The Savage Sword Of Jesus?

Sometimes you have to switch tactics to make your point.

For the last few years I’ve been trying to help American Christians understand who Jesus is and that He isn’t a Pro-War, American Capitalist. I’m not making much progress, it seems.

But then I ran across this article about a new comic book being created called “The Savage Sword of Jesus” and it sounded like what some American Christians believe. [This is not a joke]

Here’s a little about the comic from an interview with writer Grant Morrison over at Vulture Magazine:

“In an interview with Vulture, Morrison revealed his idea for this controversial take on Jesus Christ came…when he uncovered a Nazi project called Positive Christianity, which “recast Christ as a proactive Aryan rather than a meek Jew.” The title and physical look of the Messiah are inspired by a “Conan the Barbarian” series.”

“Obviously, I had done a lot of research for that one, and I just came across this interesting idea that during the Second World War, the Nazis had attempted to rebrand Christianity, and rebrand Christ, specifically. Take him away from the gentle and peace-loving character of the Gospels, and to transform him into a Nordic and brutish and violent Messiah.”

“The idea of stories being changed to fit a narrative rings true with Morrison, especially in this current political climate: “We’re living in a time when it’s quite clear how even the most pacifist stories or narratives that one time were a lot more positive, can be perverted to stand in as catalysts for violence and mayhem. Especially now that we live in a world where we’ve seen that lies can easily be overlooked, and where celebrity culture is more powerful than the truth, and where people can quite happily twist any narrative to suit any new narrative, and almost twist narratives into their complete opposites, which is what the Nazis tried to do with the Gospels.”

Sound familiar? To me, it sounds frighteningly familiar…

Because so many American Christians have pretty much already done this theologically. They’ve created a version of Jesus that is pro-war, who approves of violence, who condones torture, who turns a blind eye when we turn away refugees, and who can’t stand “sinners”.

Anyone who reads the actual New Testament scriptures will find that Jesus isn’t any of those things.

This is why the “Savage Sword of Jesus”comic should offend anyone who truly embraces Jesus for who He actually is.

It should also offend Christians when someone equates following Jesus with embracing violence, oppression, war, and nationalism.

But for some reason it doesn’t.

This is why I’ve said the greatest threat to Christianity in America is American Christianity. Because it looks so little like Jesus.

But sometimes it takes someone like Grant Morrison – who is NOT a follower of Christ – to hold up a mirror to us and allow us to see the image we portray to the World around us; an image that looks less like Jesus, and more like Rambo, or Conan the Barbarian.

My hope would be that those who look deep into the eyes of this bloodthirsty Jesus will realize it’s nothing at all like who Jesus really was, or is.

And then maybe we could realize that it’s nothing at all like who we should be either.

So, take note:

The Messiah who was prophesied to come and bring peace, called the Prince of Peace, and whose Kingdom would call men to beat their swords into plowshares and study war no more, whose birth was announced by a legion of angels proclaiming “Peace on Earth, Good will to all mankind!”, and who came as a baby, and who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and wept over the city because they did “not know the things that make for peace”, and who taught that we should turn the other cheek, bless those who hate us, and love our enemies, and who rebuked the disciples when they wanted to call down fire on those who opposed them saying, “you know not what spirit you are of”, and who disarmed Peter, and who told Pilate that his “kingdom was not of this world, if it were [his] disciples would fight”, and who said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”, and who rose from the dead saying “Peace!” to his disciples….that guy?

Yeah, He’s totally pro-violence.

“The Savage Sword of Jesus Christ” is now available in Heavy Metal Magazine.

Keith Giles was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church 11 years ago, to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community.

Today, He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho, awaiting their next adventure.

His new book “Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible”, is available now on Amazon and features a Foreword by author Brian Zahnd.

He is also the author of the Amazon best-seller, “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb” with a Foreword by Greg Boyd.

Keith also co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast on iTunes and Podbean.

BONUS: Want to unlock exclusive content including blog articles, short stories, music, podcasts, videos and more? Visit my Patreon page.