Afghanistan deaths...

Civilian Deaths...


Military Deaths...


The disparities of civilians vs military is heart breaking.
The disparity between our troops and the worlds....heartbreaking too.

Submitting your will to that of the state...good or bad?

Millions of citizens are deeply disturbed that the military-industrial complex too often shapes national policy,
but they do not want to be considered unpatriotic. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

I think it's patriotic to espouse the freedoms that our Constitution establishes as rights to it's citizens.

But all honest debate about policy, get's dicey, because there are fellow citizens, friends and family that have to follow orders related to that policy. If we reject as unjust, some action of our government...we are by association, accusing those who choose to obey those orders. There is no way around that issue.

An attempt is made to distinguish the disparity by saying things like: "I support the troops but not the War." This is an attempt to divide the issue of blame. Good folks don't want to be "against" people...soldier or senator...but in the end, one holds the gavel and another the gun. That fact makes the attempt to separate the act from the actor...extremely complicated.

Ultimately we are all responsible for our own actions. The gravity of that fact needs to be fully comprehended by anyone choosing to submit their will to the state.

If a solidier makes a vow to the government....they are bound by oath.
This is an issue that comes up in the debate about Christians being soldiers: Submitting thier will to that of the state.
Some would say that's an action that Jesus told His followers to avoid.

Matthew 5: 33-37
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

In the end, my wrestlings with these topics are not meant to "be against" someone...but against a system...but I know that in the fray, that isn't always clear.

Converted or Killed...?

"But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison...Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." -Acts 8:3 & 9:1-5

Imagine if in our day...God raised up another Middle Eastern force of global missionaries; handpicked from a group of fundamentalist, religious extremists...who are also breathing threats and murder.

Saul was such a man...and God changed Him from the inside out...and Saul...became known as Paul. Not a murdering religious zealot who would gladly stand over the infidels as they were stoned to death...but Paul, the self sacrificing missionary who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles. Eventually he would give up his own life for the gospel of Jesus, as a martyr for the faith he once persecuted.

But...for there to be a Paul...there also has to be an...Ananias.

In Acts 9:10-19 we have the story of how God used a disciple named Ananias to embrace and empower Paul through forgiveness, prayer and ministry.

At first Ananias was nervous about God’s call to him to reach out to this well known, violent religious fundamentalist. How could God be calling him to cross paths with one of the most violent religious aggressor against the fledgling church?

How could God be calling Ananias to endanger himself?
Would God require Ananias to risk imprisonment and possible death?

Yes.

As a result...God moved through Ananias obedience and Saul’s vision was restored and he was baptized. Out of those baptismal waters...came the Apostle Paul. A new man...with a new heart and charged with a new mission.

I believe that this world needs less people who think with “Bullet’s & Ballots” and more who embrace a mission minded God. The church is charged with finding her Saul’s who are destined to become Paul’s and more than likely the most influential and misisonminded will come from among the most radical and terrifying opponents of Jesus.

Behold...the mission field of God...who will go?


In the last 25 years, more than 100 times as many American Christians have gone to the Middle East to serve their country in a military capacity than have gone to the Middle East to serve the King of kings by proclaiming the gospel of peace!

In North Africa, there is still roughly one missionary for every two million Muslims.
In northern India, it is roughly one missionary for every five million Muslims.
Globally, it averages out to be one missionary for every one million Muslims.


ABCs of Global Missions
World A
Unreached people -- 24% of the world's population -- receive 1/2 of 1% of dollars given to Christian missions

World B
Unevangelized World -- 43% of the world's population -- receives 5% of dollars given to Christian missions

World C
Christian World -- 33% of the world's population -- receives 94.5% of dollars given to Christian missions

Just maybe...if we would have been as zealous for the mission of God among the least reached peoples of this world...we wouldn’t be where we are today, Geo-politically?
Maybe the blood of the innocents lies not on the hands of the military but on the folded and slumbering hands of God’s inactive soldiers of the cross?

Maybe the hope of the planted isn’t in the hands of the Generals but instead in the pews of our churches?

Saul...where are you?

Ananias...where are you?

--------------------------------------------------
Answers to objections to going into Missions by John Piper: here
Strategic World Missions Map to plan your mission: here

What about the OT War God, the Law and War God of Revelations...?

Many bring this issue up when debating the issue of Just War, military service and the place a follower of Jesus has in those activities. They are huge issues, and Im not going to give a massive response right here..but here are a few points to chew on...

First and foremost for me, the issue is simply that I am a follower of Jesus...everything He taught comes first.

He interprets the law for me. He is the New Covenant law giver...on like unto Moses. As Moses climbed a mountain and received a law...Jesus climbed a mountain and gave law. He didn't do away with the OT law, He rescued it from the hands of men who were adding to it, nullifying it and misinterpreting it. They were missing the "spirit" of the law.

So He taught on the law...and especially the issues of murder, violence and revenge and adultery. His examples and commentary on how to approach injustice, evil and crimes committed against oneself set the foundation for me.

I do not believe a sincere reading of Matthew 5...makes room for Just War.

Primarily because...a soldier will not only kill, which some say is allowed under an interpretation of the word in the decalogue but they will also "murder". You can not be a soldier and not be forced to murder innocent people. It's impossible, even if you do not want too. A smart bomb war is a murdering war...just as much, as a nuclear war or a frontline war.

Can a Christian murder? I simply can't accept that based on Jesus's own teaching in Matthew 5, let alone countless other examples. In Matt 5, Jesus said that one who calls another a "fool" is guilty of the fires of Hell. And that it's better to saw off your arm or gouge out your eye that to be led to sin with them.

That's some pretty clear teaching in my book.

He also engages in some focused commentary about how the Jews would find ways to navigate out of the clear commands of scripture and come up with ways to reinterpret:

For example, the fifth commandment is clear enough: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). But the Pharisees had a custom whereby “if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban’—(that is, a gift to God), then [the Pharisees] no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother” (Mark 7:11–12). In fact, if someone had thus pledged his inheritance to God and then used any of his resources to care for his parents in their old age, the Pharisees would deem that act of charity a sacrilege, because it was a violation of the Corban vow. Jesus told them, “[You have made] the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do”

I feel that much of the war, violence responses do this very thing. They have taken clear teachings and said...yah but.

As far as the OT violence and the end of the world comments you made. I have lots of thoughts on that stuff too.

for now...I would say I am sure you wouldn't say that as a Christian you support the position of: Num. 31:7-18; Josh. 6:1-21, 24.

Can you truly imagine a follower of Jesus being ok with such a policy of war?

For me, I am glad that the "Judgement of God" for all man's sin was poured out on the cross. Hebrews 9:26 calls it the consummation of the ages.

"Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

I believe that event...has implications even to the end of the age.

I believe that we need to interpret the book of Revelations through the cross. It is a "revelation" of Jesus Christ.

The Lion that is a a lamb (Rev 5) is the only one worthy to handle the book of judgements.

He is also the One pictured as coming on a white horse with a bloody robe and a sword coming out of His mouth not in His hands. He is coming to a "war" on a White victory Horse, already bloody and without a sword in His hand.

To me that pictures a victorious King, who conquered not by war but by death, and conquers the world not with violence but with salvation and the word of God.

Will God judge mankind...yes, He already has.
Will God liv eout the end like all other conquering Kings....through bloodshed, violence, slaughter, no mercy...

Some say,,,yes.

but..I doubt it.


"You have heard it said...But "I" say... -Jesus

We are going to inherit the earth....

"We are going to inherit the earth . There is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie may blast and burn its own world before it finally leaves the stage of history. We Are not afraid of ruins. We who ploughed the prairies and built the cities can build again, only better next time. We carry a new world, here in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."
-Durruti

The Christian anarchist...

The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world". -Ammon Hennacy

Revelations...as Peace Theology

This mornings read: 5 sermons on "Revelations as Peace Theology"
Read them: Here