usual.

I’m in a somewhat unique position regarding this threat; I want to share our situation in order to perhaps get others thinking.

First, I am Chief of Security (not safety; more on that in a minute) for a Messianic Jewish congregation. This means those who hate Jews hate us, and those who hate Christians hate us. Those who hate both will focus on us like a laser beam.

Second, I am a combat veteran with six deployments to the Middle-East. As an Infantry leader, it was my job to train my Soldiers to recognize threats and take immediate action in order to protect their own lives and the mission in general. Everything stated here in the article are considerations we had to make on a daily basis. We were the tip of the spear; my team at Congregation Baruch HaShem is the same.

Third, as I mentioned, we are a security team, not a safety team. All of my team members are trained and certified by the State of Texas as Commissioned (armed) Security Officers. We wear uniforms and open carry on duty belts designed to give us more tools than just a concealed pistol. We wear body armor. This makes us a hard target: we stand out as an obvious defense in the hopes that observers with hostile intent might say, “Nope. Not here, not now,” and move on. We have all undergone additional training in marksmanship, Krav Maga, OC Spray, baton, and just appearing intimidating, while we greet every worshipper with a warm smile and “Shabbat Shalom!” Our congregation loves us because they can worship in peace knowing we are the watchmen on the wall; the Hebrew word for watchmen is “Shomrim” and that is what we call ourselves.

Just some thoughts on possibilities. It is a fine balance between welcoming and protecting; we discovered that being open about it gives us an edge.

Blessings in our Lord and Savior Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus Christ)!

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SteamerRolling's avatar

With the millions of illegals allowed to come into the US completely unfiltered we can expect terrorism now and into the future. Biden and the Dems have allowed, created these circumstances through their treasonous act of “open border”. Prepare yourself for Middle Eastern style terrorism America. It’s not coming, IT IS HERE!

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