Sam Childers "Machine Gun Preacher" Interview

I am watching the MACHINE GUN PREACHER movie with my husband tonight. My first reaction when he brought it home from REDBOX, was I was not going to watch it because I thought maybe it was a movie about something I shouldnt watch, almost like a blasphemy because the title seemed so opposite. I didnt know anything about SAM CHILDERS his life or his work. Jason just said it should be inspirational and it is about AFRICA. After he said that I gave the movie a second look. I did this by looking up the movie on the internet and reading about SAM CHILDERS.
I started reading and I had to just completely STOP...........WOW. I was floored by what I was reading and watching.
This is a story about a man....a lost man. He was a drug addict, a gang member, and almost a murderer. But for a moment in his life.....he was gripped by GOD....flooded with MERCY....realizing GRACE....AND HIS WHOLE LIFE WAS CHANGED.
He stops drugs, he asks Jesus in his heart, he renews his vow to his wife, he becomes a better father, he helps bring his best friend ex gang member/drug buddy off drugs, goes to AFRICA and find himself.
He opens his heart to those kids....He sees the HELL they are living through because he has indeed lived his own HELL on EARTH.
As I was reading on the internet....I saw some very disturbing and negative comments...that maybe not definetly that CHRISTIANS should not support SAM and his work....why you ask? Well the bloggers said some things like we should not support missionaries that stock pile weapons.....initially I agree....but then I dont.
I  have been to AFRICA...I have heard the heart wrenching stories of people who have been a part of genocide, had their families killed in front of them, etc..
It is not as though I support war...I dont..its ugly...so devastating...how does a person win people to the LORD with a gun in one hand and a BIBLE in the other.
But also, peace talks might not work and just simply preaching the WORD...does killing for the RIGHT reasons really make sense either???It is just so hard to come to a conclusion in my mind.
GUN FIRE and SAVING LIVES....how do those two things exist in the same world?
THE LRA, forced children to be soliders for them...so like in the movie, a child may be FORCED to kill, not really wanting to, and he himself might die by CHILDERS.....How did Childers figure in his mind that he could justify killing a LRA child solider to save two non LRA children.
Another part of the movie, he picks some of the children to take back and not the others...when he comes back they are all dead...does that make him a bad person....does that make him a murderer? NO. Of course not. He did what he could...could he have done more...could he have waited to get more...or could he have....maybe if he waited longer they would have all died....
And in this movie, I see the struggle that he is facing.....he wants to do more.....he wants to save lives and no one will help him...he sees the devils demons in carnate killing precious children...and he feels required to help....those children saved him in a sence...gave him purpose so he will do anything to help them.....
DOES he turn though, go too far.....there is a scene in the movie where he yells at his own daughter about her wanting a LIMO for her formal dance, and she swears at her....she says an interesting thing "you love those black babies more than me."
AT what cost do you pursue the mission that GOD has given you......how muchsacrifice  is toomuch....we are still responsible for our families and friends too, right. For instance, his best friend overdoses after he tells him that he is NOTHING MORE THAN A STRAY DOG. Didnt he realize that he was not only saving kids in Africa but also saving his best friend and redeeming his family's legacy.
And do we ever give up on GOD when we dont think he is moving at that pace he should be.....do we ever believe truly that GOD IS not watching....GOD HEART breaks constantly...I think it has since ADAM and EVE made the first decision...to go against God and that they could do better WITHOUT him.
I think SAM faced this moment in his life...where he felt....I have to do this myself...I cant take watching such agony anymore....I MUST DO THIS MYSELF...God must have abandoned me and now I am left to figure this out on my own...I started this journey with GOD  butnow he must have moved on to something else....and left me here to do this.....
HOW DO WE CHOOSE THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS, when both requires death or killing.
In the movie a little boy chooses to shot his mother in order to save the lives of his brother and himself. Was this the right decision or the wrong decision? Who can tell me?
We cant lose our hearts even when people,bad people, take our families, our safety.......We have to keep hope in our hearts as well...and not let those we love suffer when we are dealing with things so much bigger than ourselves.....
What does redemption mean? What does it look like?
Who is our family? Who is our neighbor?
What is our plight?
Is it right to fight fire with fire...to save lives, to save a country?
At what point can we justify killing?
I want you to personalize this....would you kill 5 men...ten men if you knew in the truck they were driving was 50 children that were going to be taken to become children soldiers.
Personalize it further, could you leave your family in the states and go and live among a people not your own to save lives?
Could you tell your daughter or son, they wont get everything they want sometimes because the money that might have been intended for those special things are going to other children???
Im astonished and challenged by what I saw in this movie and what I read about Sam Childers...when we enter into something bigger than ourselves......its beyond us....the answers are not black and white...Im not even sure that they are gray....Well I have been inspired sweet Jason. You are right dear love of mine.
I guess in conclusion, but not really because I will be thinking on these things awhile and even more talking to God about these things, but I guess I want people to one day...read my story and be bewildered....not really know what to say in response to the way my life has played out....mystery....I want people to ponder it all...take it in and really think about it....
IF A TERRORIST CAME IN, and abducted your child and I told you I could bring him home, would it matter to you how I brought him home. These were the words of SAM CHILDERS at the end of the movie.....thought provoking.....let me personalize this to myself.....if a terrorist abducted my Christopher and my Alexis, and I knew that terrorist killed, raped, and sold into sex slavery other children the same age as my babies.....what would be my response?????
I am wondering, why is the UNITED STATES not taking an active role in this plight?? Why is there not army or something actively station in northern uganda and south sudan. 
Exhaustive from my ramblings, I will just end this post for now........but I will not stop contemplating this issue and my role and response to it.....LORD GIVE ME EARS TO HEAR A HEART TO BEAR AND WISDOM TO ACT/MOVE.........Krissy