Easy
That is an easy one. Simply by applying it to Jesus other teaching you know that Jesus told his follower Peter to put away his sword, as depicted in Passion of the Christ.
Point being, when you read the context of the passage, mother against daughter, father against son, you know that he was referring to the sword of truth. That following him would bring strife between even families. And to this day, that is the case.
Jewish people who turn to Christ, are even now, ostracized by their families. Jesus was saying most will face the suffering for their faith, much like Stephen was murdered for his faith, or like the missionaries in China during the boxer rebellion were killed for their faith. Because? They have the sword of truth.
Clearly Jesus never meant a literal sword or he would not have said
"My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." John 18:36
Again... if someone is a true follower of Christ, he would obey that verse, and understand they are not to fight for dominion, like the crazy people you quote.
Btw, for what it's worth, given the number of crack pots out there claiming this and that while saying they are Christian... I totally understand your view. I too have met many people who say the words, hold the book, sit in church, but act nothing at all like the man they claim to follow.
I can only hope more people actually follow the words of Christ in the future.
