What about War?

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FOR THE TRUTH

WHAT ABOUT WAR?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?

WHAT IS ‘WAR’?

The Noun:
1. ‘Conflict by force of arms, as between nations or groups’.
2. ‘The state or period of such conflict’.
3. ‘Any contest or contention against a perceived enemy’.
The Verb:
‘To engage in armed conflict, to fight, to contend’. [Note innocent people, animals, & nature always suffer in a war, whether intentionally or unintentionally.]
The Causes:
1. These can be disagreements over possession of land areas, or pre-set boundaries.
2. They are often instigated by very strongly held principles or religious beliefs.*
3. Evil & despotic leaders can manipulate the support of others for their own ‘glory’.

SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES FOR ALL OF TIME & BEYOND!

The Sovereign LORD God either initiates or permits all the events of people’s lives. There is nothing He does not know or see, including secret thoughts.
The Sovereign God of the Universe alone has a programme for good in the Earth that He specifically created & gave to mankind to have dominion over, under His loving direction. Genesis 1 & 2 records this. Psalm 84: 11 says, “For the LORD God is a sun & shield; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” Even more, He gives blessings to the ‘righteous & unrighteous!’
But Satan tried to defy God, by ‘stealing’ from God, knowing the only way He could ‘attack’ Him & hurt Him, was by causing the most precious ones in the whole of creation –we humans - to use the precious gift of free-will (that God had given to us) –to turn against God! In this way, Satan provoked God’s anger, Genesis 3: 1 – 8.
God immediately declared war and it’s outcome against Satan! “I will put enmity between the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head!” Genesis 3:15. Yeshua/ Jesus gained that victory when He died for all sinners, so that those who trust in Him can always be on the winning side against sin, by God’s Holy Spirit within them.
This war has continued ever since, and will not end - until THE final war and Satan’s permanent destruction as described in Revelation 20! “ The Adversary (Satan) will go out to deceive the nations… to gather them for battle. But fire came down from heaven & consumed them. The Adversary… was hurled into the lake of fire…” The Holy God of Peace and glory will win the final battle!
So we see in the process of history, past, present & future, many wars have been instigated by the Satanic influence on mankind through mans’ own sinful decisions.

A. ‘WARS’ EXCLUSIVELY CONDUCTED BY GOD! [See definitions of war, above.*]
Note: In Jeremiah 51: 56, one of the special Names of God, is ‘YAWEH GEMULAH’, ‘ADONAI/ LORD of RETRIBUTION’. Our God is a just God against SIN.

1. The Flood. Genesis 6:5-7, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the Earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved… I will wipe mankind that I have created from the face of the Earth – men and animals… & birds… for I am grieved.”

2. The total destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah, Genesis 18: 20 records a conversation with Abraham, “The LORD said, ‘the outcry against Sodom & Gomorrah are so great & their sin is so grievous, I will go down & see… then I will know’.” Genesis 19: 1 – 29. “The LORD rained down burning sulphur on Sodom & Gomorrah.” God’s ‘WMD’ – that only He could use!

3. The 10 Plagues of Egypt, Exodus 7 – 11. [Note, those who did NOT suffer seven of these terrible plagues - were God’s protected, though imperfect Israelite People.]

4. The complete destruction of Egypt’s army at the Read Sea. Just read Exodus 14: 18-31! “The Egyptians were fleeing… The LORD swept them into the sea… the entire army of Pharaoh… not one of them survived!”

5. God used ‘panic tactics’ against the Aramean army in the time of Elisha as 2 Kings 7 tells. “The LORD had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots & horses & a great army… So they got up and fled in the dusk…and ran for their lives!’ It took 4 starving lepers to bravely enter the camp to discover what God alone had done to Israel’s huge enemy army in one night. Completely routed!

6. 2 Kings 19:35 tells how “the Angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp”, at the time of Hezekiah, so saving Israel from even needing to fight! Isaiah 37:36 reports God’s promise, “I will defend this City and save it.” But we should note, it was in answer to the king’s urgent prayer! [21 –38.]

7. Sadly there were times when the LORD fought the disobedience and lack of truthful dependence in His own People…. in the desert, (Numbers 11:33, 14:37 & 16:46) Later, 70,000 “men of Israel” died in the time of King David. (2 Samuel 24:15 & 16, & 1 Chronicles 21:13-15.) How seriously we need to take the significant words of Hebrews 12:25-29! “See that you don’t reject the One Who spoke. For if those did not escape who rejected Him when He gave Divine warning on Earth – think how much less we will escape if we turn away from Him when He warns from Heaven…” [Through His Son coming from Heaven to speak to us.] The warning ends with the truth, “Our God is a consuming fire!”

Because God is holy He hates sin!
But remember God’s enormous mercy, too!

B. GOD EVEN USES ‘1 PERSON’ ARMIES
Sometimes the most surprising people!

Shamgar, probably a foreigner, now a leader in Israel saved the nation, in Judges 3:31, he “struck 600 Philistines with an ox-goad”.

A strong woman, prevented a cruel fate for her city in Judges 9:52-55…” Abimelech [a very cruel & evil man] went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head & cracked his skull. He didn’t want it to look as if it was a woman who’d killed him so he got a servant to stab him to death. ”When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home”. What a good idea!

Samson killed 1000 Philistine enemies with the jawbone of a donkey. (Judges 15: 15.)

Elisha captured the God-blinded enemies in 2 Kings 6:8-23 and deflected war by kindness! “As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed, ‘strike these people with blindness.’ So God did - allowing Elisha to lead them all away to the main city, Samaria, where he prayed again, “’LORD open the eyes of these men so they can see’.” Now the king offered to kill them. But Elisha had a better idea –which the king did – making a great feast for them, & sending them home to their master! [Talk about ‘how to win friends & influence people’ – but sadly – it is not always feasible to do this with fanatics!]

Another wise woman in 2 Samuel 20: 14-22 saved her city, by the punishment of 1 bad man. “All the troops came… & built a siege ramp up to the city… While they were battering the wall to bring it down, a wise woman called from the city. ‘Listen, listen!’ and then asked to speak to the Leader, who agreed to listen to her, & her suggestion. The result was the death of one traitor, and so then [the Leader] “sounded the trumpet, & his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home.”
A result we would pray for, from every war & battlefield.

It has been said that, “ONE PERSON, WITH GOD, IS A MAJORITY”.

C. GOD ALLOWS ‘ CIVIL’ WAR. (An example of God’s permissive will, surely?).
In Judges 20, Israel against Benjamin, seemingly sanctioned by God in verse 35.
“The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel…” There was a right reason for this.

D. GOD ASSISTED WARS.
Some have been specifically ordered by God to punish evil nations.
Scripture has many examples, especially those on behalf of Israel, from Jericho to the War of Armageddon… There are some outstanding examples you can think of, like the time God helped Joshua in answer to the intercession of Moses (& Aaron & Hur) on the hill above. Exodus 17:8-15 introduces another Name of God. “Moses built an altar and called it– YAWEH NISSI –‘THE LORD MY BANNER’; for hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD’.” In Joshua 10:1-15 is the amazing story of even ‘time standing still! “The sun stopped in the middle of the sky & delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!” But in the same chapter it is also recorded that more of Israel’s enemy died of the hailstones, than by the soldiers!

These stories indicate that it is right to pray for
the LORD’S help in a war, especially on behalf of His People,
and for the honour of God’s NAME!

But we need to note that Judges 6: 24 gives a special name for God, ‘YAWEH SHALOM’, the ‘GOD of PEACE’, and this is repeated in actual words in several places. 1 Corinthians 14: 43, 1 Thessalonians 5: 23, 2 Thess 3: 16 and Hebrews 13: 20! How wonderful!

E. WHAT ABOUT NEW TESTAMENT CONCEPTS?

All through the main history of ADONIA’S dealing with His chosen Nation of Israel, we see that He expected them to see themselves as just that – His People, through whom, He so much wanted to bless the whole world of people! They were to be the example of a Holy People in a Holy Land. Over & over again He sent prophets with an urgent call to them to fulfill the conditions He looked for – summed up by the prophet Micah. “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” But sadly as a nation divided, and rebellious, He finally fulfilled the warnings he had given, and sent them away into exile! Yet God was still preparing for His real plan, of a Holy People, based on a new Covenant.
It would be by the calling and response of individuals! So to Ezekiel the Prophet in Babylon God wrote the formula in chapter 18, after 30 verses of repeated examples He concludes, “ ‘Therefore I will judge each one according to his ways’, declares the Sovereign LORD. ‘Repent! Get a new heart, and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel’?” [Composed of individuals.] “For I take no pleasure in the death of any one’, declares the Sovereign LORD. ‘Repent and live’!” So this was preparing for the New People, (both Jews & Gentiles) who through Yeshua/ Jesus could respond individually, as He said, “For God so loved the WORLD, that He gave his only & unique Son, so that everyone [individually] who trusts in Him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.” However along with this is the opportunity for every sincere Believer to live by individual holy rules, like all those recorded by Matthew in chapters 5 – 7. In relation to several individual commands Yeshua/ Jesus said, “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘love your neighbour and hate your enemy,’ but I tell you, love your enemies! ‘Pray for those who persecute you’!” This is not meant to relate to a national war.
Therefore, it is clear from all the Old Testament examples, as well as those in Revelation that national wars would still be part of the world experience. So that where a nation is attacked as a nation, there is every right to fight and resist the evil, as humanely as possible within the bounds of possibility. This applies to Israel, who have been forced in their short existence as a tiny, modern nation of 6 million, in a small area of land, barely 120 miles by 90, to fight neighbouring nations of 350 million for their very survival!

[We have noted elsewhere, that it shows a biased attitude of ignorance - based on an unjust imbalance of the facts, to criticise a nation in this regard – especially the nation of Israel. It should be noted that 1000’s of innocent people are being killed in murders in Western nations, in religious wars of Muslims against Muslims, Muslims against Hindus, and all the horrific wars in Asia, (Cambodia, etc), Africa & South American nations and in indiscriminate terrorist attacks in major cities!]

F. ‘RECENT’ WARS AND WARS OF THE FUTURE.
There is NO doubt that many wars of the last 2000 years were totally unjust and evil. However, in modern times, many people would say examples of wars that were won with the help of God, were the 1st and 2nd World Wars. This writer believes we could even equate these with the breaking of the first 3 seals, described in Revelation 6, with the riding forth of the first 3 horsemen ‘of the Apocalypse’ - as they are called.

Certainly they were the first truly worldwide wars, with the introduction of new technology, never before known of, with more horrific results in the number of deaths and ensuing sorrows of famine, plagues, disasters and false prophets. Also they have led to increasing levels of evil of all kinds, especially the persecution of God’s people, and each of these other tragedies - matching the description that Jesus/ Yeshua gave, as Matthew 24, shows.

It seems there certainly has been a great increase
in every kind of war, all over the world!

FROM SCRIPTURE WE SEE CRUCIAL WARS
WILL BE FOCUSED ON THE M. E.

All of the wars Israel has been required to fight since their existence as a re-established Nation in their own Land, in 1948, have truly been examples of God assisted wars! We will not explain more, as whole books have been written about this. Discerning people who love God and love Israel, call these ‘miracles’ that showed the impossible ‘odds’ – yet God helped Israel win, in each of the 6 main wars, fought since 1949, in ’56, ’67, ’73, ’82 in Lebanon, & the weird ‘Intefada’s’ through the ‘90’s - even though the costs were great.
While each war represented so much anti-Israel and anti-God activities of Satan, God has used them in different ways. Each time they were able to gain more territory - even the whole of the City of Jerusalem in 1967, making it possible to declare it to be “The eternal, indivisible, Capital City of Israel.”
The potential threat of war, also has meant that every young person, male & female, are required to train in the Israeli Defence Force, [IDF] so bringing the nation together in a disciplined way, inspite of coming from over 120 different countries. It means that the IDF is always in a state of war-readiness, which has been crucial each time they were attacked, usually giving little time to prepare.
In mid-year 2006 Israel found herself involved in a seventh war, which again, we must believe, was allowed by The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel for a reason. We believe ‘The Israel – Gaza - Lebanon War’ could be seen to be the pre-curser to a time of ‘peace & prosperity’, which will prepare for God’s next intervention on Israel’s behalf. [The Bible indicates that other wars will continue everywhere.] Daniel wrote, “War will continue until the End,” chapter 9:26.
There may well be smaller wars in the years ahead, but one crucial war is carefully described in Scripture, against ‘Gog & Magog’. The difference with this next special war is, that Israel will not be able, nor need to fight in the conventional war mould we have known. This is how God will want it to be, for a special reason!

This is because it will be waged by the sovereign acts of The Sovereign LORD alone! This is the Ezekiel War (of 38 & 39) specific to the Middle East, which will bring great blessings for Israel, & great honour to God, but have very serious worldwide implications, bringing global disaster as a result of great earthquakes.

[We write much more detail in our articles, ‘The Ezekiel War’]

However in honesty, we remind ourselves of God’s unchanging longings for Israel, as spelt out so lovingly in Isaiah chapters 48 & 49. Was God weeping when He summed it up in verse 17 – 19? “This is what the LORD says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I AM the LORD your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off, nor destroyed before Me’.” God grieves over every death in Israel, whether by abortions or vehicle accidents or diseases or in wars!

So these thoughts prepare us to think about-

THE PURPOSES OF WAR IN THE MIND & PLANS OF GOD,
The GOD OF JUSTICE.

1. To remove evil powers, but always after a very long time of patience with them. An example is found in Genesis 15:16 where God revealed to Abraham a future 400 year ‘interval’ for his Israelite descendants in Egypt. ‘In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” God also indicated He would “punish the nation, (Egypt) they served as slaves…” Whoever hurts God’s People, hurts God Himself!

2. To discipline His people, but always ensuring that a remnant would be saved to benefit from the sad lessons of war. Most of the Bible enhances this theme, but we praise God for verses like Nehemiah 9: 27, “You handed them over to their enemies… but in Your great compassion you gave them deliverers…”

3. To show His own glorious saving power and love! This is especially emphasised in the 47 times in the book of Ezekiel where the repeated phrase is “then they will know that I AM the Sovereign LORD!” God gave this as a reason for His destruction of the Egyptian army – remember Exodus 14?

IS THIS ANY HELP IN CONSIDERING THE WARS OF THIS CENTURY?

1. God will be shown to be Sovereign in every serious event, and in answer to prayer He will be glorified as He promised.

2. God hates the evil power which caused suffering under Communism but is also especially seen in Muslim nations, which according to many records show so much cruelty, from regimentation to torture and repression over the years. Sometimes God uses one evil power to punish another, e.g. allowing a million deaths over the 8 years of the Iraq/Iran war alone. This does not include the pain of the number of refugees from these nations, all over the world, partly fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah 49:34-39 and only true in our day! (Elam is the ancient name of Iran). Afghanistan was also a hotbed of great evil & cruelty & drugs. Countries in Africa, have also suffered unbelievable cruelty. God notices, and will deal with those He chooses to punish, in HIS time.

3. Part of this we believe will be God’s actions, which will weaken the power of Islam, in preparation for the ‘one world religion’ of the false prophet of Rev.13. The claim that Allah is ‘the great god’ is a blasphemy which ADONAI, the HLOY ONE of ISRAEL, Himself will deal with, especially through the ‘war’ described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, very possibly within a few years from the beginning of this century.

4. But our prayer is that even that war will also hasten the Gospel being available to Muslims. This could be one of the strategic results of the above point, and so in Isaiah 19: 23-25, God says, “In that day the three will be a blessing on the Earth, Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, & Israel My inheritance”. This will happen but means the worldwide influence of Islam must be broken before millions of people can be freed from the power of Islam. Many are already turning to Jesus/Isa for Salvation – even risking their lives to do it. [Pray for them!]

5. It seems clear any future wars, which will vindicate God’s Word & liberate the Middle Eastern nations, especially Israel to turn to Yeshua their Saviour & Messiah, would have to happen before the tribulation, and before Jesus Returns. Our other studies explain these Scriptures – in the Section ‘Middle East Focus’.

6. It seems even the anti-war protest marches are preparing for the one world religion, attended as they are by every religious group from ‘moderate’ Muslims to liberal Christians to Hindus, to Asian peoples. Even those who would probably call themselves atheists, but whose religion is the New Age – ‘Greenies’ - will be part of the one world religious ‘party’.

7. Any time of peace which the world, (or any part of it) claims to be enjoying, can only be a ‘false peace’, for without God’s ‘Prince of Peace’ it will surely be shattered. “While people are saying ‘peace & safety’, destruction will come on them suddenly…” Looking for peace without God is useless!

~So as we pray ~ which is a form of warfare in the spiritual realm ~
We can include prayers for all those involved in wars, who honour
~The Supreme LORD of Hosts, ~

We could use the prayer of King David in Psalm 144…

“Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my Fortress, my Stronghold,
& my Deliverer, my Shield in
whom I take refuge… Part Your Heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the
mountains [of Evil] so that they smoke. Send forth lightening and scatter the
enemies, shoot Your arrows and rout them.
Reach down Your hand from on High; deliver me, and rescue me.”

We endorse the words Moshe/ Moses spoke to all Israel,
As they contemplated claiming ‘the Promised Land’
And now in 2006 being used as a rallying call in Israel:
“Chazak Ve emat!” ~ “Be strong & resolute!”

But we also add, “Do not be afraid or terrified because of [the enemy],
for the LORD your God goes with you;
He will never leave you or forsake you!” Deuteronomy 31: 6,
& Verse 8 adds, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
AMEN! ~ SO BE IT!

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