The Messiah

Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion!
Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem!
See now, your king comes to you;
he is victorious, he is triumphant,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will banish chariots from Ephraim
and horses from Jerusalem;
the bow of war will be banished.
He will proclaim peace for the nations.
His empire shall stretch from sea to sea,
from the River to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 9: 9 - 10

This is the Messiah that we know - the one that puts an end to the old man with his stew of violence he keeps boiling in his heart. We do not seek an "outlet" for this violence, to moderate it by lowering its pressure. We seek an end to it. It's residue constantly pours out of us. When we fail to conquer it, when we justify it, eventually it boils over into the war the Iraq, becomes hatred of the Tutsi and the blacks in Darfur, or the Muslim down the street.

Those who believe that God has led them into the war in Iraq are not worshipping the God of Jesus Christ, but something in their own fear-dominated hearts. The God of "Left Behind" is an idol in the precise sense of the word, something external to our souls that commands, punishes and kills, much as the ancient Aztec gods demanded the sacrifice of a thousand hearts ripped from the breasts of the weak and defenseless each year.