DID YOU KNOW THAT JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO BUY SWORDS?

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“He (Jesus) said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.” Luke 22:36

Also, it must be remembered that Jesus used physical force to clear the temple of moneychangers (John 2:14-16). He gave a deadly warning to those who would harm “little ones” “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:5-6

Other New Testament writers taught that rulers “bear the sword” as God’s agents for justice (Romans 13:4); warned that any man who fails to provide (and by implication, provide protection) for his family is “worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8); and depicted Jesus at His return waging war on His enemies (Revelation 19:11-15).

Of course, the Old Testament also calls God a “warrior” (Exodus 15:3), and urges God’s people to rescue “the weak and the fatherless” from “the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4), and “defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor from Germany who was executed by the Nazis for his role in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Bonhoeffer’s life — depicted in the recent Angel Studios film Bonhoeffer (2024) — poses an intriguing question for Christians: namely, is violence ever justified? Clearly, Bonhoeffer thought so. But what of the passages in Scripture that apparently teach pacifism?

The clearest of these come from the lips of Jesus Himself. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of the high priest’s servant, we read in Matthew 26:52, “‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.’”

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus likewise famously taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” Matthew 5:38-39

Indeed, we could compile quite a list of other “pacifist” passages, including:

It seems from these scriptures that violence is never an appropriate response for a follower of Christ. But by harmonising these two sets of Scriptures, I believe the position we come to is that there are certain limited circumstances where violence is okay, and possibly even the best course of action, not because violence is good, but due to the reality that we live in a broken world.

Look at John 18:11 for how Jesus Himself balances this contentious topic. There, he says to Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

Christ is eschewing violence in this instance, and pointing to Calvary as the real solution to the world’s problems. The cup is greater than the sword. Indeed, as followers of Christ, it is far preferable that we suffer for the sake of Christ than that we inflict suffering on others.

Yet at the same time, Jesus doesn’t eschew violence altogether. He says, “Put your sword away!” — not, “Peter, why on earth are you armed with a sword?” There’s a big difference.

Jesus didn’t take issue with the fact that Peter was armed, but that Peter was trying to use violence in the wrong way, at the wrong time, and for the wrong reason.

To play devil’s advocate for a moment, if it is true that Jesus taught pacifism, that would mean Christians can’t serve in the armed forces, we shouldn’t celebrate holidays like Anzac Day, and a Christian husband or father couldn’t defend his wife or children against a violent home invader.

There are few willing to concede on all of these points — but that is the stance that must be upheld if Christ really taught pacifism.

Which is why, throughout history, the majority Christian position on this topic is not pacifism. Rather, the majority of Christians have held that violence is justified in a narrow set of extenuating circumstances — namely, self-defence, defending the defenceless, and defending one’s nation against oppressive regimes. Hence Bonhoeffer.

One last clarification should be made on this topic. While Christians are justified in using violence in certain, limited circumstances, doing so in the name of Christ or on God’s behalf is an error to be avoided.

At the risk of repetition, violence is sometimes necessary — but not because violence is good or an expression of God’s will. On the contrary, when violence is justified, it’s due to the sad reality that this world is evil and broken, and all other options have been exhausted.

Put simply, God’s kingdom is never advanced by force or violence. That’s what Peter misunderstood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Later in the same chapter of John, Jesus famously tells Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” This is Jesus’ declaration that, in the kingdoms of this world, wars will be fought, and nations will rise and fall, but none of that puts Him on His throne, and none of it could ever shake Him from His throne. Jesus is King, and he will always be King over the entire universe.

Not By Force, But By Faith

Does this mean that Christians should be passive? By no means. Jesus didn’t teach pacifism, and He also didn’t teach passivity.

When we look at the life of Jesus and the lives of His followers, we don’t see passivity. We don’t see people who avoid conflict at all costs, who never give offence, or who refuse to stand up to injustice.

What we do see is men and women who took the gospel to hostile places, who spoke the truth and stood for what was right no matter the cost, who challenged corrupt systems, and who protected the vulnerable even at great personal risk.

Today, we live in very peaceful neighbourhoods and a civilisation full of comforts. So it’s very easy for us to misinterpret the words of Jesus here and think he’s encouraging pacifism or passivity.

Jesus taught meekness, but he didn’t teach weakness. And again, to be clear, Jesus taught that His kingdom does not advance by violence.

So, if God’s kingdom is not advanced by physical force, how is it advanced? The answer to this question is all through the Bible, and in the book of Acts especially.

There we see God’s kingdom advancing through the preaching of the gospel, through prayer, through worship, through persuasion, through advocacy, through spiritual warfare, through acts of sacrificial love, through apologetics, and we could list many more examples besides.

In a word, God’s kingdom advances not by force, but by faith. Or as God says in Zechariah 4:6 – “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.”

Taken from an article by Kurt Mahlburg, Violence and Christianity: Is Physical Force Ever Justified? He is the Senior Editor and a regular columnist at The Daily Declaration. 

It is important to remember that next on God’s agenda for this world is Jesus Millennial Kingdom when Jesus and the Saints rule with a rod of iron in a world still beset by sin.

“‘The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I, myself have received authority from my Father‘. Revelation 2: 26-27

“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 19:15

NEXT ON GOD’S KINGDOM AGENDA

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The Kingdom of God has many facets to it. One important phase of God’s Kingdom which many of the denominational/institutional churches have got wrong is Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. This is difficult to understand for several reasons: 1. The Christian church for the first two hundred years took the Millennial Kingdom position. 2. All of the O.T. prophets were shown the end of the story for Israel with their Messiah ruling and reigning over the nations. 3. Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom fulfills the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and particularly the New Covenant given to Jeremiah.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

4. Explicit prediction is given in the Bible of an intermediate kingdom that is one thousand years long when Jesus and the resurrected Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron. The curse is not fully lifted off the earth as people still die and need to be saved. Satan is bound in the Abyss for most of the thousand years but God allows him one last chance to deceive people on Earth and sadly we know he raises an army of rebellious people, their number like the sand of the sea. That rebellion is quickly put down and God finally destroys this Earth with fire. The second resurrection and the White Throne judgement follow. Only then does John see a new Jerusalem of incredible size descending from a new Heaven onto a new Earth where only the righteous will dwell.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:1-3

FIRST AI NEWS PRESENTER ON AN INDIAN NEWS CHANNEL

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I have already posted on the speed with which AI. is replacing humans in just about all job categories. AI, combined with Robotics will have an unprecedented impact on the job market. The rapid changes in technology is making it difficult for education to keep up and provide people with the skills the market now needs.

Techochasm is just one of the end times signs. When a world rejects its Creator, it descends into lawlessness and chaos. Even when Jesus and the Saints are ruling on the Earth during Jesus 1000 thousand year reign they need to rule with a rod of iron.
“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He (Jesus) will rule them with a rod of iron.“ Revelation 19:15

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he (Saints) will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:27

Moreover, we are told at the end of the 1000-year reign of Jesus and the Saints, God allows the release of Satan and he is able to raise an army of rebellious people, like the sand of the sea, to come up against Jesus and the Saints. They are quickly dispatched but it reveals a lot about the heart of unregenerate man.

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10

GENOCIDE OF CHRISTIANS IGNORED

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A genocide expert and former Congressman Frank Wolf have warned that violence being committed against Christians in Nigeria and the U.S. government’s “failed” response to it could lead to another genocide like the ones that occurred in Rwanda and Darfur. 

“When the world and the U.S. ignored genocide in Rwanda, hundreds of thousands of people died. History, I believe, is repeating itself,” Wolf contended. “Almost daily reports show increasing violence and death in Nigeria. An implosion of Nigeria will destabilise the surrounding countries and send millions of refugees into Europe and beyond.” 

The conversation comes as estimates show that thousands have been killed and millions displaced since 2015 due to attacks carried out by predominantly Muslim Fulani militias against mainly Christian farming communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria as well as Islamic extremist attacks carried out by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province in northeast Nigeria. 

Christians in Nigeria take part in funeral march in April 2019

“Boko Haram has committed genocide in Nigeria. They have killed over 27,000 Nigerians, more than ISIS killed in Iraq and Syria combined,” Wolf stressed during his opening remarks. “The Fulani militants are also committing genocidal massacres against Nigerian Christians.”

“Our own embassy is still denying that this is genocide, that the Fulani militias are committing genocide,” he said. “So have human rights groups. Human Rights Watch, for instance, thinks of it that way. The International Crisis Group thinks of it that way. These are very distinguished organizations and I have great respect for them. But they are dominated by what I would call conflict-prevention narrative.”

“In essential terms, the U.S. embassy’s policies on this violence have been what I call conflict resolution policies. They try to get the groups together and they try to have sort of ‘Kumbaya’ moments in which people talk to each other and everybody is hunky-dory and they get along.

Stanton argued that the problem with those types of policies is that they “do not reach the terrorist groups.”  “They also don’t reach the army and the police and others who need to be really conscious of this huge problem in their country,” he said.

Just further evidence that fits “last days” Biblical prophecies which should be a wake up call to the church to get on with Jesus command to reach out to their communities with the good news of Jesus and His soon coming return. His Kingdom will come. Jesus and the saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron.

“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.“ Revelation 19:15-16

“The one (saints) who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:27

“She (Mary) gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne…” Revelation 12:5