When Faith And Fury Collide
The story that unfolded outside a high-profile dinner in Washington stunned people because it mixed violence and a strange theology in one package. A 31-year-old man stands accused of aiming to breach a security checkpoint, and his online writings surfaced almost immediately. Those pages do not read like a quiet spiritual confession; they read like a theological argument that has been bent toward action.
Authorities say they have recovered writings connected to the suspect as part of an ongoing investigation into motive. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that investigators have “some writings,” adding the inquiry remains in early stages. He previously indicated the suspect may have targeted Trump administration officials.
He reportedly treated questions of faith like a courtroom and like a call to arms. The document also included a startling expression of thanks to his church and other personal affirmations that sit uneasily next to the violence. What makes it urgent is not just the act but the way belief was used to justify it.
Among some of the “objections” he purportedly responded to was a proclamation titled, “As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek.” He answered that objection with a long line that deserves to be seen exactly as written: “Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.” That sentence has circulated because it inverts a clear teaching and hands Christians a permission slip for retaliation.
Here is the manifesto in full, per the The New York Post:
Hello everybody! So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today. Let me start off by apologizing to everyone whose trust I abused.
I apologize to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for “Most Wanted.” I apologize to my colleagues and students for saying I had a personal emergency (by the time anyone reads this, I probably most certainly DO need to go to the ER, but can hardly call that not a self-inflicted status.)
I apologize to all of the people I traveled next to, all the workers who handled my luggage, and all the other non-targeted people at the hotel who I put in danger simply by being near. I apologize to everyone who was abused and/or murdered before this, to all those who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure.
I don’t expect forgiveness, but if I could have seen any other way to get this close, I would have taken it. Again, my sincere apologies.
On to why I did any of this I am a citizen of the United States of America.
What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.
(Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it.) While I’m discussing this, I’ll also go over my expected rules of engagement (probably in a terrible format, but I’m not military so too bad.)
Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest. Secret Service: they are targets only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible (aka, I hope they’re wearing body armor because center mass with shotguns messes up people who *aren’t*
Hotel Security: not targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me) Capitol Police: same as Hotel Security
National Guard: same as Hotel Security
Hotel Employees: not targets at all
Guests: not targets at all
In order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls). I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.
Rebuttals to objections:
Objection 1: As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek.
Rebuttal: Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.
Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.
Objection 2: This is not a convenient time for you to do this.
Rebuttal: I need whoever thinks this way to take a couple minutes and realize that the world isn’t about them. Do you think that when I see someone raped or murdered or abused, I should walk on by because it would be “inconvenient” for people who aren’t the victim?
This was the best timing and chance of success I could come up with.
Objection 3: You didn’t get them all.
Rebuttal: Gotta start somewhere.
Objection 4: As a half-black, half-white person, you shouldn’t be the one doing this.
Rebuttal: I don’t see anyone else picking up the slack
Objection 5: Yield unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Rebuttal: The United States of America are ruled by the law, not by any one or several people. In so far as representatives and judges do not follow the law, no one is required to yield them anything so unlawfully ordered.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to a great many people since I will not be likely to be able to talk with them again (unless the Secret Service is *astoundingly* incompetent.)
Thank you to my family, both personal and church, for your love over these 31 years.
Thank you to my friends, for your companionship over many years.
Thank you to my colleagues over many jobs, for your positivity and professionalism.
Thank you to my students for your enthusiasm and love of learning.
Thank you to the many acquaintances I’ve met, in person and online, for short interactions and long-term relationships, for your perspectives and inspiration.
Thank you all for everything.
Sincerely,
Cole “coldForce” “Friendly Federal Assassin” Allen
PS: Ok now that all the sappy stuff is done, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? Sorry, gonna rant a bit here and drop the formal tone.
Like, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.
What I got (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing.
No damn security.
Not in transport.
Not in the hotel.
Not in the event.
Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance.
I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.
The security at the event is all outside, focused on protestors and current arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before.
Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.
Like, if I was an Iranian agent, instead of an American citizen, I could have brought a damn Ma Deuce in here and no one would have noticed shit.
Actually insane.
Oh and if anyone is curious is how doing something like feels: it’s awful. I want to throw up; I want to cry for all the things I wanted to do and never will, for all the people whose trust this betrays; I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.
Can’t really recommend it! Stay in school, kids.
From a biblical perspective, this is a dangerous misuse of scripture. The Jesus who taught “turn the other cheek” did not hand out loopholes for violence; he called people into a witness that disarms hatred. The heart of the gospel is not revenge dressed as justice but a costly kind of love that refuses to mirror evil with evil.
That does not mean the Bible ignores justice or the need to protect the vulnerable. Scripture demands care for the oppressed and a refusal to bow to systemic cruelty, and it also sets a high bar for how justice is pursued. The problem comes when righteous anger becomes a cover for personal vendetta and when theological arguments are simplified into a justification for harm.
There is a pastoral dimension here that must not be ignored. Churches and leaders carry responsibility when individuals claim religious sanction for violence, and congregations must clearly teach what Christ modeled. Gratitude toward a faith community is understandable, but gratitude cannot be an endorsement of lawlessness or of taking life into one’s own hands.
We live in an era where political rage and cultural fracture make theological language combustible. Words about oppression and complicity are real and serious, and they deserve answers that lead to restoration rather than destruction. Turning righteous anger into a blueprint for violence is an ancient temptation, and it will always look convincing to someone who wants to be certain of being right.
The biblical call is to hold both truth and mercy together, to seek justice without becoming judges who mimic the criminality they condemn. Christians are called to stand with victims, to protest injustice, and to pursue systems change, but not to trade the Sermon on the Mount for a program of retribution. The witness of the church depends on its willingness to be distinct from the methods of those it opposes.
There is footage and discussion that have been shared online, and the manifesto and the responses it has generated are available for public scrutiny. Whatever legal conclusions follow, the deeper spiritual conversation must happen now about how scripture is read and how anger is channeled. A faithful community will refuse to sanctify violence and will choose a hard, costly way of truth that seeks life rather than death.