‘An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” – Winston Churchill.

What is it about some of us who simply refuse to accept the evidence and recognize that some people are truly evil? It’s as if we have a mental block that prohibits us from seeing or saying the truth about someone if it will be considered “negative”. Jesus tells us to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, but often we’re so focused on the last half of that statement that we won’t apply the wisdom God gave us to make judgments about people who do evil things (Matthew 7:1-6).

Absalom was a very charismatic and charming person, but he was also deceitful and devious – a crocodile. We’ve seen how he hid his anger at Amnon, and waited two years before setting him up to be murdered (2 Samuel 13:23). At first David was angry and refused to see Absalom for a total of five years before reconciling (2 Samuel 14:33). But the crocodile wasn’t full because Absalom began preparing his revenge against his father and spent four years stealing the hearts of Israel (2 Samuel 15:6-7) before calling them to rebellion (2 Samuel 15:9-12).

Despite all Absalom did, and that victory for Absalom would mean the David’s death, he couldn’t bring himself to order Absalom to be killed. Instead as the army went out he begged them to be “gentle” with the “young man”, who by that time was probably close to 40 (2 Samuel 18:5). This plea so upset the soldiers that when they found Absalom caught in a tree they didn’t have the nerve to kill him until Joab came along and struck the first blows (2 Samuel 18:11-15). Sometimes we have to stop appeasing and get on with the unpleasant task of killing the crocodile.

As Christians we must understand that’s a spiritual metaphor for a relentless determination to kill off sin in our lives, in our own hearts. It is not justification to use force against others. The Bible prohibits Christians from using even the threat of violence against unbelievers, or believers who have fallen away.

It’s a mistake to align ourselves with political parties and governing bodies in an attempt to force people to act like Christians, instead of trying to persuade through proclaiming the truth in love. People will be angry at us for telling them the truth in love, let’s make sure that’s why they’re angry, and not because of our political positions. Plus, political parties and governing bodies are crocodiles too, and are already turning on us in their insatiable appetite for power. Let’s kill the crocodile lurking in our own heart and let God deal with the ones in the world.