IV – Know – Page 11

The Swiss Guard: Early Church Security Team

While some people assume the concept of a church security/safety team is a modern idea to defend against criminals and terrorists, it actually extends back at least half-a-millennium, to the days of Christopher Columbus, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Middle Ages.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Prayer for Church Security Team Members ]

Under Pope Julius II, the Swiss Guard was founded January 22, 1506 to be the protector of the church and defender of the papacy.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Chart: The Spectrum of Potential Threat Personas in Self-Defense and Church Security ]

Today’s Swiss Guard is equipped with modern small arms and members in plain clothes now accompany the pope on his travels abroad for his protection.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Inspiring Military Mottos ]

Its motto is “Fiercely and Faithfully.”

Global Persecution of Christians Surges in 2024

Violent religious persecution continues to increase around the world, with North Korea topping the annual World Watch List produced by Open Doors, which ranks the top 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme brutality. The intensity of cruelty has significantly increased this year, with approximately 380 million Christians (1 in 7) worldwide now experiencing high levels of persecution for their faith (an increase of 15 million in just one year).

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Prayer for Church Security Team Members ]

[ Read the SemperVerus article of Bible verses from the book of Romans that quickly and simply present the Good News that is life through faith in Jesus Christ ]

Murdered for their faith were 4,476 Christians, Open Doors said in the report covering events in 2024.

Decision-Making Under Stress—19 Factors to Consider

When confronted by a criminal or terrorist deadly force threat, human performance experiences extreme stress, affecting the potential victim’s self-defensive cognitive, physical, and emotional ability.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Chart: The Spectrum of Potential Threat Personas in Self-Defense and Church Security ]

Police veteran, founder of Critical Incident Review, and use-of-force expert Jamie Borden, explains in his book, Anatomy of a Critical Incident: Navigating Controversy, the many critical factors that must be taken into consideration when evaluating police officer behavior in these highly complex encounters.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law ]

Law enforcement officers are the book’s target audience, but the following split-second decision-making elements excerpted from the book also apply to responsibly armed self-defense citizens and church security team volunteers facing life-and-death conditions. Where the word “officer” is located in the book, it is replaced with [defender] in this excerpt:

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of CHURCH SECURITY ]

• Tunnel Vision — The phenomenon where a [defender] becomes narrowly, visually focused on a specific threat, potentially missing other critical elements of the situation.

• Auditory Exclusion — A temporary inability to process or encode certain sounds, often due to high stress, which can lead to missed commands or critical background noises. This is not an individual going deaf; rather just not encoding or filtering the audible stimulus, affecting the ability to recall later. The question becomes: not was the sound audible in the evidence, rather, was the sound perceived or heard by the [defender].

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Concealed Carry Daily Prayer ]

COGNITIVE OVERLOAD:

Why We Shouldn’t Just ‘Do Something’

It’s a common belief that US President Teddy Roosevelt said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” However, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Center, “this statement is often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but no known source can be found to verify the attribution.”

Even so, TR was devoted to action. He didn’t shy away from making a decision and acting upon it. The important detail is that the decision must be based on what is right.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Every Small Decision Leads to Winning or Losing in Spiritual Warfare ]

The fifth element of the five SemperVerus components is DO, which emphasizes the importance of combining the previous four elements in order to engage in accomplishing what is needed in the moment. Neither procrastination nor neglect is an option. The SemperVerus principle reads:

V. Do: resolving to intentionally and skillfully act to accomplish positive and fruitful outcomes.

A recent commentary by John Stonestreet on the Colson Center’s Breakpoint podcast stresses that ambiguity is not the answer when action is called for. Merely choosing to do “something”—especially if it’s misguided—can be inappropriate, nonsensical, and even an obstruction to beneficial outcomes.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Be Like Ernest Shackleton ]

Here are a few excerpts: