Please. Call them crazy. Call them confused. But don’t call them Christians.
Bob WeathersIn March, federal agents raided homes in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio belonging to members of a militia group called the “Hutaree,” seizing stashes of weapons, drugs, materials for making bombs, and Nazi and white supremacist publications. Arrested along with militia members was their leader, David Stone. Stone had been the object of a sting operation that snagged him on tape proclaiming war against the police and the U.S. government. His short-term strategy was to kill a police officer and at the funeral to kill the crowd that showed up to mourn. Thankfully, we don’t have to know what his long-term strategy was.
Most Americans can back away from the news accounts of this perversion of patriotism with appropriate disdain, but without much of a second thought. Just another case closed. More crazy people locked up. But Christians don’t have that luxury. We should take a second look.
The name “Hutaree,” is a neologism, a “new word” invented for this militia apparently because they couldn’t come up with a real word to describe their delusion. Their claim is that “hutaree” means “Christian warriors.” And they say they were founded to fight the Antichrist, whose ground forces, they believe, include America’s police and federal agents. Talk about giving Christian warriors a bad name.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m as anti-Antichrist as the next guy. But this is what happens when bad theology gets rabies. And it gives the public one more instance to believe the media’s caricature of Christians as either legalistic, moralistic meddlers or crazy, unthinking followers who live on the fringe.
The story of the “Hutaree” screams the necessity of sound doctrine. What you believe drives your actions, so real Christianity should shine against the distortions. Are we at war? Certainly. With spiritual forces. And your prayer life and knowledge of scripture should show it (Ephesians 6:10-20). Will we be unpopular? Absolutely. Because our behavior is countercultural and our love is confrontational (Matthew 10:22; John 13:35). Should we engage the forces of the Antichrist? You bet. Actively, aggressively, daily taking ground from the enemy with the most powerful weapon at our disposal, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Know what you believe. And live it.