The Violent Take It

A pastor in Tennessee recently was under some scrutiny for a sermon that he preached. In the introduction he stated, “No one likes violence, but sometimes violence is necessary. When Elon Musk forces his way into the United States in Treasury and threatens to steal your personal information and your social security check, then it might be time to get violent. Sometimes the devil will act so ugly that you have no other choice but to get violent.”

Many took the statement at its face value and believed that Pastor Steve Caudle was telling his congregation to be violent against the government. The local news station reached out to him and he claims that his words were taken out of context. Local 3 News in Chattanooga Tennessee reported, “A Chattanooga pastor is facing strong criticism after a portion of his sermon went viral online. However, he says that a key part of his message was omitted, leading to a misrepresentation of his intent. “Do you feel like your message was misconstrued?” Pastor Steve Caudle of Senior Greatest Secondary Baptist Church was asked. “Absolutely, and it was done intentionally,” he responded.

He then said that, “The sermon was about the spiritual warfare between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell. It is a typical Christian message…” He then quoted a part of his sermon, 'The Kingdom of God is a war zone, it is a battlefield, it is a place where the forces of hell clash against the angelic host of heaven in a violent spiritual warfare, and we are included in the battle.' This is what they did not include. They will not use the term ‘spiritual warfare,’ which is the theme of the message.”

But that is quite confusing and not clear at all. If this is about spiritual warfare, then why is he referencing Elon Musk? Why is he concerned about the theft of personal information? Why does it seem like he is more concerned about the social security checks? There wasn't a mention of a war over souls, the truth, heaven & hell etc. If this was really about spiritual war, why is Elon and the current regime the enemy and not Satan? When he talks about violence, he is referring to someone who is flesh and blood, not angelic or spiritual.

But let us give the pastor the benefit of the doubt. Let's say he meant a spiritual war. Then the question becomes, are we called to violence? Are we called to advance like a normal army would? No, not at all! We are not called to violence as soldiers in God’s army. Yes there is a war, but our offensive weapon is the Bible (Ephesians 6:17), not a real sword. The Kingdom of God is not advanced by violent or forceful means. This is why when Peter physically attacked the guards that were there to arrest Jesus, Jesus said, “For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” He was scolding Peter because this is not how God’s kingdom will advance.

Now does the enemy sometimes attack in physical ways? Yes! May the enemy's army use violence against the church? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean we are to retaliate in a like manner. Jesus taught us that, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36) His kingdom is a spiritual one, not a physical one. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. It is against “...the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Not Elon Musk or the government.

Jesus also told us, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luk 17:20-21) This is an invisible war. Sometimes players in this war will be manifested in the physical; false religions, false teachers, ideologies that go against God’s created order, ungodly leaders etc. But that doesn’t mean we physically attack those who are physically on the opposing side. Paul taught, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

There is a lot of debate of the exact meaning to the passage that this pastor was preaching from in Matthew. But no one worth listening to believes this passage has anything to do with physical violence. Jesus is not AT ALL saying they are being violent, so you go be violent too. We are never called to violence to advance God’s kingdom. So how do we advance? How do we expand the kingdom of God? By evangelism. By the mission of the church. When we proclaim the truth and God against the lies of the devil and people repent and believe in Christ, the Kingdom of God is advancing. We are told to “resist”, be “sober-minded”, “alert”, get dressed in our armor, “stand”, evangelize, destroy arguments, stand up for the truth, to love our enemies, keep the faith and be salt and light. But nowhere are we told to be violent. In fact I would say the enemy is winning if he convinces us to focus on this physical world and not the spiritual. Let’s not lose sight of where the true enemies lie.