Psalms 144:1 (KJV)
Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
It is one of the more unpleasant truths of mankind, that war has been an important part of human history.
We speak of:
· The defeat of the Spanish Armada
· Napoleon’s fall at Waterloo
·The Battles of Alexander theGreat
· The war between the Israeli's and Palestinians
· The war between Bosnia and Serbia
And other wars happening around us all the time.
Some of the most prestigious colleges in our country were established to teach war tactics:
· West Point,
· Annapolis,
· Air Force Academy.
Like it or not, war has had an important impact upon humanity.
War was an important part in the History of the Jews of the Old Testament.
One of the first things that God did, while the Jews were still in the wilderness, was to establish an army and a draft system to supply it with men.
In fact, if you consider the history of the Jews, it is built around the great battles they fought:
· The Defeat of Egypt (they didn't fight, but they did defeat Egypt) at the Red Sea
· The Defeat of Jericho
· The Defeat of Goliath
· The Defeat of The Philistines by Gideons band of 300, etc.
If you took away the war stories of the Old Testament, you wouldn't have a Bible half as large.
The history of the United States is also one of war. While there have not been any major wars against another nation fought on American Soil, since the Revolutionary War, to a large degree, it can be said that our part in war has propelled this country to the super power status it holds.
I have taken the major wars our nation has been involved in and looked for a lesson we can learn from them:[1]
I. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
I know that the main purpose for the revolutionary war was not a religious one.
But, the most significant thing that happened as a result of the revolutionary war, (in my opinion) is that a nation was founded with real Separation of Church and State.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, and the framing of our Constitution, even in America, there was little freedom of religion.
The Baptists were especially mistreated, church buildings were confiscated, personal properties were seized, and pastors of Baptist churches were jailed.
While freedom of worship was growing in popularity in the New World, prior to the Constitution, it was not until the Constitution was actually signed, that any nation in this earth's history allowed freedom of worship!
Separation of Churchand state is a misused term these days. So much so, that it is almost like a dirty word.
The ACLU uses it to fight against prayer in schools, and
Teaching Creation to our children
Government authorities use it to refuse access to government property for the use of religious services.
I once tried to rent a school building to start a church in. The school refused, sighting separation of church and state as the reason.
But actually separation of church and state is a Baptist Distinctive, and a doctrinal position we want to hold on to.
All it means is that the government should not control or financially support a church and no particular church denomination should control the government.
This is THE doctrine that has led to our freedoms to worship as we do in the United States of America.
II. THE CIVIL WAR
Matthew 10:34-37 (KJV)
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
As I understand it, there were two important issues involved in the Civil War.
One was political, the other was moral.
· The moral issue was that of slavery
· The political issue was that of states' rights
The US government said that America was morally responsible to release the slaves as free men.
The southern states, who used slave labor on their farms, refused on grounds that the US government had no authority to impose such a law on a sovereign state.
Understanding that there were these two issues involved in the Civil War is key to understanding the War itself.
How could such good men, as Generals Robert E Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (both good Christians who did not have slaves,) fight for the south?
They were not, in their minds, fighting over the issue of slavery. They were fighting over the issue of the sovereignty of their state.
There are two spiritual lessons I want to share with you from the Civil War:
A. Morality should always override politics
God is the one who blesses us, or curses us.
Our country does not have the comforts it has because of our political system. It has those freedoms because God has blessed.
And God blesses or curses depending upon our stand for righteousness[2].
This is key when it comes to election season.
The Christian should vote over the issues of moralityand righteousnessand notover issues of party linesand economics.
B. Sometimes a Christian is called upon to stand against his own family
One of the most amazing things about the Civil War was that family members fought against each other.
Illustration:
I heard about[3]one battle where the Union was on top of a hill that the Confederates were trying to take from them.
Because of their vantage point, the Union had been able to stop the Confederates, and the battle would have been over except for one Confederate Soldier, who kept standing up and charging. Every time he took off, other confederates were encouraged and would charge with him.
The Union Officer, seeing what was happening, called for a Union sharpshooter.
He told the man to sight in on this one young man, and the next time he charged, to drop him.
The sharp shooter obeyed orders. The young man stood, yelled the charge, and was killed.
When the battle was over, it was realized that the sharpshooter had killed his own son!
God has told us that his truth would put a sword between family members.
And as unpleasant as that is, a Christian's first obligation is to be faithful to the Lord.
That means sometimes we must stand against our own family
And sometimes we must stand against other Christians, who are not being loyal to the Word of God.
III. THE WORLD WARS
Acts 2:1 (KJV)
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
A. The first lesson I see in the World Wars has to do with unity.
I am not so familiar with what happened at home during WWI but I have heard first hand accounts of what it was like in the U.S. while our troops were overseas fighting.
My grandfatherwas an ironworker welder.
I am not sure of the reasons why he wasn’t a soldier in WWII.
What I do know is that, even as a civilian, he spent a significant amount of time in the Pacific Theater repairing battle-damaged ships.
Everyone at homehad a part in the War effort.
· Some bought War bonds
· Some did without household luxuries (and in some cases near necessities)
· Sugar was rationed
· So was gasoline
Many people donated the tires off their cars for rubber to be used in manufacturing the equipment needed to fight overseas.
Women took up the jobs that men would usually do but could not because they were fighting.
Anita’s mom worked in a factory making the bullets the soldiers were firing on the war fronts.
Everyone did something.
One applicationis to point out how far downhill our country has gone since then.
Rather than sacrificing to help our soldiers any more, most Americans are disinterested at best and or worse, activists against the military.
Another, more profound applicationhas to do with the local church of the living God.
Church requires unity and active participation. Seems like some people take the same position against their church that others take against their country.
· We don’t do everything just right
· We make mistakes
That is no good reason to gossip and stand against what the church is trying to do.
The second lesson is a simple observation;
B. God has blessed our country
Luke 12:48 (KJV)
... For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
But, We can't sit back and bask in our blessings. We have a responsibility to use what the Lord has given us for the good of the people world-wide.
Physically, and
Spiritually
IV. KOREA AND VIETNAM
1 John 3:17 (KJV)
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
There were a couple of lessons learned in these two wars:
A. When we see a brother in need, and we have the means of helping, we must do it.
The United States didn’t always take that position.
Ours was, generally speaking, one of neutrality in the affairs of other nations until after World War II.
George Washington’s Farewell address reads in part,
“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.”[4]
Jefferson called the same doctrine “no entangling alliances.”
That policy was later termed “Isolationism.”
The United State resisted entering both WWI and WWII until forced to do so.
But the end of WWII saw the rise of Communism and President Truman, under the advise of George Kennan, developed a foreign policy known as “Containment.”
We might not be able to reverse communism Kennan reasoned, in the Soviet Union, but we could serve to prevent its spread.
Communism has crushed the liberties of individuals wherever it has gone
· Millions have been thrown in prison or killed for resisting its policies and
· Millions more for expressing faith in Christ.
Korea and Vietnam were both an effort to contain communism and to protect the liberties of oppressed peoples.
But we also learned that,
B. Compromise never pays
Matthew 6:24 (KJV)
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
We stood for a right cause in Vietnam. We just never were sure of ourselves enough to fight to win.
If we are going to stand for something spiritually, we need to stand strong upon it. Believe what God's Word says and STAND.
V. THE PERSION GULF WAR(S)
Psalms 122:6 (KJV)
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
The biggest issues in the Middle East have to do with Israel.
There is only one nation on this planet that has been a true friend of Israel, the U.S.
And, I believe, that God has blessed our country because of that.
Israel is by no means a perfect country.
And by supporting them, we do not mean that we shouldn't attempt to convince them to grant religious freedoms in their country too.
But, these people are uniquely the people of God, and we ought to love them, and support them as a people and nation.
[1]There are equally valuable lessons, I am sure, we could learn from: The War of 1812, The Barbary Wars, The Indian Wars, the Mexican American War and The Spanish American War but time prevents me.
[3]I have no idea whether this is an actual event. I heard it in a sermon probably 30 years ago and have not attempted to verify it.
[4]https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politicalscience/chapter/the-history-of-american-foreign-policy/, accessed 7-7-18
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