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The
Radical Pilgrim
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All
scripture quotations from the Authorized Bible, without
apologies.
Placed accents mine.
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Taking Up the Right Sword
For
a spiritual war or a carnal war?
The cruel and savage beheading of an innocent man by Islamic militants before the world, caused a huge public outrage, setting the stage for copy cat executions, and possibly the conditioning for the chief form of execution as the midnight hour arrives, as predicted in the book of Revelation. However, this outcry also took much focus of the organized atrocities that were being committed by US military and civilian personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also caused a reaction on our Message Board (which has later been destroyed by hacker/s), creating a new thread on this subject, with excerpts from myself you may find of interest in the following inserts:
Handling cruelty and hate
Now folks let us pull ourselves together and remember why we are here and WHO is in control and WHO we serve. It is not a time of to emotional lash out at those that hate us but a time to throw ourselves at the feet of our Saviour. I was just sharing with a Brother tonight at a business meal how after hearing about the beheading of an American, who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, how sick in the stomach I felt as I drove off to work about hearing of the incident. Especially when he had no connection to the military. The reason I felt sick in the stomach was also due to the added sorrow of images I saw of US troops abusing and torturing their Iraqi captors. The latest photos just released now show dead Iraqis lining the hall ways of the jails, injured and bleeding ones who were set on by guard dogs, a man with his head half blown off lying in the corridor, and shots of inmates sodomizing each other, being forced to by their American guards. Shocking? Yes! Disturbing? Yes ... very!!! Especially when the Red Cross has found that approximately 80% of the Iraqi captives have been found to be innocent and that the abuse is rampant among the troops.
This is war and its evil outcome, which has always happened and will always happen, until the Lord comes. The big difference now is the availability of technology to make all this available to the public, even though the public is not supposed to know this is happening. It may also have been leaked out on purpose to condition the public of what will be come as normal as a result on the War On Terror and the draconian new paradigm shift in since 911.
After Vietnam, a friend of ours who was a medic there, brought home hundreds of coloured slides he took by himself. This was graphic, uncensored stuff, which made me (as a young Christian) very sick and concerned. I remember seeing the young Vietnamese lady being tortured by the South Vietnamese military under full supervision and approval of their American supervisors. This is war folks, which brings out the true nature of man, irrespective of nationality or religion. Remember the CIA death squads who went about killing the innocents to blame it on the Communists? The enemy is out to kill, steal, and destroy; whereas the true enemy is not the Catholics, IRA, PLO, extremist militants, Islam, a foreign ideology or false religion. These are just the pawns used by Satan as he manipulates fallen man for his own device of killing and destruction. The enemy is the spiritual forces of darkness hidden away, manipulating and tearing down; while pulling away at the human heartstrings and causing emotional reaction, setting good against evil or vice versa; in order to fool man into being at loggerheads with himself. If you believe in the scriptures that is! The good news is ... war has been done away with 2,000 years ago. Unfortunately, most have not cottoned on as the god of this world has blinded their eyes.
It has only just been released in latter years about our own Kiwi troops in Italy during WW2 and how they were commanded to shoot all their German prisoners in one incident while advancing up the Italian peninsular. First they gave them a meal, then one by one, lead them outside and shot each individual in the head. The notion was that it was easier to dispose of them than have the hassle of looking after POWs. A notion that is all too popular in war ... if you get the drift!
After Saddam Hussein was captured, a Christian lady emailed us rejoicing and mocking the humiliated leader. I sent her this scripture and basically told her she was out of order being a Bible believer and follower of Jesus:
Pr. 24:17. "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth".
Saddam Hussein maybe a bad guy, but aren't we all?:
1 Cor. 15:10. "But by the grace of God I am what I am".
The Israelis were not allowed to go after worse terrorists than Saddam, but the Americans were allowed to capture Saddam. Who was going to stop them? Actually it was the Kurds who captured him for the reward, drugged him (that's why he did not fight or kill himself), and left him in the ground for the Americans to pick up later. This happened earlier on in the piece, as they waited for the ripe time to make the announcement and get full capital for it, even though the photo and video clips of the surrounding area proved this incident occurred the previous season when the date flowers were out. Just like the crowd were picked (bussed or flown in) who pulled down the statute of Saddam in a Baghdad square, before cameras for the world to see, when the capital fell to the US. Oh, how much is set-up or orchestrated, in order to fool the masses into a way of thinking, not matter which regime is in power! Now Germany has admitted that the hijacking of a commercial airliner, which occurred after the Munich Massacre, was set up by themselves, working in with the PLO, in order to get the three remaining terrorists in a West German jail out of the country and back to freedom and safety in in Islamic country. This way it would act as an excuse to avoid further terrorist attacks in their country like the blotched one during the Olympics. The list could go on and on to all this scum bag stuff happening in the name of political expedience!
Basically, we are all wretched sinners deserving hell. That's why we needed a saviour. Paul (Saul) was one of the worst terrorists around in his time, and a woman and child murderer. Now we all quote him all the time. Because look how the Lord turned him around.
Yes, it is disturbing what man is doing to his fellow man, in the name of politics or religion. However, religion and politics is an excuse for the Devil to dish out his cruelty on man, while he hides in the background and glees seeing man reacting against and destroying himself.
How do the verses go?:
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Yes, we must hate and abhor evil. However scripture says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Two wrongs don't make a right! An eye for an eye was scrapped at the cross, just like sin and enmity (war and conflict) was!
Do we get bitter and twisted and demand retribution? Or do we win our enemies to the cross because we are different and do things God's way and allow His love to shine from our hearts?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Handling cruelty and hate
This is the type of stuff Western Christians (who are supposed to have the love of Jesus in their hearts) are saying. I have copied and pasted this from the intro thread on this Board ... Re: The Front Door. Of course the Brother never answered me. Why? Because he knows he has not got a leg to stand on when it comes to the scriptures. Emotional rhetoric and cheap shots of hatred is far easier to sling around than mortifying our dreaded old man:
Quote:Brethren, I'm not on my countries side but on the Lord's side! Who's coming over?
You are welcome to this Board on the condition you agree with our criterion and do not push hate and retribution to Muslim countries and C.... B.... "doctrine" condemning Islam as the chief instigator of all the world's woes. You state on another Board:
"Between America and Israel, We could defeat the whole world in an all-out Nuclear War. I would like to see all The Muslim Countries 'Blown away'. Once we find an alternative energy supply." Source - click here (My emphasis)
On this Board we are neither political or bias towards one singled out religion or nation, and believe all religion is deceptive and evil. We also believe Christ "tasted death for every man" (a smack on Calvin and Luther) and does not instigate His followers to use violence against their enemies but to love and forgive them, in order for some to be saved (as all can't be saved). Admittedly Islam can portray itself unofficially in blowing away the innocents by suicide bombing (which the Koran does not support) where the so-called "Christian West" blows away innocents in a more sophisticated "official" "justified" sense, making their side the most civilized in how they go about their campaigns of destruction.
The reality is ... all nations are under the evil one, and Christ's followers have been called to go into all the nations and make disciples, setting them free by the truth and not to obliterate them and turn them away from a loving and compassionate Saviour.
Still love me?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fighting men's wars
I use to believe it was a conscience choice ... a Christian going to war for an earthly regime that is! That's because I was taught it by the system and confused the system on a par with what scripture was actually saying. Then I went to the Bible and saw that the Christians NEVER took up arms in the New Testament. Even when Saul and his henchmen were dragging Christian families out of their bed at night and taking them away to be wasted (book of Acts). I also read how John the baptist (preparing the way of the Lord) said to the soldiers to do violence to no man. Quite straight and clear I thought!
No, it is not wrong to serve in the Military or Police Force, and to obey those in authority, if you are a Bible believer. However, as soon as these things conflict with the gospel like "kill for the System", when scripture says to love and pray for your enemies, then we follow the example of the brethren in Acts 5:29 ... to obey God rather than man!
Taking into account when Jesus' best friend had his head cut-off and displayed on a platter, Jesus never uttered retaliation of any sort. When there was an insurrection (after all, didn't Jews have a right and duty to rise up against the Roman invaders?) Jesus never joined it or endorsed it. He said His servants would not fight because we belong to another kingdom, where He happens to be King and says to those He loves, when they want to take out their enemy ... "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of"? He also said to render unto Caesar those things that were Caesar's, which meant to acknowledge those who governed the land and the civil systems, and to pay your way (taxes) with using their services, irrespective of whose banner or flag or capital they were ruling from, or why or how they came to power. Rendering unto Caesar never meant to do things his way if it meant breaking the moral law or divine statues.
This is my question to all Christians who will follow their Caesar to the death and kill for him ... what manner of spirit are you of? Jesus came to save not condemn. A person defending his family or a helpless person being abused is nothing whatsoever to do with organized and justified, political killing (or religious killing). This is mans way, not the Lords, whose ways are higher than mans ... and better.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Spiritual war or carnal war?
You will be no doubt familiar with this verse ... Romans 11:22:
"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."
The Old Testament revealed the severity of God. God's people could ruthlessly slay the enemy, where woman and children, and animals were not even spared if they were of heathen nations. Whereas the New Testament reveals the goodness of God ("knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance") where a new commandment is given (would not you agree?): that we love one another as Christ had first loved us:
Heb. 7:12. "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law."
Therefore, the world would see we were His disciples by our love for one another. No longer was it an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth, but to love and pray for our enemies by bringing the good news of the gospel, not the bad news of bombs and destruction. To say the two are harmonized by our discriminatory "Christian" service is a contradiction, does not make sense, and is the thinking of the Catholic Dark Age Crusades.
I can understand the reasoning of a brother living on a small island like Singapore, surrounded by hundreds of millions of Moslems and Moslem nations. However, I don't believe striking back at them would be a witness for the cross at all, but would only show we are only just the same as them, or use the same methods as them ... the sword. Our sword is the word of God I believe, and whether we get arrested for not complying with the system when it goes against the scriptures, or even killed, it just happens to be our true witness, and reflects true martyrdom. The early believers chose martyrdom above fighting back, and went to their deaths joyfully for Jesus.
So the issue is not whether one (a Bible believer) is to obey the government or not (we know he does). Or whether one is permitted to serve in the military or police (we know he can). Nor whether one can defend a wife or someone's child from physical harm or abuse (again, we know he can). The issue is whether a believer can be sent by the Lord to fight mans battles in the flesh or not. Going to war is premeditated and organized. Defending the helpless is a caring compassionate automatic response. There is huge difference between the two. I believe I have already made it clear that nowhere in scripture does it support Christians being trained as professional killers, nor premeditating killing and acting it out to appease a nation or its leaders. I still need to see the verse that does, or the evidence from the New Testament that believers took on the illegal occupying enemy militarily (the Romans), or physically resisted the Jewish Hierarchy when they made war on the Church. There is simply no proof they did. As I said, when Saul and his cohorts made brutal war on the Church there was no call from the brethren to resist or take up arms in any way. They were called to a different war, where the weapons of their warfare were not carnal. Would you not agree?
During WW2, at the end of the construction of the Burmese railroad for the Japanese war plan, when Japanese guards were badly injured from the American bombing, what did the 'born again' POWs do to their brutal captors when the fit Japanese soldiers fled from their bleeding and dying fellow soldiers? Answer ... they mercifully cared and nurtured them back to health. Prior to this, when these poor wretched (Christian) POWs were called to resist and work out a plan to overcome their captors in an organized aggressive strike back one day, they would not comply, saying their gospel was a gospel of peace and serving your masters as unto the Lord. Through taking on this attitude the Japanese guards increased their rations and improved their conditions and handed back their books including the Bible.
From what many are saying in Christendom it appears they are saying they advocate killing in the name of Jesus justified by the fact a Bible believer is oblique to, if they are doing it because their Government orders them to take up arms and kill. As I have already said, I cannot see this as scriptural in any sense where the following scriptures they use to justify this case are actually an indictment to what they endorse, because here the word 'soldier' has got absolutely nothing to do with a worldly military machine or regime:
Phil 2:25. "Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants."
2 Tim 2:3. "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
2 Tim 2:4. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."
Phlm 1:2. "And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house".
In other words, a soldier of Jesus Christ is nothing to do with being a soldier for Caesar. One is fighting a spiritual war (using spiritual means) where the other is fighting a carnal war (using carnal means). There is simply no connection between the two as they are two different things. One's priorities lie in the kingdom of Christ, whereas the other lies in the kingdom of Caesar. As Bible believers we are not patriots but pilgrims. Although we might have earthly temporary citizenship down here through birth or immigration, this does not mean we follow our leaders blindly (like bullets without eyes) but scripturally. A "KJ" Bible believer I use to know in our town was an army medic in the Pacific War against the Japanese. There were a couple of dozen of them or so in this particular dispatchment. When the Japanese threat grew stronger they were all ordered to take up arms, and everyone refused. In my country during the two World Wars, if you refused to go and fight you were arrested and locked up in a (concentration) camp, treated like a criminal, and sometimes beaten up on occasions by your fellow Kiwi captors. If this happened to someone because they were doing it for Jesus would it not be called persecution according to the Bible? Is this not the foolishness of the cross in action? Remove the cross from the message (doing the Lord's work mans way, in other words), and it could very well get you off the hook and free you from persecution contrary to scripture ... 1 Peter 3:14 - 17:
"But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (pretty hard to do when you are coming at them with bullets and grenades don't you think?) Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing (amen to that!)."
"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ", gets a big tick from me!
Your Brother in Christ,
Not offended, and not unashamed to be called a soldier of Christ.
Tom (a lamb)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Spiritual war or carnal war?
Hi Brother,
It appears by your post (correct me if I'm wrong) that you are still trying to prove it is alright for a believer to be in the military (both you and I have worn military uniforms ... you before you were a Christian, and myself as a Christian). I can't really see anyone on this Board disagreeing with you here. As I already stated this is not the issue (never has been), neither is it the issue whether a Christian owns or carries a firearm (sword) or not. Neither is it the issue whether a Christian protects by force a woman being raped or a child being brutalized or physically abused. This would be just a natural reaction motivated by compassion I feel.
I think I have made myself clear and am only repeating myself again that the issue here is ... does God, our Maker and Saviour, give the thumbs up (as he did sometimes for His chosen in the OT) when NT believers are trained to kill other men, encouraged to by being politically justified, and then go and carry it out in destroying and maiming others for an earthly cause. You still have not provided one shred of proof Brother of Christians going off to fight an organized war, or Christians organizing themselves into armed militia to counteract Judaism's declared and acted out war against the Way in the New Testament, followed by the Roman Empire later, as history recalls. If what you are advocating and endorsing is true, then it must be approved and recorded in the New Testament, where it is not. I still say it is a blatant contradiction (ending there) when we are to love and forgive our enemies when they bring harm; then endure their abuse (not repaying evil for evil in the process, but to win them to Christ) than blow them away in the name of "Duty". Who's duty anyway? Certainly not the Lord's duty, who says He will take care of our enemies, His way and in His time.
Sure your Nation is surrounded by (hostile) Islam. Just as the Romans overran the Jews your enemy would overrun your small Island too, just as a United SE Asia would overrun Australia and my country (which may happen - it will eventually happen numerically anyway). Therefore, there would be no point fighting in the natural as it would be in vain in the end anyway. However, you serve a greater God than theirs and He will vindicate His people His way, recompense our enemies, and make us winners in the end. This takes faith (certainly not faith in the arm of flesh) ... that we may get physically harmed when to go through the fire, but come out the other end refined nevertheless, as kings reigning with our Lord forever. Whatta great salvation Brother and a great God we serve!
Is. 48:10. "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."
Ps. 135:5. "For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scriptural Resistance
Following is a scripture that contradicts Kingdom Now advocates and Recontructionists to the tee:
Rom. 13:2. "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."
"Christian" advocates of "going to war" or "making war" are blind to the fact scripture actually condemns this activity for Christ followers as the above verse. Resistance of course is not unscriptural, we just need to discern which resistance is New Testament and the following verse fits this scenario well:
I Pet. 5:8-9. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."
Therefore, it is plain to see that our resistance is a spiritual resistance and not a political, social, religious, or military resistance in any sense of the word.
James 4:7. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Nowhere in scripture are believers commanded to resist earthly powers, our apparent earthly enemies, an invading power, or the NWO. How can a New Testament believer appeal unto Caesar in one hand as Acts clearly shows, then rise up against him using the arm of flesh in the other hand?
However, we are to resist the Devil, which ironically could mean resisting taking up arms and fighting combats and skirmishes. However, before we resist the Devil we first must make sure we are submitted to God, so we are resisting our spiritual foe with the backing of His authority!
Please dear reader prove me wrong? With appropriate chapters and verses, from the NT! However, let me give this warning ... I do not believe you will have much success should you try, as I have been waiting over 20 years for this to happen and so far not one soul has been able to do this. It is finished!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The world fights its own wars
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
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Saul the terrorist - Paul the convert
I thought I would share the following and ask you a simple question Brother, if that is okay with you?
Saul the terrorist and Jewish militant, against the Church of Jesus Christ:
Saul (later called and converted to Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ) persecuted the church unto death would you believe? Unto death that is! He was totally dedicated to wiping the church out ... eradicating it off the face of the earth that is!
Acts 22:4. "And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women."
Although being part of the Jewish Hierarchy, Paul (then Saul) acted like the Gestapo dragging Christian families (showing no mercy even for the women folk) out of their homes and off to destruction:
Acts 8:3. "As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison."
This was Paul, pursuing the believers with fanatical madness to far afield, to anywhere he could, forcing them (torture tactics included) to renounce their faith:
Acts 26:11. "And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities"
Paul not only persecuted the church but wasted the church:
Gal. 1:13. "For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it".
Saul the mad Jewish terrorist, who latter became our beloved Paul, was responsible for hounding, hunting down, harassing, arresting, slaughtering and butchering the children of God (both men and women). You now know, because you have just read it in black and white, from the God breathed scriptures themselves. Here's more:
Acts 9:1 -2. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."
Paul hated and despised Christians and witnessed and approved of their brutal execution:
Acts 22:20. "And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him."
Now my Brother, here's the big question, which cannot be passed off as a mere hypothetical question, but simple, clear and relevant to your case:
What would have happened if these believers in the book of Acts had organized themselves for defence purposes, and gone away from the gospels teaching to "do violence to no man" and follow the teaching the modern church prescribes to today, and gone after Saul (just like the "Christian" US and "born again" George Bush went after Saddam) and taken him out? There would have been no gospel of grace or New Testament for that matter, would there have not? Or, at least God would've had to raise someone else up and chastise His Church severely for disobedience. Would this be true?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harmless as doves - wise as serpents
Taking the sword:
When Jesus said to Peter, when Peter was brandishing the sword to fight off the Lord's enemies ... "for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword;" did Jesus mean what He said or was this mere lofty, deep, figurative revelation to be learnt after years of deep meditation by the wise? Or was it just esoteric talk to be deciphered by a mystical select, after years of training and higher learning? Or was it just plain language for babes to heed and live by?
To use a "well trained professional soldiers drill" philosophy, let's take the US Marines Creed e.g.:
The Creed of the United States Marine
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless.
I must fire my rifle true.
I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me.
I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will . . . .
My rifle and I know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make.
We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit . . . .
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life.
Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights, and its barrel.
I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage.
I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.
We will become part of each other. We will . . . .
Before God I swear this creed.
My rifle and I are the defenders of my country.
We are the masters of our enemy.
We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but Peace!
Major General W. H. Rupertus,
USMC
You see, the above stuff totally contradicts Jesus' decree and warning about living by the sword (the gun). The remnants sword is the word of God; period! It is the Lord's soldier's daily ration and living light. It is "the weapons of our warfare (that) are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds"! Do you believe it brothers?
The true disciple trusts in His God to do the fighting for him, while the true disciple wars in the Spirit, and not in the flesh, and allows man to fight his own wars, and sees them as sign of the coming of his King, that there would be wars and rumours of wars to the end, just as the poor and the deceivers will always be with us. The fact is, just as sin, poverty, deceit and all that is a part of the curse, was put to death at the cross, so was our enmity (warring and conflict against each other).
Matt. 24:6. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."
War was done away with ... finished at the cross (Eph. 2:15)!!
John 12:8. "For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always."
Poverty was done away with ... finished at the cross (2 Cor. 8:9)!
2 Tim. 3:13. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."
Deception was done away with ... finished at the cross (1 John 3:8)!
Jesus' followers were never instructed when war was brewing, to volunteer for the cause, enlist, nor anything about recruitment into their armies to fight their wars. However, Jesus' followers were instructed not to let these perilous coming times to bother them ... "see that ye be not troubled"!
"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places."
These things will happen! If we take part in these wars, hypothetically, it would be equally right for believers to fight for their country in the final war Armageddon, would it not? This is why the obvious warning was given by Jesus about those taking up the sword.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wisdom of God is foolishness to man and contrary to his way of thinking and methods:
Is. 53:9. "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Romans 12:17. Recompense to no man evil for evil.
1 Thes. 5:15. "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men."
1 Pet. 3:9. "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing"
While "Christian" warmongers are exploiting believers to fight for a "goodly" cause, and while those ignorant of the scriptures are allowing themselves to be religiously conditioned by the churches, the New Testament makes no apologies in presenting a gospel which is contrary to mans way of reason, reaction, excuse, and blindness, in that it deals with the heart in quenching those inner flames that have been fuelled by sin and deceit over a life time, replacing these things with the peace of God which surpasses understanding.
