Do you remember Jerry Boykin’s bromance with a manly Jesus? Back in November of last year, Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin (retired), said,
[Jesus] was a man. He was a man’s man, but we feminized him in the church…he was a tough guy and that’s the Jesus that I want to be like. That’s the side that I want to be like. But we’ve feminized Jesus in the church and the men can’t identify with him anymore; not the kind of men that I want to hang out with, they can’t identify with this effeminate Jesus that we’ve tried to portray. He was a tough guy. He was a man’s man.
Apparently, the only thing that makes this manly man’s man of a Jesus more manly is proud (and Godly) ownership of an AR-15 assault rifle. Speaking at the WallBuilders’ Pro-Family Legislators Conference, on February 18, Boykin said,
The Lord is a warrior and in Revelation 19 is says when he comes back, he’s coming back as what? A warrior. A might warrior leading a mighty army, riding a white horse with a blood-stained white robe … I believe that blood on that robe is the blood of his enemies ’cause he’s coming back as a warrior carrying a sword.
The first thing that might be noted here is that Revelation is not one of the gospels purporting to repeat the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The Book of Revelation is nothing unique for the end of the first century, when it was written. At that time, end of the world was a popular genre. Just as there were gospels that never made it into the biblical canon, there were other end-of-the-world revelations that failed to make the cut, and some of these others survive. Both Christians and Jews wrote them. Judaism gives us Daniel, but also 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra, and Christianity The Shepherd of Hermas and the Apocalypse of Peter.
Some Christians believe that Revelation was written by Jesus’ own disciple, John son of Zebedee, but even in the third century this was shown to be false, by Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria, who pointed to the differing writing styles of Revelation and the Fourth Gospel, not to mention error-free text in the Gospel and Epistle of John compared to the “barbaric expressions” and grammatical errors of Revelation. Does God speak perfect Greek? Not sayin’, just sayin’. Remember, even in the ancient world, not every Christian thought every book that is now part of the Bible should be in the Bible. In other words, Since men decided which books would make the cut and which would not, Christians have a right to challenge any authority assigned to Revelation, or any other book in the Bible. Some first century guy eating shrooms and having a bad trip is not justification for a weaponized Jesus. This is the guy, after all, who said “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9):
And I believe now – I’ve checked this out – I believe that sword he’ll be carrying when he comes back is an AR-15.
The old slogan is that, “God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal.” That could be changed now to “the AR-15 made them unequal” because only God’s true warriors, led by Jesus himself, will be armed with AR-15s.
Curiously, Boykin says he has “checked this out” but does not explain what he means by that. How did he check “this” out? Did he put in a request for clarification to God? Did Jesus call him up and fill him in on technological changes to the meaning of the text?
Now I want you to think about this: where did the Second Amendment come from? … From the Founding Fathers, it’s in the Constitution. Well, yeah, I know that. But where did the whole concept come from? It came from Jesus when he said to his disciples ‘now, if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.’
That’s one the Founding Fathers never saw coming, at any rate. Did you know bowel movements come from the Bible too? It’s true. I mean, c’mon man.
I know, everybody says that was a metaphor. IT WAS NOT A METAPHOR! He was saying in building my kingdom, you’re going to have to fight at times. You won’t build my kingdom with a sword, but you’re going to have to defend yourself. And that was the beginning of the Second Amendment, that’s where the whole thing came from. I can’t prove that historically and David [Barton] will counsel me when this is over, but I know that’s where it came from.
Wow, David Barton will counsel him…one guy who knows absolutely nothing about history is going to counsel another guy who knows absolutely nothing about history. How reassuring.
But the best is saved for last. Somehow, all this comes down to gun ownership. Yes, Jesus himself wants you to have an AR-15 so you can be identically equipped with the Lord God Jesus Christ Almighty. It’s all the rage in Jerusalem:
And the sword today is an AR-15, so if you don’t have one, go get one. You’re supposed to have one. It’s biblical.
Reading tripe of this sort, you can see why Boykin is such a good fit at the Family Research Council, where the motto ought to be, Ignorance is Bliss.
It is no surprise that Boykin disregards the Jesus of Matthew 5:9. In fact, there is not a Religious Right figure alive who ever cites the Beatitudes. Why would they, when Jesus said such namby pamby, feminized things as “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Manly men who do manly things with other manly men, like Jerry Boykin, don’t talk like that.
I mean, look at James 3:17. It is obvious why Boykin prefers Revelation over James:
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Submissive? Impartial? Get outta here! Manly men don’t talk that day? Boykin don’t do dat!
On the other hand, there isn’t a lot of wisdom to be found at the FRC, or in Jerry Boykin’s head, which is filled less with the words of Jesus than with selecting targets for God’s wrath. Jesus would have to be a manly man indeed not to weep, seeing what has become of his gospel.
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