If Your Enemy Hunger…

Next Part Citizens of Another Government

Soldiers and armies seek to annihilate one another. The goal is to kill the enemy before he kills you. Each defeat must be avenged in the next battle. Payback—vengeance—is natural, even automatic, in war. But God also believes in vengeance.

Paul gave special instructions regarding how to deal with enemies: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy hunger, FEED HIM; if he thirst, GIVE HIM DRINK: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:19-21).

God’s way of dealing with enemies is very different from man’s. Men would “heap” mortar, tank or machine gun “fire” on their enemy’s heads, while God instructs the use of food and drink to overcome their evil. If payback or vengeance is necessary, God promises, for those who trust Him, that He will “repay”—vengeance is His.

Naive? Understand that it does take real faith for a Christian to believe that God will keep His promise. But He always does. Remember, vengeance is God’s. It belongs to Him. To exact it yourself is to steal from God!

Have you ever considered this? Living By the Sword We must consider one more direct admonition from Christ about killing.

There is an often-quoted verse in the Bible, which is rarely practiced. As Christ’s accusers came to arrest Him, Peter defended Him by attacking the high priest’s servant (cutting off his ear) with a sword (John 18:10). Notice Christ’s instruction: “Put up again your sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matt 26:52).

Due to careless misreading, some have misunderstood and misquoted this verse as “those who live by the sword shall die BY the sword.” This is not what it says! Besides condemning violence, Christ said that those who resort to physical weapons for self-defence “shall perish WITH the sword.” In other words, as lethal as a sword is when used to attack another, in the end, it is not sufficient to save the life of the person who puts his trust in it. Eventually, those who go to war with a sword will die with it in their hand. Sooner or later, they will lose their life if they depend on their own ability to use physical weapons for protection.

In Jn 18:53, Christ instructed Peter about what he should have understood. His words stand for us today: “Think you that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?” A legion equals 6,000. This means 72,000 angels could have been immediately available to Christ—and could be available to anyone today with the faith to believe that God will protect His servants! True Christianity Hijacked! The world has heard much talk from protestors about how terrorists and extremists have “hijacked” and “degraded” their well-known religion. These “hijackers” are purported to teach and believe things not found in their holy book. The approximately one billion adherents to orthodox belief within this religion have expressed outrage at the brutal atrocities and mass murder that a relatively small group of terrorists have committed in the name of their religion. Civilization has shouted in agreement!

But the teachings of real Christianity have also been “hijacked” and “degraded”! Why have two billion Christians not expressed similar outrage at the twisting and perverting of the Bible teaching about war, killing and the military (or, for that matter, practically everything else that Christ taught)? Why have they not opposed this “hijacking”—this “degrading”? Where is the hue and cry about how God’s Word has been completely ignored in favour of the opinions and traditions of men? The Bible states that it is possible for people to “kill and think that [they] do God service” (John 16:2).

Where is the voice of two billion “Christians”? Why are supposedly Christian nations and armies freely permitted to slaughter opponents with near impunity? Non-Christians can recognize when their religion has been hijacked. Why cannot Christians? The answer lies in the fact that it is not merely the few in the professing Christian world who have participated in this “hijacking,” but rather that the ENTIRE so-called Christian world—“churchianity”—has participated in suppressing and denying the plain truth of God’s Word! As a result, the history of mankind has been filled with the horror of war. And it is prophesied to grow far worse before it grows better. (Read our booklet The Red Horse – “You Shall Hear of Wars…” to learn more of what will soon happen.)

This booklet expresses God’s outrage at the hijacking of TRUE Christianity—while the whole world turns a blind eye!

Let’s now review a series of additional, related biblical principles showing why Christians cannot serve in the military.

Christians Are Not of This World We have read that Christians “ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16). True Christians are set apart from this world by God’s truth. This sets the stage for repetition and powerful new instruction from Christ.

In the next chapter, Christ was on trial before Pontius Pilate. In Jn 18:33, Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” The exchange continued until its climax in Jn 18:36. Of course, Christ had long since determined not to resist the fate He knew that Pilate and the Jews would choose for Him. His response to Pilate is in Jn 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world: IF My kingdom were of this world, THEN WOULD MY SERVANTS FIGHT, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence [here].”

Understand this! Christ said that His government (the New Testament term is kingdom) is not of this society, this civilization—this world! True Christians are part of another government—HIS government. They await the coming of this government to earth. Also, just based on this verse (and there are many others), Christ explains that God’s servants do not fight to defend His kingdom. How could they? It is not yet here. Since they do not even fight to defend Christ’s(God’s) kingdom, they certainly would never fight to defend any kingdom or nation governed by men, scheduled to be overthrown by Christ and His saints anyway (Dan. 2:44; 7:18, 22,27).

Remember that Christ’s kingdom is not here on earth—it is from another place. It is not the job of God’s servants to spread the kingdom of God, through participating in men’s governments or fighting in their wars. Since God’s kingdom comes from, and is headquartered in, heaven, His servants neither vote in, nor fight for, men’s kingdoms or governments.

So, Christians do not bear arms, fight or kill—under any circumstances—because they are part of another kingdom. In Matthew 6:9-10, Christ told them to regularly pray, “Thy kingdomcome,” because His followers serve and await THAT kingdom.

Come Out of Babylon! When speaking of the final, great revival of the religious and political system of Babylon,Revelation 18:4 gives direct instruction to God’s people: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, that you be not partakers of her sins.” Babylon means confusion. The true servants of God must—and DO—come out of the confusion of this world and its system of religions, governments and wars (I Cor. 14:33)!

WORLD WAR II: THE TOP TEN

COUNTRY	KILLED
1. China	8,000,000
2. USSR	6,5000,000
3. Poland	5,000,000
4. Germany	2,350,000
5. Yugoslavia	2,350,000
6. France	470,000
7. Greece	415,000
8. Japan	393,400
9. Romania	340,000
10. Hungary	300,000

Countries that suffered the greatest civilian losses

Deaths among civilians—many resulting from famine and internal purges, such as those in China and the USSR—were colossal, but they were less well-documented than those among fighting forces. These figures are best available from authoritative sources, but the precise numbers will never be known.

COUNTRY	KILLED
1. USSR	13,600,000*
2. Germany	3,300,000
3. China	1,140,000
4. Japan	1,140,000
5. British Empire	357,000
6. Romania	350,000
7. Poland	320,000
8. Yugoslavia	305,000
9. United States	292,131
10. Italy	279,800

Countries that suffered the greatest military losses

Total, of which 7.8 million were battlefield deaths, 2.5 million were later deaths from wounds and disease, and 3.3 million were prisoner-of-war deaths. **Including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, etc.

COUNTRY	PERSONNEL*
1. USSR	12,500,000
2. United States	12,304,000
3. Germany	10,000,000
4. Japan	6,095,000
5. France	5,700,000
6. United Kingdom	4,643,000
7. Italy	4,500,000
8. China	3,800,000
10. Poland	1,000,000

Countries with the largest armed forces of World War II

At peak strength

Allowing for deaths and casualties, the total forces mobilized during the course of the war is, of course, greater than the peak strength figures: The total for the USSR, for example, has been put as high as 20,000,000; the U.S. - 16,354,000; Germany - 17,900,000; Japan - 9,100,000; and the UK - 5,896,000.