Only the violent take it by force (2)

Luke 16 “¹⁶The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”  Not every group, every organization or every church, but each person individually. Israel was using violence against his enemies as a people until John. Ever since,

salvation is individual. We may support each other through prayers and exhortations, but no brother/sister can engage into combat instead of another. The commitment rests with each individual, but all those who have pledged to fight the good fight of the faith come together under one command of the Chief of the Army of the Lord, they fight as a team making one man, and triumph together in the victory of the Lamb.

The Chief of the Army of the Lord visited Joshua at Jericho: Jos 5 “¹³And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? ¹⁴And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? ¹⁵And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”  This is the same man who had come to Moses in the burning bush.

Prior to going any further, I must make a clarification on my comments, because in the name of the good fight of the faith atrocious and inhumane crimes were committed by beasts covering themselves by the name Church of God. This unique physical violence of medieval and modern history has been perpetrated under the guise of the Crusades, and especially the Inquisition. North Parish Bulletin quoted by Diogene DE BOUZIGUES in his article "The crimes of the Inquisition" (http://tuttiverdi.blogspot.com/2011/09/les-crimes-de-linquisition.html) still supports to this day the merits of the monstrous cruelties perpetrated by the Roman church-empire through the Inquisition. This Catholic paper argues that "The Church was allowed to establish the Inquisition under a double right: right of defense and right of coercion." These cruel practices of the Roman church-empire are too numerous to be mentioned, but Maurice Barthélémy tries to summarize them in this paragraph:

"So the victim had soles exposed to a burning stake, or was introduced by means of a funnel in the mouth from 6 to 12 liters of water, he/she was lifted up to the ceiling using a pulley and suddenly left to fall to mangle his/her members; molten lead was poured into his/her mouth, he was given hot oil enema, his/her eyes were tore away from their sockets and salt poured in their place, the breasts were torn off with red-hot pincers, the condemned was inflated with a blower to make him/her puncture, they tore off his/her tongue, nose, ears, nails, they removed slowly his/her hair, they cut his/her limbs one by one, or butchered him/her alive; he/she was made to lie on a board filled with nails; he/she was impaled, torn apart, deprived of air, sleep, food, water; he/she was scourged, pummeled; they broke his/her bones of the thumbs, arms, legs, tightening them in various screw instruments, they put on his/her head red-hot iron circles, they poured gunpowder in the mouth and inflamed ... "( Maurice Barthélemy, quoted by A. LORULOT, German Barbarism, p 39. ).

Prof. Dr. Hubertus Mynarek (b. 1929), a former Catholic theology professor and former dean of the Roman Catholic faculty of the University of Vienna wrote a book entitled "The New Inquisition" in which he states objectively cruelty and torture methods practiced in the Inquisition. An excerpt from his book on the methods of cruel tortures can be found here http://www.theologe.de/inquisition.htm. All those who have been wrongly persuaded by the Roman church-empire that she actually committed these crimes in the name and by order of the God of heaven eventually abhorred that God they considered cruel. Quoted by Enrico Robini, atheist and freethinker, in his article "Black Page of Christianity 2000 years of crimes, terror and repression" on http://tuttiverdi.blogspot.com/2011/09/la-page-noire-du-christianisme-2000-ans.html, Thomas Paine said that "Believing in a cruel God makes cruel man." The Catholic Church is really much accountable!

Since this kind of physical violence was covered, from their authors, by theological and supposedly biblical justifications (see A Brief History of the Inquisition by Robert Jones here http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=album10_xfactor/inquisition&lang=fra&link=albums#theological) , we should examine what the Scriptures say thereupon:

Eph 6 “¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Peter and the other apostles had heard Jesus say, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one (Luke 22:36)," and they said "We must be prepared to defend our Master.” When the cohort led by Caiaphas, the high priest, came to arrest Him, one of them drew his sword and cut off the ear of a servant of Caiaphas (Luke 22:50). But Jesus rebuked them and healed the man. The apostles were then in confusion as Joab was at the response of King David on the death of his son Absalom killed by Joab. These apostles did not understand the language of the Lord, and thus acted in fanaticism: as we read above in Ephesians, the enemy we fight is not carnal and the sword we use is not metallic to inflict injury or death on the flesh and blood.

2Co 10 “³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” That is the nature of our struggle and our violence. But the apologists of the cruelties of the Crusades and the Inquisition argue that in the Old Testament the violence ordered by God himself was real, they even justify their right to coercion by the parable of the guests at the feast where the Master said to the servants: Lc 14 “²³And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” 

All this is malice doubled of bigotry, because these apologists are too documented and too knowledgeable to claim ignorance of the passages we have presented above. In addition, about justifying these cruelties by the Old Testament, the Bible has cut short: Col 2 “¹⁷Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”  All the law given to Israel was a reflection of the heavenly reality that is in Christ (Heb. 8:5), and is 100 percent valid, because heavens and earth will pass away but the Word of God never will (Mt 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33). Now one needs the right understanding of this law, according to the lawgiver in order not to fall into religious fanaticism. Rm 10 “⁴For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

 In Him the whole law is fulfilled: Mt 5 “¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Jesus of Nazareth came under the Old Testament. One day He found in the temple of Jerusalem vendors who had transformed it into market. He was greater than Abraham, than Solomon, than Jonah, etc.  – and  in this case He was greater than Samson, with physical force enabling Him alone to face ten thousand, a hundred thousand and conquer – so He drove all the vendors out of the temple overturning their tables, etc. All this is valid still today, except that the dimension of fight is passed from the shadow to the reality, from the carnal to the spiritual. Thus, since His resurrection and the launch of the New Covenant, instead of real tables and pigeons cages, we cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 

The provision on stoning remains in force, but the stone is no more the one we collect on the ground, but the one cut out of the mountain without the help of any hand (Daniel 2:34,45). The provision on the passage to the edge of the sword remains in force, but the sword is no longer that man-made but the Sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17), the Word of God. It is with this sword that we compel people in highways and hedges to enter the banquet hall so that is may be full. The clearest upshot of the aforesaid is that the barbarities committed by the Roman church-empire cannot find biblical excuse, as they are its very opposite: Mt 5 “³⁸Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: ³⁹But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

If this clarification is well understood, we can then allow ourselves to continue the discussion, being sure we are moving on the same wavelength in the wording use, which we'll do in the next epistles.

If you feel blessed, share and pour out the same blessings!