More Christians have suffered for their faith in twentieth century than in any other time in church history. Persecution watchdog group Open Doors released a report in 2014 of countries where believers in Jesus Christ are most heavily persecuted. There has been genocide of Christians in Iraq and unfortunately the West has stood by and let it happen. According to Michael Snyder’s report,

In areas where we spent hundreds of billions of dollars and where thousands of precious American lives were sacrificed, churches are regularly being bombed, Christians are being brutally beheaded, and laws have been passed to make it illegal for a Muslim to convert to Christianity.

If we were not even able to provide the most basic of liberties and freedoms to the people living in those nations, what in the world did we actually accomplish by ‘liberating’ them? Just look at what has happened in Afghanistan…….

We find a similar story in Iraq. It is estimated that before the invasion, there were up to 2 million Christians living in Iraq. Now that number is down to less than 450,000….

Why is the media being so quiet…..? Those carrying out this persecution of Christians in Syria are being directly funded and aided by the governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia.”

And of course it is not just in the Middle East where this kind of persecution of Christians is taking place.

Boko Haram…….has attacked more than 700 churches in Nigeria over the past seven years, and this has resulted in a massive exodus of Christians from northern Nigeria to southern Nigeria……..The same could be said for Christians in the country of Libya. The Obama administration likes to brag about how it got rid of Qaddafi and “liberated” Libya, but now al-Qaeda is in control of much of the country and things are much worse for Christians than ever before……

Should we meet force with force?

In light of all what is happening to Christians in these countries, should Christians defend themselves or fight for those we love if we are persecuted and killed. If our enemies attack the life and liberty of our brethren or if gangsters attack children or Nazis burn Jews? Should we meet force with force?

For instance in Pakistan, Christians who make up only 2 percent of the country’s population, beat and burned to death two suspected terrorists during the riots on the streets. Christians have been the targets of persecution and have suffered a number of attacks for their faith. Because of this rising global threat, some mega-churches in the U.S have gone as far as setting up state-of-the-art surveillance security cameras in their churches.

According to a recent CBN report (see video below):

Of the many churches in Memphis, Tennessee, the largest is Bellevue Baptist Church. Founded in 1903, it has since grown in membership to almost 30,000 people. Andy Willis, who heads up security at the church, has the monumental job of keeping this large congregation safe………A camera system that constantly monitors and records activities on campus is extremely important……They are not very expensive, and the thing that you get is the protection in a liability situation that you won’t have if you don’t have it……

Willis told CBN News that Christians need to trust God, but be prepared.

 [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn65O0cAGEE]

The biggest thing that makes me cringe when I talk to other churches about security is they will say, “We don’t have security; we’re just praying that nothing happens…. It’s important for us to understand that while we are to trust God, God has a big part for us to play in His plan…..

One of the resources that helps Bellevue prepare is church security consultant Tim Miller, a former Secret Service agent. Miller said the threat against churches is rising worldwide:

Violence against Christians is rampant around the world……It hasn’t necessarily touched us at the level it has other places, but if we think we’re immune from that, we’re sadly mistaken……We will begin as a nation to experience that same level of violence…..And actually the methodology we’re seeing today, that same methodology is coming to the United States. They question for us is, are we prepared to address it?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quoted to have said that, “it is not only my task to look after the victims of madmen who drive a motorcar in a crowded street, but to do all in my power to stop their driving at all.” Bonhoeffer came to see life “from the perspective of those who suffer.” which cost him his life. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13).

As he sifted through the various reasons why they had to kill Hitler and bring down the Nazi government, Bonhoeffer spoke to them of the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus had willingly risked his life defending the poor and outcasts of his society—even at the cost of a violent death.

When the Lord Jesus instructed the disciples on how they were to travel, He told them to take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money, and not to have two tunics (see Luke 9:3). But then later on toward the end of Luke’s gospel, He said, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one” (Luke 22:36).

We again learn from the Gospel of Luke that when Jesus was arrested, Peter and the other disciples asked Jesus whether they should fight because they had come with their swords. John records that Simon Peter struck the servant of the High Priest and cut off his ear. (John 18:10) When his ear was struck off, Jesus said “No more of this.” and He said, ‘Permit even this.’ And He touched his ear and healed him warning His followers that all who draw the sword will die by the sword (Luke 22:51; Matthew 26: 52)

But what did He mean when He said “no more of this”? Some biblical historians tell us that when people of that day where traveling from city to city, they had to carry a sword in order to fend off robbers. So when Jesus sent his disciples, He warned them to be prepared to defend themselves when appropriate. This could mean that the disciples were using the swords to defend themselves before Jesus was arrested, although the Bible doesn’t tell us. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup which My Father has given Me?” (John 18:11).

And Matthew also records that He said, “Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). All these Scriptures confirm that Jesus is in full control of everything that takes place in the world. Although it looked as if Satan was getting the upper hand in the situation, everything was happening according to God’s perfect plan.

Teaching about Revenge

Teaching about revenge, Jesus said, “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38–39 NLT). The only way to overcome evil is to pray to Christ for strength to patiently endure aggression and let the evil person fall into the hands of Jesus; otherwise evil begets evil. The apostle Paul echoes and expands on the Words that came from the lips of Jesus when he says,

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, “says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12: 17-21)

“The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him…..This commandment to love our enemies and forgo revenge will grow even more urgent in the holy struggle which lies before us…..” Writes Bonhoeffer in his classic book, The Cost of Discipleship. The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said that,

Christianity is not difficult to understand: “Love your enemies is so simple that even a child can understand it. No, what is difficult is to put it into practice. Christian scholarship is the Church’s invention to defend itself against the Bible.

But again, how can somebody justify an attack on your family or your flock? Am I not in a position to defend myself and those that the Lord has entrusted to me? Or what would you do if someone held a gun to your head and told you to deny Jesus Christ and bow down to an idol or he would kill you? There can only be one answer to all these questions: “I don’t know.”

During the era of the early church, thousands of Christians lost their lives because they would not confess two words “Caesar is Lord.” They understood that words have serious consequences. You might remember the story of a courageous young 17 year Christian lady, Rachael Scott. She was one of the 13 people who were killed at Columbine High School.

On April 20, 1999, armed students began shooting people in Rachel’s high school campus. According to eye witnesses, Rachael was shot twice in the legs and fell to the ground. Moments later, one of the shooters came, lifted her head and asked her: “Do you believe in God?” These shooters would take her life if she said yes, and probably kill her if she said no.

Rachael knew her words would have grave consequences. But without hesitation, Rachel said, “You know I do!” One of the boys responded by shooting her in head and saying “Then go be with Him.”How did she know that these shooters knew that she believed? According to one of the websites dedicated to the Columbine High School Massacre:

One of the shooters, Dylan Klebold, had known Rachel since kindergarten and had even been the sound tech for a talent show she performed in 1998. Ironically, when the sound broke down, it was Dylan who saved the performance by hooking up a reserve tape deck. Rachel had been performing a mime dance “Watch the Lamb” which portrayed Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus cross along part of the Via Dolorosa. That same mime dance was later performed behind her coffin during her funeral.

Polycarp, one of the early church fathers, faced martyrdom in a Roman arena with wild beasts. The proconsul urged him to renounce his faith in Christ, but to no avail. Finally the Roman official threatened, “If you despise the wild beasts, I will cause you to be consumed with fire, unless you repent (change your mind).”

Polycarp replied, “You threaten that with fire which burns for a season and after a little while is quenched: for you are ignorant of the fire of the future judgment and eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. Polycarp had already given up himself to die and meet His Creator; he was only seeking the salvation of his executioner. That is the power the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Rachel and Polycarp both received a martyr’s crown from Jesus Christ. The question is, what would you have said or done under such circumstances?

Every one of us would like to think that he has the strength of conviction to die for my beliefs. But that’s very nice in theory. We don’t know what we are really made of until we have faced this test and passed it or failed it. There is saying that I read somewhere which goes like this: “Don’t trust yourself until the day you die.”

Our hearts may be willing to die, but our flesh will always seek to protect and save itself. Ask the apostle Peter and the other disciples who all fled when the time had come for them to stand with Jesus Christ. It is only when the love of Holy Spirit has completely overtaken you that you can obey God rather than men, even at the point of certain death. Flesh and blood cannot hold out the attacks of Satan. Jesus says we should rely on the Holy Spirit in the hour of darkness.

Strength from the Holy Spirit

The last question Jesus was asked before He left the earth was, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) The disciples also continually wondered about His kingdom, when it would come and what their role would be in it. They probably thought that the Messiah would be an earthly king who would free Israel from Roman power. But the kingdom Jesus spoke about was a spiritual kingdom established in the hearts and lives of believers. He replied:

It is not for you to become acquainted with and know what time brings [the things and events of time and their definite periods] or fixed years and seasons (their critical niche in time), which the Father has appointed (fixed and reserved) by His own choice and authority and personal power. But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth (Acts 1:7–8 AMP).

Jesus was saying that the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for us to know. He reiterated what He said in Matthew 24:36, namely, that no one knows the day or hour of His return.

The power of the Holy Spirit as promised in Acts 1:8 will be needed to provide courage. Whoever is ashamed of the Lord in times when Christians are not threatened is more likely to deny Him in a situation that may end with loss of freedom or life.

That is why the Lord said …..Then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. (Matthew 24:10) Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:11-12 NKJV)

Most of us Christians in the West and around the world have a counterfeit faith which gives the Lord conditions that if He rewards us with wealth, health and heaven, then we will serve and obey Him. In other words we want to serve Him but still retain much of our comforts. We make demands of God and perform good deeds to earn His acceptance and blessing.

The church has to a great extent forgotten that genuine surrender is where you have to offer your life unconditionally to God with humility and repentance regardless of whether it will cost you your life. We can only count the cost and endure because of our love and intimacy with Him, and only enabled to do so by the inner power of the Holy Spirit. In his book Persecution: It Will Never Happen Here? Jan Pit says:

Only Christians who draw their strength from the Holy Spirit will be prepared to live and suffer for God and will remain steadfast. They will refuse to serve the world government and world religion; even though they know that their obedience to God will mean persecution, suffering, and perhaps even death.

As we’ve noted previously, on the eve the crucifixion, when the real clash came with the powers of darkness, it was only Jesus Christ who stood. Every one of the disciples failed in that hour of darkness—in spite of all their surrenders, vows and devotion to the Master.

And looking into the future years—the darkness of the last days of this age, the final contest between heaven and hell for the kingdoms of this world, it could be only One Person Who is sufficient for this dark period, and He is the glorious Third Person of the Godhead- the Holy Spirit in those hearts whom He is able to indwell.

One of the main arguments I encounter regularly when chatting with friends and colleagues is that religion is bad because it produces violence and war. Of course religion is bad because God didn’t create us to practice religion. He created us to have a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ—that is the purpose of every man and woman on this earth.

Religion is not necessarily equated with the Word of God; religion is often the word of man about the Word of God. Men have distorted the Word of God to foster and justify their actions and this includes war.

When the Iraq War started, there was a survey given in one of the best and most biblically faithful churches in America to see how many adults were in favor of the war. The Sunday school teacher took this survey and the vote was approximately seventeen to three, with one abstention. One gentleman, his wife, and one other person were opposed to the war.

Though this is a small sample for a survey, it gives an estimation of how strongly Christians have been in support of war. Had the numbers been reversed, with Bible-believing Christians as a whole being strongly opposed to the Iraq intervention, there might never have been an attack on Iraq at all. What have been the consequences?

Innocent civilians killed and maimed especially the Arab children. Armed personal killed and wounded. Families destroyed. Billions of dollars wasted. Surveillance society predicted by George Orwell 1984 is now a reality.

Terrorism has multiplied. Christian brothers and sisters in many of these Middle Eastern countries have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the puppet terrorists being put in power and supported by shadow governments.

We should not forget that it is now a verifiable fact that in many conflicts involving Muslims, the West’s intervention has led to the persecution of Christians, and in some cases, decimated the indigenous Christian population in an entire region.

Revivalist Leonard Ravenhill (1907–1994), best known for challenging the modern church through his books on revival, said:

Would we send our daughters off to have sex if it would benefit our country? Yet, we send our sons off to kill when we think it would benefit our country! I am not angered that the moral majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, “Save our children” bellow “Build more and bigger bombers.” That’s right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from “our” bombers! This does not jell.

Author Laurence Vance, in his book Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, states, “Conservatives who decry the welfare state while supporting the warfare state are terribly inconsistent. The two are inseparable.

The ongoing undeclared war in Iraq (or Afghanistan, for that matter) is supported by apologists for what World War II general, and later president, Dwight Eisenhower, called the “military-industrial complex” is no surprise. What is surprising, however, is the degree of Christian enthusiasm for war.

Laurence quotes Veritatis Amans in his article “Can War, Under Any Circumstance, Be Justified on the Principles of the Christian Religion,” and another anonymous Baptist preacher’s article entitled “Wickedness of War.” He says that Veritatis Amans approached the subject from the standpoint of war being justified only in cases of self-defense. But both articles look to the New Testament as their final authority. Amans wrote:

War has ever been the scourge of the human race. The human of the past is little else than a chronicle of deadly feuds, irreconcilable hate, and exterminating warfare. The extension of empire, the love of glory, and thirst for fame, have been more fatal to men than famine or pestilence, or the fiercest elements of nature. And what is more sad and painful, many of the wars whose desolating surges have deluged the earth, have been carried on in the name and under the sanction of those who profess the name of Christ…….But under what circumstances is war truly defensive? We reply, when its object is to repel an invasion; when there is no alternative but to submit to bondage and death, or resist.

The Baptist preacher, writing in an 1838 issue of The Christian Review, continues:

War “contradicts the genius and intention of Christianity,” “sets at nought the example of Jesus” and “is inconsistent not only with the general structure and nature of Christianity and the example of Jesus, but it violates all the express precepts of the New Testament.” Christianity requires us to seek to amend the condition of man. But war cannot do this. The world is no better for all the wars of five thousand years. Christianity, if it prevailed, would make the earth a paradise. War, where it prevails, makes it a slaughter-house, a den of thieves, a brothel, a hell. Christianity cancels the laws of retaliation. War is based upon that very principle….

Christianity is the remedy for all human woes. War produces every woe known to man. The causes of war, as well as war itself, are contrary to the gospel. It originates in the worst passions and worst aims. We may always trace it to the thirst of revenge, the acquisition of territory, the monopoly of commerce, the quarrels of kings, the intrigues of ministers, the coercion of religious opinion, the acquisition of disputed crowns, or some other source, equally culpable; but never has any war, devised by man, been founded on holy tempers and Christian principles. It should be remembered, that in no case, even under the Old Testament, was war appointed to decide doubtful questions, or to settle quarrels, but to inflict national punishment. They were intended, as are pestilence and famine, to chastise nations guilty of provoking God. Such is never the pretext of modern war; and if it were, it would require divine authority, which, as has been said, would induce even members of the Peace Society to fight.

Biblical Perspective on War

Any Biblical discussion about wars without reference to those in the Old Testament would be incomplete. Christians have used accounts such as the invasion of Jericho described in the Book of Joshua to invade other nations but God prescribes war according to only strict rules and instructions. The wars of Israel were only “holy wars” in history, for they were the wars of God against the world of idols. (See Numbers 1:1-3; Exodus 22:2; Nehemiah 4:9–11).

For instance, Israel did not fight Edom, the offspring of Jacob’s brother Esau, because of the Lord’s warning that was later conveyed in definite instructions in Deuteronomy 23:7:“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.”

The New Testament

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us to love our enemies. He said this not only of our enemies, but of our brethren too. Jesus who commanded to love our enemies lived under a very cruel political atmosphere. Herod tried to kill Him by massacring all new-born babies.

When John the Baptist challenged Herod to admit his sin of marrying his own sister-in-law, he was imprisoned. As John sat in prison, he began having some doubts about whether Jesus was the Messiah, and if He was the Messiah, then why was John in prison when he could have been making disciples.

When John the Baptist was beheaded in prison….the disciples came and took the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. How did Jesus respond? The Bible tells us: “As soon as Jesus heard the news; he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. He never dwelt on His grief or the magnitude of Herod’s crime. (See Matthew 14: 6-13)

Was Jesus tempted with the option of misusing His power to save His people? Yes He was tempted. (See Luke 4:6-7) The Bible says and when the devil had ended every (the complete cycle of] temptation, he temporarily left Him that is, stood off from Him until another more opportune and favourable time. (Luke 4:13)

Indeed the devil never gave up in tempting Jesus to fulfill the will of God in another way and thereby save Himself and others. Neither will he give up on us. On one occasion the people wanted to force Him to be crowned as their King.

The apostle John records that when the people saw the miracle that Jesus had performed of feeding 5000 of them, they began saying, surely and beyond a doubt this is the Prophet Who is to come into the world! Then Jesus, knowing that they meant to come and seize Him that they might make Him king, withdrew again to the hillside by Himself alone. (See John 6:1-15)

When Jesus sent messengers on ahead into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John observed this, they said, Lord, do You wish us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?

But He turned and rebuked and severely censured them. He said, You do not know of what sort of spirit you are, For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them from the penalty of eternal death. And they journeyed on to another village. (Luke 9:53-56)

According to Luke’s gospel, there arrived some people who informed Jesus that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. These men had been executed by the order of the Roman governor, and their blood had been mingled on the temple floor with that of their sacrifices.

However instead of trying stir up the people in rebellion against the Romans, He instead warned them that unless they repented….”you will all likewise perish. Later, He called Peter Satan for trying to prevent Him going to the cross to die for the sins of the world, destroying Peter’s vision of an earthly kingdom which would destroy the cruel Romans.

Paul’s Epistle to the Romans

For other instructions regarding war, we must to go Paul’s epistle the Romans in chapter 13 which discusses the purposes of government and its relationship with citizens. According to God’s Word, governments should protect and defend the lives and property of the people under their jurisdiction. Since the fall of humanity, the state is to be the judge “that does not bear the sword in vain” (Romans 13:4).

It is God’s minister that takes vengeance (punishment, justice) to those who do wrong and to encourage those who do good service (see 2 Peter 2:13–14). The institution of the state, as God’s minister must therefore enforce the divine law as it pertains to civil life alone. The state punishes murder because it is a crime against humanity, not because they thought it was a good idea.

God has established numerous authorities for the proper ordering of society. In verse 1 of Romans 13 we are instructed to be subject “to the government authorities,” each of which are “established by God.” There are many authorities and we owe no single earthly authority our total allegiance.

When we look at verses 4–6, we find that the Holy Spirit is declaring through Paul on three separate occasions that those who are in civil government are “ministers of God.” Authority to govern is delegated by God; therefore, those who govern are obligated to govern justly, righteously and according to God’s laws, for they are ministers of God. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. The Westminster Confession of Faith states that:

It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto: in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth; so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the new testament, wage war, upon just and necessary occasion.

Samuel Rutherford, Scottish commissioner to the Westminster Assembly of 1643-48 was part of the team that composed this document. He understood that the authority of government does not derive from a monarchy, nor does it derive from the will of the people, as is in most Western nations.

He wrote that the authority of government derives from God and from His Law. Rutherford’s views and insights were extreme and dangerous in his day, and he was charged for high treason and later imprisoned for fomenting rebellion against the English monarch.

Rutherford believed that humanity or “we the people” cannot make a law that will bind the conscience of the people. God alone can make that type of law. Public opinion must be brought up to God’s law; it must never be lowered to suit the unpredictable human nature of mankind.

The institution of the state, as God’s minister must therefore enforce the divine law as it pertains to civil life alone-and this includes war. According to Laurence Vance, quoting historian and economist Murray Rothbard:

A just war exists when a people tries to ward off the threat of coercive domination by another people, or to overthrow an already-existing domination. A war is unjust, on the other hand, when a people try to impose domination on another people, or try to retain an already existing coercive rule over them.

Therefore the state punishes murder because it is a crime against humanity, not because they thought it was a good idea. Law is a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme in a state, obedience to which is enforced, if necessary, by the infliction of physical penalty for disobedience or the lack of obedience.

Where civil government functions best, it functions in line with the being and character of God, as expressed in His revealed Law and Word. When Paul wrote about “governments ordained by God” in his letter to the Romans, he meant that government should be committed to establishing a society that reflects the purposes and will of God, something that did not exist in his own day.

What God desires for His people is love and justice. Governments are good when they govern according to God laws of justice and love which reflects the self-sacrificing and self-denying example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Can we find leaders that are just, righteous, and God-fearing in our generation? Second, what do we do when a corporate web and big power elites control the government and write the laws to gain political favour?

These global financiers or corporations prove they have no allegiance to any country when great profits are at stake. It’s the reason we have so many wars today. Cain’s sin of killing Abel has now reached its logical conclusion. We are prepared to destroy the whole world for our own selfish purposes. And it was C. S. Lewis who wrote:

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

How should a Christian respond to this ongoing Warfare state? The answer is given by Paul in his letter to one of his disciples Titus:

Remind people to submit to the government and its officials, to obey them, to be ready to do any honourable kind of work, to slander no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be friendly, and to behave gently towards everyone. For at one time, we too were foolish and disobedient, deceived and enslaved by a variety of passions and pleasures.

We spent our lives in evil and envy; people hated us, and we hated each other. But when the kindness and love for mankind of God our Deliverer was revealed, he delivered us. It was not on the ground of any righteous deeds we had done, but on the ground of His own mercy. He did it by means of the mikveh of rebirth and the renewal brought about by the Ruach HaKodesh, (the Holy Spirit) whom He poured out on us generously through Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, our Deliverer.

He did it so that by his grace we might come to be considered righteous by God and become heirs, with the certain hope of eternal life. You can trust what I have just said, and I want you to speak with confidence about these things, so that those who have put their trust in God may apply themselves to doing good deeds. These are both good in themselves and valuable to the community. (Titus 3:1-8 Complete Jewish Bible)

It is undeniable that World War I and World War II were both essentially political wars fought by world powers to establish their dominion in the nations. But what has been forgotten apart from the genocide of the Jews is that racism remains one of the great neglected subjects of World War II.

John Dower’s book War Without Mercy helps us to understand the racist atmosphere that developed in both Japan and in the United States. He writes, “To scores of millions of participants, the war was also a race war. It exposed raw prejudices and was fueled by racial pride, arrogance and rage on many sides.

In 1996 Gregory H. Stanton presented a briefing paper to the U.S. State Department that included eight stages of genocide. Gregory claimed that these stages always unfold in both predictable and chronological order. The earlier stages continue to operate even as the process continues to progress. Stanton identified the eight stages as classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination, and denial. Gregory discusses these patterns of genocide in further detail on his website.

Dehumanization of the Enemy

Dehumanization is when one group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases. Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder. At this stage, hate propaganda in print and on hate radios is used to vilify the victim group.

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japan reportedly attacked Pearl Harbor. In his exhaustive and groundbreaking research, IBM and the Holocaust, Edwin Black wrote,

Within forty-eight hours, the Bureau of the Census published its first report on “Japanese Americans entitled Japanese Population of the United States, Its Territories and Possessions.” The next day it published “Japanese Population by Nativity and Citizenship in Selected Cities of the United States.” And on December 10, it released a third report, “Japanese Population in the Pacific Coast by Sex, Nativity and Citizenship, by Counties.” Using IBM applications, the Census Bureau had tracked the racial ancestry of Japanese Americans based on their responses to the 1940 census. Census Director J. C. Capt confirmed, “We didn’t wait for the American declaration of war which was proclaimed Monday afternoon, December 8. On Monday morning, we put our people to work on the “Japanese thing.” Since only 135,430 Japanese Americans lived in the United States, the results were tabulated quickly. A single sort was necessary: race.

By February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt could confidently sign Executive Order 9066 authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. On March 22, 1942, the evacuations began in Los Angeles. The U.S. Supreme Court later upheld the legality of such a measure based on ancestral grounds alone.

It was the dehumanization of the enemy that made possible the devastation of civilian populations that included Christians. The American people, including American Christians, were psychologically prepared to accept and even applaud the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As Howard Zinn notes, the use of nuclear weapons was made possible through years of dehumanizing the enemy and prepared the public for the use of such weapons. When the enemy isn’t seen as a human being created in the image of God, it’s easy to dismiss their deaths as necessary and for a greater good.

Do you remember the phrase “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”? That is the definition of dehumanization. The media manipulated the thinking of the people by using propaganda to increase support for the war and foment hatred for the enemy. Time Magazine said, “The ordinary unreasoning Jap is ignorant. Perhaps he is human. Nothing…indicates it.

But these were human beings created in the image of God, just like the people from every nation. President Harry Truman had instructed Secretary of War Henry Stimson to only seek out military targets—not women and children—but he forgot that a bomb with the explosive force of about 15,000 tons of TNT would completely destroy an entire city.

Of course we shouldn’t minimize the terrible atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese army in the Philippines and in China. At the start of World War II, Nazi warplanes dropped bombs on the civilian populations of Rotterdam in Holland and Coventry in England. President Franklin D. Roosevelt described these bombings as “inhuman barbarism that has profoundly shocked the conscience of humanity.”

But not too long after that the United States and Britain were doing the very same thing, and on a far larger scale. But the Americans who had bombed civilians in German cities were not considered subhuman.

Racism and War

We know that racism is insidious, intensifying all other factors. And the persistent notion that the Japanese were less than human probably played some role in the willingness to wipe out two cities populated by people of color. Ultimately, however, it brought about a revolution in racial consciousness throughout the world that continues to this very day!

But does race justify the war that kills innocent people? In trying to answer this question, activist John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe explains what it takes to slide into the abyss of war through another lesson from Nazi Germany. America and Britain are not Nazi Germany, but we can learn valuable lessons from its history:

Different people give very different explanations for war. To persuade them to risk their lives, you need a mixture of motives and abilities, including an enemy, weapons, a practical goal, and an ideal. In World War II, the Nazis used eugenics for three of the four critical ingredients of war. There must be a clearly defined enemy, someone to oppose and to shoot at. Eugenics provided that: dysgenic Jews and their Marxist allies. There must be weapons; eugenics did not provide that. There must be a practical goal, something to be achieved by the bloodshed. Eugenics offered that: living space for the master race. There must be an inspirational ideal, greater than material goods, to justify sacrifice and bloodshed. Eugenics provided that a better world populated by an improved race and run by the best people.

Christopher Browning expressed this same fear of living in a world in which war and racism are prevalent, in which the powers of government mobilization and legitimization are powerful and increasing, in which a sense of personal responsibility is increasingly reduced by bureaucracies, and in which the peer group exerts tremendous pressures on behavior and sets moral norms. “In such a world,” he writes, “I fear, modern governments that wish to commit mass murder will seldom fail in their efforts for being unable to induce ‘ordinary men’ to become their ‘willing executioners.

In Nazi Germany decent men were taken by Heinrich Himmler who eventually violated and destroyed their consciences in order that they would perform very inhuman and barbaric acts to fellow human beings. In Hitler’s Cross, Erwin W. Lutzer describes how power hypnotized an entire nation:

Both Hitler and Himmler believed that each of the SS troops had to perform some deed that would violate his conscience and sense of decency. Only when they did what others found to be reprehensible would they break away from their old values. The conscience had to be deadened through these acts of barbarism, and this would serve the dual purpose of cutting the recruit off from his past ties, his family, friends, and thereby boding him to his new peers and his leader. The break would be so complete that he could never go back. An act of torture or murder would unite him with blood brothers who had crossed the same line, felt the same numbness, and sworn themselves to uphold the same cause….

To transform the men into non thinking, unfeeling machines Himmler needed to indoctrinate them into a secret society of their own. He assured them that a master race was developing, and if the inferior races stood in their way the scientific belief in the “survival of the fittest” dictated that these races had to be exterminated……The Nazis proved that ordinary people, if controlled with rigid discipline and the power of mass psychology, can be induced to carry out the most brutal and destructive crime the human mind can devise. Researchers have concluded that Hitler’s SS troops were not different psychologically from the rest of humanity.

In this short video Dan Carlin explains why the Nazis and Soviets were able to convince millions of people to enslave and murder their countrymen.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upAzM5Mduvw?feature=player_embedded]

After careful reflection and studying, the similarities of what happened in World War II and what is happening today are very compelling. Make no mistake about it, without a Great Awakening both spiritually and politically, history will repeat itself on a far larger scale. The only hope we have is in Jesus Christ. When asked by His disciples about the signs of the times and the end of the age, He said,

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24: 6:14)

The Enola Gay, “proudly” displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC.  Source of Image

World War II brought more suffering to humanity than any other event in the twentieth century. Nearly 60 million people died throughout the six years of that war which included atomic bombs, cities completely destroyed, and the Jewish Holocaust. Out of this nightmare of war sprung the dreaded atomic age.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described it as a “godless embitterment” that could have moved ostensibly Christian states to employ poison gas, a weapon so obviously beyond the limits of humanity. He said, “The same kind of defect, the flaw of a consciousness lacking all divine dimension, was manifested after World War II when the West yielded to the satanic temptation of a nuclear umbrella.”

This was indeed a godless embitterment considering the infamous words of Bob Lewis, co-pilot of the Enola Gay, following the detonation of a first nuclear weapon. He said, “My God, what have we done?” What had they done, indeed?

The crew who flew the atomic bombs were seen by Americans as “saviours” who had prevented further huge causalities that could have resulted from a full invasion of Japan. The Pilot of Enola Gay General Paul W. Tibbets told a documentary interviewer that he was anxious to do it….

I wanted to do everything that I could to subdue Japan. I wanted to kill the “bastards.” That was the attitude of the United States in those years. I have been convinced that we saved more lives than we took both Japanese and Americans… It would have been “morally” wrong if we’d have had that weapon and not used it and let a million more people die.

Here is a lengthy account given Dr Gary G. Kohls of how the decimation of Nagasaki at the end of the war crippled what at one time was a vibrant Japanese church:

An all-Christian bomber crew dropped “Fat Man”, (code named after Winston Churchill) a plutonium bomb, on Nagasaki, Japan, instantly annihilating tens of thousands of innocent civilians, a disproportionate number of them Japanese Christians, and permanently or mortally wounding uncountable numbers of others.

In 1945, the US was the most Christian nation in the world (that is, if you can label as Christian a nation whose churches overwhelmingly fail to sincerely teach or adhere to the ethics of Jesus as taught in the Sermon on the Mount). Prior to the bomb exploding over St. Mary’s Urakami Cathedral on 11:02 AM, Nagasaki was the most Christian city in Japan. The Nagasaki cathedral was the largest Christian cathedral in the Orient.

Those baptized and confirmed Christian airmen, following their wartime orders to the letter, did their job efficiently, and they accomplished the mission with military pride, albeit with any number of near-fatal glitches. Most of us Americans in 1945 would have done exactly the same if they had been in the shoes of the Bock’s Car crew, and there would have been very little mental anguish later if we had also been treated as heroes.

Nevertheless, the use of that monstrous weapon of mass destruction to destroy a mainly civilian city like Nagasaki was an international war crime and a crime against humanity as defined later by the Nuremberg Tribunal. Of course, there was no way that the crew members could have known that at the time. Some of the crew did admit that they had had some doubts about what they had participated in when the bomb actually detonated.

Of course, none of them actually saw the horrific suffering of the victims up close and personal. “Orders are orders” and, in wartime, disobedience can be, and has been, legally punishable by summary execution of the soldier who might have had a conscience strong enough to convince him that killing another human, especially an unarmed one, was morally wrong……

The first and only field test of an atomic bomb had been blasphemously code-named “Trinity” (a distinctly Christian term). It had occurred 3 weeks earlier at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The results were impressive, but the blast had just killed off a few hapless coyotes, rabbits, snakes and some other desert varmints. That bomb had totally destroyed lots of cactuses and sagebrush and had obliterated a family of manikins that had been planted in hastily built homes for the photographic portion of the experiment.

The Trinity test also unexpectedly produced huge amounts of a new mineral that was later called “Trinitite”. Trinitite was a molten lava rock that had been created from the intense heat (twice the temperature of the sun) of the above ground bomb blast.

Nagasaki is famous in the history of Japanese Christianity. Nagasaki had the largest concentration of Christians in all of Japan. The Urakami Cathedral was the megachurch of its time, with 12,000 baptized members……

From 1600 until 1850, being a Christian was a capital crime in Japan. In the early 1600s, those Japanese Christians who refused to recant of their new faith were subject to unspeakable tortures – including crucifixion. After the reign of terror was over, it appeared to all observers that Japanese Christianity was extinct.

However, 250 years later, after the gunboat diplomacy of Commodore Matthew Perry forced open an offshore island for American trade purposes, it was discovered that there were thousands of baptized Christians in Nagasaki, living their faith in a catacomb existence, completely unknown to the government.

With this humiliating revelation, the Japanese government started another purge; but because of international pressure, the persecutions were eventually stopped, and Nagasaki Christianity came up from the underground. And by 1917, with no help from the government, the re-vitalized Christian community had built the massive St. Mary’s Cathedral in the Urakami River district of Nagasaki.

So it was the height of irony that the massive Cathedral – one of only two Nagasaki landmarks that could be positively identified from 31,000 feet up (the other one was the Mitsubishi armaments factory complex) became Ground Zero for the infamous bomb. The Bock’s Car bombardier identified the landmarks through a break in the clouds and ordered the drop.

At 11:02 am, during Thursday morning mass, hundreds of Nagasaki Christians were boiled, evaporated, carbonized or otherwise disappeared in a scorching, radioactive fireball that exploded 500 meters above the cathedral. The black rain that soon came down from the mushroom cloud surely contained the mingled remains of many Nagasaki Shintoists, Buddhists and Christians. The theological implications of Nagasaki’s Black Rain surely should boggle the minds of theologians of all denominations.

Most Nagasaki Christians did not survive the blast. 6,000 of them died instantly, including all who were at confession. Of the 12,000 church members, 8,500 of them eventually died as a result of the bomb. Many of the others were seriously sickened.

Three orders of nuns and a Christian girl’s school disappeared into black smoke or became chunks of charcoal. Tens of thousands of other innocent non-combatants also died instantly, and many more were mortally or incurably wounded. Some of the victim’s progeny are still suffering from the trans-generational malignancies and immune deficiencies caused by the deadly plutonium and other radioactive isotopes produced by the bomb.

And here is one of the most important ironic points of this article: What the Japanese Imperial government could not do in 250 years of persecution (destroy Japanese Christianity) American Christians did in 9 seconds.

Even after a slow revival of Christianity over the decades since WWII, membership in Japanese churches still represent a small fraction of 1% of the general population, and the average attendance at Christian worship services has been reported to be only 30. Surely the decimation of Nagasaki at the end of the war crippled what at one time was a vibrant church.

The fact that the US is a highly militarized nation makes the truths of gospel nonviolence difficult to teach and preach, especially to military veterans and their patriotic families (particularly the impoverished and homeless ones) who may have lost their faith because of past events on the battlefield……

It is important to know the hidden history of Nagasaki Christianity and the attempted annihilation of it by American Christians……. As in all wars, the WWII soldier trigger-pullers – and their chaplains – who are at the bottom of the chain of command usually don’t know exactly who they are trying to kill – or even why.

The early church leaders, who knew the teachings and actions of Jesus best, rejected the nationalist, racist and militarist agendas of the national security agencies, the military-industrial complex, the war-profiteering corporations and the pre-Christian eye-for-an-eye retaliation doctrines that have, over the past 1700 years, enabled Christians to willingly kill other Christians in the name of Christ.

Dr. Gary G. Kohls is a founding member of Every Church A Peace Church and is a member of a local non-denominational affiliate of ECAPC, the Community of the Third Way. He often dealt with the horrific psychological consequences of veterans (and civilians) who had suffered psychological, neurological and/or spiritual trauma. He continues to be involved in peace, nonviolence and justice issues.

Response to Christian nursery nurse sacked for saying marriage is between a man and a woman

According to Christian Concern, Sarah Mbuyi who worked at Newpark Childcare in Shepherd’s Bush London was dismissed in January 2014 after a colleague raised the issue of what the Bible teaches on homosexuality. The colleague felt unhappy that she could not marry her female partner because of the Church, and said that she thought God condoned homosexuality.

Sarah explained: “When I said ‘No, God does not condone the practice of homosexuality, but does love you and says you should come to Him as you are’, she became emotional and went off to report me to my manager.”

At an internal disciplinary hearing on 8th January 2014, Sarah was confronted with her colleague’s allegations including that her colleague had taken offence at being given a bible as a gift by Sarah.

On 9 January 2014, the nursery directors dismissed Sarah for gross misconduct for having breached the equality policy of the nursery. Sarah had previously discussed matters of faith and religion without any offence being taken.

An application was made on 2nd March by Sarah Mbuyi’s former employer for her case to be heard in private with no media or public presence. However, the application was refused at 3pm that same afternoon, with the Judge ruling that the case will be heard in open court.

Andrea Williams, CEO of the Christian Legal Centre said:

This application sought to shut down open justice in this case and was a highly concerning development. If this application had succeeded, it would have had serious ramifications for other matters of this kind where expressing biblical views on sexual ethics is viewed as misconduct. “Extraordinarily, the Judge has asked Counsel in the case whether evidence will be given regarding the percentage of Christians who hold an orthodox biblical view on sexual ethics.”Increasingly, we are being put to proof on what the bible says about once clearly accepted truths. This should be a warning to the Church to make her voice heard on these matters and to make a clear clarion call.

In light of this case and other growing sophisticated totalitarian systems rising today, we need to be reminded that Sodom was not destroyed because of homosexuality. Why was it destroyed? The prophet Ezekiel gives a very interesting account of the basic moral and social conditions that produced the decline of Sodom:

Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16:49 AMP)

Sodom was applied to a form of sexual perversion called “sodomy,” which is homosexuality. The real sin of Sodom was not homosexuality, however. Ezekiel doesn’t mention homosexuality at all when referring to Sodom. This doesn’t mean that God was indifferent toward this sin. So what were the sins of Sodom?

The Lord specifies five basic causes of Sodom’s decline: pride (which is overestimating yourself and underestimating others), overabundance of food, prosperous ease (self-indulgence and carnality), idleness (which is laziness), and lack of concern for the poor and orphans (selfishness) —a “me, myself, and I” attitude. We are all guilty of these sins which will always produce homosexuality and adultery. We cannot strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy if we are selfish, self-indulgent, and indifferent to others.

Selfishness is the root cause of all other abominations. They tell us we are in a recession, no jobs, yet the rich are getting richer and richer and the poor are getting poorer, yet wealth is not destroyed but it is just transferred to the richest. Greed, over abundance of food, and pride will always lead to perversion and then destruction. Remember that the people in Sodom were not very different than us today. Those who say Jesus never said anything about homosexuality should remember that He reiterated that the issue is the heart which is wicked and deceptive:

For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech. These are what make a man unclean and defile him; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile him. (Matthew 15:19)

Jesus condemned the Roman culture because He also understood the culture of His time. He had firsthand knowledge of the Roman brothels. There is nothing new under the sun. Homosexuality was as widespread in Rome as it is in our society. In fact out of the first 15 Roman emperors, 14 were practising homosexuals.

Therefore when He uses the word “sexual vice or “fornication”, He means all sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and woman is sinful. But He also says, He hates my evil thoughts of pride, self-righteousness, murder, unforgiveness, anger, bitterness…..you name it. So in a nutshell, we are all sinners.

Paul’s Epistle to the Romans

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, he also knew many of them oppressed the poor and used their laws and power to support their lavish and self-indulgent lifestyles. Sounds familiar!

To believers whom he addressed as God’s beloved ones in Rome, called to be saints and designated for a consecrated life, he deals with the sin and judgment of unbelievers in Roman society. He says, they had abandoned God, so He had given up to them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. (See Romans 1:18-32)

But in the middle of all this Paul says that even the saints in Rome are guilty of hypocrisy, they were condemning the wickedness all around them while secretly indulging in exactly the same sins. (See Romans 2:1)

The same sin that was being committed by unbelievers was also in believers. This is confirmed by the repeated use of the word you….you….you….. in the text. He assures them that being a believer as such people think does not confer immunity from judgment. God has no favourites. Read carefully what Paul writes next in the next verses:

And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

Paul was stressing that even the Roman church had fallen into the same sin, therefore those who were still practicing the same sins were just as bad, and they had no excuse. So he called for repentance to avoid the consequences of God’s wrath since God does not show favouritism or as another translation calls it undue favour or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another….. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. (See Romans 2:5-11)

Later in the same letter, Paul has the occasion to remind these saints that the wages of sin is death. Although this verse often quoted out of context and applied to unbelievers, especially to gospel tracts and sermons; the context, however is to us believers who choose to continue sinning. How do we know? In Romans 6:1-4, Paul reminds us that we’ve been freed from sin’s grasp and the power of sin is broken over our lives. Well then, he asks,

Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Paul explains that we as believers are free from sin’s control. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. (Romans 6:14) But then in chapter 7 he deals with legalism and relates his own difficulties in keeping the Law, especially not to covet.

Paul did not undermine the continuing struggle believers have with sin; in fact his testimony in Romans 7 confirms that the one commandment of the ten that he found difficult to keep was the tenth, “Thou shalt not covet…..” We can tell from Paul’s background as a Pharisee that his weakness was the love of money. He says first of all that it was the law that showed him that sin. He would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said,”You must not covet.” But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. (See Romans 7:7-8)

So he tells us that the struggle is not with the Law, for its good. The trouble is with us, for we are humans, slaves to sin…..He loves God’s law with all his heart just as most us do….. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. And that sin was the love of money.

The Pharisees were covetous and lovers of money. So they were very religious and rich at the same time. That’s why Jesus told them that “No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Luke 16:13)

The Pharisees sneered, ridiculed and scoffed at Him but He said to them You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted and highly thought of among men is detestable and abhorrent (an abomination) in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15) So the context in which Paul uses the words, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” means he was able to get along or be content in any circumstances he faced throughout his lifetime. He learned the secret of facing every situation, whether well fed or while going hungry.

In modern terms he was saying, “I can manage with whatever income I have, whether its small or large. He concluded by saying, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13).

He concludes again by saying that though he loves God’s law with his heart; there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. (Romans 7:22-25)

The wages of sin, whether persisted in as unbelievers or returned to as believers, is always death. Then in chapter 8 Paul writes about the life and liberty in the Spirit and explains how it unites both Jew and Gentile. He assures us that:

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The Law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

This is confirmed in Romans 8:13-14 where again Paul tells us that:

If you live according to the dictates of the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you are habitually putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the evil deeds prompted by the body, you shall really and genuinely live forever. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

It’s important to note that in verse 14 Paul uses a continuing present tense: “as many as are (being regularly) led by the Spirit of God” are the sons of God. It’s an ongoing way of life to not a onetime experience.

Conclusion

In order to live daily as a Christian, a person must be led by the Spirit. The new birth from the Spirit transforms us sinners into children of God where we call God “Abba Father” but we are required to be led continually of the Holy Spirit to make us mature sons. The only way to achieve spiritual maturity and avoid sin in daily Christian living is to depend upon the Spirit for moment-by-moment direction in every aspect of life.

Remember every man or woman carries a wound in his her soul. The devil knows each of our wounded souls and so he targets the damaged places. No matter how good your life may seem to you or others, you have a virus called sin and live in a broken world full of broken and wounded people. It’s only Jesus Christ Who frees us from this life that is dominated by sin and death.

As believers we have to choose to have our minds set on the desires of the Spirit or of the flesh, but we cannot avoid the consequences which is a matter of life and death. Paul makes same the point in his letter to the Galatians that those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

Even if you become a Christian, it doesn’t necessarily fix things. We have to take the cross, crucify our selfish desires, and follow Christ every day to withstand temptation. To die once is not sufficient because the spirit of the world, with all its carnality and temptations loosed upon this generation is so strong.

No matter how much money you make or what accolades you get in life, all these things will never heal your wound or tell you who are. It’s only Jesus Christ that will validate you, not your pay check. And the three main areas in our relationship with God that the devil will always challenge are the will of God, the Word of God, and the worship of God. (See 1 John 2:15-17)

Every temptation that Satan throws at us will challenge these basic values. But we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning (Hebrews 4:15). And we assured that:

No temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently. (1 Corinthians 10:13 AMP)

Jesus knows what we are experiencing, and He is willing and able to sympathize with our struggles if we turn to Him when we are tempted. When we finally let the Holy Spirit into our innermost sanctuary, we allow Him break down these barriers as we surrender ourselves to health and wholeness.