- In light of the war in Ukraine,
I would like to address the topic that so many people
started to reach out to me and asking,
should Christians serve in the army?
Shouldn't we just turn the other cheek?
War is bad.
Aren't religions responsible for all the wars in the world?
And so, I want to answer that in this short video.
The writer of Ecclesiastes says, "There is a time for war
and there is a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:8.
There's three stances concerning war embraced by Christians.
First one is activism.
That Christians should participate in all wars
entered by their government.
The second one is pacifism.
And that is that Christians should not participate in any war
because it involves killing people.
And the third one is selectivism.
And this one is that Christians should participate only in
just wars.
Wars that defend the innocent, execute justice,
and that are by a just government
and wars that are in a just manner.
Now, some people will say,
"Well, religion is responsible for all the wars."
Religion is the cause of all wars."
The problem with that is that, yes there have been crusades
and 30 years war rested on religious ideologies
but you must understand few things:
There's an interesting source of truth in this matter where
Phillip wrote a three-volume encyclopedia of wars
and he chronicles 1,763 wars that have happened
in the course of human history.
Of those wars, these author says that 123
were religious in nature. So that's crazy.
Pretty much 6% or 7% of all the wars
are religious in nature.
However, when you subtract the wars waged in the name of Islam
which is 66, the percentage falls to 3%, 3.23%.
So, religion is not responsible for all the wars.
If you remove the battle or the wars that have to do with Islam
it's really only 3% of all the wars where it had religion
in the center or because of religion.
So we must understand that if you look at all the
atheistic dictators around the world that have caused the deaths
it topples. It's crazy.
Somewhere around 360 million people that were killed
more than any plague,
more than any other thing that has wiped people on this planet
than leaders who are not religious.
The Bible tells us the real source of war.
And that is not religion.
James 4:1 says, "What causes quarrels and causes fights among you?
Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
You desire and do not have, so you murder.
You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel."
The Bible tells us that the sinful nature is the number one cause
of war and violence.
Not religion, and certainly, not Christianity.
Now, is all war evil?
What kinds of wars are there? First, we know the military war
where a soldier is fighting against the enemy.
We see this in the Bible.
Joshua, Samuel, David and all of these men.
We also see the spiritual war where Christians are fighting
actually spiritual forces.
There is a war that's taking place in a Christian's world.
The Bible says we are in a spiritual battle right now.
We also know that there was a war that happened in heaven.
And this war caused the devil and demons to be cast out.
Now it's interesting that God by virtue of His presence did not
cause the evil to just subside and leave,
there had to be a war.
We also know as Christians there is a war taking place
inside of us, when there is a war between the sinful tendencies
and the new nature that we have as Christians.
We know there is a coming war in which Jesus will come against
the forces of darkness and then there will be one more war
at the end where the devil will deceive the whole world again
against Jesus Christ.
I find it interesting that in Isaiah 42:13
it talks about God as the God of war.
Now for those of you who will think, "Oh wow! Vlad is pro-war."
I am not. I think war is bad.
Like if you remember David,
even though David fought just wars,
but he was not allowed to build the temple
because of wars that he fought.
War-- There's no winners in war.
No matter how just it is, there is just no winners.
It destroys the economy,
it breaks people, it separates people,
it causes permanent damage to humanity.
But there are times where evil is so crazy.
Evil cannot be reasoned with.
Evil doesn't come to its own senses as it happened in Heaven.
You know, God didn't just hope that the devil will change.
He didn't give him a second chance. He just went to war.
There are certain types of evil that have to be stopped
otherwise like cancer they will spread around the globe
and destroy humanity. And God expects people--
In fact, in Israel He actually judged Israel for not fighting
for justice, for spilling innocent blood,
and for not advocating and crying out for His principles
to be honored on this earth.
For the human dignity, human life to be respected
in the eyes of other humans.
Now can Christians be involved in the war?
Now, the first military service we see in the Bible
is in the Old Testament, Genesis 13.
That's when Abraham's nephew, Lot, gets kidnapped
and Abraham rallies 318 trained men, like soldiers, in his house
and he defeats the enemy and brings back Lot and his nephew.
We see that throughout the Gospels that Jesus never treated soldiers
as sinful or wrong for carrying out their duties
nor does He command them to leave the service.
Something to keep in mind.
John the Baptist tells soldiers to be fair and honorable,
Luke 3:14.
In the New Testament, Jesus marveled when the Roman Centurion
which is an officer in charge of 100 soldiers, approached Him.
The Centurion's response to Jesus indicated his clear understanding
of authority as well as his faith in Jesus.
And Jesus never created this notion that what he was doing
was wrong even though a lot of times Roman Empire was
raiding, just expanding their territory
and killing a lot of innocent people.
But the idea of being an officer or being a soldier
or being a Centurion, Jesus didn't say that this is something
to be repented of.
We know that many centurions were mentioned in the New Testament
and they were praised as Christians, God-fearing
and as a man of good character.
For example, we see Cornelius.
He was the one who fasted and prayed and God came to him
through the teaching that Apostle Peter brought to them.
Paul describes one guy, a fellow Christian as a fellow soldier
in Philippians 2:25.
The Bible uses military terms to describe being strong in God
and putting on the whole armor of God
including the tools of a soldier: Shield, helmet and a sword.
Now when it comes to, can a Christians bear arms
or be in the military?
For most people in the Western society this is no-brainer.
Like, Vlad why are you wasting my time talking about this?
Because for most of us Bible and guns have to go together.
For places I grew up in, this was a big issue
where my family and I just heard this from my dad
he joined the military but he refused to take the oath.
He refused to take the oath of pretty much blindly following
the generals and killing people because the government
tells them to kill. And so, because of that he was not allowed
to carry arms.
My grandma when she became a citizen of the United States
I remember I had to write a letter on behalf of our church
so that she will take the citizenship but she will not
take the oath of bearing arms.
So, for a lot of people this is a very sensitive issue.
Personally, I don't have a gun. Okay?
I don't own arms. I am not necessarily trained in them
or have a big passion for them. I have friends,
I have family members who are pro-guns
and who have more guns than they probably should.
In our churches, we have security, people who guard the premises
and people who guard the children.
And so they are armed. They go through training.
Some of them have military experience.
My personal conviction is that I don't need it
and so I'm not going to have it
even though I'm not against people who have it.
When it comes into going to a military,
when it comes to going and serving in the military,
I believe that Christians can serve in a military.
I believe that every Christian has to follow their conscience as well.
For example, like are you okay with taking an oath?
Are you okay with supporting the lenience of your country
in invading another country? Are you okay with killing?
Are you going to be okay living with that?
Are you going to be okay with your family eventually moving a lot
because of you being in the military?
And what is your real motivation?
Is it because you want to go kill people
or is it because you want to go and defend your country
or is it because you really just want to minister and be there?
Now I understand in the issue of war
like what's happening in Ukraine right now.
The question is very simple.
Men are not even allowed to leave their country.
They have to stay back and they have to defend their country
because if they don't defend their country,
there will be no country to live in,
and their families can be killed
and innocent children will be killed.
And so they are defending that country.
You may say, "But Vlad, when it comes to defending
and when it comes to war doesn't the Bible say we shouldn't kill?"
So the challenge with the commandment, the sixth commandment
the proper translation is that, thou shall not murder.
It does not apply to wartime situations.
For example, we see that God Himself actually told Israel
a lot of times to execute His judgment.
In Israel, there laws, civil laws,
certain crimes were punishable by death.
And so this was not God contradicting Himself saying,
thou shall not kill, in commandment six, and then telling Israel
that you should execute justice
and kill some people who were deserving of that
by committing this particular sins or atrocities.
And so, killing in war does not equal with murder.
This is not to say that killing in war does not have effects
war, that it somehow pleases God.
That God is now the author of bloodshed. No!
But it's not the same as murder.
Murder is when you and you practice your personal vengeance
against somebody.
It's different when for example, a police officer in self-defense
or for example, they are stopping a very violent terrorist
or somebody bad and they take him out of circulation.
Or there's stuff that happens in war.
It's two different things. And we can't compare the same thing.
Throughout the Bible, war is seen as a reality of a cursed world.
There are forces of evil that must be stopped.
And sometimes bloodshed is the result of that.
Whether a Christian should serve in the military,
honestly, it's up to your own conscience.
But killing an armed combat in the context of warfare
is not sinful in itself.
You may say, "But what about the teachings of Jesus?
Turning the other cheek, Matthew 5:39?"
Well, you have to understand one thing about
what Jesus was talking about.
He was talking about a personal relationship with
a person who offends us.
The slap on the face in the first century was an insult
and not a threat to a bodily harm, death or confiscation of
freedom or personal goods.
And so, Jesus commands this to individuals not to nations.
He's pretty much saying, "Hey, if somebody personally insults you
if somebody gives you a bad comment,
if somebody gives you a bad remark,
you're not to go and fight them back.
Just walk away. Leave it alone."
You know, kill them with silence, like somebody likes to say.
But when it comes to somebody is attacking your home,
when somebody is causing you physical harm,
and when somebody is trying to confiscate your freedom
and your personal goods, that is a different story.
On a national level this doesn't apply; turn the other cheek
because then we see other teachings in the gospels
and the epistles where Paul is saying that those soldiers who
bear the swords, they are servants of God
meaning they are accomplishing God's justice.
Now of course in the context of governments that pursue that
whereas many governments don't do that.
My overall summary of all this is that we live in
a broken, cursed, sinful world.
And sometimes for the evil to be stopped
we have to be involved physically.
As Christians, and I have other videos where I go in detail
about that, we are fighting against spiritual powers.
We understand that our war,
first and foremost warfare that we wage
is in intercession and prayer.
And the other warfare is that we cause this war by
preaching the gospel.
We fight against strongholds in the minds of people
by the lies and deceptions by preaching of the good news.
Now can Christians be involved in that?
I think it depends on each person's conscience.
And if you choose to do that,
and you've resolved with all those questions,
you go in and ask God to give you grace to defend your country
and to defend the innocent people.
If you choose not to, please don't create this thing that
everybody who does are bloodthirsty.
Or that just because we prayed that means that nobody else
should be a police officer, nobody else should be a security,
nobody else should be a watchman in your church
and nobody else should adapt 'cause we only need the spiritual.
We need both.
We need to guard our cities and we need to also cry out to God.
We need to pray and we need to also do the practical part
to see that our families and our countries are safe.
Let's pray for all the people that are going through
a very difficult conflict around the world.
Christians that are being persecuted.
Christians that are being attacked and slaughtered today
because of the cause of Christ.
Let's lift them up in prayer and believe that
God will bring peace in those situations.
And even if there will be no speedy delivery,
that God will help us to live in a way
that honors His name the most.
Lord, we pray right now for the conflict in Ukraine.
We pray right now for the soldiers on the ground.
We pray right now, God, for the soldiers on the other side.
God, we know that war causes people to lose their lives.
It hurts the economy. It destroys people, God.
It doesn't bring You glory.
The devil gets the benefit of all of that
because he's the author of killing, stealing, and destruction.
Lord, I lift my brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
I lift up my brothers and sisters even on the other side
of Russia, God, who are finding under this regime, Lord God,
Would You have mercy and extend Your grace.
I pray for my brothers and sisters all around the world
who are living right now under persecution of communism,
maybe other things in their countries, would You come through
would You have mercy, Lord, in Jesus' mighty name we pray.
Thank you for watching.
One of the things that we are doing in our ministry is that
we're setting and helping different stations in Ukraine right now
and on the border of Ukraine to help the refugees.
If it's on your heart to help and move,
all the finances will go that are in this designated campaign;
on the video below there is a link.
They will go directly to helping that.
They will not stay in our ministry.
They will go through our ministry to help other places
that are dealing directly with refugees and wore-torn country.
Also I want to remind that some of the content for this video
came from the blog, compellingtruth.org
and gotquestions.org.
I would highly recommend you to check out those websites.
They have very good information that can help you grow spiritually.
Thank you for watching this video. Hey, help me, hit thumbs up
and subscribe to this channel.
Let me know in the comments below, what do you think?
Are you in the military? Have you been in the military?
What are your convictions concerning the issue of
Christians bearing arms or Christians taking part in the military?