Jesus The Pacifist

There is a very bizarre tradition in Christianity. This tradition is that Jesus was a pacifist and that He came to bring peace. Many paintings and art pieces emphasize this belief by depicting Christ as a Lamb or holding an olive branch. In fact, it is quite difficult to find any artwork that depicts Jesus holding a sword. The only opportunity to find such an art piece is to look at The Last Judgment paintings. The belief that Jesus was a peace-loving hippy is a gross misinterpretation of the Messiah. Does Jesus come to bring salvation and peace to the souls of saints, yes. Is not our Lord called The Prince of Peace? Of course He is. However, Jesus is also the just judge and He encourages us to fight and not to be a footstall.

Take for instance this verse, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace, but rather a sword." (Matthew 10:3). In addition we have the verses when Christ took up a whip and drove the money changers out of the Temple and His commission to his disciples to buy swords,"if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." (Luke 22:36). Is Christ a war god? No, that is yet another misinterpretation. According to Scripture the Lord is both Merciful and Just. He has the power to deliver from sin and death, but also the power to destroy and condemn. The Lord is loving and full of abundant grace. But He is a just God who must punish the wicked.

Many believers are not comfortable with a Jesus who wields a sword. They want Him to seem more like Ghandi and use only words. The problem is that contemporary people have a 1960's view of peace. Peace requires warfare. In order to keep peace, do nations not arm soldiers, build tanks, commission aircraft, and use weapons? Peace survives at the edge of a sword, not separated from it. It is because of men at arms that a nation is safe and kept from being invaded. While I am not saying Jesus goes about brandishing a sword in every circumstance, we should not ignore this side of our Savior. For on the Great and Terrible Day of Judgment Christ shall come with iron, fire, and other weapons of warfare to destroy the wicked. (Revelation 14:20, Revelation 19:11).

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Israel’s Conquest of Canaan: The Nephilim and Giants

Christianity Today asserts that the conquest of Canaan can be a “stumbling block” for believers. This probably is because of a foolish idea of comparing it to a modern conquest happening in our world. The truth is that God had Israel conquer Canaan because it was ruled by evil giants, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:33). These are Anakim or Nephilim, the children of angels and human women, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God (angels) saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These w

Dispensationalism

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was a man who did two things, he took 70th week of the Book of Daniel and stretched out to the End Times, and he was the father of Dispensationalism , a belief system that God dispenses different peoples with separate blessings and covenants. According to Darb'ys doctrine of Dispensationalism, God dispenses different covenants. There are total of seven dispensations that divide the history of man: I. Dispensation of Innocence (prior to the Fall, "Do not east of the Fruit of Good and Eve, Eden), II. Dispensation of Conscience ( You must assuage guilt and sin with blood sacrifices.) III. Dispensation of Human Government (Multiply and Subdue the world, example the Tower of Babel Gen 11:1-9, and Genesis 1:28). IV. Dispensation of the Promise (Dwell in Canaan, Jerusalem) V. Dispensation of the Law ("Obey the Law of Moses and the Prophets"). VI. Dispensation of Grace (The Church, Jesus Christ has come and died for our sins an

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There has been a trend to render Jesus’ name Hebrew, יֵשׁוּעַ , Yeshua. The problem is neither Christ nor his apostles, nor the Jews in 30-33 A.D. spoke Hebrew, they spoke Aramaic. A ramaic is the oldest language on earth and was the language Jesus spoke. In fact, the oldest Old Testament is the Septuagint a Greco translation around 132 B.C.E. (165 Years Before Christ)that was translated from Aramaic. The Masoretic Text, The Hebrew Old Testament most Bibles use, dates from 7th to 10th Century A.D. (Medieval Times). This translation does not cross reference with the words of Christ in the New Testament which are Aramaic and Koine Greek. If the Aramaic was what Jesus spoke, then by what name would have been called? Jesus’ name in Aramaic is Isho or Eesho, spelled ܝܫܘܥ . That is the name of our Lord in Aramaic! He would have heard his name in this dialect, “Hail Isho or Eesho!” as well as the Greek, Ἰ ησο ῦ ς , Iesous. Aramaic is disappearing, only a few people are endeavo

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