The Vision

In the Western world today, the term “Christian” has lost all sense of relevance or credibility.  Everyone from the deacon who beats his wife and children to the pot-smoking gay rights activist considers himself to be members of the Christian family, regardless of the tenets of the Faith.  The term “Christian” itself is not as clearly explained in Scripture as many believe; being mentioned only three times and never defined in great detail.  A limited world view combined with a misplaced desire for tradition has caused the Church to be splintered into a thousand factions, all claiming to be keepers of the “true Faith.” Now we stand in the wake of schoolyard massacres, no-fault divorces and infant genocide with nothing to offer but dead tradition and books about the rapture.

The true Church is not responsible for these failures and misrepresentations, but has suffered for lack of definition regarding the responsibilities expected of a true “Christian.”  The world has taken this term and many others associated with it and conformed them to its fallen image.

Anyone holding to the original tenets of Christianity has been labeled extremists, radicals, zealots.

And so it began, the birth of the Zealot Movement, an underground cause dedicated to the power and love of the Gospel, protected against misuse by the core tenets of the Four Pillars.  No one can claim to be a zealot and a drug user at the same time, nor would he want to, considering the intensity of our opposition to that lifestyle.  The same goes for the lukewarm believer and his fornication.  The line has been drawn for the committed and noncommittal alike.  There is forgiveness, but God’s grace is not a place to wipe your feet.

Our weapon of choice is music.  Music, a force dating before the birth of man, is a sword with which we battle the powers of this world, and great for the breaking of chains and curses.  We wage war in the underground through music and we will shatter the walls of this world’s empire, dead to ourselves and alive in Christ.

We are children of the Sword, the face of Truth on a dying planet.  We are the worldwide tribe and at the feet of our King the nations will bow.  We are the pure and royal priesthood.  All that we put our hands to must prosper.  We are servants to man, relentless in our toil, driven by love of the Greatest Servant.  We are the Brotherhood of Christ.  Our family does not break like those of the fallen world.  We are the enemies of injustice and defenders of those without defense.  Our eyes are the coals of righteousness and our hearts burn with hatred for all that is evil.  We are the warriors.  We are the fearless.  We are the Zealots.

Like the ox, a zealot finds fulfillment in the direction and purpose found in submission to his authority.  He strives toward the power and holiness of Christ.  But unyoked, he is a wild beast, unfocused, striving toward nothing, a lost cause, free from destiny and bound by futility.  His every breath is wasted, a chasing after the wind.  He rages through the fields, roaring at the sun, his eyes full of a deep confusion, an emptiness too deep to describe.  He wanders the earth, searching for a home and healing, but finds only suffering and loneliness.  In the end, his strength fades away, and his twilight is spent in bitter regret, before he is gone, vanished like a summer rain and a memory to none. But harnessed, he is a powerful asset to his Master, and a part of something greater than himself.  He grows stronger daily in the yoke of his destiny, and he leaves his mark upon the earth; his toil is not in vain.  And when his work is done, and his life has found completion, he is loved and remembered by all as a symbol of strength and discipline.

The eagle is a symbol of divinity for many cultures, both modern and ancient, a creature great in stature and nobility.  Like the eagle, a zealot soars high above the base desires and politics of the world below, the carnal appetites of the flesh and mind.  He does not soil himself with the fruits of lust through premarital sex.  He is disciplined in his aversion to casual sexual contact, and detests the perversions of adultery and homosexuality.  He respects the sanctity of marriage and prepares his temple for only one love.  Should he falter in his flight or fall from it, he will surely rise again, his innocence born anew in the mercy of Christ.  He will never give up, for giving up is his only defeat.  His spirit has transcended his mind and body through meditation upon God's Word, prayer and fasting.  Though his desires are as a great flame, they are slaves to the discipline of his faith and creed.  His eyes are fixed on the prize, and he will run forever, if called to do so.

The lion is a master of all he surveys.  His kingdom is born of great strength.  such is the way of the zealot, to rule his temple with a forceful discipline, that his hope may come from God and God alone.  No drug is found in his body; his temple is clean.  He bears zero tolerance for the opiates of the World and opposes their peddlers.  Alcohol is used in moderation and within the parameters the law has set concerning it, but never leading to drunkenness, for drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.  He studies the science of his flesh, and strives to craft it into a better tool for himself and the Movement, shunning the pitfalls of gluttony and unhealthy consumptions beyond his diet.  Like the Apostle Paul, he beats his flesh and makes it his slave.  He surges with strength, and like the lion, has no need has no need of a crutch.

It is imperative that the principles and structure of the Movement be followed with utmost determination to ensure the purity of the vision, but the fourth pillar is the greatest of them all: the love of Man.  One of the greatest faults of the modern Church has been its talk of love without acts to fulfill it.  Christ's greatest attribute as a man was His unconditional love for mankind and the demonstration of it in His life and sacrificial death for our sins.  He did not just talk of love, but filled the world with it by his actions.  It is tempting to curse the world and wash our hands of any commitment to it, once we compare it to the glory of our holy God.  The world is an ugly thing, but we must always remember our origin, and how a Man more holy than all plunged headlong into it, to save our Godless souls from eternal judgment.  Therefore we must return in obedience to His great call, preaching the Gospel, baptizing, etc.  but learning from the mistakes our fathers made.  We zealots will not chatter with empty rhetoric and pleasing words.  We will go to the prisons and weep with those in chains.  We will embrace the fatherless and comfort the widow.  Our works will exceed our words, and the world will see the face of Christ in the fruits of our labor.  This is the greatest of the four pillars, the love of man.