|
Aggressive
& Defensive Warfare
Christians Absolutely Must Understand the
Difference
by Pastor John Hamel
“Take ye the sum of
all the congregation of the children of Israel
… every male by their polls; From twenty years old and upward, all that are
able to go forth to war in Israel:
thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.”
(Num.1:2-3)
Almighty God knows how to subdue crime and
prevent aggressive nations from controlling the world. This is why He
gives us government officials to execute judgment upon aggressive individuals and
nations. It's for our protection.
Satan is temporarily the “god of this world”
(small “g”) so there will be violent aggressors in this Earth until Jesus returns. (Matthew 24:4-21; 2Corinthians 4:4)
There's no getting around the fact that we are going to have to go
toe-to-toe with some of these aggressors from time to time. That's
their decision, not ours. Although America
will not engage in Aggressive Warfare, she will not hesitate to respond to
any and all aggressors through Defensive Warfare.
In the Bible the Nation of Israel was surrounded by aggressive
nations that didn’t hesitate to rape, kill, plunder and keep them from
entering the Promised Land. God commanded Israel
to enter into Defensive Warfare with all aggressors and to show no
mercy. This was to encourage all other aggressors to back off and
allow Israel
to live in peace. (Job 5:20)
Defensive Warfare is not “sinful,” as some
Believers insist, because God backed Israel
in it and God doesn’t sin. (Exodus 21:12-17; Numbers 25:17; Deuteronomy
7:2)
Aggressive Warfare is crime on a national
level. Bringing aggressive nations to justice is no more wrong or
cruel than bringing any individual murderous criminal to justice.
It’s not wrong when a heinous, bloody murderer is dealt with swiftly and
justly. It’s not wrong when a heinous, bloody murdering nation is
dealt with swiftly and justly.
Awhile back I was taking a lunch break from
writing this study you are reading today for my book, "The Person Of Almighty
God: 65 Study Outlines." I was walking away from the microwave
when I heard the voice of the Holy
Spirit as clearly as I've ever heard Him at any other time in
nearly 25 years of listening to Him. He said, "When Jesus said
to 'turn the other cheek' He was talking about personal offense, not
national defense." (Matthew 5:39) I stopped in my
tracks. It was as if He were standing right there in that room
speaking to me. I hope you heard it today as clearly as I did
then. We are NOT to "turn the other cheek"
when Satanically motivated aggressor
nations come to kill, steal and destroy us. (John
10:10)
The problem with most God-fearing
individuals who “oppose warfare for any reason” is ignorance, meaning “a
lack of knowledge,” not stupidity. They simply have been blinded to
the fact that there are two kinds of warfare in the Bible. One is
“Aggressive Warfare.” God condemns this kind of warfare. He
doesn’t tolerate violent aggression of any kind. (Psalm 68:30)
The other is “Defensive Warfare.” This
is the kind of warfare that God honors. He promises to help us defend
ourselves against all aggressive individuals and all aggressive nations.
(Psalm 91) When every attempt to negotiate with aggressors has
failed, it’s time to resort to Defensive Warfare. (Deuteronomy 20:12)
“But the Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’” (Exodus 20:12-16) No, the
literal Hebrew says, “You shall not take a life in an unjustifiable
manner.” No need to be a Hebrew scholar to borrow your local
library's Hebrew lexicon and read it for yourself. Or you can go
to Bible.com and research it. Taking lives for anger, jealousy,
malice, etc., is "unjustifiable." Unfortunately for all
aggressive nations, God considers the taking of their lives through
Defensive Warfare to be “justifiable.” This is what Solomon referred
to as “A time to kill... a time of war...” (Ecclesiastes
3:3,8)
Anyone who says, “All warfare is
uncompassionate.” is simply living in
Fantasy
Land!
It is God’s compassion for law-abiding citizens that won’t allow aggressive
nations or individuals to run rampant in defiance of His Moral Laws.
(Numbers 10:9; Romans 13:1-8) The God of
Compassion loves His obedient ones
too much to allow this to happen. (Psalm 145:8,9)
When God defended Israel
it wasn’t through signs, wonders and miracles alone. It was through
supernatural Defensive Warfare. (Deuteronomy 4:34) Moses was raised
up to defend Israel
against Aggressive Warfare (Exodus 3:1-14:31), as was Joshua (Joshua
6:1-27), as was Gideon (Judges 6:14),
as was King Saul (1Samuel 15:1-35) and as was King David (1Samuel 29:1-30:25).
If national bullies are not dealt with defensively, they’ll get more and
more aggressive, showing up at your house and wanting your family and
your stuff!
Recently, in the community where Barbara and
I live, Churches came together to protest the war in Iraq.
They had no idea what the Bible teaches about the two kinds of
warfare. They said their basis for doing so was because "Jesus
is the Prince of Peace." Shamefully, they were actually basing
their demonstration on a "Dr. Seuss" book about peace but
they had no other Scriptural support for what they were doing other than
one of Jesus' descriptive Names being taken
completely out of context.
Jesus is the Prince of
Peace. Peace between God and believing man. (Romans
5:1) But He is not a "Peace-nik."
Christians joining arms in solidarity, pointing towards Heaven and
illegally blocking traffic while singing "Kum
Ba Yah" is exactly how Satan wants Believers to respond to
his outright attack on their Country.
If he can get everyone to do that, the country is his for the
taking.
If you are a Believer in Jesus Christ and
the Bible and you have been "antiwar" because you thought it was
the "peaceful" thing to do, it's time to awaken to righteousness. It’s time to read
the Bible in context, taking it literally unless it’s very obviously
figurative, make the necessary adjustments and be thankful that America,
YOUR America, is the most powerful, prepared, anti-Aggressive Warfare,
pro-Defensive Warfare nation in the world.
Thanks to God Almighty, that is.
America
is God’s Gospel lighthouse. Ninety
percent of all missionaries and missionary dollars go out from this Nation. He’s going to back us against our
aggressors as long as we keep preaching the Gospel, standing in support of Israel and repenting when we’re wrong.
In closing, we
must also realize that the Bible says Defensive Warriors are National
Heroes and must be treated as such. (Numbers 31:26,27,49,53; 1Samuel
18:5-7)
We owe those who
fight defensively on our behalf so much more than "Kum
Ba Yah" and disgusted looks when they're in
our presence. These individuals leave their families willingly to go
and do the hard things so that we can stay home and do the easy things in a
war-free zone. We owe them respect and honor, at the very, very
least.
Be blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
|
