Should Christians ever fight back?
That question is stirring serious debate across the Church as believers confront rising violence, persecution and moral collapse in the culture. In a blunt and high-energy interview with Bishop Alan DiDio, “Machine Gun Preacher” Sam Childers confronted the issue head-on, calling on Christians to reject passivity and stand with courage and conviction.
Breaking a passive spirit
DiDio opened the conversation with a challenge directed at the modern Church.
“I think it’s time to break this passive spirit, this pacifist spirit off the body of Christ,” he said.
Childers agreed and pointed to the difference between talking about injustice and confronting it.
“There’s a lot of people talking about rescuing kids out of human trafficking,” DiDio said. “There’s very few people who are actually doing anything about this.”
Childers said real missions work requires sacrifice and long-term commitment.
“There’s a lot of these ministries that will come into Africa,” he said. “They only go into the bush for a few hours during the day and take a lot of pictures and they say they’re doing a lot of work but they don’t really do any work besides take pictures.”
He said his ministry focuses on rebuilding lives and communities.
“I believe our work is Jesus Christ first,” Childers said. “Second is education. Third is teaching a skill and a trade.”
A calling born in war
Childers said his mission began during a trip to Africa when he encountered the brutal reality of war.
“God will open a door for you,” he said. “When you stand in that doorway the decision you make at that moment will determine your destination in life.”
He described the moment that changed everything.
“I come across a body of a small child,” Childers said. “When I looked down everything from the waist down was gone.”
Standing over the body, he made a vow that defined the rest of his life.
“I remember I said that day, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help these people.’”
Childers sold his possessions and moved to Africa, where he has spent nearly three decades rescuing children, building schools and orphanages, and running feeding programs.
“Our organization right now we feed over 10,000 meals a day,” he said.
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Courage and obedience
Childers also shared stories from the front lines of conflict zones where militants were attacking villages.
In one encounter, soldiers warned him that more than 200 rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army were raiding a village ahead.
“They said, ‘Reverend you can’t go no further. There’s more than 200 of them,’” Childers said.
He drove toward the village anyway.
“And I said, ‘I’m going.’”
Childers said he sensed God urging him forward.
“God kept saying, ‘Drive faster. Drive faster.’”
When his men opened fire from their trucks, the rebels fled, believing a larger army was approaching.
Childers said the lesson was simple.
“The problem is so many times as a Christian we want to wait for the miracle,” he said. “Don’t wait for the miracle. Obey God.”
A warning to the Church
Childers delivered a direct challenge to Christian men in America, arguing that believers have surrendered ground by refusing to stand up publicly for their faith.
“I get tired of hearing Christians say everything went bad when they took prayer out of the school,” he said. “They just didn’t take prayer out of the school. You allowed them to take prayer out of the school.”
He called on believers to stop complaining and start acting.
“If we have one day a year where we can go to our public school and pray around the flag pole why is there only a handful?” he asked. “Why isn’t there hundreds or even thousands of people standing there praying?”
Childers said courage and boldness must define Christian men again.
“I’m not afraid to stand up and let people know that I’m a Christian,” he said.
Then he delivered one of the strongest lines of the interview.
“God’s not dead,” Childers said. “Why are we?”
The real message
Childers said he no longer focuses on counting how many children he has rescued. His focus is on what still needs to be done.
“When I was a young guy I kept track of all that stuff,” he said. “Now I focus on what I need to do tomorrow morning.”
That mindset defines the heart of his message to believers.
Childers said God can transform even the most broken life and use it to impact others.
“The title of my book is The Most Unlikely,” he said. “The most unlikely to ever succeed in life.”
But the message does not end with his story. Childers said every believer has a responsibility to use their life to lift someone else.
“God has straightened you out,” he said. “Now use your life to help somebody else’s life.”
That is the real answer to the question that started the conversation. As Christians, we cannot live passive lives in a world filled with suffering and evil. Faith demands courage, obedience and action.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
