"American Christians need to prepare for persecution" even to the point of acquiring weapons to defend themselves and their families, a law enforcer turned pastor told WND TV, warning that Christians in the US are now increasingly being "targeted" for both political harassment and outright violence.

Carl Gallups, the pastor of Hickory Hammock Baptist Church in Milton, Florida, said the persecutors of Christians are already everywhere in the country.

Gallups has written a new book, "Be Thou Prepared: Equipping the Church for Persecution And Times of Trouble."

He said he wrote the book to prepare Christians "for the dark times ahead."

Gallups mentioned several alarming trends proving that American Christians are indeed the new target of the enemies of Jesus Christ.

"We've got a huge Islamic influx and we've got radical agendas including the radical abortion movement. That movement has just been exposed in videos and they're angry. We've also got the radical homosexual movement and now the Supreme Court ruling legalising gay marriage," he said.

The law enforcer-turned-pastor said attacks on Christians in the US are expected to intensify in the days ahead. For instance, Christian business owners may find their stores targeted for destruction by politically motivated activists, especially homosexual rights protesters, he said.

"They [enemies of Christians] have a practice of targeting," Gallups said. "They're ready to roll and they've already said that Supreme Court ruling is just the foundation of what we want to do. That's not the end of it, it's not like, 'oh, now we can get married, we're happy.' Oh no. That was the platform for them to launch off in order to bring the whole culture down."

Worse, Christians face not only the prospect of political persecution but physical harm and death as well, Gallups said, citing the Oct. 1 shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. In that incident, the shooter selected his target and killed only those who replied "Yes" when he asked each one of them if they were Christian. The gunman, Chris Harper Mercer, was quoted by witnesses as saying, "You are going to see God in just about one second" before pulling the trigger and shooting each one of them in the head.

Gallups said what was even more alarming was the fact that the anti-Christian motive behind the massacre was largely ignored by the liberal media, which shifted the blame on the proliferation of guns in their editorials and commentaries.

Even President Obama himself ignored that the victims of the horrific crime were Christians, not even mentioning the word "Christian" in all his meetings with the media that followed the shooting.

"There's not really a concern by the current administration for the victims. The deepest concern is for the agenda," Gallups said.

And what is the agenda? It is to attack the Second Amendment Rights of law-abiding citizens, Gallups said.

Gallups said political persecution and violent attacks on Christians are part of a larger effort to undermine Christianity in America.

He said with everything that's happening, Christians need to prepare to defend themselves—even if they have to acquire weapons and be ready to use them on their enemies.

Being a lawman before he joined the ministry, Gallups said he always carries a gun with him. "I don't have a problem with it – to me it's like remembering to bring my wallet, because I've been doing it for so long."

Gallups noted that some Christians may not feel comfortable carrying a weapon. Nonetheless, he said he supports Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey when he called for "fellow Christians" to arm themselves in self-defence.

"I think it makes biblical sense, I think it makes common sense, I think it makes logical sense," Gallups said. "The Bible makes it clear – if a person doesn't provide for his own family, he's worse than an unbeliever."