GOD IN WAR

Although I read the Bible daily, I’m not a Bible scholar by any stretch of the imagination. The most I can claim is that I’ve completely read the Bible a handful of times and perhaps some of it has stuck to me. Nevertheless, I’m a neophyte when it comes to scholarly exegesis. Having established that, reading the Bible has made an impression on me.

As I read through the Bible, I’m struck that God had His people fight wars much differently than we do. God has His people defeat and destroy the enemy. That’s how America used to fight too. Now we are all about nation-building and preserving various indigenous landmarks. For example, terrorists know they can hide in mosques and launch attacks from there because we won’t attack a mosque. In my way of thinking, we shouldn’t go to war with anyone that we aren’t willing to defeat as quickly and decisively as possible, regardless of such things as mosques. If we are concerned about mosques, then we weren’t provoked enough to go to war.

Part of winning a war is making the enemy and those with similar aggressive aspirations think twice about provoking us. It’s good for others to wonder if they want their infrastructure and people in ruination for whatever cause they are propelling. It should be known that if a nation provokes America into war that they will pay a very heavy price. The price should be so high that it truly deters others from aggression. We would have a lot less wars and armed conflicts that way.

Fear can be a great thing. No, fear is not politically correct but fear is what keeps people from picking fights with a stronger power. Fear can make peace. We seem to think that we can win the hearts and minds of people we’re at war with. This is not only viewed as a sign of weakness by the enemy but it provokes them to push us farther and harder. Rather than America clearly defeating our enemies, we want our enemies to be able to save face; we want to win without calling it victory. We think that does us good in the minds of people who hate us. The result is that we have inadvertently enabled the dramatic spread and sophistication of radical Islam. Where are all the friends our political correctness has bought us? Just recently the president of Afghanistan said that they would side with Pakistan if we got into conflict with Pakistan. Iraq has essentially kicked us out. President Obama wanted to stay longer but we couldn’t reach a deal to protect our military. Furthermore, Egypt and Libya are beginning a turn against us and Tunisia, known as the most European country of North Africa, has just elected to go Islamic.

Compromising with evil is not just a bad political strategy; it’s spiritual heresy. It’s ordained that one can never win in the long run compromising with evil. As far as that goes, we don’t seem to understand radical Islam. Regardless of what we do to appease them, they will still hate us; we are the “Infidels” - - - the “ones without faith.” While we are fighting a political battle, they are fighting a spiritual battle.

As I read the Bible, God’s people didn’t primarily fight political wars; they fought spiritual wars. In that regard, God’s enemies were to be wholly defeated. God didn’t want His holy people compromising with or adopting any of the enemy’s traditions, values, or gods. As America slides farther and farther away from the Judeo-Christian values which founded us, we become less grounded to God and more vulnerable to those who fervently fight for a different god.