Overcoming the Scourge of Violence

"Violence will not be heard again in your land, Nor devastation or destruction within your borders; But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise." - Isa 60:18

A wonderful day is coming when God promises for Israel and for all His people violence will be no more. But that day is not here yet. And thus the people of God must learn to walk righteously in a world that is increasingly characterized by violence.

I've known for at least a year now that I would some day need to write about my journey and more important God's revelation re: the scourge of violence. During my quite time yesterday God made it clear the time is now. By the end of the day I had written six pages and had relived so many memories of my first 19 years of life. But my wife helped me see I needed to work more at clarity and precision. So Lord willing this second attempt will be an improvement in that regard.

So I started out yesterday in Psalm 11. What caught my eye in that Psalm and what must be the priority in any discussion about the scourge of violence in our land is first how God feels about it. And we see that clearly in Psalm 11:5b, "...the one who loves violence His soul hates." After meditating on this Psalm I read through every reference to "violence" and "violent" in the Bible and it became very clear that God indeed hates violence and those who practice violence as a lifestyle. I will post those Scriptures later under "resources"so you can acquaint yourself with them.

People who love violence or tend to resort to violence as a way of life need to know God hates and is opposed to such people. Do you realize that the primary reason God flooded the earth is because of the corruption and violence that everyone to one degree or another were walking in? “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”  Gen 6:11  “Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Gen 6:13 (my emphasis)

I don’t know about you, but I am increasingly thankful for the covenant of the rainbow that God established with mankind after the flood (see Gen. 9:8-17). Violence by the day is becoming a terrible scourge across the globe. And it is the pure mercy of God and faithfulness to His covenant that keeps Him from destroying our sick world once again.

Well reading Psalm 11 wasn’t enough to get me to interrupt my day to write about this, but then my next passage to meditate on was Genesis 37, wherein all of Joseph’s 10 older brothers - out of their hatred and jealousy toward him – wanted to kill their harmless younger brother. Actually Reuben was fine with throwing him and leaving him in a pit, but didn’t want to kill him – thinking that he would somehow rescue him perhaps when the other brothers were not around. So nine of them agreed together to kill him, but Reuben intervened. 

While I have deep regrets about how I engaged in violence (no I never murdered or maimed anyone) and seemed to have an early thirst for it, I was very thankful yesterday morning that at least three times when I intended to find and fight with various individuals (in my youth) the Lord did not let me find them and then I cooled off and/or got distracted with other things. As evil and violent as our society is today, it would be far worse without the merciful intervention of God. In heaven we will be shocked at how many times around the globe He intervened to lessen the destructiveness of violent people.

This story about Joseph’s brothers' animosity towards him is a sobering early example of many in Scripture of the danger of mob violence, mob mentality or the dangerous influence of others around us in inciting violence. I saw that in my next reading early this morning, which was Luke chapter 23 wherein the Jews in an ever growing unrestrained mob rage demanded that Pilate crucify an innocent man (Jesus), and demanded that he let a guilty (of violence and murder) man go free in His place (Barabbas).

King Solomon, an excellent judge of character, wrote, “A man of violence entices his neighbor And leads him in a way that is not good.” Proverbs 16:29.  Violent men love company. The more that join them, the less they have to pay attention to their guilty conscience and the more easily they can justify their evil and wickedness.

JESUS CHRIST knew no violence. Unlike Mohammed, the perverted and violent founder of Islam (a religion of violence not peace per its holy book - the Quran) Jesus Christ knew no violence. As the prophet Isaiah prophesied of Him, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”  Isa 53:9. (See also Isaiah 42:2,3).   

He knew no violence, He modeled no violence, He forbade violence among His disciples numerous times (including in yesterday’s Luke 22 passage when He was being unlawfully arrested by a mob and His disciples asked, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” (Luke 22:49). Peter not waiting for His answer struck the slave of the high priest and Jesus responding said, “Stop! No more of this.” (vs. 51).  When Samaria seemingly rejected Jesus, James and John asked Him if they should call down fire from heaven to consume them, and Luke notes, “But He turned and rebuked them,…” (Luke 9:55).

Violence (stimulated out of hatred or self righteousness or jealousy or resentment or self initiative or entitlement or pride) has never been pleasing to the Lord and it never will be. His ways are far higher and greater than that. Satan on the other hand lives to destroy and will stir up violence wherever he can. He lives to dehumanize and cheapen life and blind us from the fact that God created every individual in His image, and cares very much about how they are viewed and treated.

I learned to use my fists very early in life. My older brother before we had boxing gloves would get me to wrap towels around our fists and we would go at it usually until I cried for mercy. I started boxing with boxing gloves in elementary school and boxed off and on through my two years at the Univ. of TN (with friends and acquaintances). Muhammed Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard were two of my heroes and I watched their every move and tried to imitate it. It was not until many years later - reflecting on how Muhammed Ali treated and spoke so disparingly of Joe Frazier (not to mention his intense boasting at every opportunity) that I realized watching and listening to him was not helping me become like Christ. Eventually in my pursuit by faith and by His grace to be more like His Son I entered into a permanent fast from any aspect of boxing or fighting on T.V. or on the internet.

Ideally all of us boys would have been raised by fathers who early on taught us the value of every life in the heart and mind of God and who also taught us how to love, bless and pray for our enemies like Jesus did. But sadly many of us have been more raised by our friends, few of whom knew God or cared what He thought and how He felt.

Oh that parents were more vigilant about what their young children take in to their souls knowing and understanding how deep rooted these dark images can become...Oh that I would have been more vigilant in my early days as a father....

I have vivd memories of watching violence on the big screen or on T.V. from my early elementary days. Two examples are my first James Bond movie my parents took us to while on vacation in Florida, which contributed to my practice until probably ten years ago of watching every J.B. movie that came out. Another was watching a movie at home on T.V. with my Dad and older brother (at least) of Paul Newman being on the steps of a courthouse with a white shirt on and two guys coming up to him and beating him to a pulp and blood all over his white shirt.

While I take full responsibility for the decisions I made in those days, I now see how the enemy of my soul tried to deeply imbed in my spirit hatred, cynicism, sarcasm and a knee jerk violent response to any perceived injustice or slight – hoping he could eventually destroy me with such. Sadly I have many memories of fights off and on the basketball courts that I spent so many hours on growing up.

All of my violent tendencies though were not soley out of hatred. Some were more out of a longing to impress my older brother and his older friends. Some were to prove I was tough and not to be messed with. All out of a huge void of godly identity.

Thankfully a few months before my 20th Birthday God said "enough of this" and got me to move on my own all the way across the country to San Jose, CA, where He began the slow but sure process of cleaning me up. My heroes and models began to change and one of them was the Apostle Paul. How encouraging it has been for me to realize as Saul (before he was renamed Paul) he was full of rage and violence towards disciples of Jesus. He would go to great lengths to find and imprison men, women, young people and children merely for following Jesus - the non violent God man. Surely one of his great regrets in the rest of his life was that he was “…a persecutor and a violent aggressor” towards God’s people – the early church (see I Timothy 1:13 & Gal. 1:13,14). And yet how wonderfully Jesus transformed him into the loving and gentle and caring apostle and spiritual father he became.

Only Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God, could take someone like me and increasingly enable them to do what He commands all His servants to do as seen in my last reading this morning, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their sense and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” (II Timothy 2:24-26). I haven’t arrived by any means. But by His grace and cleansing blood I have made steady progress.

So God’s heart with any sin He speaks to us about is always to set the captives free. My reason for writing about this is to help us all see how awful a sin this is and then offer some suggestions on how to get free and clean from it. Sadly our society is bound to grow more violent as “lawlessness increases” (Matthew 24:12), and men grow more “…brutal, without self control” (II Tim. 3:3). But we don't have to be squeezed into their mold. Rather we can and should be transformed by the renewing of our minds (see Romans 12:2).

So here are a few things to consider when you are ready to take this seriously.

1.        If you are from muslim background, and you have been born again by the Spirit of God, if you truly want to become like your Glorious Savior, which is His will for you, you will need to let the Holy Spirit take you back to the roots of your hatred towards Jews and Christians and you will have to own up to and repent of "...every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God” re: them (see II Cor. 10:5).  I say this because an increasing number of my readers are from muslim nations for which I am thrilled. Some of the greatest evangelists, apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers in these last days are going to come from Muslim nations. But they will first have to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He helps them see where and how their inner attitudes first were formed as they grew up in their homes, neighborhoods, mosques and schools. And one of the big lies you were most likely told growing up is that Israel somehow stole their land from your people. All of us need to be crystal clear that ultimately no lands belong to any of us. God owns it all. They belong to Him! “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.” Psalm 24:1    Now God can loan any portion of His land to whomever He wants. And thus He has done with Israel. I see no Biblical case for God ever changing His mind about the land He gave His people Israel to steward. It does not mean He loves Arabs in neighboring countries any less. But for you to truly become like Jesus you need to feel about His chosen people the way He does and come to terms with His sovereign gifting of the land of Israel to them. And you need to feel the way God feels about anyone and everyone who seeks to harm Israel in any way. Scripture is full of warnings for such:

“Egypt will become a waste, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.” - Joel 3:19   

For all of you missionaries to muslims or national pastors in muslim nations, I would plead with you to not sweep this under the rug. If you have not thoroughly studied this biblically you might want to see the following posts re: God’s covenant choosing of and commitment to Israel:

https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/is-the-church-today-the-new-israel-august-3-2011

https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/is-god-done-with-israel

https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/the-core-issue-for-israel-and-for-the-u-s-a-from-jeremiah

https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/passages-for-or-against-god-s-covenant-commitment-to-israel

Finally, this sick and diabolical rejoicing and jubilation among Muslims when Jews are killed anywhere in the world merely because they were Jews must be repented of by those who would seek to be Jesus’s disciples. The Bible is clear (God help President Trump with this) that we are to have God’s heart even for our enemies and leave the meting out of justice to Him, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Or the Lord will see it and be displeased (lit. it is evil in His eyes), And turn His anger away from him.” Proverbs 24:17,18  See Jesus’s instructions re: one’s enemies in Luke 6:27,28.

Now please know none of this means God turns a blind eye when Israel acts unrighteously or unjustly. God’s choosing of them never gives them a license to walk in unrighteousness. The prophets are full of God’s rebukes of them and warnings to them. But none of that has affected His choosing of them nor His plans and purposes for them to the end of time.

2.        If you are not a muslim, but have grown up in a home where you were not intentionally and faithfully discipled by Spirit filled and godly parents, and you want to be absolutely free from the scourge of violence and its underlying roots of hatred, resentment, jealousy, rivalry, pride, etc., you also will need to allow the Holy Spirit to take you back and get to the roots of how these things were able to lodge in your heart and spirit. I have very early memories of observing violence and I remember engaging in a fight in my school classroom in second grade where I threw a desk at a fellow classmate, whom I did not like. My father took my older brother and I to semi pro Hockey games when we were young. I didn’t take to the sport that much, but I loved the fights and still remember them. All of these things and so much more were woven together in my spirit to cause me to downplay the seriousness of violence and to lean into violence. I had to repent of all of these things and ask repeatedly for God to cleanse me from them and the hard attitudes and mindsets resulting from them.  For us to effectively “…lay aside the old self…” (Eph. 4:22) we must allow the Holy Spirit to help us identify every vestige of violence, every shade, every facet of that old self.

3.        Find some mature believers you can confess your sins to and have them pray over you per James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”  It wasn’t that many years ago I had to reveal my ongoing struggle with violent nightmares due to my past (first 19 years and watching sports and movies beyond that until I finally stopped) in front of our homegroup, which was not easy to do. But it wasn’t until then that my nightmares began to dissipate.

4.        For you men – recognize that pornography is a form of violence towards women. It dehumanizes them and causes us to see them as mere sex objects existing for our sick pleasures. And research shows it can lead to actual violence towards women. Do not allow the evil one to convince you you cannot overcome this. He died for your freedom. His blood can cleanse and remove the deepest stain (see Revelation 12:11).

5.        Be willing to “cut off your hand” or “gouge out your eye” as the Holy Spirit directs you. We cancelled our cable T.V. on the day my mother in law died (she had lived with us for 14 years) and got rid of our “smart” t.v. soon after. I quit watching boxing many years previous to that. He will make clear to you what is necessary and when and how.

Ultimately when it comes to our sanctification the whole counsel of God is necessary and intimacy with Jesus must be our chief pursuit. May the Holy Spirit enable you to hate all forms of violence as He does and may He produce in you the very life of Jesus for His glory in Jesus’s name. Amen.