How many US evangelicals felt supportive of Bush as a supposedly “Christian” president and supported him in tragically useless wars in the Middle East?
George Bush, really another Constantine. An emperor on the world stage who claimed to be a born again Christian, yet never resigned his membership of the satanic secret society he was inducted into as a young man. When asked about his membership of Skull and Bones on TV he didn’t even try to deny his membership, or even attempt to relegate it to the past. In fact all that he had to say was that since it was a secret he couldn’t talk about it, and tried to laugh the whole thing off.
Allow me to read this excerpt from a book entitled ‘The myth of a Christian nation’ by Gregory A. Boyd:Shortly after the Gulf War in 1992 I happened to visit a July Fourth worship service at a certain megachurch. At center stage in this auditorium stood a large cross next to an equally large American flag. The congregation sang some praise choruses mixed with such patriotic hymns as “God Bless America.” The climax of the service centered on a video of a well-known Christian military general giving a patriotic speech about how God has blessed America and blessed its military troops, as evidenced by the speedy and almost “casualty-free” victory “he gave us” in the Gulf War (Iraqi deaths apparently weren’t counted as “casualties” worthy of notice). Triumphant military music played in the background as he spoke.
The video closed with a scene of a silhouette of three crosses on a hill with an American flag waving in the background. Majestic, patriotic music now thundered. Suddenly, four fighter jets appeared on the horizon, flew over the crosses, and then split apart. As they roared over the camera, the words “God Bless America” appeared on the screen in front of the cross.
The congregation responded with roaring applause, catcalls, and a standing ovation. I saw several people wiping tears from their eyes. Indeed, as I remained frozen in my seat, I grew teary-eyed as well - but for entirely different reasons. I was struck with horrified grief. Thoughts raced through my mind: How could the cross and sword have been so thoroughly fused without anyone seeming to notice? How could Jesus’ self-sacrificial death be linked with flying killing machines? How could Calvary be associated with bombs and missiles? How could Jesus’ people applaud tragic violence, regardless of why it happened and regardless of how much they might benefit from its outcome? How could the kingdom of God be reduced to this sort of violent, nationalistic tribalism? Has the church progressed at all since the crusades?
Indeed, I wondered how this tribalistic, militaristic, religious celebration was any different from the one I had recently witnessed on television carried out by Taliban Muslims raising their guns as they joyfully praised Allah for victories they believed “he had given them” {against the Russians} in Afghanistan?
Hmmm, interesting thoughts aye!I know exactly how he feels. When I attended Promise Keepers in 2008 I experienced much the same atmosphere.
I might have wondered if I was at a Christian meeting or an army recruitment drive. The theme was “Leave no man behind”, a motto borrowed from the US army rangers. At the door I passed tanks, APC’s and howitzers. The presenters all wore army fatigues and had dog tags around their necks. If this wasn’t bad enough, through the day they played a number of clips from worldly war movies espousing schmaltzy American values. One of the video clips shown had a very inappropriate quip with Mel Gibson saying something like ‘And Lord, please disregard our enemies heathen prayers and help us blow them to hell’.
Unbelievably inappropriate! Promise Keepers even had army recruiters on hand so that we could actually join the army, go to somewhere like Afghanistan, and literally blow our heathen enemies to hell.
Is this the masculinity of the bible?As I raised before, can you see Paul or Peter or John, running round with machine guns and hand grenades? Surely they were outside this world’s politics. If anything they wanted to get right in among the heathen, even at peril to themselves, to tell them about how they could be saved from the pit of hell. Thomas preached the gospel across heathen lands all the way to India, but what would they have thought of his witness if he came behind a destroying “Christian” army?
When will Christians DISCERN the difference between the Crusader way and the way of the citizens of God’s kingdom?
What kingdom is this that we have been taught to fight for? It is the kingdom of wood, hay and stubble, the kingdom of this world that shall be judged and swept away. The kingdoms of this world that SATAN offered Jesus if he would just bow down and worship him.
When I express all these things it’s not uncommon for people to say to me something like, “What about WW2?”Hmmm, exactly! If no Germans who called themselves a Christian had supported national aggression then I doubt Hitler would have mustered the support he needed to start it.
It’s like the fall itself, once the perfect order is broken you then end up dealing with a downward spiral of escalating consequences from which it is hard to pluck oneself.
But I do actually believe that many Christians who served in WWII, did so with a good conscience. How can I possibly say this given what I’ve said so far?
Because the misunderstanding regarding Christians and warfare was, and is, so ingrained in our culture that in a sense they did it in innocence; not understanding the results of a compromise that started 1600 years beforehand.
In Roman days the early church existed under both tolerant and despotic Caesars, and did not fight to support either in their rivalries. So Christians would have done well not to be pitched into battle, even at times no doubt against their very own brothers in Christ, as the great worldly powers vied for supremacy.
…there were however Christians who were conscientious objectors in WW2, and were greatly ridiculed for it.My own thought is that there is only one military position a Christian could occupy in good conscience, and that’s the position of medic. I’d still have some concerns with the idea of being under military command; however a medic whose heart was not to support war but, just to help those suffering could probably serve in good conscience.
Now, there’s another thing I want to raise with this whole subject of war, and that’s the Orwellian element.
Is there a greater purpose behind the continual stirring up of wars than just the circumstances of the day?
It does not matter if the war is not real, or when it is, that victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. The essential act of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labor. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle, the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects. And its object is not victory over Eurasia or Eastasia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.
Does it matter to the internationalist elite if a war is not winnable? If America has to walk out of Vietnam… Iraq… Afghanistan?In the meantime tax dollars go to weapons manufacturers, and the government sinks deeper and deeper into debt to the banks, enslaving future generations of tax payers to endless interest on loans that can never be repaid. You see Orwell’s fictitious scenario of a future of perpetual war, and the reasons for its perpetuation, really may be closer to the truth than we’d immediately think. Just the money flow alone really does help maintain the position of the world’s monetary and military-industrial elite.
But is war doing something else too; performing another high level role in the world? Think, does not war also serve to break down societies and cultures in order to ultimately bring them all into a uniform world system?
Certainly at the start of, or leading up to end times, wars will almost certainly be a major agent of bringing together the empire of the beast. Will Christians fight in those wars too? Will they kill to establish the evil empire of Revelation 13?
Yes, the way Christianity is going, at the very least the apostate church will, but I fear that even some of the true church may get caught in a terrible terrible deception.We really need to do some soul searching and ask if, in effect, Christians have ended up often with the same mentality as Muslims; treating those who die in battle as God’s martyrs for a Holy War? All too often this seems to be the case.
I want to conclude with Jesus words to his apostles when he sent them out to teach and to do good in his name. It was specifically directed at them, yet I believe we could safely apply them to ourselves. He says:
I really hope that as we go forth as sheep in a violent and fallen world of wolves, that we will be wise in our choices
…that the bearers of the gospel may be harmless indeed, and not destroyers of the testimony through violence (as the Crusaders were).
…and that we may be true children of light who shine forth in a dark place. God’s children and true citizens of his kingdom.