Afghanistan deaths...

Civilian Deaths...


Military Deaths...


The disparities of civilians vs military is heart breaking.
The disparity between our troops and the worlds....heartbreaking too.

Submitting your will to that of the state...good or bad?

Millions of citizens are deeply disturbed that the military-industrial complex too often shapes national policy,
but they do not want to be considered unpatriotic. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

I think it's patriotic to espouse the freedoms that our Constitution establishes as rights to it's citizens.

But all honest debate about policy, get's dicey, because there are fellow citizens, friends and family that have to follow orders related to that policy. If we reject as unjust, some action of our government...we are by association, accusing those who choose to obey those orders. There is no way around that issue.

An attempt is made to distinguish the disparity by saying things like: "I support the troops but not the War." This is an attempt to divide the issue of blame. Good folks don't want to be "against" people...soldier or senator...but in the end, one holds the gavel and another the gun. That fact makes the attempt to separate the act from the actor...extremely complicated.

Ultimately we are all responsible for our own actions. The gravity of that fact needs to be fully comprehended by anyone choosing to submit their will to the state.

If a solidier makes a vow to the government....they are bound by oath.
This is an issue that comes up in the debate about Christians being soldiers: Submitting thier will to that of the state.
Some would say that's an action that Jesus told His followers to avoid.

Matthew 5: 33-37
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

In the end, my wrestlings with these topics are not meant to "be against" someone...but against a system...but I know that in the fray, that isn't always clear.

Converted or Killed...?

"But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison...Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." -Acts 8:3 & 9:1-5

Imagine if in our day...God raised up another Middle Eastern force of global missionaries; handpicked from a group of fundamentalist, religious extremists...who are also breathing threats and murder.

Saul was such a man...and God changed Him from the inside out...and Saul...became known as Paul. Not a murdering religious zealot who would gladly stand over the infidels as they were stoned to death...but Paul, the self sacrificing missionary who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles. Eventually he would give up his own life for the gospel of Jesus, as a martyr for the faith he once persecuted.

But...for there to be a Paul...there also has to be an...Ananias.

In Acts 9:10-19 we have the story of how God used a disciple named Ananias to embrace and empower Paul through forgiveness, prayer and ministry.

At first Ananias was nervous about God’s call to him to reach out to this well known, violent religious fundamentalist. How could God be calling him to cross paths with one of the most violent religious aggressor against the fledgling church?

How could God be calling Ananias to endanger himself?
Would God require Ananias to risk imprisonment and possible death?

Yes.

As a result...God moved through Ananias obedience and Saul’s vision was restored and he was baptized. Out of those baptismal waters...came the Apostle Paul. A new man...with a new heart and charged with a new mission.

I believe that this world needs less people who think with “Bullet’s & Ballots” and more who embrace a mission minded God. The church is charged with finding her Saul’s who are destined to become Paul’s and more than likely the most influential and misisonminded will come from among the most radical and terrifying opponents of Jesus.

Behold...the mission field of God...who will go?


In the last 25 years, more than 100 times as many American Christians have gone to the Middle East to serve their country in a military capacity than have gone to the Middle East to serve the King of kings by proclaiming the gospel of peace!

In North Africa, there is still roughly one missionary for every two million Muslims.
In northern India, it is roughly one missionary for every five million Muslims.
Globally, it averages out to be one missionary for every one million Muslims.


ABCs of Global Missions
World A
Unreached people -- 24% of the world's population -- receive 1/2 of 1% of dollars given to Christian missions

World B
Unevangelized World -- 43% of the world's population -- receives 5% of dollars given to Christian missions

World C
Christian World -- 33% of the world's population -- receives 94.5% of dollars given to Christian missions

Just maybe...if we would have been as zealous for the mission of God among the least reached peoples of this world...we wouldn’t be where we are today, Geo-politically?
Maybe the blood of the innocents lies not on the hands of the military but on the folded and slumbering hands of God’s inactive soldiers of the cross?

Maybe the hope of the planted isn’t in the hands of the Generals but instead in the pews of our churches?

Saul...where are you?

Ananias...where are you?

--------------------------------------------------
Answers to objections to going into Missions by John Piper: here
Strategic World Missions Map to plan your mission: here

What about the OT War God, the Law and War God of Revelations...?

Many bring this issue up when debating the issue of Just War, military service and the place a follower of Jesus has in those activities. They are huge issues, and Im not going to give a massive response right here..but here are a few points to chew on...

First and foremost for me, the issue is simply that I am a follower of Jesus...everything He taught comes first.

He interprets the law for me. He is the New Covenant law giver...on like unto Moses. As Moses climbed a mountain and received a law...Jesus climbed a mountain and gave law. He didn't do away with the OT law, He rescued it from the hands of men who were adding to it, nullifying it and misinterpreting it. They were missing the "spirit" of the law.

So He taught on the law...and especially the issues of murder, violence and revenge and adultery. His examples and commentary on how to approach injustice, evil and crimes committed against oneself set the foundation for me.

I do not believe a sincere reading of Matthew 5...makes room for Just War.

Primarily because...a soldier will not only kill, which some say is allowed under an interpretation of the word in the decalogue but they will also "murder". You can not be a soldier and not be forced to murder innocent people. It's impossible, even if you do not want too. A smart bomb war is a murdering war...just as much, as a nuclear war or a frontline war.

Can a Christian murder? I simply can't accept that based on Jesus's own teaching in Matthew 5, let alone countless other examples. In Matt 5, Jesus said that one who calls another a "fool" is guilty of the fires of Hell. And that it's better to saw off your arm or gouge out your eye that to be led to sin with them.

That's some pretty clear teaching in my book.

He also engages in some focused commentary about how the Jews would find ways to navigate out of the clear commands of scripture and come up with ways to reinterpret:

For example, the fifth commandment is clear enough: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). But the Pharisees had a custom whereby “if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban’—(that is, a gift to God), then [the Pharisees] no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother” (Mark 7:11–12). In fact, if someone had thus pledged his inheritance to God and then used any of his resources to care for his parents in their old age, the Pharisees would deem that act of charity a sacrilege, because it was a violation of the Corban vow. Jesus told them, “[You have made] the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do”

I feel that much of the war, violence responses do this very thing. They have taken clear teachings and said...yah but.

As far as the OT violence and the end of the world comments you made. I have lots of thoughts on that stuff too.

for now...I would say I am sure you wouldn't say that as a Christian you support the position of: Num. 31:7-18; Josh. 6:1-21, 24.

Can you truly imagine a follower of Jesus being ok with such a policy of war?

For me, I am glad that the "Judgement of God" for all man's sin was poured out on the cross. Hebrews 9:26 calls it the consummation of the ages.

"Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

I believe that event...has implications even to the end of the age.

I believe that we need to interpret the book of Revelations through the cross. It is a "revelation" of Jesus Christ.

The Lion that is a a lamb (Rev 5) is the only one worthy to handle the book of judgements.

He is also the One pictured as coming on a white horse with a bloody robe and a sword coming out of His mouth not in His hands. He is coming to a "war" on a White victory Horse, already bloody and without a sword in His hand.

To me that pictures a victorious King, who conquered not by war but by death, and conquers the world not with violence but with salvation and the word of God.

Will God judge mankind...yes, He already has.
Will God liv eout the end like all other conquering Kings....through bloodshed, violence, slaughter, no mercy...

Some say,,,yes.

but..I doubt it.


"You have heard it said...But "I" say... -Jesus

We are going to inherit the earth....

"We are going to inherit the earth . There is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie may blast and burn its own world before it finally leaves the stage of history. We Are not afraid of ruins. We who ploughed the prairies and built the cities can build again, only better next time. We carry a new world, here in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."
-Durruti

The Christian anarchist...

The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world". -Ammon Hennacy

Revelations...as Peace Theology

This mornings read: 5 sermons on "Revelations as Peace Theology"
Read them: Here

The Martyrdom of Perpetua....

As I'ved been doing my studies on the early churches predominant position on war and peace...you cannot get very far before the Coliseum becomes a powerful entity in the discussion. Violence in a culture and the love of watching or participating in violence rises to the surface.

As one moves from the furit of war...and follows the limbs, then arrives at the trunk and continues down the tree into the dirt to the roots that lie below...one is confronted with the violence that lies within us. That sinfulness is what always creates the evil that is without us.

It was the transformative issue that the teaching of Christ had upon the early disciples. What He taught changed the way they lived. Their hearts and minds changed. They literally repented of living the "way they had before". They actually got new minds and hearts...and that radically altered they way they treated one another.

The gospel was so real...they even gave up their own lives...as entertainment for the blood thirsty masses. And like Perpetua...took the sword of the soldier...and put it to thier own neck in acts of utter submission to the eternal justice of God.

They didn't even love their own lives....and this faith...turned the world upside down.

Read about Perpetua's last stand in the Roman Coliseum...here: The Martyrdom of Saint Perpetua

The Early Christian View of War and Military Service

"That the prophecy is fulfilled, you have good reason to believe, for we, who in times past killed one another, do not now fight with our enemies."26 "We, who had been filled with war and mutual slaughter and every wickedness, have each one-all the world over-changed the instruments of war, the swords into plows and the spears into farming implements, and we cultivate piety, righteousness, love for men, faith, (and) the hope which is from Father Himself through the Crucified One." -JUSTIN MARTYR (150 A.D.)

I was astounded at the power of these words and why as a Christian of over 25 years; I was never exposed to the force of thought that the early Church Father's brought to the issue of war, peace and the way of the disciple of Jesus. This quote is just the tip of the iceberg. This article is a must read for a historical argument that has to be made in the debate. Is it every early Christians view...no, was it historically the predominant view of the majority of Christians in the first, second and third centuries before Rome "converted"...hard to make a case that it wasn't.

Read much more here: http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/doctrine/ecvowams.htm

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war...

"A Pollyannaish Misadventure"....that's what Matthew Hoh, a leading U.S official in Afghanistan called the war. The Washington Post's article is painfully insightful and his resignation letter is extremely sad and from a foreign policy perspective....very troublesome to me.
His words read like pages out of a Malalai Joya book or speech. The question is...is anyone listening?

Read the Washington Post article: Here
Read His letter of resignation: here

Quotes from his resignation letter and the WP article:
"Our support for this kind of government, coupled with a misunderstanding of the insurgency's true nature, reminds me horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam; an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our nation's own internal peace, against an insurgency whose nationalism we arrogantly and ignorantly mistook as a rival to our own Cold War ideology." (Letter)

"I'm not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love."

"American families, he said at the end of the letter, "must be reassured their dead have sacrificed for a purpose worthy of futures lost, love vanished, and promised dreams unkept. I have lost confidence such assurances can be made any more...If the United States is to remain in Afghanistan, Hoh said, he would advise a reduction in combat forces"

Patriotism, pacifism and just warriors

This interview with Stanley Hauerwas was a breath of fresh air to me. Why oh why are such lucid minds so hard to find in the church today?

Here are some great quotes from the article...gold...pure gold, I tell you:

"If you’re a just warrior, you’re going to have to watch the innocent suffer for your convictions – just like the pacifist does."

"The war on terrorism could not possibly be a just war. I don’t even think it’s a war, I mean that’s a metaphorical use of the word “war” that comes from Americans’ views of – you know, the “war on drugs”, the “war on crime” – I mean, it’s just crap."

"You know, I’m not trying to call Christians out of being politically involved; I just want them to be there as Christians. And instead, what they get is they think they have a personal relationship with Jesus, which makes it OK for them to do anything that they damn well please, in the name of what’s important for national defence. Well, Jesus is a political saviour, and that prayer is a political prayer. And that’s the kind of seizing of the imagination I’m trying to help Christians regain in America. Because in America, Christians just cannot distinguish themselves – what it means to be Christian, they assume it goes hand in hand with what it means to be an American. And that’s just a deep mistake. But how to help Christians recover that difference is very difficult indeed."

If you want more Stanley go here.

Is this the only level headed person at the Capital?

Ron Paul talking common sense about Swine Flu hysteria...which if you've noticed...has passed.

Ron Paul still speaking truth to power....

Ron Paul - Hearing on Afghanistan 10/15/2009

This Is Where We Take Our Stand....

"Nobody can hear our stories and still support this shit." -Geoff Millard, Iraq war veteran

This is Where We Take Our Stand - Trailer from Displaced Films on Vimeo.

This is a controversial but powerful look into the Occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan from the witness and voices for those who have been there. You can view episodes 1-4 here and episode 5 & 6 here.

I really don't think I have watched a more moving and in your face report about Iraq and Afghanistan...there were moments in these clips that I cried, got angry, feared and wanted to stand up and salute. It's not a series of clips that will leave you without something to talk about. And in the end isn't that what really should be going on? These soldiers have got something to say...and what's great is that they don't all share the same opinions on the wars...there are really human moments in this that lend credibility to the video to me. It's not simply one-sided perspective...the soldiers are honest in their positions....even if they differ. These are brave folks...I admire their courage, truthfulness and ache for their pain.

The series producers write:

Where’s the debate?

Are we watching passively while Barack Obama carries out the same policies as George W. Bush?

When an American bombing raid this May killed over two hundred civilians in a village in Afghanistan, it was met with a deafening silence. When Obama’s promised “withdrawal” from Iraq leaves 130,000 troops there for at least two more years and 50,000 permanently, it’s hailed as an end to the occupation. And who is demanding to know just what the mission really is when 30,000 more troops are sent to Afghanistan?

Where’s the debate?

In March of 2008, two hundred and fifty veterans and active duty soldiers marked the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by gathering in Washington, DC, to testify from their own experience about the nature of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. It was chilling, horrifying, and challenging for all who witnessed it. Against tremendous odds, they brought the voices of the veterans themselves into the debate. That was then. This is now. Today, we present to you This is Where We Take Our Stand, the inside story of those three days and the courageous men and women who testified. And we present this story today, told in six episodes, because we believe it is as relevant now as it was one year ago. Maybe more.

Here is our challenge to you: Watch the series; spread it far and wide; and ask yourself is this about the past, or the present and future. Then add your voice. If you are a veteran or active duty, present your own testimony. If you are not, but you are still a living, breathing member of the human race, then do whatever you can to join and fan the flames of debate.
-Displaced Films and Northern Light Productions

pink...ko? Jodie Evans

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~Voltaire
Here is a feisty interview with the sometimes breathless anti-war activist Jodie Evans. I know that she is considered the extreme and is often demonized, vilified and shares countless views and some actions that I wouldn't endorse. But....in light of Jesus's words in Revelation 3:15-16...she is hot!
And I can appricaite Hot or Cold in these 'lukewarm' days.

"These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." -Jesus

Jodie is a co-founder of the anti-war group CODEPINK. In October 2009, after returning from a trip to Afghanistan, she hand-delivered a petition to President Obama from Afghan women against the surge. Reviled by conservatives and a thorn in the side of liberals, she is unapologetic in her beliefs and committed to stopping wars fought in the name of the US. She shares her experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, her formative years working for then California governor Jerry Brown and her hopes for the future."I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." ~Voltaire
Yes, here is Jody with her Codepink partner Medea Benjamin stirring up trouble during the Republican convention when Sarah Palin was speaking.

"In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman." -Margaret Thatcher

1 in 3 women in the military are raped

"The thought of being raped one day and then having to defend the life of the rapist the next is unimaginable. But this is what many women in the military deal with everyday. According to a new study by the Department of Defense, 1 in 3 women in the military are raped....Sgt. Sandra Lee made her first public statement on how she was raped twice while deployed in Iraq. According to Veterans for Peace: “Thirty seven percent of the attempted raped and raped women in the VA study also reported being raped more than once and 14% of them reported being gang raped. This study also discovered that 75% of raped women in the military failed to report it.”

This issue of violence and war and the damage it brings upon women is a horrific topic that gets little attention, especially by those who advocate the occupation and concept of "Just war". I find the topic to be particularly exposing because it gets to the issues of the human heart and the realities of what happens when our most carnal impulses are trained to be used for political ends. We put people into situations that pull upon their most primal natures and then act surprised by the carnage that is unleashed.

Obviously these acts are not perpetrated by all soldiers...but is a stat of 1 in 3...a roll of the dice, you are willing to make with the lives of your daughters?

I've never seen the suicide, PTS or rape statistics in any recruitment material...but I see lots of $$$ used. Does anyone else have a problem with that? Am I somehow unpatriotic because it appears to be dangerously camouflaged? Religion and Violence are both taking a insufferable toll upon the women of this world...in all areas of war. They are the collateral damage...in our march towards power, control, revenge, democracy or whatever other banner is being waived.

Is Sgt. Sandra Lee, a mere pawn of anti-war propaganda...or is she witnessing to the truth...?

It's a dangerous gamble.

New Survey...

Nearly 60 percent Say President Obama’s Decisions “Bad for America”: Read Here

news flash...

Barack Obama has the worst poll rating for any American President since Truman at this stage in the presidency. -AP

Let's raise up this kind of army...

http://www.cpt.org/resources/writings/sider

This article is probably one of the most challenging ones on the subject of what should you do now that you believe that God is calling Christians to a Third way in the face of war and violence.

God & Guns....

“I speak as a Christian- one whose commitment to democracy is very deep but whose Christian convictions are deeper. Democracy is not my faith. And American democracy is not my idol. To see the gospel of Jesus Christ bastardized by imperial Christiansand pulverized by Constantinian believers and then exploited by nihilistic elites of the American empire makes my blood boil. To be a Christian- a follower of Jesus Christ- is to love wisdom, love justice, and love freedom. This is the radical love in Christian freedom and the radical freedom in Christian love that embraces socratic questioning, prophetic witness, and tragicomic hope. If Christians do not exemplify this love and freedom, then we side with the nihilists of the Roman empire (cowardly elite Romans and subjugated Jews) who put Jesus to a humiliating death. Instead of receiving his love in freedom as a life-enhancing gift of grace, we end up believing in the idols of the empire that nailed him to the cross. I do not want to be numbered among those who sold their souls for a mess of pottage- who surrendered their democratic Christian identity for a comfortable place at the table of the American empire while, like Lazarus, the least of these cried out and I was too intoxicated with worldly power and might to hear, beckon, and heed their cries. To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely- to step in the name of love as if you may land on nothing, yet to keep on stepping because the something that sustains you no empire can give you and no empire can take away. This is the kind of vision and courage required to enable the renewal of prophetic, democratic Christian identity in the age of the American empire.” -Cornel West, Democracy Matters

I've been wrestling with some bog issues in my mind and heart lately...one of them being the Christian's response, participation and posture towards war, military service and killing, unquestioned subservience to authority, empire and rule.

It began as I started using some praying the daily office material. In those prayers there is a spot to pray for those who face trials, tests and suffering. In light of the recent Fort Hood massacre...I was praying for the families who lost loved ones and friends. As I continued to pray...I began to pray for our enemies as Jesus commands us to do. As I continued praying for those who kill, have killed or suffer because of it...my heart and mind began to get jammed up in some deep ethical and theological cramps.

Then I read this article on the suicide rates taking place in the military and my uneasiness increased.

"As of November 16, 2009, 140 soldiers on active duty have taken their own lives, with 71 soldiers not on active duty whose death has also been identified as a suicide. The suicide rate for 2008 was the worst in three decades, and in January 2009, 24 soldiers killed themselves - more than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined."

This fact disturbed me even more and my prayers extended into the lives of those struggling with the possibilities, consequences and damage of war.

I've always thought "The God & Guns" crowd is scary when it wears a turban:
"You infidels and despotic, we will continue our jihad (holy war) and never stop until God avails us to chop your necks and raise the fluttering banner of monotheism when God's rule is established governing all people and nations," you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."-Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq.But, then I started wondering if it is any different if we begin to weave an American flag into our image of American Jesus and end up with rhetoric like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell gave us ?
Some folks have some profound and challenging positions on whether Christians should even serve in the military like Greg Boyd's article here.

I was talking to a service woman the other day and listening to her issues of conscience and expressing that she was uneasy with the tendency of Christian Churches that seem to blindly embrace right wing, fundamentalist, pro-military stances...when the "Military" does evil things" as she stated it. That was coming from someone who is still serving within the military.

That conversation pushed me over the edge. I have to find a way to support those who serve but that support has to help them come under the rule of the Kingdom of God...not the kingdoms of this world. That process involves extending a healing ministry to those who are separated because of war, be it family, kids or relatives. It has to involve inner healing and presence to those who are walking out the devastation's of war and death. It has to mean we gather, love and support those who have been chewed up and spit out of the war machines, systems and programs that often leave men and women homeless, divorced, mentally unhealthy and socially disconnected.

I'm working towards finding ground that is biblically sound, ethically clear and still patriotic in a way, that is respectful and supportive but not endorsing of that which would be contrary to the spirit and work of Jesus. Remaining prophetic towards that which isn't Kingdom coming but restorative towards those who are still trying to work out their own salvations here on earth. Not an easy task.

I take courage that even the Church Fathers struggled with the issues:

"Emperors could only believe in Christ if they were not Emperors..as if Emperors could ever be Christians." -Tertullian, Apology (ca. 160 – ca. 220 A.D)

As we face more troop increases in Afghanistan, nuclear tensions in North Korea and Iran and the continued path of stabilization trying to happen in Iraq...I find my self praying the Lord's prayer with greater conviction than ever before...Thy Kingdom Come and will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven...and lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil"

Deep and confrontational words from the Prince of Peace.

Woman among the Warlords...

Everyone's got an opinion on Afghanistan but have you taken the time to listen to an Afghani? This woman, Malalai Joya, has got a few words to say....and she has earned the right to be heard....her speech is where the content is...the first few snippets must be put in context of her speech, so dont turn it off too soon. Here is her book: A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice

The White Rose...

In the resistance tradition of the midwives who resisted Pharoh's genocidal decree and Rahab, who hid the Isralite spies from the Jericoh police and Saul’s troops who refused to kill the priest of Nob who had sheltered and armed David...I draw your attention to "The White Rose".

They were a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of a number of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to German dictator Adolf Hitler's regime.

The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo and executed by beheading in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany through Scandinavia to the UK, and in July 1943 copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled "The Manifesto of the Students of Munich."
Monument to the "White Rose" in front of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Here are a couple quotes from "The White Rose's" writings:

"Why do German people behave so apathetically in the face of all these abominable crimes, crimes so unworthy of the human race? ... The German people slumber on in their dull, stupid sleep and encourage these fascist criminals....[The German] must evidence not only sympathy; no, much more: a sense of complicity in guilt....For through his apathetic behaviour he gives these evil men the opportunity to act as they do.... he himself is to blame for the fact that it came about at all! Each man wants to be exonerated ....But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!... now that we have recognized [the Nazis] for what they are, it must be the sole and first duty, the holiest duty of every German to destroy these beasts. (From Leaflet 2)

"...why do you allow these men who are in power to rob you step by step, openly and in secret, of one domain of your rights after another, until one day nothing, nothing at all will be left but a mechanised state system presided over by criminals and drunks? Is your spirit already so crushed by abuse that you forget it is your right - or rather, your moral duty - to eliminate this system? (From Leaflet 3)

I know that the gun seems so much more powerful than a stack of letters...but I'm a true believer in the transformative power of the Word. I think of Martin Luther King's sermon on Vietnam which could be preached today...just insert "Iraq or Afghanistan" instead of Vietnam. There is a lot of really great thoughts in his sermon, one of the most quoted being:

"This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

And this quote seemed particularly prophetic to me:

"Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism." -Buddhist leaders of Vietnam

or..."Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -John F. Kennedy

My focus on such people and voices; isn't done with the intent on discouraging or maligning any who are serving in the military or hold pro-war convictions. I simply offer these alternatives and ongoing dialogue in order to foster greater thought and debate among honest and thinking Christians.

Silent Night...during WW1...?

The Christmas Truce, which occurred primarily between the British and German soldiers along the Western Front in December 1914, is an event the official histories of the "Great War" leave out, and the Orwellian historians hide from the public. Stanley Weintraub has broken through this barrier of silence and written a moving account of this significant event by compiling letters sent home from the front, as well as diaries of the soldiers involved. His book is entitled Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce. The book contains many pictures of the actual events showing the opposing forces mixing and celebrating together that first Christmas of the war. This remarkable story begins to unfold, according to Weintraub, on the morning of December 19, 1914:

"Lieutenant Geoffrey Heinekey, new to the 2ND Queen’s Westminister Rifles, wrote to his mother, ‘A most extraordinary thing happened. . . Some Germans came out and held up their hands and began to take in some of their wounded and so we ourselves immediately got out of our trenches and began bringing in our wounded also. The Germans then beckoned to us and a lot of us went over and talked to them and they helped us to bury our dead. This lasted the whole morning and I talked to several of them and I must say they seemed extraordinarily fine men . . . . It seemed too ironical for words. There, the night before we had been having a terrific battle and the morning after, there we were smoking their cigarettes and they smoking ours." (p. 5)

As night fell on Christmas Eve the British soldiers noticed the Germans putting up small Christmas trees along with candles at the top of their trenches and many began to shout in English "We no shoot if you no shoot."(p. 25). The firing stopped along the many miles of the trenches and the British began to notice that the Germans were coming out of the trenches toward the British who responded by coming out to meet them. They mixed and mingled in No Man’s Land and soon began to exchange chocolates for cigars and various newspaper accounts of the war which contained the propaganda from their respective homelands. Many of the officers on each side attempted to prevent the event from occurring but the soldiers ignored the risk of a court-martial or of being shot.

Some of the meetings reported in diaries were between Anglo-Saxons and German Saxons and the Germans joked that they should join together and fight the Prussians. The massive amount of fraternization, or maybe just the Christmas spirit, deterred the officers from taking action and many of them began to go out into No Man’s Land and exchange Christmas greetings with their opposing officers. Each side helped bury their dead and remove the wounded so that by Christmas morning there was a large open area about as wide as the size of two football fields separating the opposing trenches. The soldiers emerged again on Christmas morning and began singing Christmas carols, especially "Silent Night." They recited the 23RD Psalm together and played soccer and football. Again, Christmas gifts were exchanged and meals were prepared openly and attended by the opposing forces. Weintraub quotes one soldier’s observation of the event: "Never . . . was I so keenly aware of the insanity of war." (p. 33). Read more here.
This is going to be one of my Christmas reads for sure.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." -Luke 2:13-14

Anti-War Heretic....???

a prayer...

The God of Hosts is with us.
You are our refuge and our strength
A very present help in the time of trouble. Therefore we will not
fear, though the mountains tremble and the seas rage. There is a river
whose streams make glad the city of God.
You are in her midst, she will not be overthrown. You are the One who
makes war to cease.Who breaks the bow and shatters the spear. We come
now to see Your works, the things You have done here on Earth. We will
be still and know that You are God. And You will be exalted in all the
Earth.
-Psalms

Nonresistance...or...Nonviolence

The term "nonviolence" is often linked with or even used as a synonym for pacifism(nonresistance); however, the two concepts are fundamentally different. Pacifism denotes the rejection of the use of violence as a personal decision on moral or spiritual grounds, but does not inherently imply any inclination toward change on a sociopolitical level. Nonviolence on the other hand, presupposes the intent of (but does not limit it to) social or political change as a reason for the rejection of violence.

There would be no barbarians...

Early in the third century A.D., the aforementioned Origen of Alexandria responded to charges made seventy years earlier by the social critic, Celsus, who claimed that Christians neglected the public welfare of the Roman empire. He criticized Christians, declaring "...if all were to do the same as you [Christians]...the affairs of the earth would fall into the hands of the wildest and most lawless barbarians..." (Against Celsus, IV.68). Origen's response? If everyone acted like Christians, there would simply be no barbarians. To the critique that Christians did not serve the common good through military service, but should, Origen's response deserves a full rendering:

"And to those enemies of our faith who require us to bear arms for the commonwealth, and to slay men, we can reply: 'Do not those who are priests at certain shrines and those who attend on certain gods, as you account them, keep their hands free from blood, that they may with hands unstained and free from human blood offer the appointed sacrifices to your gods; and even when war is upon you, you never enlist the priests in the army. If that, then, is a laudable custom, how much more so, that while others are engaged in battle, these too should engage as the priests and ministers of God, keeping their hands pure, and wrestling in prayers to God on behalf of those who are fighting in a righteous cause. . . .We do take our part in public affairs, when along with righteous prayers we join self-denying exercises and meditations, which teach us to despise pleasures, and not to be led away by them. And none fight better for the emperor than we do. We do not indeed fight under him, although he require it; but we fight on his behalf, forming a special army—an army of piety—by offering our prayers to God'" -Against Celsus

Malalai Joya...a

"My condolences to the people of Afghanistan..."- Malalai Joya

This young Afghani woman inspires me almost as much as Mother Teresa and Aung San Suu Kyi. This article has to be read by anyone who is concerned about the war. Her words are so powerful, especially because her life is behind them. No armchair rhetoric here...: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/malalai-joya-the-woman-who-will-not-be-silenced-1763127.html

The Jester's should be King....

In all my searching for an intelligent response to President Obama's speech on War for Peace...I couldn't find anything that captured what I was thinking and feeling. Two days of searching and finally...I found itAnd of course in concert with the other brilliant clip...here is yet another piece of gut-splitting reporting...have the Jesters...truly spoken the only wisdom to the court?

Good workers...

"I would be the last to condemn the thousands of sincere and dedicated people outside the churches who have labored unselfishly through various humanitarian movements to cure the world of social evils, for I would rather a man be a committed humanist than an uncommitted Christian." ~Martin Luther King

Tempted...again and again...

"The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves organizing clergy and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. ...."I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'person-oriented' society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. ...."A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. (Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967 "A Time to Break Silence: Declaration of Independence from the Vietnam War")

So...the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $636 billion military spending bill on Wednesday that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It reminds me of these quotes and the temptation of Jesus by Satan.

"Over grown military establishments are under any form of governments inauspicious to liberty and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty." -George Washington

"The means of defense against foreign danger have historically become the instruments of tyranny at home." -James Madison

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." -James Madison

Nation building as a result of a policy of American Interventionism is more than likely simply Economic Colonialism at the heart. I know that protection from foreign terrorists, liberty and democracy are the mantra of the war machine...but I am growing more and more convinced that there are far greater agendas at play in this Empire's actions in the world theater. Satan always offers kings...Bread (Economic Power)...the Kingdoms of the World (Military Power) and Public Piety (Religious Power).

Money, Military and Religion...all three powers are at play in full force in this era.

Rain...on me

"Drip down, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it." -Isaiah 45:8

"Jesus is God's revelation to us about how we human beings should live in this world." -Jonathan W. Hartgrove in his book: "To Baghdad and Beyond...How I Got Born Again in Babylon"

My reflections of late regarding war and peace...have arisen out of a general pursuit after my prayers for "God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done...on Earth as it is done in Heaven. One cannot pray that Jesus taught prayer for very long and not have it's words start to mess with your life.

The Words of Jesus...do that to me.

They jacked up my world when I was 15 and they still grab me by my throat and force me to look straight into His eyes...they unclog my stopped up ears and make me hear things God dreams about. They make me look at how I am living the life God is allowing me to live. This fact is haunting me as I near the day I stand before Him...face to face. I want Him to say...Well done...Good and faithful servant. I want to glorify Jesus and be called a "son of the Most High"...one who resembles His father.

Like Simeon and Anna of the Advent season...I am "Longing" and "Looking" for the King of the Kingdom.

But...not a Kingdom to come...that somehow has become practically irrelevant and the play toy of campy novel writers and profit making marketeers. I don't want more watering down of the sermon on the mount. Quit turning His vision for humanity into some pipe dream that exists in some celestial kingdom...somewhere, someday....I long to see the Kingdom that is upon us...within us...the Kingdom that destroys the works of the devil.

I am churning in the truth of the true Prophet who said...."The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." Am I "violently" apprehending the city that is coming down? Do I storm it's open gates or politely stroll in a meandering and passionless pace? Have I grown so comfortable with living "down here" that I am no longer looking up? Do I truly pray Maranatha with a commitment to living the actions of that prayer today?

I do not care for a city that doesn't have streams that flow into the waste places of Empire.
I mourn for a kingdom whose tree's leaves bring healing to the nations. It's a feeding tree...not for disembodied floaters with harps but a tree that is rooted in the new creation and gives life to the world that is starved for true bread...both in body and spirit.

Angels singing music in heaven is great and all, among the perfect, redeemed and eternal....but music on Earth...now that is desperately needed....down here in the streets of bloodshed, the towers of materialism and among the dying, perverted and unredeemed....let the Angels sing their song.

I truly believe the Advent proclamations and promises...Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards all men. I believe it, not because it sounds good and makes great Christmas cards and caroling messages; but because it answers the deepest cry of the human heart...peace with God and...with each other.

That, is something worth believing in this Christmas

Afghan Women still suffering....

"Shout it aloud, do not hold back....Raise your voice like a trumpet.
-Isaiah 58:1
The US-installed Afghan government passed a law in February, 2009, which applies to Afghanistan's Shia population (10-15 percent of the Afghan people) that explicitly legalizes rape in marriage by banning women from refusing to have sex with their husbands. That law also prevents women from working, going to school, getting access to health care or other services, or even leaving her home without husband's permission.

Donate to Malalai Joya's work with Afghani women: Here
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? -Isaiah 58:6-7

Did you know...?

"A few days after 9/11, elements in the Taliban reached out to the US. They wanted political cover to turn over Osama Bin Laden, and to save their own emirate. This was an important opening, but the Bush administration decided to snub them. In mid-October, the Taliban's no. 3, Haji Abdul Kabir told reporters. "We would be ready to hand [Bin Laden] over to a third country" if the bombing ended. Once more, Bush demurred. It was not his style to negotiate. This is when the Afghan war was lost: not at Tora Bora but at a press conference at Jalalabad. If the US had taken the Taliban up on this offer, Bin Laden would have been in custody in a third country and tried in an international court.

Facebook War posts....

I have recently been engaged in a number of discussions and debates on Facebook about the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the "War on terror". You can read the War Posts conversations from: Here