Breaking the Cycle:
Christ, Conflict and the Misuse of the Macedonian Call
Pilate, the Pharisees, and a Misapplied Call
If you claim Trump answered your Macedonian call, how is that different from Pontius Pilate answering the “call” of the scribes and Pharisees to dispose of Jesus?
Even that would be an unfair comparison for by Scripture itself, Pilate demonstrated a sense of justice and decorum. (John 18:38; Matthew 27:24).
The Call That Was Never Made
Imagine, for a moment, if the Pharisees had been less self-righteous and had actually called upon the Lord, in the spirit of Isaiah where God Himself declares, “Come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18).
Imagine if they had descended from their thrones of moral certainty and engaged the lowly Son of a carpenter.
How radically different might history have been?
The Roads History Did Not Take
How radically different might history have been?
For one thing, there might have been no pogroms against Jews by a unified Judeo-Christian community.
Perhaps there no destruction of the Temple in AD 70—perhaps because Rome, under Vespasian, might have encountered a that may have appealed to him more. One he might have adopted as a means of binding his empire together: Centuries before Constantine.
Estranged Siblings of One Covenant
Imagine if they had climbed down from their thrones and sought dialogue with the Christ they dismissed: Perhaps Judaism and Christianity would have remained one continuous covenantal family, rather than estranged siblings (Romans 11:17 to 24).
Perhaps there would have been no Holocaust, the culmination of 2,000 years of theological contempt.
Alas, we can only imagine.
Perhaps even the later animosity between Islam and Judeo-Christian civilization might have taken a different shape, had the original custodians of revelation chosen humility over hostility.
What a True Macedonian Call Requires
The Macedonian call was legitimate because it arose from divine initiative, not human agitation.. It did not originate with Paul.. Not with Macedonian leaders.. Not with political or religious authorities.
Scripture presents it as God’s own interruption and redirection of mission.Paul did not manufacture the call.He received it.And he did not act on it impulsively.
Acts records: “We concluded that God had called us” (Acts 16:10)........“We concluded that God had called us”.
That phrase matters.
An Active Mission Already Underway
Before the vision, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were already preaching and strengthening churches in Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
Paul was not idle, confused, or looking for an excuse to escalate anything. He was actively engaged in ordinary, faithful mission.
Doors Were Explicitly Shut to focus his mind on What God truly desired. Scripture states this twice: “They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” (Acts 16:6). “When they attempted to go into Bithynia, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” (Acts 16:7)
3. Paul Waited at Troas
Only after being stopped in Asia and Bithynia (by the Holy Spirit Spirit), did Paul arrive at Troas, a coastal city—a place of pause. It is there, after obedience, frustration, uncertainty, and submission to restraint that the vision came.
4. The Vision
“A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying,‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” (Acts 16:9)
“A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying,‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” (Acts 16:9)
The call was visionary, not political. Specific not rhetorical. Peaceful, not militarized.
That has been my point all along.
When Narratives Become Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
We may not have authored the jihad or Fulani expansionism narrative, but we accepted it uncritically, amplified it rhetorically, and repeated it until it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. In doing so, we neglected the explicit biblical pattern for addressing strife, correction, and coexistence (Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14).
The Question That Must Be Asked of Us
If Islam is indeed a religion of violence, as many assert, and violence is its theological endpoint, then a question must be asked of us.
What are we?
If we are a religion of violence, let us say so plainly.
Let us abandon the Sermon on the Mount, discard the Cross, and embrace the sword (Matthew 26:52).
But if we profess peace, and yet attempt to answer violence with violence, we will fail every time, not merely tactically, but theologically (Romans 12:19 to 21).
Captives of Human Reasoning
Until we learn again to ask, “What would Jesus do?”, we will remain captives of human reasoning, which Scripture explicitly warns against elevating above divine wisdom (Proverbs 3:5; 1 Corinthians 1:20).
As I wrote previously, and I restate it here.
“Christliness is either Christly, or it is Christly, or it is Christly, Christly, Christly, Christly. It never takes a vacation and becomes less than Christly, not for any reason in heaven or on earth.
This is why we must remain wary of un-Christly personages who present themselves as saviors of Christianity.
God has always used the unrighteous to chastise the unrighteous (Habakkuk 1:6; Isaiah 10:5 to 7).
The moment we suspend the character of Christ in pursuit of expedient solutions, we position ourselves for judgment at the hands of those more wicked than ourselves.
Judgment begins in the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).
I trust you grasp my meaning. You are a journalist of note, and therefore a custodian of moral framing.
Authority Without Discernment
You also know my long-held view regarding the Christian Association of Nigeria.
By their fruits, they should more accurately be described as the Church Owners Association of Nigeria.
Whether by intent or by negligence, they have defined the Christian-Muslim question in Nigeria so poorly that effects have been mistaken for causes, and those effects have multiplied into larger crises (Matthew 7:16).
Thus, a snowball has become an avalanche.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
I did not intend to write all this.
I am merely yielding to what Scripture calls the prompting of the Spirit, who even now seeks men willing to break cycles of vengeance and restore the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to the Church (2 Corinthians 5:18 to 19).
I rest.
Don Kenobi
December 24th-2025
