Wolves in sheep’s clothing: Joshua christians

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Written By Novakeo

“War is the statesman’s game, the priests delight, the lawyers jest, the hired assassin’s trade.
– Percy Bysshe Shelley

It is one thing to listen to political charlatans like the neocons who are supposedly a part of mainstream conservatism, which is irritating at best, and it is quite another thing to listen to a superficial Christian such as Rev. Jerry Falwell, a charismatic leader in the body of Christ. When listening to the likes of Falwell one gets a bitter taste in the pit of one’s stomach, what this man says and writes is so grotesque that he literally can make one ill, he makes a neocon look like a decent upright Sunday school boy.

The religious right in the United States is exclusively an American phenomenon; it is a politicized form of Christianity, a Pharisee strain that uses the word of God for political gain. When they do use the word of God as a point of reference, it is always out of context and a complete perversion in what God intended it to originally mean. The religious right has made an unholy alliance with the criminal element within the Bush administration; this convergence of interests between the Christian evangelical dispensationalists and the neocons is nothing short of apostasy for the church.

These Christians are what I call “Joshua Christians,” they focus on the Old Testament, principally scripture that relates to Israel and its wars. They are warlike, they admire armed conflict, and they see it as a fundamental aspect to a life of a nation and to the life of its citizens, it is a doctrine in “Warfare Theology”. They contradict the teachings of the Lord Jesus, and when it comes to a decision between war and peace, they disregard almost entirely the New Testament other than the Book of Revelations.

The recent article by Rev. Falwell titled – “God is pro-war,” exemplifies the total moral corruption of the religious right in this country. The article is full of contradictions in regards to righteous war; it is a nonsensical attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq. Falwell writes that – “One of the primary purposes of the church is to stop the spread of evil, even at the cost of human lives,” contradicting what Jesus himself taught, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil.” Matthew 5:38-40.

This is really contempt for what Jesus of Nazareth being the Lamb of God did on the cross, it is on the cross where the true war on evil took place, and it was forever defeated by the resurrection, the work is finished. The battle against evil is primarily spiritual not natural, the Apostle Paul clearly revealed this to be the case in Ephesians 6:12 :

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

God is a God of Justice, and everything about the Iraq war contradicts justice and God’s statutes. Religious crack pot’s like Falwell conveniently neglect this, and are essentially saying that it is ok to lie, you can also commit mass murder, you can break law’s, and you can steel the war booty because according to Rev. Falwell – God is “pro war.”

Rev. Falwell quotes from the Old Testament to try to prove God’s “pro war” stance with – Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Exodus 15, I Chronicles 14:15 and Proverbs 20:18.

In the New Testament, the word of God clarifies for us what human wars are really about, in James 4:1-2 :

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war.”

War as conducted by human nature is primarily about greed and envy, this is what the word of God in the New Testament reveals. This brings us to some of the main principalities at work in the Bush administration, mainly lust, greed, and glory, and the glory is not for God but for a bunch of draft dodging chicken hawks in direct violation of the 10th and 8th commandments – “You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods” and “You shall not steal.”Falwell then goes on to clarify for us that the 6th commandment means, “thou shall not commit murder” instead of “thou shall not kill” which is correct, there is a fundamental difference. Falwell tries to base that distinction for an assenting case for war and neglects one of the most heated exchanges the Lord Jesus had on earth was about the “Law,” and it was with the Pharisees. Matthew 22. The result of this exchange was the affirmation by Jesus that the Law of God is one, and that he that is guilty in one part offends in all parts. God’s Law is perfect. If you break one law, you have broken the whole Law. When you lie to invade a 4th rate nation that clearly presented no danger to the United States, the result has to be the mass murder of innocence and the plunder of their resources. That is exactly what has taken place, the whole heart of the law was broken.

In light of what we know about the Bush administrations’ fabrications and outright lies concerning the threat posed to the United States by Iraq, the lead up to the war was a direct violation of the 9th commandment “Thou shall not bear false witness”. And as the result of all the lies by that Christian sitting in the White House, thousands of people have been murdered in direct violation of the 6th commandment.

Falwell is not above coming up with complete fabrications of his own when he writes – “President Bush declared war in Iraq to defend innocent people. This is a worthy pursuit.” President Bush never declared war against Iraq, in fact, Congress never declared war against Iraq even though they are constitutionally required to do so. The invasion of Iraq was constitutionally illegal, it was also an international illegal act of war, and the part about defending innocent people is almost laughable if it was not so tragic, thousand’s have been lost and continue to be lost, for no justifiable reasons, the pious Falwell again conveniently disregards this reality.

If you thought that nothing could be worse in the political landscape of this country other than the neocons you would be wrong, the religious right, political Christians like Rev. Falwell are “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” representing the final apostasy of the church with the whoring of its theological principles 1 Timothy 4:1-2. They have nothing in common with Jesus.

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. – George Orwell

Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”

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