Who Would Jesus Kill?

WWJK is explained below. You will have the opportunity to make your comments at the end.

Let me say first that I am not a pacifist and I do not disrespect those who have fought for this country. It is time to seek to be more like Christ, not just talk about it. Who Would Jesus Kill [WWJK] is based from the cliché slogan going back a few years that was crazily popular: WWJD [What Would Jesus Do]. I’ve always hated that latter slogan because of its shallowness and Deistic implications: unintentionally promoting a distant God who is not active
nor in direct contact with His followers.

Who Would Jesus Kill [WWJK] may be offensive to many religious people, but it stands as a question that is both legitimate and imminently significant to all who would claim to follow Christ. I came about this idea six months prior to Pat Robertson’s reprehensible comment in August '05 when he said that “our” special forces should “take out” Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. I have not acted on my thoughts for some time in order to reconsider the matter so as not to be reactionary. The purpose of this campaign is to expose and reassert that which has gone unnoticed for a long time.

Expose:

Around the world America is still pretty close to having an inseparable association with Christianity. Christianity is thought to represent Christ. So when America goes to war complete with “Christians” in its forces, the incessant enunciations of “God Bless America,” the constant invocations of heaven through solemn prayer, and the “Christian” remembrance of those fallen; what is the non-christian foreigner to think? This question is especially germane when that non-christian may be a Muslim, a terrorist, or an innocent bystander that gets in the way of a war, thus becoming an eternal victim. Are we less patient than God, wanting to prevent some from possibly coming to repentance in their natural lives, ( 2 Peter 3:9)?

First of all, to America’s enemies, Jesus, who is the alleged focus of Christianity, becomes the advocate of the invaders as He was in the Crusades. He becomes inseparable from the soldiers (good and bad) who carry out this war. Jesus becomes something other than what He really is to non-believers in these countries where America carries out its imperial interests. He becomes America’s god; this would be over and against Iraq’s god or Mongolia’s god. Thus God has been subjugated to a national belonging rather than the God over all.

The people that will be most upset about this illustration are “Christians.” Atheists, agnostics, secularists, pagans, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and hedonists won’t care a shred about this cartoon or its implications. So why will “Christians” get upset? Is it because I might be touching God and somehow impugning Him? Or is it rather that such a picture impugns the “Christian” because they have made God into something that He isn’t and they’ve been caught at it? Or do they get upset because they feel unjustly maligned having so aligned themselves with a god that is actually the way they are so they are compelled to defend him because he is nothing but a figment of their imagination [in reality just defending themselves]?

Everybody in this country knows of the Bible, which “Christians” claim is authoritative in revealing God and His Son to us. So if Jesus is the patron or authenticator of religious nationalism then a novice should be able to see it, read it, and understand it clearly from the text “Christians” claim as foundational to their activities. However, if we look at Christ in the Bible we find quite the opposite of a nationalistic war-god (John 18:36). We do not see Him rallying Israel against the invaders and rousting the nation to war against Rome, (Matt. 26:50-55). We don’t see Him joining forces with the Zealots or becoming their new leader. No, Jesus was doing something different. Since the Bible was compiled, nothing has been authoritatively revealed that would make what Christ did on earth old or non-applicable to people today who allegedly claim Him.

The “Christian” from America looks more like a medieval Crusader, or a Constantinian conqueror [who “spreads” his empire's new religion by use of a sword], than that he would ever be construed to be following Christ. American religious people who support the war, idealistically or materially, are “christ” to non-believing foreigners because they have so aligned themselves with Him in the sight of non-believers around the world. So since Christ is nothing like how He has come to be seen through the American misrepresentation, we must seriously ask: Who Would Jesus Kill, meaning if you claim to follow Christ: Who Would You Kill? The major difference between Constantinian-era conquerors and American “christian” soldiers is that today’s religious makes no pretense of spreading the knowledge of God; no, they are now into spreading “democracy.” Is this “democracy” the “christians'” new religious adulteration?

Reassertion:

I am reasserting the Kingdom of God as wholly separate of America or its interests. Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. This was not said because America wasn’t on the scene yet. He said it because He was doing things that were a complete alternative to the world of which has been made up of empires such as America, Rome, Greece, or Ancient Persia, just to name a few.

We need to see what is truer of us as followers of Christ: that is that we are part of an international and eternal kingdom that is not bound to country, race, or any other divisive grouping men have used to put themselves over one another or to set themselves apart. There is no minority in God’s Kingdom, no disenfranchisement, no manipulation, and oh-by-the-way, no killing. There are only two types of people in America: those that are followers of Christ, or those who accept America’s “gospel" -- 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' [at the expense of everybody else].

Better for a terrorist or a non-believer to meet their own demise as a result of the consequences of their actions than through the warring [passive or active] of any follower of Christ, (2 Cor. 10:3-4, Eph. 6:12-20). “Christians” who have mistakenly thrown their lot in with America’s Foreign Policy ARE IN NO WAY REPRESENTING God’s Kingdom because it is not of this world, and America is nothing else than assuring its place in this world [the here and now]. Therefore, the Kingdom of God and America are diametrically opposed.

We cannot go on saying or thinking “For God and Country” as has been acceptable in the past. It must either be "for God" or "for Country", but not both. As followers of Christ we have a citizenship responsibility to God’s Kingdom. Let’s get at coming clean of the state’s corrupting influences, and stop supporting its battles for temporal domination.

You can be a part of this campaign to stir thought; we’ll have: T-shirts All proceeds will be used to further the campaign of WWJK and Kingdom Citizenship through billboards and other adjoining works that will challenge and expose religious nationalism and other accepted heresies within what is calling itself “Church.” Other products may be offered if there are sufficient requests: Wrist Bands (adjustable silicone/braided) Bumper Stickers Buttons

This Billboard is at 72nd St. and I-80 in Omaha. 141,000 cars pass this sign everyday including traffic going from Chicago to San Francisco.

# posted by Kingdom Citizenship @ 8:00 AM