In light of the articles about the ‘controversial cartoons’ that appeared in a newspaper in Denmark, I began to think about something of a similar vein. I thought about Christians who went after those (even fellow Christians) who disagreed with them to the point of trying to permanently suppress the disagreers and I realized something….
Instead of worshipping and praising God for his many attributes via the many names of God consisting of:
Jehovah-jireh (the Lord will provide)
Jehovah-rapha (the Lord who heals)
Jehovah-nissi (the Lord our banner)
Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord our peace)
Jehovah-ra-ah (the Lord my shepherd)
Jehovah-tsidkenu (the Lord our righteousness)
Jehovah-shammad (the Lord is present)
Jehovah-Elohim (the Lord God)
Jehovah Sabaoth (the Lord of hosts)
It seems to me that a new man made ‘attribute’ has arrived on the modern Christian scene. Sovereignity, omnipotence, omnipresence, and providenced has been reduced to an attribute that sees God as our own personal crusader to eliminated anyone who disagrees with us. His name is:
Jehovah Jihad
Jehovah is defined as meaining “I AM”. Jihad is defined as ” the Arabic word meaning ‘holy war’ referring to the use of violence, murder, maiming, kidnapping, and abhorrent actions against persons, property or governments deemed to be enemies of a fundamentalist version of Islam.”
Therefore, one can define the term “Jehovah Jihad” as:
I AM the God that will use violence, murder, maiming, kidnapping, and abhorrent actions against persons, property or governments you deem to be enemies of your hyper-fundamentalist definition of ‘real Christianity’.
My, that describes modern Christianity. Like the Mujahedeen in fundamentalist Islam that engages in jihad for the cause of Islam, we have “Messianic Mujahedeens” in fundamentalist Christianity who will rage Holy War against those who disagree with them even if they are common believers. Even though believers of the other side of the thought may believe in the same God, because they do not march lock, stock, and barrel, they have to be eliminated, suppressed, and brought under subjection and control to be controlled by the leaders of the hyper fundamentalist regime they fight for.
The Moral Majority (yeah right, they were a minority) of the 1980’s and 1990’s and the Religious Right movement of today have their own disciples that do not fulfill a Great Commission by ‘Go ye therefore…”. Instead, they rage a Holy War by fighting a spiritual war through physical means. From calling their Senators to pass/defeat a piece of legislation, boycotting a television show over a controversial commerical, going after Christian webpages that disagree with them via litigation, the war is being fought and it’s a very nasty war to attempt to outdo the opposing side and show them that God is on ‘their side’ and is wholly against the other side equated as ‘the enemy’.
The Pentecostal / Charismatic movement is equally as guilty of promoting another form of glorifying their newfound allegiance to their definition of Jehovah Jihad to strike retialitation against those who disagree with them. It is called ‘Holy Hexes’. Yes, curses against those who disagree. Curses against those who question a famous televangelist. Curses against those who expose the moral turpitude within the upper eschelon of leadership. Curses against those who pose an eminent danger to their pocketbooks to prohibit the purchase of their next Jesus Jet. Curses of God’s judgement in the form of death against those who dare to theologically question the motives behind the belief system.
What happens is that the internal and spiritual struggle to maintain goodness, abolishing injustice, oppression, and evil from within oneself, as well as from the whole culture becomes the kaliedoscopic lens to formulate their worldview as being chaotic in order to begin the holy conquest to obtain goodness, abolishing injustices to them (by establishing their justice as a retialiation which becomes an injustice to others) , eliminating oppression (by establishing their freedom as a retialiation which becomes an oppression to others), and to eliminate evil from within oneself being seen as the evil that denigrates the whole culture they live in.
The internal struggle brought forth by one’s personal weakness becomes the corporate front that fuels the holy conquest into action in the personal, political, social, cultural, and economic arenas of society.
As the Islamic believer who believes that jihad is the greatest action for striving and fighting for the cause of Allah, the Christian engrossed in the working concept of Jehovah Jihad believes that he is performing the greatest sacrifice for the cause of Christ. As the Islamic believer believes that those who are martyred during jihad receive a high reward for their participation in this endeavor, the Christian engrossed in the working concept of Jehovah Jihad believes that he will receive his reward in heaven and also on the earth for his participation in this endeavor to create the unified utopia.
Of course, all of this is done ‘in the name of God’ to recieve the mega blessing along with the conquest of the personal bad habit/addiction made the national crusade of reform. Pragmatism replaces power as results, success, and justification becomes the measuring stick of the methods used to be deemed as Godly.
“You will know them by their fruits.” Just because they call themselves ‘of God’ does not mean they are of God. You will recognize them by their tools. Death, hatred, destruction, intolerance and anger are not the tools of God. The tools of God are patience, mercy, love, kindness, acceptance and personal responsibility.