What type of mind would interpret the vertical pen-and-ink figure below as a symbol of Jesus, as a symbol of the teachings of Jesus, as a a symbol of faithfully following Jesus, as a symbol of an act that is in conformity with Jesus and His teaching? Well, by the persevering labors of their Churches and Churches’ leaders, who possess that type of mind or are possessed by it, the overwhelming majority of Christians over the last seventeen centuries, up to this very hour, believe just that. There were many times in the past when Church elites and secular elites would sit together in places of honor to approvingly watch such an act as symbolized below, thereby awarding it the civil and the ecclesiastical seals of approval. In fact at one time the Catholic Church even handed out plenary indulgences to the Catholic in the street for taking time out of his or her day to come and observe the will of God being done, the truth of Jesus being proclaimed and the Church and State alliance working harmoniously for the common good by executing this act. Few Churches in Christianity–and that includes the Catholic Church and most of the so-called peace Churches–have, as of today, walked away from the act symbolized here because it is a gravely intrinsically evil act in total contradiction to the will of God as revealed by Jesus.
-ECM
