As hard as it may seem to believe, there are those who have been or are being violently rejected by the same people who preach grace and acceptance. How, you may ask, is it fulfilling God\u2019s command to love one another when someone says to you: \u201cYou can\u2019t come into my country because this is a Christian nation and you don\u2019t believe as I do\u201d or \u201cIf you don\u2019t follow the same biblical dogmas that I follow, you don\u2019t deserve to enjoy the same rights and freedoms I enjoy\u201d? This is such an amazing paradox, and it\u2019s touching the lives of millions of people in painful and sometimes deadly ways every day.<\/p>\n
History also reveals that many of the wars that have ravaged our planet have had religious overtones or have been the direct result of God-fearing individuals taking a stand against what they perceive to be attacks on their beliefs. The Crusades are a prime example of a good idea gone wrong.<\/p>\n
But before we start condemning those nations and people groups who reject individuals they perceive as the \u201cother\u201d in this world, we might want to cut them some slack. They may have learned to act that way from a surprising source: the Bible. They truly believe that they\u2019re following God\u2019s Word as they close their minds and borders to anyone who isn\u2019t the same as they. They\u2019re absolutely convinced that taking up arms and doing battle with all those nasty \u201csinners\u201d or \u201cinfidels\u201d or \u201cillegals\u201d is a sacred privilege that has been bestowed upon them by God Himself. After all, this is war, and we\u2019re God\u2019s soldiers, right? It\u2019s our heaven-sanctioned duty to protect our national purity and personal piety.<\/p>\n
War of Words<\/strong><\/h2>\nHow did so many Christians become so militaristic? Where did the idea of almost literally waging war on sinners come from? We don\u2019t have to look any further than what happened long ago in heaven. A quick read of Revelation 12:7 points to what many consider to be the origin of our call to arms when it comes to those who don\u2019t agree with us. Our marching orders seem to come from God Himself.<\/p>\n
For reasons unknown, Satan—that glorious angel who called heaven home—decided that he wasn\u2019t getting the accolades that his wonderfulness deserved. He began a whisper campaign filled with evil innuendos about God\u2019s character and how unfairly He treated those under His authority. Satan\u2019s jealousy spilled onto his fellow angels, and before long there was disharmony in the courts of glory. As expected, the God of the universe wasn\u2019t exactly pleased with this turn of events and pushed back. Just how<\/em> He pushed back represents the first in a long line of misrepresentations of God\u2019s character and the foundation reason so many Christians feel justified to battle sinners.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the way the Bible records it: \u201cThen war broke out in heaven. Michael [God] and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.<\/strong>But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him\u201d (Revelation 12:7-9, NIV).*<\/sup><\/p>\nSounds pretty straightforward. War. Hurled down. Except there\u2019s an issue with the word \u201cwar\u201d in this text. A quick check in the Greek lexicon (Greek was the language used to write Revelation) reveals something startling. The original word for \u201cwar\u201d in this passage is polemo<\/em> from which we derive the word \u201cpolemic,\u201d which simply means \u201cdisagreement.\u201d<\/p>\nHold the smart bombs! Sheath your swords! There wasn\u2019t \u201cwar\u201d in heaven. There was \u201cdisagreement.\u201d God and Satan didn\u2019t engage in actual battle with lightning bolts and heavy artillery pieces firing percussively throughout the kingdom. They engaged in verbal<\/em> fisticuffs with an outcome that\u2019s representative of any serious disagreement with God: separation<\/em>. Good and evil can\u2019t coexist. Like oil and water, they disengage from each other at a molecular level. That\u2019s why Satan and his followers ended up on this earth, much to the detriment of Adam and Eve, and us, their descendants.<\/p>\nSo it seems God didn\u2019t use \u201cwar\u201d or violence to fight Satan. His weapon of choice was honest discourse followed by separation.<\/p>\n
The same thing happened when Adam and Eve sided with the devil and ate what God told them not to eat. The disobedient couple had to leave their garden home and live life by their own rules—or, more to the point, the rules created by Satan. That\u2019s separation number two. There were many more to come.<\/p>\n
Throughout the Old Testament we find God\u2019s people moving in and out of His protective, nurturing, saving presence. They allow their sins to separate them from God, and He continually begs them, through His prophets, to \u201creturn to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,<\/strong>but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name\u201d (Nehemiah 1:8, 9, NIV).<\/p>\nIn God\u2019s Name<\/strong><\/h2>\nBut, you ask, what about all those times God led His people to war—the sword and killing kind?<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s important for us to remember three things:<\/p>\n
1 Just because someone says (or writes) that something happened in God\u2019s name doesn\u2019t mean God sanctioned it. I can guarantee you that the last words out of the September 11 hijackers\u2019 mouths as their aircraft slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, or that windy field in Pennsylvania were \u201cAll\u0101hu akbar,\u201d which means \u201cGod is great.\u201d They were happily waging war in the name<\/em> of God. But no one, other than a small group of people on this earth, would ever believe that God sanctions such violent attacks.<\/p>\n2 Christ told His disciples that \u201cI and my Father are one\u201d (John 10:30). If you can\u2019t see Jesus acting in a certain way, the Father wouldn\u2019t act that way either. Reading the Old Testament through the Jesus filter is very revealing and instructive.<\/p>\n
3 Many events—and their outcomes—are attributed to God simply because He didn\u2019t stop them.\u201cThis must be God\u2019s will because He allowed it to happen,\u201d people say. Perhaps you know individuals like that. Everything is part of God\u2019s \u201cplan.\u201d<\/p>\n
While God certainly does lead us in ways that are both miraculous and life-changing, we must be careful not to praise Him for happenings that damage or hurt others, bring sorrow to those still searching for Him, or support evil in the long run. \u201cAnd we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose\u201d (Romans 8:28, NIV).<\/p>\n
God is an equal-opportunity Savior. He loves everyone and works endlessly to better their lives, not ruin them—and that includes the lives of our perceived \u201cenemies.\u201d The only thing that breaks that eternal rhythm of love is if we turn our backs on Him and leave His presence. That separation<\/em> is what brings death and destruction both to us and to others. Besides, waging war in God\u2019s name isn\u2019t even possible. Remember oil and water?<\/p>\nToday\u2019s church militants have ways of arming themselves for battles they think need to be fought—weapons apparently blessed by Scripture. At first blush they seem especially destructive of others while protecting the warrior. But a careful reading of one particular passage reveals how those armaments are to be used in the real world.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil\u2019s schemes (Ephesians 6:11, NIV). Is God giving His stamp of approval for acts of violence perpetrated against those who refuse to believe in His sovereignty? Read on: \u201cFor our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms\u201d (verse 12).<\/p>\n
Seems our battle isn\u2019t against sinners. It\u2019s against sin. Our war isn\u2019t waged over whose doctrines are right or wrong. Our weapons shouldn\u2019t be aimed at those who refuse to believe as we believe, or look like us, or want the same freedoms we enjoy. Our ongoing conflict is against the author of all that is wrong, Satan himself—along with his evil henchmen who bought into his web of lies.<\/p>\n
In actual fact, we\u2019re all<\/em> victims of the same evil. Jew, Gentile, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, agnostic, atheist, Hindu, etc.—everyone, everywhere, of all faiths, desperately needs God\u2019s battle gear because we\u2019re in the same war<\/em>. We\u2019re all fighting the same foe.<\/p>\nFighting each other for whatever reason might make us feel good about ourselves, but such misguided warfare is destructively counter-productive and plays directly into Satan\u2019s desire for worldwide dominance. When we separate from God, we become fair game.<\/p>\n
So what equipment is stored in God\u2019s armory for all human beings to use in this global conflict against evil? The next few verses provide a short list of the essentials: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of God\u2019s Word (verses 14-17).<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the well-armed soldier of God wears into battle. Contrary to popular belief, we don\u2019t fight evil with restrictive civil laws, closed borders, picket lines, demeaning posts on social media, or volleys of shame directed at those who don\u2019t agree with us. We don\u2019t legislate behavior based on our interpretation of Scripture or demand allegiance to the God we\u2019ve chosen to worship. No, we fight by upholding truth in our own lives; by personally demonstrating righteous living and pure thinking. We do battle by standing firm in our faith, constantly assuring ourselves and others of God\u2019s saving grace. We so embrace the biblical principles of love and forgiveness that all<\/em> people everywhere <\/em>feel safe and empowered in our presence.<\/p>\nWe wage the type of war that brings people into a saving knowledge of God, not one that drives a wedge of separation between them and their only source of salvation. That\u2019s what the armor of God allows us to do under His banner of love.<\/p>\n
By the Sword<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe night Christ was arrested (the story is found in Luke 22:47-52), one of His followers reacted violently. He drew his sword and took a swipe at those determined to harm his Master. The servant of the high priest lost an ear in the process.<\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s response to the man holding the sword should speak volumes to those among us who feel the need to wage war on sinners. He said, \u201cNo more of this!\u201d After touching the servant\u2019s ear and healing him, Christ continued. \u201cAm I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?\u201d Then, zeroing in on the mindless motives of those pious people who stood with swords drawn, He added, \u201cBut this is your hour—when darkness reigns\u201d (verses 51-53, NIV).<\/p>\n
There is a dark battle raging today, but the tools of war God has given us have more to do with salvation than destruction. They\u2019re designed to end separations, not create them. In this war the casualties are hatred and bigotry. The spoils are friendship across all cultural and national barriers. We\u2019d do well to arm ourselves thoughtfully and prayerfully for the battles ahead.<\/p>\n
![]("https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screen_Shot_2020-01-09_at_10.43_.53_AM_.png")
<\/p>\n
*Bible texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version<\/em>. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two recent surveys shone a bright light on a dark reality. They revealed that people who claim to be \u201creligious\u201d are far more likely to view those who are different from them with distrust and downright hostility. Conversely, a majority of those who consider themselves \u201csecular\u201d seem to have no such problems accepting people groups<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[333],"tags":[165],"class_list":["post-6517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-january-february-2020","tag-january-february-2020"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Here\u2019s the way the Bible records it: \u201cThen war broke out in heaven. Michael [God] and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.<\/strong>But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him\u201d (Revelation 12:7-9, NIV).*<\/sup><\/p>\n Sounds pretty straightforward. War. Hurled down. Except there\u2019s an issue with the word \u201cwar\u201d in this text. A quick check in the Greek lexicon (Greek was the language used to write Revelation) reveals something startling. The original word for \u201cwar\u201d in this passage is polemo<\/em> from which we derive the word \u201cpolemic,\u201d which simply means \u201cdisagreement.\u201d<\/p>\n Hold the smart bombs! Sheath your swords! There wasn\u2019t \u201cwar\u201d in heaven. There was \u201cdisagreement.\u201d God and Satan didn\u2019t engage in actual battle with lightning bolts and heavy artillery pieces firing percussively throughout the kingdom. They engaged in verbal<\/em> fisticuffs with an outcome that\u2019s representative of any serious disagreement with God: separation<\/em>. Good and evil can\u2019t coexist. Like oil and water, they disengage from each other at a molecular level. That\u2019s why Satan and his followers ended up on this earth, much to the detriment of Adam and Eve, and us, their descendants.<\/p>\n So it seems God didn\u2019t use \u201cwar\u201d or violence to fight Satan. His weapon of choice was honest discourse followed by separation.<\/p>\n The same thing happened when Adam and Eve sided with the devil and ate what God told them not to eat. The disobedient couple had to leave their garden home and live life by their own rules—or, more to the point, the rules created by Satan. That\u2019s separation number two. There were many more to come.<\/p>\n Throughout the Old Testament we find God\u2019s people moving in and out of His protective, nurturing, saving presence. They allow their sins to separate them from God, and He continually begs them, through His prophets, to \u201creturn to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,<\/strong>but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name\u201d (Nehemiah 1:8, 9, NIV).<\/p>\n But, you ask, what about all those times God led His people to war—the sword and killing kind?<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s important for us to remember three things:<\/p>\n 1 Just because someone says (or writes) that something happened in God\u2019s name doesn\u2019t mean God sanctioned it. I can guarantee you that the last words out of the September 11 hijackers\u2019 mouths as their aircraft slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, or that windy field in Pennsylvania were \u201cAll\u0101hu akbar,\u201d which means \u201cGod is great.\u201d They were happily waging war in the name<\/em> of God. But no one, other than a small group of people on this earth, would ever believe that God sanctions such violent attacks.<\/p>\n 2 Christ told His disciples that \u201cI and my Father are one\u201d (John 10:30). If you can\u2019t see Jesus acting in a certain way, the Father wouldn\u2019t act that way either. Reading the Old Testament through the Jesus filter is very revealing and instructive.<\/p>\n 3 Many events—and their outcomes—are attributed to God simply because He didn\u2019t stop them.\u201cThis must be God\u2019s will because He allowed it to happen,\u201d people say. Perhaps you know individuals like that. Everything is part of God\u2019s \u201cplan.\u201d<\/p>\n While God certainly does lead us in ways that are both miraculous and life-changing, we must be careful not to praise Him for happenings that damage or hurt others, bring sorrow to those still searching for Him, or support evil in the long run. \u201cAnd we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose\u201d (Romans 8:28, NIV).<\/p>\n God is an equal-opportunity Savior. He loves everyone and works endlessly to better their lives, not ruin them—and that includes the lives of our perceived \u201cenemies.\u201d The only thing that breaks that eternal rhythm of love is if we turn our backs on Him and leave His presence. That separation<\/em> is what brings death and destruction both to us and to others. Besides, waging war in God\u2019s name isn\u2019t even possible. Remember oil and water?<\/p>\n Today\u2019s church militants have ways of arming themselves for battles they think need to be fought—weapons apparently blessed by Scripture. At first blush they seem especially destructive of others while protecting the warrior. But a careful reading of one particular passage reveals how those armaments are to be used in the real world.<\/p>\n \u201cPut on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil\u2019s schemes (Ephesians 6:11, NIV). Is God giving His stamp of approval for acts of violence perpetrated against those who refuse to believe in His sovereignty? Read on: \u201cFor our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms\u201d (verse 12).<\/p>\n Seems our battle isn\u2019t against sinners. It\u2019s against sin. Our war isn\u2019t waged over whose doctrines are right or wrong. Our weapons shouldn\u2019t be aimed at those who refuse to believe as we believe, or look like us, or want the same freedoms we enjoy. Our ongoing conflict is against the author of all that is wrong, Satan himself—along with his evil henchmen who bought into his web of lies.<\/p>\n In actual fact, we\u2019re all<\/em> victims of the same evil. Jew, Gentile, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, agnostic, atheist, Hindu, etc.—everyone, everywhere, of all faiths, desperately needs God\u2019s battle gear because we\u2019re in the same war<\/em>. We\u2019re all fighting the same foe.<\/p>\n Fighting each other for whatever reason might make us feel good about ourselves, but such misguided warfare is destructively counter-productive and plays directly into Satan\u2019s desire for worldwide dominance. When we separate from God, we become fair game.<\/p>\n So what equipment is stored in God\u2019s armory for all human beings to use in this global conflict against evil? The next few verses provide a short list of the essentials: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of God\u2019s Word (verses 14-17).<\/p>\n That\u2019s what the well-armed soldier of God wears into battle. Contrary to popular belief, we don\u2019t fight evil with restrictive civil laws, closed borders, picket lines, demeaning posts on social media, or volleys of shame directed at those who don\u2019t agree with us. We don\u2019t legislate behavior based on our interpretation of Scripture or demand allegiance to the God we\u2019ve chosen to worship. No, we fight by upholding truth in our own lives; by personally demonstrating righteous living and pure thinking. We do battle by standing firm in our faith, constantly assuring ourselves and others of God\u2019s saving grace. We so embrace the biblical principles of love and forgiveness that all<\/em> people everywhere <\/em>feel safe and empowered in our presence.<\/p>\n We wage the type of war that brings people into a saving knowledge of God, not one that drives a wedge of separation between them and their only source of salvation. That\u2019s what the armor of God allows us to do under His banner of love.<\/p>\n The night Christ was arrested (the story is found in Luke 22:47-52), one of His followers reacted violently. He drew his sword and took a swipe at those determined to harm his Master. The servant of the high priest lost an ear in the process.<\/p>\n Christ\u2019s response to the man holding the sword should speak volumes to those among us who feel the need to wage war on sinners. He said, \u201cNo more of this!\u201d After touching the servant\u2019s ear and healing him, Christ continued. \u201cAm I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?\u201d Then, zeroing in on the mindless motives of those pious people who stood with swords drawn, He added, \u201cBut this is your hour—when darkness reigns\u201d (verses 51-53, NIV).<\/p>\n There is a dark battle raging today, but the tools of war God has given us have more to do with salvation than destruction. They\u2019re designed to end separations, not create them. In this war the casualties are hatred and bigotry. The spoils are friendship across all cultural and national barriers. We\u2019d do well to arm ourselves thoughtfully and prayerfully for the battles ahead.<\/p>\n *Bible texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version<\/em>. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two recent surveys shone a bright light on a dark reality. They revealed that people who claim to be \u201creligious\u201d are far more likely to view those who are different from them with distrust and downright hostility. Conversely, a majority of those who consider themselves \u201csecular\u201d seem to have no such problems accepting people groups<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[333],"tags":[165],"class_list":["post-6517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-january-february-2020","tag-january-february-2020"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}In God\u2019s Name<\/strong><\/h2>\n
By the Sword<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n