Book of War

Book of War

11/18/16

Can we really accept the truth that the Bible is a book of war?  Is it within our grasp to take into account for all the lives that have been lost due to skirmishes in the confines of God’s Word and is it fair to label such a title on a holy book?  We must first understand the importance of the subjects of the Bible and then we can ascertain the reality the Bible contains.  God and His Grace is fierce for the importance of the subjects in the Bible are worth it in His eyes and heart.  Our only problem is that we have forgotten or have ignored the truth about our potential and placement within God’s heart as the sole purpose for this book of war.

I have many “friends” on a popular social media site that we converse with each other on a regular basis.  Some of these friends of mine are closer than others but the majority of them staying at a distance.  I recently asked one of my friends how they interpreted the Bible and how close it was to their hearts.  The explanation that I received in return was priceless, so sad, and gave a true definition of the Church all wrapped up into one sentence.  Priceless in that the response was quick and curt and clearly informing me that the question I asked a personal one and that it was none of my business how they felt and looked at the Bible.  Sad to the point of not wanting to declare the love of God through His Word with others and the true definition of the modern Church because its foundation was worldly and not godly.  I do not blame this person on any level for it is the actions of the Church herself that have dictated these types of response over the millennia, thus defining and strengthening the truth that the Bible – God’s Word – is a book of eternal war and not just some fictional work that creates good stories to dismiss.

For the most part, this friend of mine and I keep our distance because of the amount of time we have completing our respective projects, I hide no animosity towards them and still wish to converse about God’s Word with them at some point in time.  While this current condition between two people that consider God to be alive concerns me, the more important issue here is that this person does not understand that God’s Word is a book of war and through this missed truth cannot properly defend them against the spirit of the world; painfully, they probably are not even aware of such spiritual war either.  It also pains me that the Church has entirely missed this important and vital fact about life and furthermore, enveloped the concept that only physical war can be labeled into a category in the Bible.  It is a safe statement to make that not many people like war, and it is another correct statement to make that not many people seek war as their primary objective in getting their point across to others.  What many people, and especially Christians, do understand is that they use combative tactics to get their point across which places them in a specific category and in turn limits the spread of the true Gospel of Christ.  If God could do a facepalm, this category of our lives and His Ways would be the best example of us missing this truth.

It is a popular concept of many to think about when Abraham went to war for the return of Lot and his family.  The triumphant story of Israel over the Philistines also comes to our minds when we make a list of warring victories but while we make our favorites list we must also make one that includes victories from enemies as well, for not every battle in the Bible was won by the “good” side.  We tend to end our support and knowledge at this stage and forget the most important reasons why these physical battles are being played out.  God understands that humans have fiery tempers and tend to jump to conclusions before thinking out the entire process concerning their surroundings.  It is this point that God wants us to remember that when we forget about the spiritual aspect of the Bible we will lose more than just our physical lives, for it is the spiritual life of ours that God deems eternally important.

With God being a complete God, He wants our victories to be complete as well which means both on the physical side and the spiritual side.  The Bible states very clearly as to why Israel was victorious in numerous battles and on other occasions as to why Israel was defeated.  In all cases of Israel’s defeats, it was due to the fact that some type of disobedience was committed either before, during or after the battles were fought which led to the outcome of those situations.  The intent of the heart of a nation – in this case, Israel – was taken into consideration and it was in accordance to the condition of that nation’s heart that results were allowed to be witnessed.  The spiritual heart condition of Israel was always at issue and it was through their examples of their spiritual heart that give us a pattern to either follow or skirt around.  We must contend that in any case, God already knew what the outcome of those battles would be and He allowed them to occur no matter what, a further indication that God is not a God that demands control of His people but One who loves His Children and desires an intimate relationship and not a theocracy.

Our nation is currently considered to be the most powerful nation ever established by mankind and when one looks at our continual growth over our short history no one can argue against this proclamation.  With all of my heart, I 100% believe that God intended for this nation to grow into this status due to the facts about our history and how this nation was founded.  In many instances, the blessings that God has poured out on this nation mimic those that He did to the nation of Israel in the Bible, and it through this reason that I believe this nation shall be subject to God on parallel levels.  God is a complete God in all manners and when sin overpowers the spiritual livelihood to the point where the heart of a nation overrides a God created State, God must act accordingly as He has throughout human history.

Isaiah gives us a specific account of this type of destruction due to the spiritual condition of Israel.  The passage in Isaiah reminds us that when our sin is so great that God must allow even the destruction of His Temple that had become an effigy of god worship by His own people.  Or how before the nation of Israel was created and established by God that according to Genesis God had to wipe out the human population and establish the Covenant of the Bow because they had missed what God had wanted for His people too.  Humanity itself has placed its own selfish desires over the truth of their creation.  Mankind has repeatedly bought into our enemy’s lie that we can handle things on our own and that God is not a necessary being in our lives. God distinctly confides all throughout His Word that it is humans that He proclaims as the most important item in His heart, yet we continue to spite His Will for our lives by accepting lies instead of the truth.

If we are the most important reason for the book of war then that means we should do everything in our power to ensure that we understand exactly what is going on around us.  Since we know God is a Spirit then we need to keep in mind that our battle is not just on the physical aspect of our lives that it includes the spiritual side as well.  Numerous times both in the Old and New Testaments that they mention that physical war is not what we should be focusing on and that it is the spiritual warfare that is to be fought continuously.  It is our eternal lives that represent the most important parts of our life because it is this portion that shall never die and is directly subject to eternal separation if not lived under Covenant.

God cannot help but allow the kingdom laws to be rendered full and intact, even if it hurts Him deeply to see His children suffer greatly.  How can we deliberately snub God when we have so much proof of what will eventually occur to our societies if we do not follow God and His Ways with a glad and tidy heart?  How is it feasible that any creation of God can become an underdog in a fight and then get totally scattered for millennia across an unfamiliar land to a weaker opponent?  This type of living arrangement is not what God has in store for our lives but He has no choice to allow this type of judgment approach when our hearts are spiritually dead to His Ways.

Many of you know that I really do not like to talk about prophecies.  I struggle with many of these issues simply because when they are studied they do not line up with the Word of God.  But there are a few people in this nation who have their spiritual ears in tune with God and they listen to what God is warning us about.  While many people scoff at their words and write off their warnings as mere speculation and disbelief, God is saying things through these people that we need to understand.  One prophecy in particular states that this nation shall face a great tsunami, one that shall destroy the entire east coast of this country and some of the gulf coast states along with it, and the people who have had these visions about our future do not know each other and have been shown this event in ways that they can relay it to others.  Why would God allow such an event to take place in this nation?  For the exact same reasons why He allowed the children of Israel to be utterly destroyed, led into captivity, and then have their national identity purged for thousands of years.  It also gives rise to the reason why the king of the north, king of the south, and the king of the east are allowed to invade Israel in the end times.

All of these examples of spiritual waywardness provide us with enough evidence of what not to do when it comes to believing that we can live without God.  Yet, we see over and over, society after society try its best to overpower this truth.  God has no rival and He has no equal.  He has provided us with the answers we need in order to survive both the physical and spiritual wars that are around us.  God has also guaranteed us that war is a necessary entity that we must accept but it's the spiritual aspect that we should focus because it is through this portion that God’s Kingdom either is advanced or pushed back.  The war that surrounds us is for your life, your eternal life. 

I was watching a TV program the other night and was reminded of a common phrase that is used by almost every person in the Christianized world.  At the climax of the program the person that had hidden the truth from police and had tried to conceal his guilt about a murder he committed, he uttered the words “oh God, no”.  Whether he meant these words or not it was the portrayal of the emotional cry that he was trying to get across to the police around him.  It was not a cry of innocence or even guilt but one of many things occurring around him that he no longer had control over.  The question that God poses to us is this: how will we view the destruction of our nation when God says “enough”?  How will we view the lives that shall be lost when a just and holy God has to purge His land (people) from the sin that we have allowed direct access?  Will we utter these exact words as we watch our lives and nation totally change in front of our eyes?  Or have we gone beyond even the slightest recognition of what God is about to complete?

Our lives were not created to live in a montage pattern or as a soap opera, but one of peace, harmony, and tranquility with our Creator.  God has done everything in His power to show us this truth and through the gifts of our lives and our surroundings, we cannot have a clearer picture than what lay before us.  But what kind of testament shall we incur in our future if we prove biblical prophecy of destruction correct; even atheists prove this truth to be correct.  However, we are missing the main issue so much that we have voluntarily signed up for the losing side.

It concerns me deeply that this nation, along with the Church, has failed to realize the spiritual condition of our hearts.  As each day passes it becomes clearer that our emotions and wants rule our lives with our prideful status being exemplified when we get our way and when we do not as well.  Is this how God intended for us to live or to portray ourselves to a dying world?  Do we even wish to honor God at all or are we so engrossed with ourselves that we have embalmed our spiritual lives into the world?  If anyone takes a serious and honest look at our actions we will easily come to the conclusion that self-rules society and we want to be just like it.  The world shall always tell you that this path is correct and is the only way that one can survive and be accepted, but this advice comes from a defeated ruler and one that hates your every breath, and whose goal is to see you be eternally separated from God just as he is.

Church it is our responsibility to get our act together again and to teach the world to live within the confines of God’s Covenant.  We cannot do this until we first set the example of complete repentance before God and to acknowledge Him as the One true Lord and Savior.  Then we can honestly and appropriately proclaim the Gospel that Jesus wants us to do.  God loves His children with all of His heart it is His desire to have a personal and intimate relationship with every single child that wishes to choose Him for their lives.  Then, it is possible for us to comprehend the detailed war that God has written about which occurs every second of our existence and just how important we are in the Kingdom of God.

DLB