An excerpt from: Violent Men of God - The Story of my Life as a Motorcycle Club Enforcer, and What it Taught me About Jesus -by James Disciple Johnson

Some of the most prominent men of the Bible, who accomplished the most for God, were violent men. I think of Moses murdering a government employee, hiding the body, and going on the run from the law in Exodus 2:11-14. Or King David, who was told by God he could not build the temple because there was blood on his hands (1 Chron 22:8), he was a soldier who fought war after war to solidify the Jews in their land.  Reading from 2nd Samuel 23:8, you get a picture of the incredible violence of the mighty men who accompany David. And yet God calls David a man after his own heart in Acts 13:22. Think of Peter, with his ready temper, slicing off the ear of the man who comes to arrest Jesus in John 18:10. And yet he was the rock that Jesus built His holy church on. How about the Apostle Paul? He is described as violently persecuting the church, and executing its members in Acts 26:10-11 among other places. And yet these men are responsible for writing vast portions of the Scriptures.

These men were zealous in their faith. The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon in his famous sermon 'Holy Violence' given May 15th, 1859 (find it on the internet, its a great read) put it this way: "Those who have received the Spirit in verity and truth are violent men. They have a violent anxiety to be saved, and they violently strive that they may enter in at the strait gate. Well they know that seeking to enter in is not enough, for many shall seek to enter in but shall not be able, and therefore do they strive with might and main."

I see this in converted Christian bikers. In the world, we were sold out to sex, drugs and violence, a miserable life, that we only escaped by the grace of God. And now that we have received forgiveness, and the blessing of redemption, we are every bit as much sold out to reach and save The Lost, who walk in the world we were once in. We are under the attack of the enemy, as we reach into the lives of those he controls, as we walk back into the familiar sleazy world which we once walked in, and encounter the very vices which once brought us down. We are at war violently with our own selves, with our flesh that craves and desires the things we were once sold out to. We are at war with the enemy who seeks to distract us from our mission, and tell us that we are not worthy of the saving grace of God. We must fully press in, we must desperately seek the Spirit of God, we are at war for lost souls. We are violently at war lest we slip back into our old ways. We must fight to retain our grasp on spiritual things. We must seize the Kingdom of God violently for ourselves, lest the claws of our wiley enemy drag us back into what we escaped from.

Matt 11:11 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (KJV)

Luke 16:16 The Law and the Prophets remained until John. Since then, the good news about the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone entering it is under attack. (ISV)

February 05, 2014 — James Johnson

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