Jesus and the Judicial System

I saw this totally hilarious picture today while scouring CNN and reading about these hearing that are taking place to examine the radicalization of the American Muslim community. It seems that a Representative from New York is holding these hearings and - of course - is receiving death threats and threats of other violence because of his involvement in the process. Do folks ever consider the stupidity of professing to represent a peaceful point of view and then threatening to kill those who disagree? Notice I didn't say they were Muslim, those who have made the threats, just that they're stupid. It could be Mr. White America for all I know. I just think it's funny that they're upset when someone seeks to investigate a known-violent group, and their response to that is to threaten violence! Surely we are a stupid people...

Looking at that man, I assume he's either a Catholic, Anglican, or Episcopalian priest based on his white collar and black coat. Of course, anyone can purchase that sort of clothing, so it could be "Joe Blow the garbage man" for all I know, but the total package is presented to us as a religious representative who is pointing out that Jesus wouldn't persecute Islam or anyone... but is that correct? Would Jesus persecute anyone? Did He already? As Isaiah 1:18 says... "Let us reason together..."

Read Matthew 10:34. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Don't have a Bible with you right now... ok, let me post it here for you:

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."


Hmm. That's not very "nice" is it? That's not at all what Jesus is supposed to sound like. Jesus is flowers and butterflies and uses Pantene Pro-V to keep His hair looking unnaturally shiny as He gives all those peaceful sermons on the top of hills with little bunnies and squirrels and children running around. Right? Isn't that the Jesus that the mainstream media wants to remind us of? I mean, Jesus wouldn't be upset if ABC wanted to run a show called "Good Christian B**ches" - cause He's nice and understanding.

You might not believe that, you might even be able to see my sarcasm, but trust me when I say to you that we are much more like what I've mentioned above that what Jesus proclaimed that He was.

My buddy up there with his sign is asking a good question; Who will Jesus persecute? Hippie Jesus won't persecute anyone because He'll be too busy petting puppies and drawing rainbows in the sky, but the Jesus of the Bible? Well... that's different.

Persecution of anyone is bad - in fact, the meaning of the word contains a reference to treating someone "unfairly." Please understand that I'm not using the word like that. I'm not talking about Jesus picking on the new kid because he doesn't know how to get to the playground or the new person at work who can't close out the register at night.

Jesus will persecute EVIL, and He will do so judiciously.

When things like this happen I'm always amazed at the "expected" Christian response. We always have situation A that has some group doing something that people think is wrong (remember the Koran burning guy?) and then this large, vocal group jumps up and points out that Jesus  wouldn't do that because that's not "nice." It's almost as though they want to see just how far they can push the issue until Christianity just gives up, folds its tents, and walks away forever.

You know, there's a reason that the Bible is called the "Sword of the Spirit." Now, certainly a Christian is called to wear the shoes of peace (boy, that's a strange paraphrase!) - but when Paul mentions putting on the whole armor of God, has it ever struck you that NO ONE puts on armor of ANY kind simply to go shopping? You wear armor so that you can be protected IN BATTLE. The church has forgotten this point for too long... and look at what we have been rewarded with.

"$#*! My Dad Says" - seriously? At this point, why even pretend that you're trying to have some decency? We could have called it "stuff" my dad says, or "things" my dad says - but noooooo... we go for the low hanging fruit. "But Mason," you say, "it was the title of the book!" WHO CARES?! That's the same thing with this Good Christian "blah blahs" that's coming out soon. Oh, they'll change the name to GCB - VICTORY! Now we can watch the show and not feel guilty about the PERSECUTION that the show is portraying.

Khrushchev famously said that America would be conquered without a single shot being fired. He was right. When Rhett told Scarlett that he really didn't give a care, did we stop to think where this would all end? Did we consider that it would go too far? Not in a week, or a year, or even ten years from that moment - but after our grandchildren started having children... what would it look like?

Turn on the TV and see - the revolution is here. We can say what we want, do what we want, and indulge in what we want as long as we sacrifice our gifts on the altar of Tolerance. This is the new world order. This is the end.

And so we ask, who exactly would Jesus persecute? He will persecute evil; whether that be among you, or in you, or all of you. And no matter what sign you wear, no matter what group you join with - He will be justified and right when He comes, because He is God and we are not.

"Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to STAND firm."  Ephesians 6:13