Exodus 32:6 … the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

They say they want to reestablish the United States credibility in the world and reach out to our poor misunderstood Islamic “brothers” in the Middle East. We pull our troops out of Iraq and sit back safe on bases outside of the country until we can completely withdraw from the region without appearing like we’re running home with our tails between our legs. It seems to be a hybrid of a Rodney King (“Can’t we all just get along?”) and a Dorothy (“there’s no place like home… there’s no place like home…”) approach to foreign affairs.

Isaiah 3:4,9,12 And I will make mere lads their princes, and capricious children will rule over them. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. O My people! Their oppressors are children, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths.

2 Corinthians 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Jeremiah 8:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’; when there is no peace.

Ezekiel 13:1,2,5,8,10,15,16 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the LORD!’ You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the LORD. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,’ declares the Lord GOD. It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash. Thus I will spend My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash; and I will say to you, ‘The wall is gone and its plasterers are gone, along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy to Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

Jeremiah 8:8-10 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit.”

Does that pretty much sum it up?

How can we do anything but be destroyed?

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

All of this is rooted in our moral relativism. Like Pontius Pilate, we put a sarcastic smile on our face and ask “what is truth?” There are no absolutes (an obvious oxymoron). There’s only your opinion and my opinion and neither is more valid than the other. Like ripples from an existential stone, it eventually sweeps over every area of our culture and our lives. And the church is just as guilty of this spiritual blindness as anybody. We in the church have relegated the Word of God to the place of a reference book and rely instead on our feelings to determine right and wrong. On that basis, it’s no wonder that what little evangelism occurs today focuses on making people feel good about themselves and on humanitarian aid…we have nothing else to offer.

Acts 20:26,27 “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”

Galatians 1:9,10 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Concerning war in general, I am of a mixed mind. War is only mentioned tangentially in the New Testament and it is clear that Jesus, the Apostles, and the first century church chose to allow themselves to persecuted and killed rather than to defend themselves. Jesus also taught that we should “turn the other cheek” and “love our enemies.” However, I would point out that the New Testament clearly states that governments do have authority to kill (Romans 13:1-4) but not unjustly.

If you feel that war is always wrong for a Christian, then you certainly have a Biblical foundation for that and I can respect it. However, I have never encountered a Christian who is willing to follow and consciously accept the inevitable consequences of those beliefs. If you choose this stance, then you are saying that you are willing to allow your country to be destroyed…that you are willing to give up the freedoms which we all enjoy…that you are willing to allow your family, your friends, your church, and your nation to be killed along with yourself rather than defend it by killing someone else. You certainly have no right to expect someone else to do it for you if you feel it is morally wrong and are unwilling to do it yourself.

I think another factor in how we view war is how we view God. In our culture, we see God as essentially a cross between Santa and a Genie. He just wants us to be good girls and boys and he’ll give us good things if we ask in the right way. But we forget that the Yaweh of the New Testament is also the Yaweh of the Old Testament. Not only did God allow war in the Old Testament, He commanded it and often ordered that it be fought in a ruthless fashion.

Deuteronomy 20:16 Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

Psalm 144:1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle

Jeremiah 51:20 He says, “You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, And with you I destroy kingdoms.”

Exodus 15:3 The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.

1 Samuel 15:3 “Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly.

1 Samuel 15:22,26 “… to obey is better than sacrifice…you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

So, if war is permitted and even mandated by God at times, when is it appropriate and how should it be fought? The short answer to the first part is “I don’t know.” John MacArthur has a good teaching on this http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/80-241.htm). Is this war justified? I covered that topic in a previous article. Should war be avoided if possible? Of course…IF avoiding it doesn’t mean a high probability of fighting a bigger more destructive war latter…IF your enemy isn’t suicidal and planning to take your nation out even if it means national suicide…IF your enemy isn’t fighting a clandestine war against you while attempting to maintain appearances of peaceful cooperation. A lot of “ifs”…welcome to the world.

Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

Luke 14:28,29 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him”

With all of this going on, how is it even possible to win?

Luke 11:17 But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.”

In a nutshell, Mohammed came along 700 years after Christ and started a religion which claimed Judaism and Christianity as it’s predecessors. However, they had both lost their way so the angel Gabriel came along and gave a series of visions to Mohammed in a cave where he made him memorize the Quran. The idea was to restore mankind back to worshipping the one true God.

I strongly encourage anyone who swallows the popular notion that Islam is a religion of peace which has been co-opted by a handful of religious extremists to do some independent research. It’s history, the Quran, the Hadith, and it’s founder are violent to the core. It’s history is a tale of war, not only against non-Muslims, but against each other from the beginning. And Islam is not JUST a religion…it is a political belief and proscribes its own methodology of war, law, and foreign affairs (i.e, Sharia). The descendents of Ishmael have fulfilled God’s prophecy concerning them:

Genesis 16:12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone's hand will be against him”

The problem with these so-called moderate Muslims is that they have fatal flaws in their world view which allows their more violent brethren to grow and prosper. The first is that they sympathize with them. Ask your average Muslim what they think of Israel and the United States government and you’ll soon find out that moderate isn’t quite the word for it. Secondly, they live in fear of their own religion and it’s more radical adherents so they dare not speak too harshly of violence in the name of Islam or oppose the instituting of Sharia law throughout the world. These two facts make even your most moderate of Muslims passive sympathizers with those killing themselves in an attempt to take as many of us with them as possible. This is one reason why you don’t see the same severity and proliferation of violence in other religions as you do with Islam.

Muslims believe in Jesus but only as a prophet (not the Son of God). They deny He was crucified and, of course, that He was resurrected. There is no such thing as the Trinity. These concepts are explicitly stated in the Quran. Do you see how insidious Islam is? It claims Judaism and Christianity for its own then denies the heart and power of them! The problem is not a handful of people distorting Islam, it’s Islam distorting people! Generally speaking, the more Christ-like and devoted to Christianity a person becomes the more peaceful they are. But the more like Mohammed one becomes and the more devoted they are to Islam the more destructive they become. It is one of the shrewdest inventions Satan ever conceived. And what does the Bible say about those who deny that Jesus is the Christ?

1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

Our moral relativity, our focus on tolerance and inclusiveness, our ecumenical attempts to cooperate with other religions and emphasize our commonalities, our watering down and editing of the Gospel, our increasing reliance on feelings instead of God’s Word to guide us, our removal of Christianity from our public institutions, our misguided efforts to win the hearts and minds of Muslims, our half-hearted attempts at war against a ruthless and unprincipled enemy, our rabid acceptance of increasing larger and more blatant lies and distortions while denying the obvious truth, our calling of good evil and evil good…they all have a common purpose. The purpose is to prepare the world (and those within the institutional church who will be left behind) for the appearance and religion of the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.

Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many…

The answer isn’t political activism or cultural engagement (although you should exercise your political privileges and preach the Gospel to all people). The answer is to seek to know and obey and worship the God who is THERE…NOT the god that we have created in our own image. To first KNOW the Gospel and then live it out and preach it to the world. It all starts with a willingness to unlearn much of what we have accepted as Christianity and repent before Jesus. The best way to know Him is through studying His Word and spending time with Him in prayer. Carefully seek out others who know Him and learn from and support each other. Although much of the church is dead, the Church continues. Hold fast to His Word and abide in His Spirit. Then go and tell others!

The days are growing short, my brothers. Despite what you may have heard from many pulpits and televangelists, God will judge and discipline His people. And His discipline can be very severe. I don’t know why the United States isn’t mentioned in the end times, but I fear the explanation. Take a glance at the many times in the Old Testament where God used war, enslavement, disease, and starvation to punish His own people Israel. And Israel usually refused to believe that God would do it to them until the day it actually happened. These accounts were passed on to us for a reason…

1 Corinthians 10:1,5,11,12 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea… Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Hebrews 10:26-31 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY " And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

I was in church today and listening as the whole church sang a stirring song about how great it was going to be when Jesus returns. It left me distressed and grieved. I think Amos said it best:

Amos 5:18-21,23,24 Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD, For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not light; As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it? “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Isaiah 7:13,14 & 19-22 “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’”

1 Corinthians 11:31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?