Ninthly, he has said that if the Turks should invade the country, no resistance ought to be offered them; and if it were right to wage war, he would rather take the field against the Christians than against the Turks; and it is certainly a great matter, to set the greatest enemies of our holy faith against us.
This was the last of nine charges laid against Michael Sattler, early leader of the Swiss Brethren in the 1520’s. In those days, as well as the centuries surrounding the Reformation, the Roman church would arrest people for far less than nine items and have them tortured or executed if they did not recant—or even if they did depending on when they recanted or how grievous they thought the heresy was. This particular charge against Sattler was a major offense, but obviously more political in nature—recall that the church was quite tied to the state to the point where you could not distinguish the two—then the others. This last charge alone was likely enough to have the former prior arrested, convicted and executed, at least by the Roman church’s standards.
But, as with many of these similar situations, the Roman church was trying to make an example of the heretic, to show the people the egregious errors and what happens to those who act and believe contrary to the church. After conferring with his fellow prisoners, he responded with these words:
If the Turks should come, we ought not to resist them; for it is written: Thou shalt not kill. We must not defend ourselves against the Turks and others of our persecutors, but are to beseech God with earnest prayer to repel and resist them. But that I said, that if warring were right, I would rather take the field against the so-called Christians, who persecute, apprehend and kill pious Christians, than against the Turks, was for this reason: The Turk is a true Turk, knows nothing of the Christian faith; and is a Turk after the flesh; but you, who would be Christians, and who make your boast of Christ, persecute the pious witnesses of Christ, and are Turks after the spirit.
You might be wondering just how this declaration from Sattler fits into the Churches and Guns series. Quite well, actually; at least once I make a minor adaptation into my context. What Sattler said was spot on. But I will take it a bit further.
If violence is okay—if the use of the sword against others is sanctioned by Christ—and someone in my congregation took up a weapon against a violent person who stormed into our service, I would use what force I could against the Christian in hopes of stopping him from doing our enemy any harm.
Even if you leave the Scriptures as they are and declare a sanctioned use of force, we absolutely must show love to our enemies. Killing them is not showing them love. Maiming them is not giving them the loving witness of Christ. Someone outside of the perfection of Christ likely has no idea what the love of Jesus, the grace of God, the mercy of the Lord, looks like. They are Turks of the flesh. They are not citizens of the Kingdom, so how can they be expected to act like they were?
But a Christian knows full well—at least they are supposed to—the teachings and commandments of our Lord, Jesus. And for a Christian, a disciple of Jesus and citizen of the Kingdom, to disavow what the Master said and did, and take up the sword (or gun in this case) against the enemy instead of showing them true Kingdom of God love, is unequivocally not Christ-like. They are Turks of the spirit.
They are more the enemy of the Church than is the enemy.
