The gospel of Jesus Christ advances by witness and persuasion. False religion seeks to advance itself by deception or coercion. The sword cannot truly convert. A forced conversion is not a conversion of the heart; this is counter to the nature of God who is love. Because He wants our hearts, He wants us to embrace Him at the core of our inner being. He sends out grace and awaits our free response. Love can thrive in this non-coercive relationship. Those who have coercive control cannot create space or a place in which love can blossom. Empires advance by force; the Kingdom of God advances by true conversions.
“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:8–10 NASB)
