I think we've all gotten chain mail things in our e-mail boxes. Most of the time people send them to be annoying I think. "Send this to 20 people in the next 20 minutes and you'll meet your true love tomorrow." Or, "If you don't forward this on to 5 people you will have bad luck all of tomorrow, and an ax murderer will kill you too." Those irritate for sure... but then there's the other side. The one that transcends annoying by reaching a spot in your heart of compassion, and maybe even pride. I'll try to copy one such e-mail I got today verbatim.
I'm not breaking this one. If I get it a 1000 times, I'll forward it a 1000 times!Let us pray...
Prayer chain for our Military....don't break it!
Please send this on after a short prayer for our soldiers. Don't break it!
Prayer:
'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'
Prayer Request: When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world. There is nothing attached. Just send this to people in your address book. Do not let it stop with you. Of all the gifts you could give a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman and others deployed in harm's way, prayer is the very best one.
GOD BLESS YOU FOR PASSING IT ON!
AMEN
How do you feel now? Patriotic? Angry at our enemies for the boy who no longer has a father? Do you feel inspired to fight? To be a good American? Do you wish to give your life for your country?
It is very important to honor everyone, including those in war. Whether you believe in war or not, that's a tough time right there, and they deserve good thoughts/words/prayers to get them through a hard time. In that same breath, can't we honor them by bringing them home, by stopping war?
Not once in that whole e-mail does it mention peace. Shouldn't peace be the real hope?
When I see an e-mail like this I see a representation of the American Way attempting to wash its hands of the travesty of war, by placing the outcome of its decisions on the shoulders of God. As if to say, whatever we do, we will pray for blessing in it. In a round about way, it's allowing blame to fall on God if things don't turn out right. I know people who have turned away from God because their son died in war. "What kind of God would allow this to happen?" they might ask. "What kind of people would follow a way counter to God's way, which allows horrible things like this to happen?" I might ask. Both sides have devastating losses in war. Who is really winning? Would you kill a baby to save X number of people? If not, why would you support a war that does?
Maybe you think I'm cold-hearted and un-American. I don't want pursue being un-American, but I do want to pursue being pro-God. If there is conflict between the two, I will side with God. And as far as being cold-hearted... my heart breaks when I get e-mails like this. The truth is, I don't want this to happen anymore. I can no longer believe that war will end war, I can only believe that truth and love will end war. I'm certainly not so naive as to believe fighting war with truth and love won't have casualties, or even many or more casualties, but I do believe it is working in the right direction. There is no doubt in sacrifice for progress, but why should there be sacrifice to stay in the same old rut?
Let's move forward as a people. Let's give up some of our prayer time for some time in reading the Bible. Otherwise, how will we know what to pray for?
Forward this blog link on to 20 people in the next 5 minutes or I could care less.
7 comments:
Amen Brother Amen.
Hi Steve;
Let me say up front that I do not agree with everything that the United States has done or is doing in Iraq at this time. I also concur, that too many times America’s actions are cloaked in the safety of an evangelical cloud of justification, rationalization, and what I call the “Jesus equals Republican and Pat Robertson patriotism.” However, in light of your post and in light of the subject at hand, I might choose to express my discontent with America’s actions by way of different reasoning. Let me explain why:
You wrote: “In that same breath, can't we honor them by bringing them home, by stopping war?” and “Not once in that whole e-mail does it mention peace. Shouldn't peace be the real hope?
Many times, peace can only be arrived at through war. A man like Saddam Hussein is not on the side of peace or negotiation---as evidenced by his track record.
Adolph Hitler also could not be reasoned with or appeased. War was the only choice to bring about peace for Great Britain, the United States, and their allies.
You wrote: “Maybe you think I'm cold-hearted and un-American. I don't want pursue being un-American, but I do want to pursue being pro-God” and “I can no longer believe that war will end war, I can only believe that truth and love will end war.”
Throughout history, war has always ended war---more specifically, wars that were fought in the name of truth and love ended wars. It is unloving and cowardly to watch innocent people be butchered by a cruel and fascist regime and not lift a finger to help when one has it in their power to do so. It is false to not liberate the oppressed and the captives in the name of keeping peace. It is evil to tolerate such things when a government has the ability to stop it. This is why the God of the Bible is pro-war. Governing bodies on earth have been given the Scriptural mandate by God to execute His justice in the earth (Num. 31:3; Ish. 33:3; Jud. 20:26; Josh 10:10, 11). Jesus taught that governments who rule exist by God’s will (John 19:11). Paul also taught that there is no authority except that which God has established and that the person who rebels against that authority rebels against God and brings judgment upon themselves. He goes onto say that these rulers “hold terror for those who do wrong” and that they are “agents of God’s wrath and punishment toward the wrongdoer (Romans 13).” Peter taught that when governments promote good and suppress evil, they fulfill their God-given function (1 Peter 2:11-12).
We also need to remember that it is God who also Sovereignly controls the evil for His glory. We see this all through Scripture; God “turned the hearts of the Assyrians against Israel” to take them captive as punishment for their disobedience toward Him. Despite the fact that the Biblical narrative says that God caused the Assyrian king to come against Israel---God still held the Assyrians responsible! God also “sent and evil spirit to torment Saul” 1 Sam 18:18; 19:9). The truth is that God “works all things after the counsel of His will”---even the war in Iraq (Eph. 1:11). In addition, these "all things" includes the fall of sparrows (Matthew 10:29), the rolling of dice (Proverbs 16:33), the slaughter of his people (Psalm 44:11), the decisions of kings (Proverbs 21:1), the failing of sight (Exodus 4:11), the sickness of children (2 Samuel 12:15), the loss and gain of money (1 Samuel 2:7), the suffering of saints (1 Peter 4:19), the completion of travel plans (James 4:15), the persecution of Christians (Hebrews 12:4-7), the repentance of souls (2 Timothy 2:25), the gift of faith (Philippians 1:29), the pursuit of holiness (Philippians 3:12-13), the growth of believers (Hebrews 6:3), the giving of life and the taking in death (1 Samuel 2:6), and the crucifixion of his Son (Acts 4:27-28).
From the smallest thing to the greatest thing, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure - God governs them all for his wise and just and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Lest we miss the point, the Bible speaks most clearly to this in the most painful situations. Amos asks, in time of disaster, "If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?" (Amos 3:6). After losing all ten of his children in the collapse of his son's house, Job says, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). After being covered with boils he says, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10).
Oh, yes, Satan is real and active and involved in this world of woe! In fact Job 2:7 says, "Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head." Satan struck him. But Job did not get comfort from looking at secondary causes. He got comfort from looking at the ultimate cause. "Shall we not accept adversity from God?" And the author of the book agrees with Job when he says that Job's brothers and sisters "consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him" (Job 42:11). Then James underlines God's purposeful goodness in Job's misery: "You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful" (James 5:11). Job himself concludes in prayer: "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2). Yes, Satan is real, and he is terrible - and he is on a leash.
I hope you see my point by now; War is necessary in a fallen and evil world. God uses evil to bring about his purposes for his glory. Unfortunately, we have not been given the ability to understand all of that—especially in the context of loosing a loved one in battle (Deut. 30:30). God says in the Bible that “it is not for us to understand” and that “his ways are not our ways.”
Also, many people today---especially in postmodern circles, often talk about “peace” and God “being on the side of peace.” Remember context is king; Jesus, the Prince of Peace also said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword…” Jesus is not on the side of peace when standing up for the Gospel is at hand. And we have to remember that the Gospel is all about sin and repentance—repentance and forgiveness---forgiveness and eternal life. The Gospel can only be justified in the context of absolute truth. This is because “Thy Word is Truth” and also because no one is going to know what in the world they need to repent of if there are no rights and wrongs---true and false. Jesus said “go and preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations.” “Repentance” by default suggests antithesis (a right and a wrong). If something is a sin—the opposite is not a sin. In the context of peoples being oppressed and disenfranchised under a fascist regime, there are rights and wrongs---there is sin and its antithetical opposite. Jesus is all about liberating the oppressed---not allowing them to die in their oppression by ignoring the wrong when one could make it right. These things must be considered in light of the subject at hand (the war). The freedoms in America were fought for in the name of Christian liberty--and liberty to practice any and all religion. Someone needs to fight for the oppressed so that they can have the same liberties because they cannot fight for themselves. Only the kid in the playground that stands up to the bully will be respected by all. All others will live under the oppressive fear of having their lunch money taken away every day of the week. :)
Nash, I appreciate your comment. I will try to find some time in the next few days to give a proper response to all you said and how you backed it. I may just respond with a new blog post.
For now I'm curious as to how you found my blog.
Nash is my alias and alter ego; you know me as Mike. :) I purposely put phrases and words in my reply that you have heard me use before, just to see if your Columbo antennae were up. :)
I had a feeling it was you. Obviously because of terminology you used, which most wouldn't know, and your obscene number of scripture references... plus no one reads or comments on my blog.
I googled Nash Garret and found some guy in the U.K.
Who knew you were so tricky. You should be a secret agent or something... or... are you?
Remind me to tell you about some of my college students over the years who I genuinely thought were secret agents from other countries posing as students. :)
How funny... I was just looking over your blog to see if you had written anything new when I noticed your comment. WEIRD.
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