Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
When we love we look like Jesus: Business of war #2

When we love we look like Jesus: Business of war #2

Last updated on: January 15, 2024 at 7:20 am by Rob Dalrymple

When we love we look like Jesus: Business of war #2 2024-01-15T07:20:51-08:00 Rob Dalrymple

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The business of war profits those in power but comes at a terrible cost for the rest. Courtesy VOAnews.com

In my last post, I began a look at the war on Gaza from the context of the business of war.

NB: See my post from Dec 8, 2023 “Challenging the Church to be the Church in a time of war.” (If you haven’t read that post, please do so before finishing this post). My bottom line: inflicting war and violence is the way the nations operate and it is antithetical to the way of Christ and what it means to be a cross-bearing (Mark 8:34), enemy-loving (Matt 5:44), kingdom-centered (Matt 6:33), follower of Christ.

NBB: Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day! (see my post from Jan 2020)

A Map! Where people should look to find Jesus

In an interview on the Bible Project podcast, Dallas Jenkins, the creator of “The Chosen” (the Netflix version of the life of Jesus), noted that his team was discussing how to depict Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7; or better Matt 4:23-9:35). In the show, they decided to portray Jesus as if He was working on the Sermon on the Mount over a period of time.

NB: This may strike you as odd, but the text doesn’t say either way. We may assume that Jesus just stood up one day and delivered the speech (though there are good reasons to believe that Matthew has stitched sayings of Jesus together to compile the “Sermon.” This is evident from the fact that many of the sayings in Matt 5-7 are found all over Luke’s gospel. This suggests that either Luke took sayings from Matt 5-7 and scattered them throughout his work, or Matthew took isolated sayings of Jesus and pasted them into one Sermon; or perhaps, both are correct—Jesus both presented them in one longer sermon and He reiterated them as isolated sayings in various contexts).

The point is: we don’t know if Jesus had to work on a sermon or if He just spoke and the words came out as Matthew records. If you were to ask me, I suspect that maybe He did “work on it” as the show suggests.

In one scene, Jesus was deliberating on how to end the Sermon. Finally, the big idea comes to Him. Jesus wakes Matthew and declares, “I’ve got it.”

Matthew responds, “Got what?”

“A map,” Jesus states. “Directions for where people should look to find Me.” Jesus continues, “The way to find Me is to look for the person who is meek and merciful”—referring, of course, to the Beatitudes.

“How is that a map?” Matthew queries.

Jesus explains, “If someone wants to find me, those are the groups they should look for.”

Brilliant. To find Jesus all one must do is look for His followers. And how will they know when they have found His followers? When they find a group of people that are meek and merciful and peacemakers!

It is my concern (or shall I say “conviction”) that much of the Church (especially those within my own tribe of evangelicalism) has lost sight of this.

The world is to know us because we are different. Not just different in any old way, of course. Different because we look like Jesus. We reflect Jesus’ kingdom. We are, in light of the biblical story, God’s image bearers—just as Adam and Eve were intended to be.

And what an image bearer looks like is Love! Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

When we love like Jesus we look like Jesus. When we weep like Jesus we look like Jesus.

This is precisely what Jesus says in Luke 6:35, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

Again the implication is clear: when we love our enemies, we look like God. This is what it means to be “sons of the Most High.” To be a “son of” (and the gender is important only as it relates to the cultural implications of that day) meant to have the characteristics of the one of whom you are a “son of.”

The Business of War and the deception of the Church

The war on Gaza is (at least in part) a business decision. You can call it a political decision if you wish. Those who wield the political power in the US—especially the Biden administration, but most of the US Congress as well—are making business decisions. Sure, they sell it under the guise of “security”; or “foreign aid in support an ally.” But at the end of the day, as I will argue in this series of posts, money far outweighs all other factors. In fact, money (and “power” is closely aligned with money) exponentially outweighs all other factors combined.

The corporations who benefit from the government contracts to build the weapons—yes, the people of Gaza are dying from bombs paid for by us—have far more influence on the powers that be in Washington DC than we might imagine.

The Beast and 666

I wonder if the devil was scheming when one day he realized that perhaps the best way to destroy the church was not by using power against it, but by giving it power.

Scot McKnight suggests, “A more forceful way of saying this is that when the church ties itself to political powers, as it did from Constantine to Theodosius I, it becomes Babylon. Christendom was the most tragic mistake in the history of the church” (Revelation for the Rest of Us, 183).

NB: The Determinetruth podcast (available on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts) is currently airing a series on the book of Revelation. Today’s episode (Jan 15, 2024) begins a discussion of the Beast in Revelation 13:1-10.

But, thank goodness, you might think, we are past such days. No longer are the church and the empire one and the same. Au contraire mon ami. What if, instead of the church being the empire, as it was in the Middle Ages, the church has simply aligned itself with the empire?

As a biblical scholar, it is easy to see that the writers of the NT were attempting to expose Rome as a fraud. Rome was nothing more than the present embodiment of empire: It was the Beast! I suspect that few Christians today will have trouble with the assertion that at the time of the New Testament Rome was the embodiment of the Beast.

What is interesting is that a careful reading of the NT suggests that this was not the case for the Christians who were reading Luke, Paul, Peter, and John. That is, the first readers of the NT writings did not see things so clearly. To them, it was not apparent that Rome was the Beast. The writers of the NT were trying to alert the first Christ followers that Rome was the Beast. In other words, what is clear to most readers of the NT today was not clear to the original audience.

“But how can this be? It is apparent that Rome was the Beast!”

It is this same lack of awareness that I suspect is the problem today!

What I mean is that when we call out Rome as the Beast of Rev 13 there is little to no dispute that it at least referred to the ancient Roman empire. But when John wrote Revelation he was concerned that many of the Christ followers had been deceived by the propaganda of the empire. They had been or were in danger of being, seduced by the Great Prostitute (the goddess Roma). This concern is powerfully embodied in the heavenly cry, “Come out of her, my people” (Rev 18:4).

NB: it is worth noting that the word “wilderness” occurs only 3x in the book of Revelation (12:6, 14; 17:3). The first two occurrences describe the place where the “woman” (which represents the people of God) flee to in order to be divinely protected (“nourished”) by God. Yet, even though it is God that carries her into the wilderness (12:14—the eagle represents God (See Exod 19:4; Deut 32:10-12), the woman is still subject to the attacks of the Serpent who “pursues/persecutes” (12:13) her in the wilderness. The third occurrence of “wilderness” is in 17:3. Here it is where John is taken so that he may see the Great Harlot. In other words, The Harlot Babylon (which represents the material wealth/pleasure of the Roman world) is in the wilderness where the people of God are. Satan has brought Rome to where we are and we must “Come out of her.”

It is ironic, then, when prophetic voices in the church today call out the present embodiment of empire they are met with the same sort of resistance.

Could it be that we too have been seduced by the Beast and the Great Prostitute?

Our goal is to keep these posts free of charge. I do not intend to ever hide them behind a paywall. I can only do this if those of you who have been blessed by them and can afford to give ($5, $10, $25, or more/month) do so. You can give a tax-deductible contribution by following this link.

Please share this post and let others know about determinetruth.

If you wish to view this blog on your smartphone through the Determinetruth app simply download the “tithe.ly church” app on your smartphone and insert “determinetruth” as the church name you wish to follow. Once it is loaded, simply click on the “blog” icon and it will automatically load.

If you would like to have Rob speak at your church or organization in person or via Zoom, please let us know by filling out the contact info on the Contact me tab on this site.

General Christian

Politics and Religion

History and Religion

About Rob Dalrymple

Rob Dalrymple is married to his wife Toni and is the father of four fabulous children, and two grandchildren. He has been teaching and pastoring for over 34 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD in biblical interpretation. He is the author of four books (including Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation & Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters) as well as numerous articles and other publications. He is currently completing a commentary on the book of Revelation titled, “Revelation: a Love Story” (Cascade Books, pending 2025). He is also in contract for a book on “Reading the NT in a year: A study and devotional guide.” You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

January 8, 2024

The war on Gaza and the business of war #1

Next Post

January 22, 2024 Have we been lied to? America’s war machine and the Beast

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 000 1 Cor 11:17-34 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 10 Commandments 2 Corinthians 2 John 2 Peter 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy 3 John 666 Abortion Acts 2:42 Ahmaud Arbery AIPAC All Saints Day America antisemitism BDS Beast Betting Bible Bible study Biblical Interpretation Biden Book of Acts Boycott Campus Protests Catholicism Ceasefire Chavez Ravine Christian Nationalism Christian Zionism Christianity Today Christmas Church Colossians Communion Convict Leasing Covid-19 Craig Blaising creation Crucifixion Daoud Nassar Deception Deconstruction Democracy Devotional guide Discipleship Easter Eden Education Election End-times Ephesians Eschatology Ethnic Cleansing Evangelicalism Evangelicals Evolution Fall Famine Fascism FIFA Freedom of Speech Galatians Gary Burge Gaza Gaza; Genocide; Boycott Genesis Genocide George Floyd Global Warming God's will Gospel Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Government Grace Great Prostitute Hamas Harris healthcare Hebrews HeGetsUs Holy Spirit Holy Week Honor Father and Mother ICJ Immigration Indigenous peoples day Iran Israel Israel Palestine Itamar Ben Gvir James Jesus Joel Willits Jude Just war Justice Kamala Harris Kingdom Of God Kings and Queens land of Israel Law (OT) Lazarus Les Miserable LGBTQ+ Love Luke Mahmoud Khalil Man of Lawlessness Mark Mark of the Beast Marriage Martin Luther King Jr Mercy Mexican Repatriation Military-Industrial-Complex Ministry Mission Money NAFTA Nakba Netanyahu New Creation New Testament Nicaragua Nicodemus Non Violence Occupation Pacifism Palestine Parable Paul Peace Pentecost Peonage Philemon Philippians Politics Poor Power Prayer Pride Month Priests Pro-life Propaganda Prophesy Prophet Qatar Queen Elizabeth Racism Reconstruction Redemption Reformation Resurrection Revelation Roe v Wade Romans Romans 13:1-7 Rome Russia Sabbath Samaritan Seals Sermon Settlements Slavery Spiritual gifts Taxes Tent of Nations Terrorism The Beast Theology Titus Torture Trump truth Ukraine Uncategorized Veteran's Day War Warsaw Ghetto wealth Wedding Women World Cup 2022 Worldview Worship Wrath Yemen Zionism

Select a Month September 2026 May 2026 February 2026 November 2025 October 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 November 2016 October 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian group is known for its liturgical calendar?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Anglicans Baptists Jehovah’s Witnesses Methodists

Support this
Column