VIOLENCE!

The primary Christian message in any age should be to respond to those things that are paramount at that particular time. In this era, that thing which is topmost, is violence: family violence, national violence, violence against the unborn, racial violence, and religious violence. The truth is that unregenerate man loves violence, his books, movies, sports, art, and conversations get their life by the commission of violence in one way or the other: destructive, emotional, expressive, or criminal. Violence is natural to the man of the world. To be a free-spirit in this world is to exercise your natural right to hate and violate, and God knows men are doing just that, more than ever in this age of violence.

This article is not really about those who are in this world and obey the law of their human nature, to obey that law is natural to them, and they can’t do otherwise. This article is about those who claim to be followers of Jesus yet live as free spirits of the flesh, those who have wedded themselves to the Lord yet prostitute themselves to another lover. Christian violence is not acceptable in any form. If a so-called Christian aligns himself or identifies with the world in his actions, then he is accepted by the world and is no Christian, regardless of his affiliations with the things of Christ or the ring on his finger. These alignments and identities include sports, television, and politics. The majority of Christians even boast of their pledged allegiance to the symbols of their own nation not understanding the simple words of Christ that we should not swear or pledge at all; nor do they understand that to whom they swear/pledge allegiance they are a slave to that master.

In the age of violence, the distinctive mark of the Christian should be the renunciation of violence and the exhibition of the nature of Christ through the offer of peace and a new life in the Spirit, the Spirit of Peace and Love. Even though this should be the distinctive attribute of the Christian it is at this exact point that the Church has miscarried. Having shifted their allegiance from the Christ of Peace to the world of patriotism, war, vengeance, and violence, they identify with the attributes of the god of this world and agree with Scripture that they are Christians in word only and not in deed. They have a form of godliness but lack the fruits. Christians have baptized violence on the altar of Christ and now call violence good and non-violence evil, again fulfilling the words of Jesus that in the end times good would become evil and evil good.