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Should Christians Support Pre-emptive War Leaders? By Pastor Steve Brown (written in 2003 prior to the election, edited in 2010)
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"But an unjust war we can never embrace or support or we greatly sin against God and our fellow man." As a Christian I always vote for the presidential candidate who supports God’s moral law by being pro-life, pro-school prayer and against homosexual marriages. In peacetime, I would normally vote for a conservative president, but the war issue makes this election very complicated. An unjust war can be far more dangerous and destroy our country must faster than liberal, anti-god policies that are slowly destroying us now. Most Christians are very clear on the moral law of the Ten Commandments, but very unclear on the morality of War. By tradition we have been taught it is our God given duty to blindly support our President during war. In fact many believe not to, is unpatriotic and a sin against God and country. Actually over many decades we have been taught to absolutely obey the country’s law even if they disobey God’s law. That is why so many teachers will not pray with their students even though God commands us to pray with children. It is a form of Nationalism where loyalty to a country, its interests, and ideals and laws are much more important than loyalty to God and His commands. Christians' unwillingness to suffer for God’s righteousness is one reason immorality plagues our country so. As a Christian my loyalty must first be to Christ and then to my country.
Because of 9/11 it is easy to emotionally get caught up in the strong Nationalism and not step back and pray for truth and discernment. Plus it is vital we Christians have a proper theology about war. All Christians should always be against war. War is the killing of humans whom God loves. There are just wars and unjust wars. We can support and tolerate a just war but never embrace the hatred and revenge of it. But an unjust war we can never embrace or support or we greatly sin against God and our fellow man. An unjust war is another form of cold-blooded murder. So many Christians believe this Iraq war is a just war because we blindly believe what we're told and support the war. Life can seem so much easier if we as Christians just go with the flow of the masses that embrace American Nationalism. That’s what the German Christians did under Hitler. They blindly trusted and supported him because of Hitler’s strong Nationalism and love of Germany. They put Germany and their loyalty to Hitler before their love and loyalty to truth and the Savior. Christ did not command his followers to just follow the crowd but to be salt and light. But to be salt and light we must be thinkers and try to discern the truth in politics and government policies as well as the scriptures.
We have for so long isolated ourselves from involvement in government because we think it is so unspiritual and carnal. But God wants us to seek the truth of scripture and then apply it to all areas of life including the government, especially in a democracy such as the United States. We must wake up and apply a Christian morality to this Iraq war. Why are we so reluctant to question this war and why we are fighting it? Do we have the moral courage to ask the hard questions? If we love the Savior we will and we must. If we truly love our country we will and we must.
I believe many Christians are very naïve and are far too trusting of politicians and presidents. It is time to face reality and realize all politicians lie and all presidents lie, especially during times when we are attacked by a foreign power. It is just that some lies are much more dangerous and unforgivable then others. Here are some questions we need to ask: 1. Is this Iraq war a just or unjust war? 2. What is a just war? 3. What is an unjust war? 4. Did Saddam Hussein attack the USA on 9/11? 5. Did Iraq attack the USA on 9/11? Our government claimed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to the USA. No weapons were found. The 9/11 commission concluded Iraq had none. No evidence supports Iraq had any. 6. Should we continue to blindly believe our government? 7. Did the government lie about these weapons? 8. If Iraq did not attack us whether they had weapons of mass destruction or not do we have the right before God to attack them first and be the aggressors?
An unjust war is when America attacks another country that has not physically attacked us and done us harm. Our government claims Saddam Hussein had an alliance with Bin Laden and was involved in the attack of 9/11 on America. The 9/11 Commission rejects these accusations and says there was no alliance. Bin Laden acted on his own. Again, do we blindly trust the government? Why would Saddam Hussein want to attack the USA after we leveled Iraq in the gulf war? How could Iraq, that is so poor and backward a nation be a threat to the USA? Think Christians, think!! When both the President and Congress supported this war did it ever really make sense? To me it just sounded so silly, like a lot of propaganda that was totally illogical. If not for 9/11 would you be for this war? Of course not. Without 9/11 there would have been no support for an Iraq war. Didn’t the government use 9/11 to push this war thru and get support, a war he wanted long before 9/11?
It is an evil thing to lie to the Americans in a vulnerable state to get support for an unjust war. What is the real reason for the war? Is it for oil and money? This war makes us murderers in the sight of God and the world. Why do you think so many countries hate the Iraq war and are angry with USA. It is because it is unjust.
Let us consider how the government persuaded you to support his Iraq war. Bin Laden and his al Qaeda group of Islamic extremist terrorists attack the USA on 9/11. Should not the government's focus be to find Bin Laden and al Qaeda to bring them to justice? A war with Bin Laden and al Qaeda would be a just war that I could support. But our government couldn’t focus on our real enemy. It had to expand this war to include all terrorists. Why? So the administration could focus on Iraq, the original target, however, Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda attacked us. The past bombing on the World Trade Center, wasn’t it al Qaeda? Of course. The administration had to expand the war to include all terrorists so they could include Iraq. Before 9/11 the administration wanted to go to war with Iraq. Why? Money, oil, and to establish a puppet government there to secure oil holdings for personal business rather then American interests. Also, it is no coincidence that Cheney is the former CEO of the Halliburton Company that is making billions from this war. Did 9/11 give the administration the spin it needed to get Congress and the American’s support for his unjust war? Would you support the war if it was only for money and oil interests. No, of course not. Should American soldiers die for oil and money interests? God forbid. Do you really want a president that wants war with another nation and even tries to find a way to get war rather then a peace-loving president?
If our government is truly sincere about fighting the al Qaeda, why are our boarders so open? Two men were hired as part time highway patrol in Oregon, to watch and guard hundreds of miles on the coast. The Mexican border is wide open and allows thousands of foreigners to come into the USA. The President even wanted to legalize all these aliens. What if we have a few hundred terrorists come over with them? Do you want the law breaking foreigners to become legalized aliens? The President has not been able to effectively fight the real war with al Qaeda because of this conflict of interest. I think he should have resigned as president after the 9/11 attacks. But why have we been so easily tricked by his spin on the Iraq war?
Why have we believed the administration’s spin so much we would support such an unjust war? We are so proud as Americans we think we are always right when it comes to war. We rally behind the flag and troops and believe God is always with us in war. Did we not learn any thing from Vietnam? Presidents lie and lead us to war for money and power. This is what the administration is doing. Wake up before our pride leads to a true world war. This unjust war policy that the administration advocates could lead us into many more unjust wars with other nations that could trigger an even bigger war with many countries. Right now we should only be fighting al Qaeda. With this administration starting unjust wars, we could ignite a true world war against the U.S.A. This administration has led us into an unjust war we are in grave danger. Why? Because it will eventually bring God’s wrath and the wrath of the Arabs and the world’s wrath upon us.
Some of you will say this is a just war because Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator and killed thousands. Of course, again it is the administration’s spin on Saddam Hussein we are going on to justify this war. Whether Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator or not, if we attack a sovereign country like Iraq first, we are the aggressor and it is an unjust war. What if China decided we are an evil country because we slaughter our unborn by the millions and attacked us. Would you consider China’s actions just or unjust? If another nation attacked us like we attacked Iraq we would cry unjust, unjust, evil, evil. Under this policy it means we must attack all the communist countries that have slaughtered thousands of their people unjustly.
Now we must consider the powers of the president. The president can do very little about abortion, prayer in the school, and gay marriages. Whether he is conservative or liberal. The Senate will not confirm strong conservatives or liberals to the Supreme Court. Plus, the more moderate ones confirmed have usually turned more liberal once in power. Isn't that why even though President Reagan, and Bush Sr. appointed more conservative judges, they have not overturned abortion or the illegal ruling on school prayer? Actually we need to limit the power of the Supreme Court. But that is another issue. But on the matter of war, the President is in direct control. He is the Commander and Chief of American armed forces. Congress usually will support his decision to go to war. The President is a hawk. He wants war and is determined to go to war wherever he feels the USA is threatened. He has proved he believes in pre-emptive striking and that we should strike first.
The pre-emptive strike policy is against Christ’s teaching of love your enemies and is legally evil and heathen. It is similar to Pagan Rome and Nazism. As Christians we cannot support it. This type of warfare is unjust and heathen. The Iraq war is unjust and heathen. We as Christians cannot support leaders who believe in starting unjust wars.
In conclusion, I want to make it very clear that I cannot support leaders who are for pre-emptive strike wars. America up to now has had a more godly policy and tradition about war. We believed in peace and did not want war. We would always try to avoid it if possible. We did not believe it was right to attack a country first. We would only declare war in self-defense of either our self or an ally. In other words, we only believed in declaring war if it was a just war. President Bush has changed that policy. With his new policy of pre-emptive strike it is now our war policy to attack another country first only on the assumption that they may someday attack us. How can we read their minds and think they will attack only on an assumption? If you personally were to kill someone only because of a report by a friend that he was going to kill you and had a machine gun but he never made any physical attempt, you would be arrested and found guilty as a murderer. So it is with a nation. God and his holy word condemn this pre-emptive strike war policy as murder and an unjust war. The President is promoting an unjust war policy. As a Christian I cannot support a president who wants America to start wars unjustly for invalid reasons. God help us stop such a policy and reinstate a Christian policy concerning war.
Pastor Stephen M. Brown's "God's Light for Dark Times", www.pastorsb.com
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