Earlier this week, conservative activist Upstate Johnnelle Raines made a fiery speech to the Pickens County legislative delegation – which criticized its Republican members for allegedly conspiring with “left-wing Marxists”.
Raines’ speech began by citing several passages of Scripture, including one that – at first glance – seemed to encourage violence by conservative Christians.
“Don’t think I came to bring peace on earth,” Raines told the delegation, quoting the words of Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospel of Matthew. “I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword.”
This verse seems difficult to reconcile with Christ’s ministry of love, peace and forgiveness – including his exhortation of “blessed are the peacemakers”, which was offered just five chapters earlier in the same gospel.
Nor, frankly, does the verse seem to be the most worthy passage from Scripture during times like this (more on that momentarily).
But first … what’s the problem with that verse?
I have always considered the reference to “sword” to mean the word of God – or the teachings of Christ – which is what the apostle Paul said in his letter to the church in Ephesus.
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God,” wrote Paul.
The context around the passage seems to reinforce this interpretation. After referring to the “sword”, Christ subsequently discussed how his ministry “would set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law”.
Since mother-in-law and daughter-in-law demanded any additional friction, right?
This means that some people will receive the gospel of Christ, others will reject it – and that there will always be conflict between the two camps. This conflict often leads to violence (you know, like the crusades).
It often leads to conflicts between competing Christian sects … including many “Christians” who burned other Christians at the stake.
Of course, as my pastor told me this week, “the church is not called to do violence, but it can suffer violence”.
My pastor also wisely indicated that such violence was “the result, but not the purpose of” Christ coming into the world.
So … Was the violence on Raines’ mind when she delivered her tirade to upstate lawmakers this week?
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(Via: Facebook)
In his observations, Raines (above) certainly suggested that it could result from Republican lawmakers “helping and encouraging our domestic enemies, the Democrats, who seek to overthrow our Republic and institute socialism”.
“It is terrible what you, good boys, will do to get along with the enemy,” said Raines. “This must end now! Stop … stop it … do you want to see people revolting in Columbia? “
“We have everything so far!” Raines added. “And we are so frustrated that the violence seems tempting and our only solution, as are our founders.”
Wow …
The same day Raines was giving his speech to Pickens’ delegation, leaders of a new limited government group – Veritas Voice and American Reformation – presented a letter of request to members of the Greenville County legislative delegation.
As my news media reported earlier this week, this letter also included an ominous and ominous rhetoric about what would happen if the state’s political leaders did not comply with the group’s demands.
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“The failure of South Carolina lawmakers, government leaders, agencies and departments to recognize and validate these facts will automatically create an environment that is likely to become a public security risk for all South Carolina residents,” Jon McMakin I wrote. “The pressurized emotional build-up of South Carolinians, over time, will be released or withdrawn, according to the decisions of the South Carolina governments to restore or restrict People’s Freedom.”
Given my libertarian and limited governmental inclinations, FITSNews tends to support many of the political positions proposed by groups like this … however, my website has consistently positioned itself against violence as a means of promoting them.
“Such acts or threats delegitimize these movements in our eyes … not to mention making their leaders hypocritical,” said my website this week. “After all, no one arguing in the name of freedom can threaten their deprivation for others as part of their agenda.”
According to our sources, Raines is particularly outraged that a “well-known liberal activist (Black Lives Matter) for social justice” – Lillian Boatwright of Pickens, SC – was recently appointed to the county electoral council.
“There were many other Democrats that you could have named (who) were not social justice warriors,” said Raines in his speech. “And you know that none of you would have stamped me as a member of the electoral council, because you know my conservative prejudice … but all of you have not tried hard enough for the governor to remove you.”
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(Via: Text)
Boatwright (above) did not immediately respond to FITSNews’ request to comment on this story, however, its name was recently mentioned in the context of an ongoing investigation by the SC State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) related to an anonymous correspondence that was allegedly sent to your workplace.
Raines told me that he had not been contacted by SLED about any anonymous correspondence. When I asked if she had sent an anonymous package to Boatwright’s employer, she replied “absolutely NO”.
However, I was told that some of the information included in the package was “identical” to the information that Raines previously distributed at a recent election commission meeting.
I haven’t been able to get an update from my SLED sources on the status of any Boatwright related questions, but I hope to have an update on that soon. So, check for updates again.
In the meantime, Raines is not withdrawing from her fiery speech – in which she stated that “Democrats ARE our domestic enemy … they are aligned with (a) sworn Marxists, BLM and Antifa Anarchist who really want crowd dominance. “
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“EXACTLY WHAT IS ‘DECENT’ to reach colleagues who are good at murdering babies and wanting to overthrow our Constitutional Republic and institute Marxism and Socialism?” she asked me in a follow-up exchange. “What is ‘DECENT’ about reaching colleagues who want to remove our first and second amendments?”
Again, I am not disagreeing with Raines in any of the positions she has in her heart. FITSNews has spent the last thirteen years defending life, freedom and limited government – and will continue to do so as long as I am its editor. In fact, this media unapologetically defended freedom of expression and rebuked censorship after the violent unrest that shook Washington, DC last week.
Surprisingly, these positions have become “controversial” lately … as well as the defense of religious freedom.
In fact, I sympathize much more with Raines’ frustrations over alleged electoral fraud than she can imagine … which is the focus of another great “article” I am currently working on, related to recent violence in the capital.
Where Raines and I diverge, however, is in our belief that violence should be practiced (or even entertained) as an option to promote those beliefs.
This is a bridge too far for me …
Likewise, I do not believe that disagreements on issues should lead to the massive demonization of individuals with whom I disagree. In fact, I believe the opposite – that we should work with those with whom we disagree where there is common ground. Unfortunately, this view is becoming more and more unusual among people of all political persuasions these days.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the site you are currently reading. For more of your columns, click here.
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