Stop calling the Hutaree a “Christian militia”
We’re learning a lot about the Hutaree, a group of vigilantes in the northern Midwest that styled themselves a “Christian militia.” Among other things, we’ve learned that there is nothing Christian about their statements, plans, or actions.
Nine members of this group were arrested and charged with “seditious conspiracy,” or plotting to wage war against the United States, as well as attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosives and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. The group appears to be organized to fight the Antichrist, which they’ve determined to be all authority figures in the U.S. The Federal attorneys filed a 17-page document laying out their case against the Hutaree, which was persuasive enough that the federal magistrate agreed that they should be held without bail.
The filing alleges that the group planned to bring authority down by eliminating police forces to spread anarchy. The document claims they had plans that are truly chilling. One plan is that they would place a phony 911 call, kill police officers who responded, and then set off a bomb at the funeral to kill all the police who were in attendance. The filing said members also talked about “torching the homes of police officers and then shooting them and their families as they fled their burning homes.” The group was planning two training exercises in April and leader David Stone is quoted as saying that if any outsiders came upon these exercises they were to be killed. The group has found defense attorneys shameless enough to argue that this is simply constitutionally protected free speech.
I’ve yet to see a news story that doesn’t refer to these lunatics as Christian. Stop it.
Am I saying these people aren’t Christians? I’ll leave that up to God to decide. But I am definitely saying that there is nothing in their attitudes or actions that are even remotely related to the teaching of Christ, and it’s unfair and deliberately misleading to continue labeling them in a way that smears Jesus by association.
Jesus lived in a time and place in which his people, the Jews, were under occupation by the Romans. They were miserable and oppressed, and wanted Jesus to overthrow the Romans and rescue them. He refused, focusing his attention on individual souls, attitudes, and lives.
Enough blood has been shed over torture and abuse of the Bible’s teachings. The Muslims still hate us for the horrible killings in the Crusades (which falsely claimed Christianity as their authority), and it’s hard to blame them. I live in what was the wild West. It’s hard to imagine a time when a gun control law could pass in Colorado. That’s fine, but make sure you’re putting those guns to appropriate purposes or don’t claim the name of Christ.
