Pat Robertson: 'Blessed are the fully armed' in church, 'theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven'

TV preacher Pat Robertson on Tuesday argued that more guns in churches was a "good idea" to protect Christians because "blessed are the fully armed."

"It's Sunday morning and they sing hymns and they praise the Lord and you listen to a sermon, good or bad, and you shake hands with your neighbors, and it seems like the one place in America you'd think you'd be safe: a church," Robertson explained to 700 Club viewers. "But sadly, that isn't always true."

"Violent attacks and even deaths on church property occur far more often than people realize," he continued. "The good news: you can protect yourself. What are you going to do? You going to give church members AK-47s at the door to let them blow away those intruders?"

After showing a report about how some churches were forming armed "eyes and ears teams" to watch for trouble during services, Robertson suggested an approach slightly more measured than giving the congregation military-style assault rifles.

"What is the new Beatitude? Blessed are the fully armed for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," the CBN host laughed. "I really believe that if the bad guys understand that the citizenry are able to react against them then they won't be as free to go into a crowded mall or a school or a church and start blowing people out."

"I do believe that that if people are trained with firearms, and they're able to protect themselves, I don't think it will lead to more violence, it will lead to less," he continued. "The idea of having citizens who are trained or to have off-duty police in your church is not a bad thing."

"Anyhow, it's something to consider," Robertson concluded. "You don't even think about it. You want to go to church to praise the Lord. You don't want to go to church to shoot people or to get shot."

Watch the video below from CBN's The 700 Club, broadcast Sept. 9, 2014.