Constantine, Crusades, and The Christ

I'm currently reading a book for my Western Religions class about Islam, Judaism, and Christianity called "The Children of Abraham". A book which I could probably blog over for a good while considering the way the author likes to intertwine all three religions and dissect them to a point where there are no defining lines left. However, I ran across something tonight that just about moved me to tears. I was reading about Constantine's "conversion" (speculative) and the dream he had before he claimed the name of Christ. He was on the war path and in the dream he saw the vision of a cross and a voice told him, "In this sign you will conquer." Taking the voice to be Christ's, Constantine converted and from then on he fought "in the name of the Lord." When I read this my stomach churned, and the more I thought about it, the more I did not like it. When was Jesus a promoter of political wars? When did he ever endorse a country's desire to spread its dominion? Yet he tells one of the greatest emperors of Rome to conquer by way of the cross?? And was it not in a Roman ruled Jerusalem where Jesus spoke to Pontius Pilate telling him, "My kingdom is not of this world."? And so begins one of the earliest smearings of Jesus' name. The cross going forth as a good-luck charm that guarantees victory in war. And the opposing country's first notion of Christ is that he is the war god of Rome coming to kill them. Lovely Constantine....just lovely....

But the book had another quote that hit me even harder. "The pope, as the vicar of Christ on earth, had the authority to order even non-Christian sovereigns (Muslims) to admit preachers of the Gospels into their lands, and, if they refused, to authorize Christian princes to use force to effect their entry." HOW CAN THIS NOT NAUSEATE A TRUE LOVER OF CHRIST? At this time in history - sadly so - the Roman Catholic church was seen as the representative of Christ. People who claimed otherwise were burned or excommunicated. And in this quote we see their idea of missions: "I command you to let us into your land so we can preach about Jesus, and if you don't we will kill you until you let us preach the gospel." Consequently, in this era, the "church" was not seen as the body of Christ on earth; dying to themselves, loving those who don't know the truth, pursuing the souls of the lost, preferring their own death over others. Nope. The "church" was seen as an army of armor-clad catholic knights bearing a cross on their chests as they slaughtered their way into a foreign land to preach (with words only) a gospel already ruined by their actions. What gospel is this? How is this different from the world? How will you have disciples if you have already killed them?

I read this all as history dawned on me: The church was dark and nearly snuffed out for almost 1200 years. Catholicism reigned and the most "Christ-like" figure the "church" had to offer was the pope who sat atop his throne wearing the finest silks and eating the finest foods, living in the finest houses. His subjects kissed his rings and his toes as he represented the God-man Jesus Christ who said, "Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves." And the same Christ got down on his knees and washed his disciples' feet. The same Christ that said, "I have not come to be served, but to serve."

Let those who have been truly reborn pray that God would sovereignly heal the wounds of what has been done in Jesus' name in the past. Let Him grant us favor with those who have seen "Crusader Jesus" before they heard about the Cross of Christ.