News report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_Fcz6C7V0

Whatever the legal outcome of this case, Christians should not applaud turning Scripture about healing — even one’s enemies — into a punchline, let alone from a pastor in his pulpit.

What a way to desecrate what some Christians call “the sanctuary,” that is, the place that houses the altar and is regarded as the most sacred space in a church building.

Neither Jesus nor his apostles ever taught revenge dressed up as “the obedience of faith.” Nor did they ever twist their own Hebrew Scriptures to excuse behavior that the New Covenant law of Christ clearly commands against.

In fact, when the apostles appealed to that spirit from the Old Covenant in 2 Kings 1:9-12, where Elijah twice called down fire from heaven upon his enemies, Luke 9:55 says Jesus “turned and rebuked them.” In a longer reading preserved in many ancient manuscripts, Jesus even says:

“You do not know what spirit you are of, because the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56).

When it comes to the laying on of hands in the New Testament, it is for healing the sick, restoration, and blessing — never for retaliation. Acts 28 even records Paul healing the father of a leading Roman official on the island of Malta, a man who was likely a pagan.

This reminds us of the garden, where Jesus rebuked Peter for striking the servant of the high priest. Luke 22:51 adds that Jesus touched the ear of his enemy (laid hands on him) “and healed him.”

Jesus did not teach his followers to use Scripture to belittle or excuse violence. Instead, he taught absolute enemy-love: “offer no resistance to one who is evil…love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you” (Matt. 5:39, 44).

Jesus also asked, “Why do you call me ‘lord, lord,’ when you refuse to do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).

And he plainly stated: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘lord, lord,’ will enter the Kingdom, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not mean, “Use Scripture to justify striking, or even killing, your enemy.” Instead, he said, “turn the other cheek,” “love your enemies,” and “pray for anyone who mistreats you” (Matt. 5:39, 44).

These New Covenant laws from Jesus show the qualities of character and behavior required for those who hope to enter and possess the coming Kingdom. That will be impossible if we do not practice what Jesus and his apostles preached, or if we disregard or twist their words, since salvation is given to those who obey Jesus (Heb. 5:9; Acts 5:32).

So when a Christian — worse still, a pastor — twists Scripture into a joke about attacking his enemy, he is acting as a false teacher. Such conduct belongs to the works of the flesh, not the fruit of the New Covenant spirit.

In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul lists “enmity, strife, outbursts of anger” among the works of the flesh and warns: “those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

And Paul echoes Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Romans 12:14, 17-21:

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Do not repay evil for evil…Do not avenge yourselves…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”