“Beware of those pretentious jerks. They’re evil frauds you can’t trust. Given the chance, they’ll crucify you; trust me on that.”
So, who do you think made these remarks? Who would be so honest and direct? So openly and scathingly critical of other human beings?
Would you believe Jesus? Yes, that Jesus.
But, but, but … Jesus doesn’t speak that way about people!
Wanna bet.
The quote a contemporary translation of Jesus’ own biblical words, he said it, all right. Everything but the quippy artistic liberty taken at the end, which is nonetheless true, too. He was talking about the Jewish religious leaders of the time, specifically the “scribes”—highly educated scholars, lawyers, teachers, and professionals who were responsible for copying, preserving, and interpreting sacred texts, particularly the Torah, and for handling important government and legal documents. Advising Jewish religious leadership, the Pharisees, scribes were the community’s highly esteemed who, along with the Pharisees, held significant authority.
And yet, Jesus laid the wood to the entire evil lot.
Another time, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus began with, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” And then he went on a scalding and epic 27-verse anti-scribe and -Pharisee tirade. And yes, the text included the exclamation point, each time Jesus repeated the line: “… hypocrites!” So you can rest assured he was speaking boldly and unrepentantly, and wanted the criticisms heard, absorbed, and believed.
Interestingly, the remarks were then put in a book, the Bible, for the whole world to not only read, but, moreover, as an example of behavior for the entire world to adopt, for future Christians to adopt. Given his supernatural perception power and vision, well chronicled, it is certain that Jesus knew the remarks would be widely publicized and read, too. That the entire world would eventually see him laying the wood to these evil scribes and Pharisees, human beings he was supposedly sent to love, incidentally.
Don’t you think? That Jesus knew the entire world would be privy to his remarks, and would realize his truculent and exemplifying behavior toward evil human beings?
Me, too.
Jesus wasn’t kind at all to these people. In front of the whole world, no less, he called them lying “hypocrites” and “vipers,” said they were “ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing” who take advantage of others, specifically widows and the vulnerable. Basically, he called them evil frauds—all while they were presently standing in the room and surrounded by their peers.
Ouch. That stings.
In whatever type of world human beings exist, created or evolutionary or otherwise. These aren’t good people; they are nasty, evil people. And Jesus—yes, that Jesus—made certain everyone knew and understood it, too.
So, now that we know who Jesus really was/is, which should come as no surprise since it is right there in bold biblical print. We are compelled to rethink a common question: “What Would Jesus Do?” Posing the query, what people mean to imply is that Jesus would be patient and loving and kind, “love thy enemy and neighbor” and all that stuff, and that you should practice and exhibit those virtues, too, in your own interactions with other human beings.
Remember the rules of believership, these WWJD’ers are saying.
Remember what it means to be a “Christian,” a believer in God and follower of Jesus Christ.
Remember to behave as God expects, which is exemplified perfectly by his beloved son, Jesus, via his patience and loving kindness, always helping the lost sheep, the spiritually blind, the darkness-dwellers, the wayward and self-opposed, and whatnot. These WWJD’ers only want to put people on the proper behavioral course, to help them exhibit more “Christ-like” behavior. So under friendly if admonishing eyebrows, and in a tone suggesting you already know the appropriate peace- and love-related response. They ask: “So, what would Jesus do?”
Well, here he is publicly laying the wood to these scribes and Pharisees for being liars, hypocrites, and servants of Satan and evil. In direct opposition to all that peace and love stuff, it would appear Jesus is picking a fight. He knows exactly who these people are, and he is putting them on blast in front of the entire world, to which the condemned didn’t take too kindly, obviously.
Nevertheless, here is the point: just like all that peace and goodwill and “love thy neighbor” stuff, these opposing sentiments from Jesus, this very public introduction to the proverbial wood, are in the Bible, too. So why don’t preachers emphasize these remarks on Sunday morning like they do “loving thy enemy,” and all those other peace- and love-related Christian virtues? Why doesn’t Reverend O’Malley tell people they don’t have to put up with liars and hypocrites and evil people in their lives, communities, and countries? Why doesn’t he tell them that not doing so is in fact virtuous?
I mean, if evil isn’t opposed, if it is allowed to run roughshod and unchecked.
Anybody want to take a crack at the personal and societal outcome?
Anybody?
It’s true; Christians are supposed to be virtuous and different. A “special people zealous for good works,” as the Apostle Paul put it, and Godly/Christ-like examples for humankind and the world. But what are Christians supposed to do? Be sheep to the slaughter for these nasty, fake, evil people who despise them and obstinately seek their demise? Is that what we’re saying?
Christians are supposed to be perpetually agreeable suckers, turning the other cheek and giving away their wardrobe? How many cheeks and extra cloaks are Christians supposed to offer and give away, anyway? Before they get pissed off and break out the proverbial wood themselves?
Slap! Jesus loves you, friend.
Slap! And so do I.
Then: May as well have my underwear, too, friend. [Covering with a fig leaf] God bless.
Remember, after ransacking the temple for it being turned into a marketplace and “den of thieves,” Jesus set to healing people right there in the sanctuary, instead. These very scribes and Pharisees stood by and witnessed all these incredible healing miracles, being performed by the abundantly obvious Son of Almighty God, no less. And how did they react?
They were “sore displeased.”
Sore displeased. People being miraculously freed from their physical chains of blindness and deafness and disease before their very eyes, and these scribes and Pharisees, these societal elite, were not in awe and wonderment, but infuriated. Who feels this way amid a scene so beyond astonishing? Who gets enraged about it? Who could be this blind, inhumane, and soulless?
Evil people, that’s who. No interviews. No examinations into who this beyond extraordinary Nazarene might be. Just, “Crucify him!” Get rid of him!
Gee, wonder if any of the cured felt this way: the blind husband viewing the faces of his wife and family for the first time in his life. The deaf-since-birth woman who can now hear the laughter of her children; her tearful, aged mother who had always wished and prayed for such a miracle. The guy whose cancer is gone, and who now feels incredibly healthy and, along with his family and friends, finally hopeful. Then contrast this blissful scene with these scribes and Pharisees, standing there watching it all—stoic, pissed off, plotting the death of the miracle worker.
What I mean is, these scribes and Pharisees are precisely the evil types who would slap Christians into unconsciousness and skin them of their apparel. They couldn’t give a damn about Christ or Christians, either one—and not because these particular types are Jews, either, but because they are evil: servants of Satan. And to be more “Christ-like,” Christians are supposed to tolerate and indulge people like this? Are supposed to abide their evil BS?
Excuse me but, I don’t remember King David putting up with Goliath’s evil BS [readers might research Nabal’s BS, too]. I don’t remember God chastising or punishing David for it, either: “Now, now, David. I know you don’t understand the concept of ‘Christ-like’ just yet, but that wasn’t very Jewish of you.”
No, I remember David being encouraged and protected by God, and even made king.
A modern era Christian, David would have approached Goliath, taken a brutal slap to the face, smiled pleasantly, offered the other cheek, then taken another slap, then reoffered the other now red and swollen cheek. Then, finally on his hands and knees groggy from endless slapping, but still smiling pleasantly and supposedly Christ-like, he would have offered his cloak, then his shirt, sandals, pants, finally his underwear, and stood there naked and mocked to scorn for being a wuss.
Only, that isn’t what David did, is it …
He jacked Goliath in the forehead with a 100 mile-an-hour rock, instead, and then crudely excised his gigantic evil head. At least, that’s the story in beautiful, bold, and incontrovertible print. Furthermore, as David held Goliath’s expressionless skull in the air victoriously, the tendons dangling and blood dripping and eyes vacant, God was saying: Meet your new king, Israel! My chosen! And for all the Christian skeptics, those milquetoast, dogooder sorts discomforted by all this aggressive, supposedly anti-“Christ-like” talk. This from Moses, and yet another of God’s chosen:
“The Lord is a man of War; the Lord is his name.”
So, learn it. Love it. Live it. And get over it.
Christians need to learn (a) they live in the real world, a place that doesn’t suffer fools and weak people, and (b) that they don’t have to put up with the BS of that world’s evil people. And it’s not me, your humble writer, saying it. It’s Jesus—exemplifying it. In stark contrast to the Sunday morning sermons, he sure didn’t put up with it. Neither did King David and Moses, two of God’s chosen and beloved.
Religiously, people are sold this bill of goods about Christ and Christianity, and it’s not that that Sunday morning perception is inaccurate, necessarily. It’s just, incomplete.
Believe it or not, Christians can be believers who love and pray for their enemies, but who still put a foot in their enemies’ asses. There is King David, God’s chosen, doing it in the Old Testament. He is running all over the middle east swinging the sword, conquering cities, and collecting the heads and foreskins of his enemies, no less—with the Lord Your God right at his side. God never said believers and Christians had to be doormats for the world’s evil people. Sure, peaceful solutions are great. They are a duty, in fact, and every believer I know wants there to be one and seeks them. But what happens when your enemy has no interest in peaceful solutions? When your enemy is determined to flog you mercilessly and hang you on a cross, with utter glee and satisfaction, no less?
What? Christians are supposed to wait for the evil people to get tired of the slapping and consigned clothing? No, wait. I know: Christians are supposed to peacefully and patiently lead their abusers to Jesus. Yes, that’s it! Christians need to inspire a “come to Jesus” moment in evil people determined to destroy them.
Well, Jesus tried this conversion tactic, too. How did it work out for him?
Servants of the Most High God, Christians don’t have to endure any of this evil crapola. They don’t have to ever explain themselves to these abject evil losers, either. There is some explaining that needs to be done, all right. It’s the wicked explaining their evil BS, and accounting for it.
The Apostle Paul: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Translation: there is a limit to the evil BS Christians must endure from the world’s evil people.
These scribes and Pharisees, examples of the world’s evil people, wouldn’t know truth if it brought a dead man back to life and escorted from his four-day tomb. Servants of Satan and evil, there is no fact so unopposable and no evidence so compelling as to persuade them, either. Observing healing miracles and still wanting to murder the person performing them, these people, these scribes and religious leaders, are determined to be evil and resolved to destruction. And to the primary subject of this piece, who do these scribes and Pharisees unmistakably resemble modernly?
Liberals. Godless, evil liberals.
And don’t overlook the undeniable parallel between the old and new: all these people trying to destroy Jesus and ultimately Christianity are society’s professionally esteemed, wealthy, and celebrity elite. All those trying to murder the rule of law, the constitution, democracy, and everything righteously America, to include its president and God, are the nation’s political class by and large, its corporate media, and Hollywood celebrities. Or rather: society’s professionally esteemed, wealthy, and celebrity elite.
Same dynamic. Same evil. Different time.
Every evil known to God and man, every abomination, liberals either orchestrate, perpetuate, or tolerate, which is simple advocacy, incidentally. Liberals lie, cheat, and steal without consciousness or shame. Lecturing people not to do things, then doing those very things themselves, their hypocrisy knows no limits. Liberals are proud of their hypocrisy, in fact, call themselves more nuanced, and consider themselves intellectually superior for it. Liberals are for things, right before they are against them. No matter how much you try to reason with them, liberals reject logic, its sequential truth, and you. Because they hate you and your God and your Christianity, more than reason and truth and justice appeals to them. Liberals are not only the most immoral and dishonorable human beings on planet earth. They are proudly depraved and evil. And again, it isn’t your humble writer saying it.
It’s Jesus. Via his holy scriptures, it is Almighty God, too. All in clear, unambiguous and incontestable print. And again, Christians are supposed to tolerate and indulge these people and their evil BS?
No stranger to evil and its personal and societal repercussions, Russian Gulag-dweller, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, said, “Within the philosophical system [communism] of [Karl] Marx and [Vladimir] Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principle driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions.”
In other words, it isn’t just Godlessness that drives evil people like Marx and Lenin, but an actual hatred of God, which naturally includes Christianity and Christians [it’s strange because, how can you despise something you claim doesn’t exist? And why would you despise it? Why? Because your god, Satan, despises it, which means you believe in Satan but not God, as if you can have one without the other]. Whatever ideology, or cause, evil people subscribe to is just cover. They use these causes as a pretext for their rage and raging, which is aimed at God and all his creation, ultimately. Evil people don’t care about any stated “cause.” Consumed with hatred for life itself—for everyone and everything, including themselves—they want to rage, at God, and all who follow him. Thus, evil people are chaos creators and death worshipers.
As writer and podcaster, Keri Smith, finally put it regarding the more contemporary evil of modern Liberalism and liberals, “Leftism, marked by resentment, arrogance, and entitlement, always leads to murderous rage. Marxism has a death toll of upwards of 140 million, but its blood thirst can never be quenched.”
Unquenchable liberal bloodlust. That should set the table for Christians. What Smith is saying is communism and Liberalism serve the same evil, are of the same evil, and how many cheeks and cloaks are Christians going to offer up to satiate “unquenchable liberal bloodlust?”
Evil doesn’t seem this savage in the beginning because it is trying to gain a foothold and to avoid being rejected. Successfully rooted, however, the soulless, evil savagery begins to reveal itself. It manifests as fetuses being dismembered and tossed callously into medical waste dumpsters; as applause for assassins and the murderous death of opposing political activists; as hoping expectant mothers-to-be are ripped from bow to stern during childbirth and never use the restroom normally again; as advocacy for poisoning law enforcement and withholding surgical anesthesia services from people with opposing beliefs; and as storming church services in progress, and accosting and terrifying parishioners.
Dear God! You finally say, stunned by the ruthless, Godless barbarity. What is this inhumanity? Where is it coming from?
It’s evil, from the depths of hell and Satan’s servants: liberals.
Liberals don’t just disagree and leave it at that. They want your blood. They want you to suffer while you bleed out, too. Because, and here is something Christians need to hear and likely never have: liberals want evil to be glorified. Not truth. Not justice and righteousness. Not goodness or peace or love. Not Jesus or Christianity or Christians. And certainly not the Father of it all, Almighty God, the creator of all life. Christians haven’t thought of it this way because they, and human beings in general, don’t view the world as a fundamental duality, good and evil. In the human realm, we say people subscribe to ideologies, that they have been radicalized and brainwashed. We offer all these human, psychiatric explanations for human behavior. When in reality, human beings simply choose to do good or evil, to serve good or evil, to serve God or Satan.
In the end, at Armageddon, there are but two opposing forces. What are they?
Good and evil—squaring off in a final battle.
It is the culmination of a conflict that has been going on from the beginning, since time began. A battle that is going on right now, that will continue tomorrow, and the next day. Christians need to get their heads around that immutable reality and shake off this doormat paralysis, this virtuous “Christ-like” misconception that they need to tolerate and indulge their evil enemies. Christians don’t have to walk around spoiling for a daily fight, as liberals do. For the sake of their nations, communities, families, and lives, however. They need to be eager to get in one. Why?
Well, because that’s What Jesus Would Do.
©JMW 1/2026
All Rights Reserved
John Mark Warren 