Whoa….I just couldn’t let this go…..
Picture this…..Jesus is about to be arrested by an armed mob and he has told his apostles to sell things to buy swords…just 2 were “enough”…..you seriously think 2 swords against an armed mob are going to make any kind of impact?
This was prophesy being fulfilled because when Peter drew his sword and cut off a man’s ear, Jesus rebuked him and told him to “return the sword to its place”. Sooooo….why did they have swords now, when they had never been armed during Jesus’ entire ministry?
It was to demonstrate that they were not violent and even though they had weapons, they would not use them. Jesus healed the man and willingly submitted to his arrest as it was all prophesied to take place this way. The lesson was “those who take up the sword will perish by the sword”….substitute any weapon there and it has the same meaning. American gun laws are so ingrained in their psyche that they never got that memo…..gun related deaths in the US exceed any other civilized nation by a large margin.
And yet this is what the first Christians experienced….the Romans used them as entertainment sending them into an arena to be torn apart by wild animals…..yet they could walk free, simply by putting a pinch of incense on an alter as an act of worship to the Emperor…..they could have saved themselves and their children, but they refused to disobey their God, and were martyred. God will reward their courage and obedience.
We are to be “no part of the world”, so we have no part in serving any government by breaking God’s law on the sanctity of life. We are not authorized by God to take human life by serving in the military who will train us to do what God says we must not.……ancient Israel acted as God’s executioners…..defending the land that God had given them. No land we have today is God-given…..most are stolen from their original inhabitants with much bloodshed.
If we have blood on our hands, God will turn away from us. (Isa 1:15)
What the world does has nothing to do with us…the nations have always fought their wars……but, as Christians “we obey God as ruler rather than men” because no man has the right to tell us to do what God condemns. The wars of the nations affect us like they do anyone else, but we will not participate in them. We will go to prison rather than disobey our God. We will not support the war effort in any way because that makes us complicit in their bloodshed.
Those who confuse patriotism with their Christianity will soon find out that they are diametrically opposed to each other, not in harmony at all.
Being “NO PART OF THE WORLD” means exactly what it says… (John 17:16)…we follow Jesus’ example…..we do not interfere with its politics or its conflicts because our citizenship is in God’s Kingdom, not any man’s. The reasons for their bloodshed is none of our business. The world will do what the world under Satan’s influence has always done…..demonstrating by their actions who is leading them. (1 John 5:19)
We choose who we will obey, and it’s obvious that those who call themselves “Christians” who train to kill people whom they call their enemies are opposed by people who think the exact same way, and who perhaps even belong to the very same religion…..so is killing your “brother” of a different nation something God would sanction?
1 John 4:20-21….
”If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this commandment from him, that whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Can you love your brother or your enemy with a weapon? (Matt 5:43-44)
How can we love our enemies?
Romans 12:17-21…
”Return evil for evil to no one. Take into consideration what is fine from the viewpoint of all men. 18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, be peaceable with all men. 19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: “‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says Jehovah.” 20 But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals on his head.” 21 Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil, but keep conquering the evil with the good.”
We hand it all over to God because he is in control of everything…….What happens when you conquer evil with evil? No one really wins, because disobedience to God is always a defeat.
I never cease to be amazed at how twisted your beliefs are…..not Christlike at all…