Defense
The masses had degenerated with more than a century of the covetous practices of legal charity with the free bread of Rome and the Corban of the Pharisees.
To restore the social bonds of a viable republic the people needed to think differently.
The kingdom of God is in the moment and our guide is the Holy Spirit. We draw near that HOLY spirit through sacrifice of "self". So when we say we have a right to self defense we do not mean the egotistical "self" but only the self that serves others in righteousness.
The more you are filled with the Holy Spirit the less you will have to draw your sword.
A sword on the side of the righteous keeps the swords of the unrighteous in their sheath.
Freedom of speech is also a part of that right of self defense that is both the Law of Nature and Divine will.
Self Defense
DO CHRISTIANS HAVE A RIGHT TO SELF DEFENSE?
- Part 1, 11-7-09
Do Christians Have a Right to Self Defense - Part 2, 11-22-09
Do Christians Have a Right to Self Defense - Part 3, 12-5-09
Do Christians Have a Right to Self Defense - Part 4, 1-2-10
Do Christians Have a Right to Self Defense
There are two spirits working or warring in America today, even in the whole world. One is of the light and liberty and righteousness of the Kingdom of God the other is of darkness coveting and seeking the tyranny of Hell to bite and devour one another.
If God did not want people to use carnal weapons you would see that prohibition clearly stated over and over again as a precept in scripture. There is simply no evidence of such a prohibition. Not only did Jesus say to his disciples to obtain a carnal weapon and carry it along with their purse but when Peter used it to protect Jesus he was not told to get rid of it but "Put up thy sword into the sheath" because Jesus knew that the cup which His Father hath given Him he was willing to drink.
But the blood of the innocent or the weak who may die at the carnage of the mad mass murderers of the world is on the hands of the slothful man or coward who so often out of a false sense of self-righteousness refuse to arm themselves wisely as Christ told His disciples.[1].
If men will not wisely stand and defend others with the means that are within their reach are they good men? The man who refuses through his sloth, neglect or cowardness to arm himself to protect the innocent is as guilty of murderer and violence as the evil and wicked.
There is no greater power than the Holy Spirit but we have no right to tempt God by misplaced or arrogant claims to faith. Carnal weapons are only a tool for good or evil but to refuse to touch the tool because of a self-righteousness interpretation of scripture is refusing to accept a responsibility and the right granted by God and directed by Jesus.
While some will try to argue against an armed Christian asking where did Ignatius, Polycarp, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Justin the Martyr, Tertullian, Irenaeus, or even Origen advocate violence? But why would anyone suggest that using a tool to stop violence is violence? The truth is to fail to restrain a wild beast or a bull that pushes by any means within your power is violence by neglect and you can be held accountable as if you were the beast yourself.
A Christian is nonviolent. You seem to think that having a gun is violent. It is not any more violent than having a hammer which kills a lot of people. A gun is a tool like your hand. Even using it to stop a beast or crazed man is not violence.
It is strengthening the beast by not having the adequate tools at your disposal to stop evil when you could have... that is violence by neglect. That is why he said be armed to his disciples. It is common sense.
- "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." - Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century Cesare Beccaria), criminologist, jurist, philosopher, and politician, who is widely considered as the most talented jurist and one of the greatest thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. 1774-1776.
To say you love your neighbor and refuse to be prepared to come to his defense from a crazed beast or the demonically possessed by whatever means at your disposal is the definition of "dishonest hypocrisy" and by its nature apathetic violence.
It is fundamental to do what we can to protect our neighbor from unwarranted harm.
I have faced mobs and murders without a gun but I would never take away the right of people to use a little leverage. And neither did Christ. As far as Christ's doctrines are concerned if he didn't say it it isn't his doctrines but he did tell his disciples "he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one". To use an imagined doctrine to justify personal apathy is "mental gymnastics."
We are supposed to believe in Jesus not Ignatius, Polycarp, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Justin the Martyr, Tertullian, Irenaeus, or even Origen, who did not contradict Jesus' statement to his disciples to be armed. How could those disciples as servants turn around and suggest a doctrine that Jesus never instituted that would disarm the people in free assemblies. And while certainly, those men did not recommend salvation through insurrection against even the semi-legitimate governments of the world but neither did they say nor command the people disarm and let every thug, murder, robber, and rapist or rampaging beast violate your community.
Thugs and Beasts
Someone who read these News With Views articles conjectured that I actually never answered the very question I raised.
He attempted to summarize the articles with maybe a hint of sarcasm:
- "Christians have the right to defend themselves, their family and their neighbor using whatever force is necessary against thugs bent on doing them ill. That is unless the thug represents the government, in which case they should take their copy of Black's Law Dictionary to the nearest law library, study the countless laws they've subjected themselves to determine what is permissible in the situation they encountered. Of course such an endeavor should only be undertaken with the guidance and discernment provided by the Holy Spirit as few mortals would actually be able to fully comprehend what they're reading without divine guidance. After completing such a course of study one would know what the morally correct thing they should have done all those decades ago."
Well I thought I would make a feeble attempt at a summary avoiding the step by step in depth look that may have encouraged the teachers at the police academy to approach me for the use of these articles. Maybe this will allow me to answer the question as to who is the real thug. Who resulted to force first? After all according to Mark Passio it is the one who through the first blow that is critical in deciding who is really the thug.
Summary
The question is answered in the first article which clearly states you not only have a right but a responsibility and, even an obligation to defend yourself and others.
The rest of the articles show you why you are loosing your right to obtain the means to meet this natural obligation because you will not gather together as one body bound in Faith, Hope and Charity by way of Freewill offerings of the people, for the people and by the people through the Perfect law of liberty in Free Assemblies. Instead you bind yourselves together by contracts with Benefactors who exercise authority one over the other including over your neighbor. This desire for benefits at the expense of your neighbor alters society makes you merchandise, curses children and it is all because your application to eat at the table of rulers is a snare and a trap.
People fail to defend themselves and their neighbor from destitution through accidents, by unforeseen poverty and disease etc. Because people pray to government for social security, Medicare and Medicaid and other social and health benefits and care. Their provisions are of the Nimrods of the World who are taking on your responsibilities and are licensed by you to take from you and of course all your neighbors and thereby obtain a right to regulate your life.
You want to take from the rich because he is rich and it is your own possessions and rights which are forfeited. Your desire for One purse has captured you in a net of your own making. When you cry out because of your oppression you will not be heard by God.
Like the father who says if you live under my roof and eat at my table you go by my rules.
This is undoubtedly why Jesus said Call no man Father
- What was Christ trying to tell us about fathers on the earth?
- http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/fatherabba.php
This is why article 4 states clearly, "While the State of Montana has recently made an attempt to protect individual rights by enacting state provisions, few understand that individual rights require individual responsibility. Gun rights advocates wait to see what the Federal reaction will be. The difficulty the Federal government faces will remain, as always, how will they maintain the delusion that US citizens still enjoy natural God given rights as free people, while continuing to regulate such rights as the privilege they have become?"
The liberal label is for those people who believe in the right to choose except your right to choose to not pay for their abortion, or free education or healthcare. They actually do not believe in the right to choose at all and the gun advocate has already decided that it is okay to force their neighbor to pay for government services (Health, Education and Welfare) at the point of the government's gun. They have chosen, given consent, to take away the right of their neighbor to choose and have lost their own right to choose.
Americans have already proved themselves violent thugs and predators and unworthy of firearms when they through Covetous Practices apply for benefits from men who call themselves Benefactors but who exercise authority. So I continued to write "Americans have failed to retain those rights by failing to recognize the consequences of applications for and acceptance of benefits, along with pervasive participation in social schemes dependent upon mutual surety and debt as seen in Pharaoh's Egypt, Nimrod's Babylon, Caesar's Rome, or Herod's Judea."
And then finish with "If you will not take back the responsibility to govern yourselves, to care and protect one another, to live by faith with hope through charity under the Perfect law of liberty which is love, and the duty of every Christian and God loving man, then you are probably too irresponsible to own a gun without being regulated by one government or another."
Americans have become comfortable with the idea of taking a bite out of one another. They have become little benefit beasties. Bound together by contract they all have the Mark of the Beast and have created a Beast by their Covetous Practices that goes about devouring who it wills.
- This series of articles which appeared at News With Views after I read a Chuck Baldwin article on the same subject has been used for some time in a private run police academy in Florida as a part of their training courses. I was amazed when they approached me for permission to incorporate it in their curriculum.
Assault vs Assault
The definition of assault varies by jurisdiction, but generally falls into one of these categories. Cornell Law School:
- 1. Intentionally putting another person in reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. Intent to cause physical injury is not required, and physical injury does not need to result. So defined in tort law and the criminal statutes of some states.
- 2. With the intent to cause physical injury, making another person reasonably apprehend an imminent harmful or offensive contact. Essentially, an attempted battery. So defined in the criminal statutes of some states.
- 3. With the intent to cause physical injury, actually causing such injury to another person. Essentially, the same as a battery. So defined in the criminal statutes of some states, and so understood in popular usage.
Apprehension v. Fear
- In this context, "apprehension" does not mean "fear." Rather, to experience apprehension, the victim must believe that the tortfeasor's conduct will result in imminent harmful or offensive contact unless it is somehow otherwise prevented. It isn't necessary that the victim believes the conduct will be effective in making such contact, only that he believes the conduct is capable of making such contact.
Definition of assault Merriam Webster
- 1 a : a violent physical or verbal attack
- b : a military attack usually involving direct combat with enemy forces an assault on the enemy's air base
- c : a concerted effort (as to reach a goal or defeat an adversary) an assault on drug trafficking
- 2 law
- a : a threat or attempt to inflict offensive physical contact or bodily harm on a person (as by lifting a fist in a threatening manner) that puts the person in immediate danger of or in apprehension (see apprehension 1) of such harm or contact — compare battery
An "assault weapons" is a politically inflammatory term used to demonize semi-automatic guns. An “AR-15” rifle stands for ArmaLite rifle, after the company that developed it in the 1950s. ... AR-15-style rifles are NOT “assault weapons” nor “assault rifles.” An assault rifle is fully automatic — a machine gun. Automatic firearms have been severely restricted from civilian ownership since 1934.
AR-15s accounted for 14.4 percent of all rifles manufactured in 2007. If that proportion held true in 2016, then more than 610,000 AR-15s were produced and distributed in the U.S. that year alone. If there are around 310 million firearms in the USA today, that means these auto-loading clip fed rifles make up at least 3,000,000 guns while some estimates go to 10,000,000 or more.
Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year US rates 12th
Firearm-related homicides rate per 100,000 population per year US rates 17th
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate
Most shootings in America are gang related or are in Gun free zones. Gun free zones kill people. Most people who use guns like automobiles are done safely by good people. There is no logic in taking cars away from sober people because some people drive drunk.
Teachers that wish to arm themselves and can pass basic safety tests and gun courses should be allowed to bring their gun to work from the janitor to the principal with school approval if they are employed.
The possibility of even a few regular employees being armed and not just a guy with a uniform will begin to reduce deaths and probably shootings. We saw in Israel as an absolute success.
If 10% of the teachers and school employees desired to conceal carry that would be almost a half a million people in the schools capable of stopping a shooter or stabber.
That is not the only thing you can do but that is one of the quickest and cheapest ways to make a difference. Just the possibility of armed resistance will stop even insane attempts to do harm. We know that mass shooters have chosen their targets because they were not likely to have anyone there to stop them.
Then there is also the fact that almost everyone who does commit mass murders of the kind we have seen at schools and in other gun free zones have been taking mind-altering drugs.
Millions of people own guns and hurt no one. In fact men like Stephen Willeford have confronted shooters with his own personal AR15.
Other hero's names disappear while the modern news media publishes the name of the murders over and over again. People who at the risk of their own lives and with the use of their own firearm confront and stop the carnage go unpraised because the truth that arms in the hands of good people is the greatest deterrent of crime does not fit the media agenda.
People like Assistant Principal Joel Myrick, James Strand, Tracy Bridges, Mikael Gross, Jeanne Assam, Donald J. Moore, Carolyn Gudger, Aaron Guyton, Nick Meli, Jonathan Baer, Clint Lund, Dr. Lee Silverman, Kenneth Hammond, Lisa Castellano and many other unnamed heroes who with their own firearms saved lives.
Sheriff Robinson stated “The rampage might have resulted in many more casualties had it not been for the quick response of a deputy sheriff who was working as a school resource officer at the school.” That deputy sheriff who was working as a school resource officer at the school who with an unarmed school security officer and two administrators ran from the cafeteria to the library. The deputy was yelling for people to get down and identified himself as a county deputy sheriff,” Robinson said. "We know for a fact that the shooter knew that the deputy was in the immediate area and, while the deputy was containing the shooter, the shooter took his own life."
If a man is about to kill a thousand people with a bomb and the only way to stop him is shoot him which might kill him what do you do?
If you do nothing you are complicit in the death of a thousand people. What if only one man will die unjustly if you do not stop the murderer?
Because Stephen Willeford needs to be able to confront a shooter to protect children and others the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed.
Two swords
There are many false exegeses used by modern Christians to rationalize personal doctrines to fit more comfortably into the modern Churchianity eschatology instead conformity to Kingdom eschatology. Jesus preached the kingdom and appointed it to His called out.
Kingdom Eschatology is the study of the nature of the Kingdom of God.
The kingdom is not for the dead but for the living.[2]
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The kingdom of God was a real government, that was at hand but was supposed to be separate from the world.
Jesus declared that he was going to take the kingdom[3] from those who sat in the seat of Moses[4] who were making the word of God to none effect and appoint it in real time to the little flock he had called out.
Because people often focus on what they think about God, imagining that is the definition of religion, they fail to attend to the weightier matters, another practice for which Christ condemned the Pharisees.[5]
Many even fail to practice Pure Religion unspotted by the world neglecting to seek the kingdom of God, his form of government, and the simplicity of the righteousness of God which often leads to works of iniquity.
The myriad of false prophets and false teachers[6] of the world who do not know what the kingdom is like[7] only contribute to the problem.
The modern Christian is given a historically filtered view of the early Church and how the community of Christians worked together to survive in a hostile world. The problems they would face in a none violent revolution that would change the world would call for extensive and even the ultimate sacrifice by many. This lack of knowledge concerning the details of the practical day to day ministration of a Christian community keeps the modern church from fully grasping how Christ had turned the world upside down.[8]
Christians were consistently and willingly excluded from the free bread offered by the welfare state of Rome. Early Christians were even persecuted for their separate system of Private welfare supported by the charitable Corban of Christ through the love of the people and the services of His Church.
Buy a sword
This lack of knowledge has led to many pseudo-doctrines that are not the doctrines of Jesus and sometimes promotes a false Christianity that does not comply with the Doctrines of Jesus. Jesus' directive to His apostles and disciples to buy a sword is no exception.
Was he talking to all the apostles and even others like the appointed 70 or the 120 we find in one accord in the upper room? Or did he just want them to have a couple of swords to fulfill a prophecy from the Old Testament as suggested by some?
Let us examine the text in context:
- "And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing." Luke 22:35
Is Jesus speaking of metaphorically buying swords?
Or is he speaking of a real event?
- Matthew 10:9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
Matthew 10:10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
- Mark 6:8 And commanded them that they [twelve] should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
- Luke 9:3 And he said unto them [twelve disciples], Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
- Luke 10:4 [Seventy] Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
Jesus originally did not send the disciples nor the appointed 70 out as lone individuals but in pairs[9], what the Jews called Tanna and with the Holy Spirit. There were numerous conditions to follow meant to test the seventy disciples he chose to put their hand to the plough.[10] Jesus was getting lot of excuses from people who liked what he was saying but were putting off doing the work.
Blood and upheaval
Before Jesus began his ministry there had been a great upheaval in the government of Judea. No one sat on the throne in Jerusalem after the collaboration with Rome and the Roman form of government during the dictatorial rule of Herod the Great.
Menahem the Essene and many others walked out from the Sanhedrin. According to the Chagigah documents the Sanhedrin was illegitimatized when a majority "stalked out" to follow " the King's service, and there went forth [out] with him eighty pairs of disciples" with a royal covering.[11]
What Menahem appears to have done was follow after The Way of John the Baptist and Jesus who was the highest son of David, the Messiah, the Christ, the king of the government of God which he took from the Pharisees and the apostate Jews[12] and appointed it to the Jews who eventually were called Christians.
Institutions of men change over time. There is a vast difference between the early Church and the Modern Church. There is also a difference between the institutions of Moses[13] and those professed and established by the Pharisees or Sadducees.
Transgressors
Was Jesus' call to buy a sword just props to appear to fulfill of prophecy?
- Luke 22:36 "Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end."
‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS
Some will try and tell people that Jesus wanted them to get a few swords only to fulfill this messianic prophecy. They even say the word “transgressors” could be bandits, thieves, criminals, etc. It is true that the Greek word in the text is anomos [14] which in the Greek can mean "a violator of the law, lawless, wicked". But if this is the fulfillment of the prophecy From Isaiah 53[15] then the definition of the word needs to comply with the meaning of the Hebrew word for transgressors.[16]. The Hebrew word is pasha‘ which means "to rebel, transgress, revolt."
Pompey
Judea was occupied by the Roman troops in 6 BC even though 60 years before Pompey had been invited into Judea to settle the question of who was the rightful King of the Jews.
Back in 66 B.C. Pompey the head of a Roman army had been invited to Judea to help settle a civil war between two brothers. Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II were fighting over the Kingdom of God. One brother got the idea to invite Pompey and his legions for aid to settle this dispute.
Aristobulus had made the request to Rome seeking to use its might as a world police force. Pompey eventually sided with Hyrcanus and Pontius Pilate who eventually answered for Rome sided with Christ, Nailing it to His cross.[17]
Sicarii
The presence of Rome had led to a variety of revolutionary Messianic movements, and a desire for the Messiah. Some thought the Messiah was to be a great war leader not a propagator of peace. One political group, the Sicarii[18], emerged with a focus on the militant Zealot solution. These resistance movements targeted Romans and any collaborator. Their victims included Roman soldiers, tax collectors, Jewish women who fraternized with Romans or merchants who traded with them. Josephus writes that such a group attacked the Essene village of Jedi murdering hundreds of civilians.
Gordian knot
Alexander the Great divided the Gordian knot by pulling out his sword and cutting the rope in two pieces. This method left the rope useless and divided. Judea and the whole world was in bondage. Liberty was bound in a legal Gordian knot of Rome which dominated all forms of government with force and covetous practices.
Jesus said he was going to bring a sword. This was a metaphor but a sword did come which divided the people, the goats and the sheep.
Jesus was counted by some as a revolutionary attempting to overthrow the legitimate government of Judea. He did come to take[3] the seat of government away from those sitting in the seat of Moses[4] as the legitimate king the kingdom of God. But the kingdom of God is not like the governments of the world that use force to exercise authority one over the other. There is no central bank[19] or professional standing army[20], no legislature making more and more laws.
In the Kingdom of God every elder of every family is king in his own home.[21] For the kingdom to function every elder must attend to the weightier matters as listed by Christ
Roman Emperors feared the “union and discipline of the Christian community that was networking in the heart of the Roman Empire.”[22]
The early Christians were recognized by Rome through the proclamation nailed to the cross by Pontius Pilate. When Jesus rose from the dead to stand again upon the earth, so did His Kingdom which he appointed to his apostolic disciples.
No command to disarm
Did Jesus prohibit the use of arms in self-defense as claimed by some?
In translations of Tertullian's Apology we may read, “When Christ disarmed Peter, He disarmed every soldier.”
Is Tertullian correct about this?
What did he actually say?
Read it again.
Tertullian is talking about disarming soldiers using a term for professional soldiers. In governments where men rule one over another those who are called soldiers serve the ruler.
The five prohibitions for Kings of Israel including not having a professional army.
Remember, in the kingdom of God there are no kings, soldiers, legislators, ruling judges, tax collectors, etc. because every man is king and priest in his own house. He is the legislator of his own heart and tax collector in his own family through freewill offerings in free assemblies. Samuel, the prophet, made it clear that any king who forced an offering of the people to support a professional army had "done foolishly" because in the kingdom of God every man was part of the militia commanded to attend to the weightier matters.
Jesus never told the people to get rid of their natural right and means by which to defend themselves and others. His command to Peter was to put it back in His sheath, not throw it away nor disarm yourself.
He did not rebuke the Roman Centurian nor did John the Baptist tell soldiers to lay down their weapons nor leave the army.[23].
Doing violence is "to extort" unjustly "by intimidation". Doing violence is not the same as using the power of your arm or other tools to stop or restrain people from doing harm to others is simply attending to the weightier matters.
Being armed or holding at bay with a gun or sword a murderer bent on killing innocent people does not qualify as violence. Stopping someone with the use of physical force about to kill others is not violence either. Not doing something which you could do to stop murder makes you complicit in the murder and may qualify as violence by neglect.
Clearly, the Bible never forbids a Christian from owning a weapon. We are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:10) and certainly, the presence of a weapon in the hands or even just at the side of a good man can and has brought peace where violence was occurring or about to occur.
When we see the account in Luke 22:38 "And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords." it is clear that the apostles did not run out and get two swords. Either one or two apostles already had swords. Jesus undoubtedly knew that but was now instructing those who did not have a sword should get one even if they had to sell their cloke to do so.
And when he said unto them, "It is enough" surely Jesus didn’t intend for two swords to defend 12 men. Remember the swords they were to get were not for that night just as the purses they were going to need were not for then but later.
Jesus made it clear that when he sent them out in groups of two before they didn't lack anything But now, take some money belts, bags, and go even get a sword too. Yes, the prophecy about him would be fulfilled but the instructions were for later.
The statement “It is enough” in Luke 22:37-39 was clearly talking about that moment in the conversation and might not have been talking about the swords at all. He may have been talking about the fact that he was finished with his list of instructions about the appointment of the kingdom of God to His little flock there at that time because he immediately left.
Sound bite arguments
One individual clinging to the idea that a weapon is evil and that its use is always violent asks several questions about when Jesus says:
"don't resist an evil person"
But that is not exactly what he said:
- Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
What does he mean "Resist not evil"?
"do not repay evil for evil"
- Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
- 1 Peter 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
Stopping someone from murdering or raping or even just robbing them is not evil. You are doing them and the victim a favor, a kindness.
"turn the other cheek"
Murdering or raping or even just robbing someone is not slapping their cheek.
- Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
- Luke 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
"blessed are the peacemakers"
What is a peacemaker?
"Do violence to no one"
- Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence[24], and the violent take it by force.
- Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence[25] to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
What is violence?
"Violence is an extreme form of aggression, such as assault, rape or murder."
"Pacifist a person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable."
"love your enemies"
Matthew 5:43 ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
"bless those who persecute you"
- Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
- Romans 12:14 Bless them which persecute[26] you: bless, and curse not.
"my kingdom is not of this world, if it were, my servants would fight for me"
Or when Paul says in 1 Corinthians:
"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds." Or in Ephesians:
"for our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities"
Or in Romans:
"do not take vengeance for vengeance belongs to the Lord"
Stopping someone from murdering or raping or even just robbing them is not vengeance.
Pacifist
A "Pacifist"[27] is said to be "a person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable."
But if you are unwilling to defend others then you should not expect anyone to defend you. That would mean that if a pacifist will not come to the forcible defense of others he should not call the police for his or her own protection.
There is another hypocrisy more common among those who call themselves pacifists. A true pacifist would never use force to take things away from other people or want anyone to take things from others for his or her personal benefit. But many who claim to be pacifists look to men who call themselves benefactors but exercise authority using force to take from others to provide their social security, free education, and welfare.
In Christianity Jesus said we are to love our enemies and even asked for forgiveness on the cross for those who abused Him "for they know not what they do". But how far does this go toward modern versions of pacifism?
Jesus also said in Luke 22:36, "Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
Having a sword did not mean you would wage war, perform acts of militarism, or condone violence against others.
Pacifists with swords
Philo suggests that the Essenes were a pacifist group while others carried swords and even trained but were counted as being willing to take a personal blow without retaliation. He also describes the group in a way that suggests Pythagoreanism because of their rejection of taking oaths, and the keeping of slaves.
Philo claims that the Essenes abstained from animal sacrifices altogether.
At the time of John the Baptist, who many consider to be an Essene, there were welfare systems that depended upon taxation to finance them.
Jesus forbade the ministers to whom he appointed a kingdom[28] to exercise authority like the Benefactors of other governments but they were to supply benefits through charity, rather than force.
There was lots of welfare around in the Roman Empire but most of it depended upon membership in temple systems and the taxes that supported them. Israel had depended upon freewill offerings until the voice of the people rejected God and chose a king. 1 Samuel 8.
The voice of people have chosen kings like Saul and Nimrod and the Caesars of the world. Herod had started a system of Corban or welfare dependent upon forced offerings.
Many of these Modern Christians also talk about "The Kingdom Gospel that concerns the nation of Israel and the fact that the nations of the earth can be blessed by blessing Israel was not a mystery but in prophecy." But they deny the power of Christ and what he was really doing and look no farther than their private interpretation of the gospel that is void of the works of the early Church and its Daily ministration.
Yes, Moses and Gideon and Samson were leaders in a nation called Israel which was "the place where God prevailed". But they led their nation and the people according to the perfect law of liberty. There was no king and men were to learn to rule themselves according to the leading of God in their hearts while loving one another.[29]
Saul became king when the people sinned and rejected God. And he was told he would lose that kingdom because he forced an offering which was a "foolish" thing.[30]
All Saul had done was command the people to give him an offering to support his troops.[31] We see Samuel's reaction in 1 Samuel 13:11 asking him "What hast thou done?" with Saul making excuses that he feared the Philistines who gathered to make war.[32]
So what did Saul do?
He forced an offering to supply his army.[33] Israel operated according to the perfect law of liberty up till that point but God had warned them this would happen.
The people were told that the government they wanted Samuel to create was a rejection of God[34] He told them that the ruler would end up taking and taking and taking and their sons would run before their chariots and war machinery of the king.[35]
And God would not hear their prayers because they wanted a ruler who could exercise authority one over the other.[36]
The rulers in the world today are like Saul because the people, including Modern Christians, have rejected God and His ways and even the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
So who should rule over you?
Who ruled over the Christians?
Who was their king?
- Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, [one] Jesus.
Who said he was the rightful heir of the throne of David.
- Matthew 21:9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
What did the Romans say about Jesus?
- Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
How does His kingdom operate?
By the perfect law of liberty.
You need to read the book The Higher Liberty.
These false, do-nothing Christians who do not know the Gospel, God nor Christ use verses like Acts 3:19-21 that talks about those who "Repent" but they have not repented themselves. They are living like the Pharisees because their false preachers are not telling them the whole truth. Therefore they are not converted, nor are their sins "blotted out" because like Cain they have gone out of the presence of God.
These false ministers are not "his holy prophets".[37] Therefore there is no "Dispensation of the Grace of God" for them because they are not "true believers".
- Part 2: Golden Calf ~5 min
- Part 3: Mammon ~4 min
- Part 4: Baptism ~5 min
- Part 5: One Purse ~4 min
These false believers, who still pray to men who call themselves benefactors, are not forgiven because neither do they forgive their neighbors' debt. They are not doing what the Ephesian Christians were doing but what those who opposed Christ were doing. They are not covered in His Blood nor His grace.[38]
They also quote Colossians 2:13-14 "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, HAVING FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"
He has not forgiven them because they will not forgive others the debt that provides their benefits from those benefactors who exercise authority.
They like to excuse their continued policy of sins with statements like, "The fact is that we are all sinners and none of us measure up to God's Holy and perfect standards. Only by believing the Gospel can we be saved and have Christ's righteousness imputed to us."
But they do not know the Gospel, nor Christ, nor God, and remain workers of iniquity rather than seekers of the Kingdom of God and his righteousness not doers of the word.
Murderous Pacifist
Some pacifists say they would never use force of any kind. But that pacifism may negate the responsibility to attend to what Christ called the weightier matters.
If a thousand people are about to be killed and the only way to save them would be shoot the fellow who has his finger on the bomb, would you do it?
If you don't, many innocent people will die and you could be charged with criminal negligence because you could have saved them but did not.
If you saw your neighbor being attacked by murders would you call the police?
You are calling them not just for their badge, but because they will bring a gun.
If you need help:
- Or want to help others:
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Footnotes
- ↑ Luke 22:36 "Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
- ↑ Luke 20:38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.
- Luke 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Matthew 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
- ↑ Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
- ↑ 2 Peter 2:1 "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."
- ↑ : Matthew 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
- Matthew 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
- Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
- Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
- Matthew 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
- Matthew 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
- Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
- Matthew 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
- Mark 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
- Luke 13:18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
- Galatians 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
- ↑ Acts 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
- ↑ Luke 10:1 ¶ After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
- The Zugot were pairs, also called Zugoth refers both to the two-hundred-year period (c. 170 BCE – 30 CE) during the time of the Second Temple in which the spiritual leadership of the Jews was in the hands of successions of "pairs" of religious teachers. Tanna were repeaters or teachers while the Amoraim were "interpreters".
- ↑ Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
- ↑ "17 MENAHEM WENT FORTH AND SHAMMAI ENTERED etc. Whither did he go forth? Abaye said: He went forth into evil courses.18 Raba said: He went forth to the King's service. Thus it is also taught: Menahem went forth to the King's service, and there went forth with him eighty pairs of disciples dressed in silk." Baraita, The Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah or Chagigah, 16b. "MISHNAH. JOSE B. JO'EZER39 SAYS THAT [ON A FESTIVAL-DAY] THE LAYING ON OF HANDS [ON THE HEAD OF A SACRIFICE]40 MAY NOT BE PERFORMED;41 JOSEPH B. JOHANAN SAYS THAT IT MAY BE PERFORMED.42 JOSHUA B. PERAHIA SAYS THAT IT MAY NOT RE PERFORMED; NITTAI THE ARBELITE43 SAYS THAT IT MAY BE PERFORMED. JUDAH B. TARBAI SAYS THAT IT MAY NOT BE PERFORMED; SIMEON A. SHETAH SAYS THAT IT MAY BE PERFORMED. SHEMAIAH SAYS THAT IT MAY BE PERFORMED; ABTALION SAYS THAT IT MAY NOT BE PERFORMED.44 HILLEL AND MENAHEM DID NOT DIFFER. MENAHEM WENT FORTH,45 SHAMMAI ENTERED.46 SHAMMAI SAYS THAT IT MAY NOT BE PERFORMED; HILLEL SAYS THAT IT MAY BE PERFORMED." Talmud - Mas. Chagigah 16a.
- ↑ Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
- Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
- ↑ Numbers 11:24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. 25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
- ↑ 459 ~ἄνομος~ anomos \@an’-om-os\@ from 1 (as a negative particle) and 3551; adj AV-without law 4, transgressor 2, wicked 2, lawless 1, unlawful 1; 10
- 1) destitute of (the Mosaic) law
- 1a) of the Gentiles
- 2) departing from the law, a violator of the law, lawless, wicked
- 1) destitute of (the Mosaic) law
- ↑ Isaiah 53:12 "Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- ↑ 06586 ^עשׁפ^ pasha‘ \@paw-shah’\@ a primitive root [identical with 06585 through the idea of expansion]; v; AV-transgress 17, transgressor 9, rebelled 6, revolt 6, offended 1, transgression 1, trespassed 1; 41
- 1) to rebel, transgress, revolt
- 1a) (Qal)
- 1a1) to rebel, revolt
- 1a2) to transgress
- 1b) (Niphal) to be rebelled against
- 1a) (Qal)
- 1) to rebel, transgress, revolt
- ↑ Matthew 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
- Matthew 27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
- Matthew 27:29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
- Matthew 27:37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- Mark 15:2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
- Mark 15:9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
- Mark 15:12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
- Mark 15:18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
- Mark 15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- Luke 23:3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.
- Luke 23:37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
- Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- John 18:33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
- John 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
- John 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- John 19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
- ↑ Sicarii translates as 'knife-men' and were so named because they carried daggers hidden in their cloaks
- ↑ Golden calf
- ↑ : John 19:3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
- ↑ Leviticus 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
- ↑ Comment on Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Rousseau and Revolution, Will et Ariel Durant p.801. fn 83 Heiseler, 85.
- ↑ Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse [any] falsely; and be content with your wages.
- ↑ 971 ~βιάζω~ biazo \@bee-ad’-zo\@ from 970; TDNT-1:609,105; {See TDNT 137} v AV-suffer violence 1, press 1; 2
- 1) to use force, to apply force
- 2) to force, inflict violence on
- ↑ 1286 ~διασείω~ diaseio \@dee-as-i’-o\@ from 1223 and 4579 shake or quake or move; ; v AV-do violence to 1; 1
- 1) to shake thoroughly
- 2) to make to tremble
- 3) to terrify
- 4) to agitate
- 5) to extort from one by intimidation money or other property
- ↑ 1377 ~διώκω~ dioko \@dee-o’-ko\@ a prolonged (and causative) form of a primary verb dio (to flee; cf the base of 1169 and 1249); TDNT-2:229,177; {See TDNT 195} v AV-persecute 28, follow after 6, follow 4, suffer persecution 3, misc 3; 44
- 1) to make to run or flee, put to flight, drive away
- 2) to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after
- 2a) to press on: figuratively of one who in a race runs swiftly to reach the goal
- 2b) to pursue (in a hostile manner)
- 3) in any way whatever to harass, trouble, molest one
- 3a) to persecute
- 3b) to be mistreated, suffer persecution on account of something
- 4) without the idea of hostility, to run after, follow after: someone
- 5) metaph., to pursue
- 5a) to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavour to acquire
- ↑ Pacifism is opposition to war, militarism, or violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901.
- ↑ Luke 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
- ↑ Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.
- ↑ 1 Samuel 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue:...
- ↑ 1 Samuel 13:9 And Saul said (translated command 30 times), Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
- ↑ 1 Samuel 13:11 And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and [that] thou camest not within the days appointed, and [that] the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
- ↑ 1 Samuel 13:12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.
- ↑ 1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
- ↑ 1 Samuel 8:9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
- ↑ 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
- ↑ Acts 3:19-21 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
- ↑ Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;