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An Appeal to Fellow Christians
October 08, 2012 | 09:29 PM When an American is asked who won World War II, the answer is invariably "We did." It is never "God did." We give ourselves glory for saving the world, but does God deserve any glory, and if so, how much? If Christians had not participated in the killing and destruction of that (or any) war, where would that leave God and His creation? In other words, what would God do if ALL Christians obeyed Christ by loving their enemies and not resisting evil persons, rather than killing them? Would He be powerless to stop the servants of Satan from taking over the world, powerless to carry out the Second Coming to recover it? If so, Satan would be delighted for us to obey Christ so faithfully. But the Flood, Sodom, and Gomorrah demonstrate God’s ability to destroy the wicked without assistance. If He’s not powerless, He doesn’t need Christians to disobey Christ to save His creation. If He doesn’t need us to disobey Christ, why should we? Can we not trust God for an outcome that is acceptable to Him? It's His world, after all, not ours. Let Him take responsibility for the consequences of our obedience. Let Him decide who will populate and rule His world (Nazis, communists, Muslims or maybe people who aren’t so scary) and whether “our people” will survive. In the first three centuries, the Church came closest to realizing the ideal of loving enemies - a rejection of violence that did not result in calamity for God. He doesn’t seem to be too anxious about it since He wants us to repay evil with good (war is repaying evil with evil, but no accommodation is made for a "necessary evil"). Does that guarantee our personal safety? No. But if you’re willing to die for something Jesus never promoted " political freedoms " you should be willing to die for what was important to him " the kingdom of God. The martyrs did it - so can you. Let God decide whether to allow our enemies to kill us, enslave us, or neither. scott@kingdomofgodflag.info |