The Jesus That Kills

THE JESUS THAT KILLS

I have addressed this subject before in many posts but this one is especially applicable.

Bloodshed in His name.

 

The Roman Emperor Constantine had crosses painted on the shields of his soldiers in order to elicit God's blessings on his battles. Now we discover that the Army had Bible verses etched into the scopes on the rifles. History repeats itself. It is not enough to enjoy the fruits of violence, killing, and mayhem, but we must drag Jesus into it as well. Depravity and sacrilege reign supreme. These are the verses etched upon guns:

Jn.8: ¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

II Cor.4: ⁶ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

An article published on The Blaze, a right wing publication connected to Glenn Beck, suggested that the mandate was an attack of Judeo-Christian values. Here is a quote from that article:

“Questions surrounding purported attacks on faith in the United States military continue to abound. Over the past few years, many critics have decried perceived attempts to remove Judeo-Christian values from the ranks. A new report claiming that the Army has mandated that troops remove Bible inscriptions from their weapon scopes will likely only add to the debate.”

(source here)

Ok, we as believers must consider just how vicious and convoluted the extreme darkness of the culture and the fallen world at large is when Bible verses can be placed upon weapons in the killing fields and then we suggest that is a way to represent Christianity, the gospel, and Jesus Himself. Consider the implications of those verses. The scopes are used to line up your targets, human targets I assume, so light is what is used. So those verses about Jesus being the light openly suggest that our Savior, being the light of the world, will help soldiers be more accurate in their killing.

It is very difficult to fully expose the tremendous paradox in all of this and the profound antithetical nature of such a practice as it pertains to Jesus and His teachings. I mean it actually boggles the mind. I guess I could equate it like drawing a side of bacon on Israeli scopes, or drawing a hamburger on Hindu scopes. It is extremely shocking that this practice actually existed. To use the New Testament to support war and violence, and to use those particular verses is so disgusting, so alarming, and so viscerally distasteful that it should make all who follow Jesus physically sick. It is hard to imagine something more at odds with our faith.

But now that the government has ordered the practice to cease and the verses removed, the religious right, right on cue, rise up in religious umbrage. They suggests an attack on “Judeo-Christian values”. Let us be clear here: There are no “Judeo-Christian values”. That is a man made term designed to present some amalgam of the Old Testament and the New Testament moral tenants and it is used to describe the moral foundation for America. So in essence it is presented in defense of the culture rather than a true and principled outline of God’s ways. It is a myth but comes in handy as a nebulous moniker which elicits patriotism for a country rather than a self denying following of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So not only is it astonishing that Bible verses were used on gun scopes, and not only is it astonishing that those particular verses were used, but now the cultural sect of Christianity which follows the founding fathers more than Jesus are up in arms (pun intended) about it. Just when I thought the faith of Christ could not be any more compromised and redefined than it already has in the west, this is exposed. If Jesus is involved in helping men and women line up their gun sites and blow people away than let us at least be honest and throw away the New Testament. I mean all that love your enemies stuff is a bunch of hogwash and we need not even consider it anymore. In fact, America is now the golden calf and with a few Bible verses painted on it we can bow down and worship openly what we now worship between the lines. And we can place Bible verses on all our bombs and keep accuracy records to determine which ones hit their targets more often and use those verses in the future. It’s insane.

So that is an attack on Christianity? No, when they started placing Bible verses on guns THAT was an attack on the faith. Can there be any deeper compromise and blasphemy than that? War has now become a favorite son of the church and now we print God’s Word upon our weapons. Ok, has anyone ever heard of Constantine? His spirit still lives on today here in America. He was a Roman emperor who before a great battle saw a vision of a cross in the sky and a voice telling him that through this cross he would be successful in war. He painted that cross on all his soldier’s shields. How barbaric?

History repeats itself. We are not just satisfied with going to war preemptively, but now we drag Jesus into it openly and for all to see. Now I ask you, when some Muslim sees those verses on our guns what does he think? Of course he believes that he is fighting against Jesus and that Jesus is his enemy and that Jesus must hate him. And it isn’t just the religious pagans that support this practice. It is also a large section of professing evangelicals. Instead of spreading the light of the gospel they have embraced some wicked amalgam of violence and killing and Jesus. It is an amazing feat that takes the faith of Jesus and transforms it into a vehicle for democracy through war.

Can you just imagine a soldier peering through his scope that says that Jesus is the light of the world, and he gently pulls the trigger and his bullet races toward his target and “Wham!!” the person’s head explodes into bits of flesh and blood all over the ground. The lifeless corpse falls immediately onto the ground. And looking up and realizing what has happened, the soldier rises to his feet and loudly proclaims, “Thank you Lord Jesus!” And gazing lovingly at his rifle he once again reads the two verses etched into the scope:

Jn.8: ¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

II Cor.4: ⁶ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And we wonder why Muslims feel that they are in a war against Jesus and that Jesus hates them. Oh when we will we as believers realize that we have nothing in common with this world and this culture, and yes, this country? When we will see souls in the light of the cross and not as earthly enemies? And make no mistake there is a connection between war and money.

Oh how my heart aches when I see just how mangled men have made the teachings of Jesus and instead formulated a concoction of earthly logic, manmade necessities, and humanistic philosophies of nationalism and divided allegiances. Two nations go to war and within these two nations are followers of Jesus. So are the followers of Jesus in each respective nation supposed to support their nation in this war? Are they both supposed to enlist and fight for their respective nation? And if by chance they meet on the battlefield, and assuming they are both born again believers, which follower does Jesus help to kill the other? Oh the absurdity and absolute horror of such earthly constructs. But this is what happens when we refuse to receive the teachings of Jesus in the abstract and make them applicable to our own earthly parameters. We have learned the ways of man and then taken hold of the teachings of Jesus and force fed them into all kinds of worldly situations and philosophies. And instead of the teachings of Jesus having an impact upon earthly understandings our earthly understandings remain solid while the teachings of Jesus become mercurial and easily poured into the machinations of man. In fact, we now openly suggest that Jesus will help aid us in all our ways regardless of whether they are aligned with His truth.

Bible verses on guns. Why did Jesus come and why did He leave us His Word if in fact His own church was going to change it to fit our own craftiness and carnal motivations? And now people scream about an attack on our Judeo-Christian values? What are values anyway? Values are something that have worth. But what value is there in certain moral tenants and ethics without Jesus? In fact we are called to preach Jesus to those who hold beliefs in direct opposition to the truths and values found in Jesus. Yes, they are called lost souls. But now we consider our rights and our views as values and the church willingly joins hands with unbelievers to protect those values even if it means at the end of a gun or under the power of a bomb. Oh Dear Lord, where oh where did we leave You and go a –whoring after the ways of man?

And in a stunning display of hubris and compromise, many who wholeheartedly support war and Bible verses on weapons have very little Bible in their hearts. Selah.