Fruit of the Spirit

For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth...Eph 5:9

Summer 2004                                                            Volume 5, Issue 3

Things That Were Written Aforetime...

Lessons in Old Testament Scripture...Romans 15:4

 

IS WAR EVER RIGHT?

Please notice the title of the article is given in the form of a question. If war has been right, even if it was only once, then it can be right at other times as well. As one looks throughout the Old Testament, he quickly sees that war was authorized by God on many occasions. God commanded Israel concerning the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and the Jebusites “You shall not bow to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them, and quickly break down their sacred pillars” (Ex. 23:24). The conquest of Canaan was a series of wars, commanded by God, that lasted for period of approximately five years. Most also recall the story of the courageous judge Gideon and his God chosen force of only three hundred men whom God commanded to fight the Midianites and Amalekites (Judges 7:1ff). With these examples we can readily see that at certain times in history war has been authorized by God, thus it was right.

During the early to mid 1940’s the “war question” was a hot topic among our brethren; and rightly so. The ruthless dictator, Adolf Hitler, was literally murdering, gassing, and torturing millions of people in his attempt to conquer the world. The United States tried to keep her distance from the war until she came under attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Had we not joined the war effort our shores certainly would have suffered greater tragedy. Brethren during this time, however, were very much undecided concerning the matter. Can a Christian be a soldier? Is carnal warfare authorized by God? What if war violates my conscience? These were all questions that brethren were pondering and debating during this time. We now look into our current situation with Iraq and the Butcher of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein, and seek to study the topic once again. As was the case in the past, brethren are struggling with this issue. No doubt when one considers the consequences of war, they shudder to think of the tremendous loss of life. As a combat veteran myself, I can assure you, that phrase, “war is hell”, is much closer to truth than the often mentioned, “glory of war”, phrase. Nevertheless, we have our freedom today because of men who fought valiantly against the oppressive British. Freedom is enjoyed because of brave soldiers who battled in W.W.I and W.W.II. Is our freedom threatened today? How soon we have forgotten the pictures of people leaping from the burning World Trade Towers; the three thousand murdered in that tragedy; the untold number of children who no longer have parents; and parents

who have now outlived their children. Yes, friends, our freedom is certainly hanging in the balance. This cannot be denied.

What is the answer? As I put forth my thoughts on the matter, I would hope that all would remember Paul’s words to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phi. 2:12). I realize that there are exhaustive books written on the matter and I would suggest that all who are struggling with the matter read them. One such book is entitled The Christian and Carnal Warfare, a debate between brethren James D. Bales and P. W. Stonestreet. These two brethren are far smarter than I and they offer Tremendous Arguments on both sides of

(continued on page 10)

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Inside...
Page 1 - What Is Hard About Preaching? | Page 2 - Where In The Bible Will I Find...
Page 3 - Prison Report | Page 4 - Old Testament Studies | Page 5 - The Beautiful Bride, Part 1
Page 6 - Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Part 3 | Page 7 - Christian Evidences
Page 8 - Alcohol For The Depressed? | Page 9 - The Christian Home
Page 10 - Continuations | Page 11 - The Children's Page
Page 12 - Announcements / Continuations

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