LUKE 19:11-27 CALLS UPON JESUS' FOLLOWERS TO MURDER THOSE WHO DO NOT ACCEPT HIM

LUKE 19:11-27 CALLS UPON JESUS' FOLLOWERS

TO MURDER THOSE WHO DO NOT ACCEPT HIM?

WHY WORRY, IT'S ONLY A PARABLE?

A parable is just a story used to illustrate a lesson. It conveys a meaning by using an analogy. Jesus used a parable to order his minions to murder non-believers. Christian history shows the horrible bloodthirsty results of this lesson. Christianity fulfilled this lesson beyond the author's wildest imagination.

In the image of the parable Jesus told in Luke 19:11-27 (see below), he was the nobleman who became king. Jesus directed this parable toward the non-believers who made up his audience (verses 1-9). These enemy-citizens represented reject Jesus as king. In verse 14 they were called citizens, but by verse 27, through their rebellious refusal to accept the nobleman's (Jesus’) kingship, they are now considered enemies. Therefore, Jesus (the king in the parable) renders a judgment on the unfaithful and disobedient. Just as Matthew’s Jesus declared, "He who is not with me is against me . . ." (Matthew 12:30), Luke’s Jesus orders his followers to murder those who reject his rule―and to do it in front of him!

"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” (Luke 19:27 KJV)

Thus Christianity was molded with these words of Jesus for many generations thereafter. How could Christians ignore Jesus’ call to action when people, especially the Jews, steadfastly rejected the dead man-god? Christians saw this parable as a direct call from the lips of Jesus himself, to render a final judgment on those who dared to reject Jesus―the bloody slaughter of those who refused to carry the cross.

The tragic results of what is taught in this parable are recorded in the history of subsequent encounters of the people ― Arab and Jew alike ― with those Christians who followed Jesus’ order. Why do the Jews in particular suffer oppression at the hands of Christians? A gospel passage answers, "The Jews suffer persecution because of their refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah." See Mark 16:16; Matthew 3:7; Matthew 8:10-12; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 27:25; Luke 19:12-27; Luke 20:9-16; John 3:18; John 8:44; John 8:47; John 15:6; John 15:22-25; John 16:2, 3; Romans 11:28; I Thessalonians 2:15; Revelation 2:9-10)

Only one example should suffice to illustrate the success of Jesus’ teaching; “…bring hither, and slay them before me.”

Godfrey's conquest of Jerusalem―known as the “First Crusade:”

At the Council of Clermont in 1095 CE, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade (1095-1099); primarily to provide Christian pilgrims’ access to Jerusalem. Godfrey of Bouillon (c1060-1100) led the army that felled Jerusalem in 1099 CE and founded the Christian kingdom of Palestine. There are many recorded eye-witness accounts of the carnage in Jerusalem. Let us read just a little on how Christianity implemented Jesus’ dictates as set forth in Luke 19 (something your clergy and Sunday school teachers never told you).

From Gesta Francorum (The Deeds of the Franks):

“The defenders fled along the walls and through the city, and our men pursued them killing and cutting them down as far as Solomon's Temple, where there was such a massacre that our men were wading ankle deep in blood ... Then the crusaders rushed around the whole city, seizing gold and silver, horses and mules, and looting the housing that were full of costly things. Then, rejoicing and weeping from excess of happiness, they all came to worship and give thanks at the sepulchre of our saviour Jesus. Next morning, they went cautiously up the temple roof and attacked the Saracens, both men and women [who had taken refuge there], cutting off their heads with drawn swords ... Our leaders then gave orders that all the Saracen corpses should be thrown outside the city because of the stench, for almost the whole city was full of dead bodies ... such a slaughter of pagans had never been seen or heard of, for they were burned in pyres like pyramids, and none save God alone knows how many they were.” ¹

Raymond of Aguiles provided eyewitness account which shows the spiritual excitement that the carnage produced among these Chrsitians.

“Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shoot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted ... in the temple and the porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies.”²

And, to summarize the deeds of the Christians diligently following their pagan dead man-god, I offer the following comments.

The Jews were murdered along with the Muslims; many were huddled into the synagogues and burned alive.³ Thus was Jerusalem saved by the Christians from infidel hands. ⁴

This was only the first crusade, and the blood ran deep!

Do you recall the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers?” Think about these accounts the next time you hear it!

Remember the words of Thomas Sowell: "One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people are, and how dangerous it is to trust them."

All of this over an imaginary "Invisible Friend in the Sky."

"You do not need the bible to justify love, but no better tool has been devised to justify hate." -Richard A. Weatherwax

Footnote:

1. Knight, Honest to Man: p82-83

2. Armstrong, Holy War: p178-179

3. Robertson, History of Christianity: p167

4. ibid

Endnote:

Luke 19:11-27 (King James Version)
¹¹   And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
¹²   He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
¹³   And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
¹⁴   But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
¹⁵   And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
¹⁶   Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
¹⁷   And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
¹⁸   And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
¹⁹   And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
²⁰   And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
²¹   For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
²²   And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
²³   Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
²⁴   And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
²⁵   (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
²⁶   For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
²⁷   But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

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