Hopped online to look for artwork featuring the “Blessed are the peacemakers …” verse from Matthew 5:9 in the Bible. Given all that I’ve been reading and listening to over the past few years, I really thought I’d heard and seen everything in terms of Empire America co-opting Jesus and his gospel, but I honestly could only stare with blank eyes at the images that came up on my computer screen.
Apparently Jesus was all about war, weapons, military, and law enforcement when he talked about being a peacemaker:






(I kid you not)
By the time I’d finished perusing dozens of similarly chilling images, another verse had come to mind: “Jesus wept.”