IS WARMONGERING CHRISTIAN? – HAVE YOU NOTICED THE CHOICE OF JESUS’ WORDS?

Hindus in India have great admiration,, respect and reverence for the LORD Jesus Christ. They say, Christianity is a religion of love, peace and forgiveness. They say, Jesus Christ is the supreme embodiment of love. They say, Jesus Christ is the epitome of peace and forgiveness. Now, how come we are being identified as a warmongering religion, these days? How is it we are being associated these days, with wars, killings and violence of all kinds.

Allow me to quote verbatim from an article, “CAN A WARMONGER BE A CHRISTIAN?” published on The WoodenBoat Forum’s website. This entire quote is actually from the Op-Ed, “Wayward Christian Soldiers” in New York Times, by Charles Marsh himself, the author of the book, “Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity”

“IN the past several years, American evangelicals, and I am one of them, have amassed greater political power than at any time in our history. But at what cost to our witness and the integrity of our message?

Recently, I took a few days to reread the war sermons delivered by influential evangelical ministers during the lead up to the Iraq war. That period, from the fall of 2002 through the spring of 2003, is not one I will remember fondly. Many of the most respected voices in American evangelical circles blessed the president’s war plans, even when doing so required them to recast Christian doctrine.

Charles Stanley, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, whose weekly sermons are seen by millions of television viewers, led the charge with particular fervor. “We should offer to serve the war effort in any way possible,” said Mr. Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. “God battles with people who oppose him, who fight against him and his followers.” In an article carried by the convention’s Baptist Press news service, a missionary wrote that “American foreign policy and military might have opened an opportunity for the Gospel in the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

As if working from a slate of evangelical talking points, both Franklin Graham, the evangelist and son of Billy Graham, and Marvin Olasky, the editor of the conservative World magazine and a former advisor to President Bush on faith-based policy, echoed these sentiments, claiming that the American invasion of Iraq would create exciting new prospects for proselytizing Muslims. Tim LaHaye, the co-author of the hugely popular “Left Behind” series, spoke of Iraq as “a focal point of end-time events,” whose special role in the earth’s final days will become clear after invasion, conquest and reconstruction. For his part, Jerry Falwell boasted that “God is pro-war” in the title of an essay he wrote in 2004.

The war sermons rallied the evangelical congregations behind the invasion of Iraq. An astonishing 87 percent of all white evangelical Christians in the United States supported the president’s decision in April 2003. Recent polls indicate that 68 percent of white evangelicals continue to support the war. But what surprised me, looking at these sermons nearly three years later, was how little attention they paid to actual Christian moral doctrine. Some tried to square the American invasion with Christian “just war” theory, but such efforts could never quite reckon with the criterion that force must only be used as a last resort. As a result, many ministers dismissed the theory as no longer relevant.

Some preachers tried to link Saddam Hussein with wicked King Nebuchadnezzar of Biblical fame, but these arguments depended on esoteric interpretations of the Old Testament book of II Kings and could not easily be reduced to the kinds of catchy phrases that are projected onto video screens in vast evangelical churches. The single common theme among the war sermons appeared to be this: our president is a real brother in Christ, and because he has discerned that God’s will is for our nation to be at war against Iraq, we shall gloriously comply.

Such sentiments are a far cry from those expressed in the Lausanne Covenant of 1974. More than 2,300 evangelical leaders from 150 countries signed that statement, the most significant milestone in the movement’s history. Convened by Billy Graham and led by John Stott, the revered Anglican evangelical priest and writer, the signatories affirmed the global character of the church of Jesus Christ and the belief that “the church is the community of God’s people rather than an institution, and must not be identified with any particular culture, social or political system, or human ideology.”

On this page, David Brooks correctly noted that if evangelicals elected a pope, it would most likely be Mr. Stott, who is the author of more than 40 books on evangelical theology and Christian devotion….”Privately, in the days preceding the invasion, I had hoped that no action would be taken without United Nations authorization,” he told me. “I believed then and now that the American and British governments erred in proceeding without United Nations approval.” Reverend Stott referred me to “War and Rumors of War,” a chapter from his 1999 book, “New Issues Facing Christians Today,” as the best account of his position. In that essay he wrote that the Christian community’s primary mission must be “to hunger for righteousness, to pursue peace, to forbear revenge, to love enemies, in other words, to be marked by the cross.”

What will it take for evangelicals in the United States to recognize our mistaken loyalty? We have increasingly isolated ourselves from the shared faith of the global Church, and there is no denying that our Faustian bargain for access and power has undermined the credibility of our moral and evangelistic witness in the world. The Hebrew prophets might call us to repentance, but repentance is a tough demand for a people utterly convinced of their righteousness.

The same drums of war are being beaten ever so loudly these days. The Christian leaders, and their ever so faithful ‘minions’ are jumping up and down with glee, at the prospect of war, killings, and the bloodshed – all in the name of the LORD Jesus Christ, who in His own words had said, so very different things, to be precise, the exact opposite of what is being claimed by these prophets of war. 

A cursory glance at the Gospels, the Epistles, the lives of apostles and the early church, and their views on war, violence and bloodshed, and their practice of the Christian faith, as they believed to be the teaching of their LORD and Master, will help us know the authentic Christian faith. Yes, the authentic Christian faith, which a Hindu in India seems to appreciate and love, more than many, who call themselves as the followers of Christ the LORD.

Let us read the Beatitudes, which is the opening page of the constitution of the Kingdom of God, being ushered in by the LORD Jesus Christ. “The sermon on the mount presents the fullest and most perfect exposition of the moral and spiritual principles and requirements of the Kingdom of God which has been given to us.” [John Ashton Savage]
– “3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” – Matthew 5:3-12

“HAVE YOU NOTICED THE CHOICE OF WORDS” that Jesus uses here? Allow me the honour to list them out for us.
– “BLESSED are the POOR in SPIRIT; they that MOURN; the MEEK; they which DO HUNGER and THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS; the MERCIFUL; the PURE in HEART; the PEACEMAKERS; they which are PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE; when men shall REVILE you, and PERSECUTE you, and shall SAY ALL MANNER of EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY, FOR MY SAKE. REJOICE, and be EXCEEDING GLAD: for GREAT is your REWARD in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

Do we see any of these descriptive Kingdom Principles and traits in a Christian today, and among those who call themselves, the disciples of the LORD Jesus Christ? Do we find them in the so called preachers and the teachers of these days? Do we have these traits in us? DO I HAVE THESE TRAITS IN ME? Sad to say, we have long forgotten what our LORD had said, *”If someone hits you on one cheek, show him the other too.”* – Matthew 5:38-40. Are we following the same LORD Jesus Christ of the Bible, or some other Jesus?
– “The Jesus who storms into Baghdad behind the wheel of a Humvee…is not the Jesus of the Gospel. Indeed, not since the nazification of the German church under Hitler has the political misuse of Christianity [which] led to such catastrophic global consequences. Is there an alternative? This book proposes that the renewal of…churches requires a season of concentrated attention to faith’s essential affirmations–a time of hospitality, peacemaking, and contemplative prayer. Offering an authentic Christian alternative to the narcissistic piety of popular evangelicalism…” – Book review of “Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity” on Goodreads’ webpage.

Beware, these are the last days, and the LORD Jesus had already warned us about deceptive pastors, leaders and Christians – Matthew 7:20-24. Let us follow the true LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the teachings of our Redeemer, as found in His written Word, the Bible, and not these blood-thirsty, and warmongering mad men. Let the blind lead the blind [Matthew 15;14] but for us, let us follow the authentic LORD Jesus Christ. Even so, the LORD help us.