I was asked.. What is the appropriate view on War, and as an example, what about the wars going on now?

No one likes war. I need not repeat this a hundred times for any one to understand it. However, war took place in history and in the present and will happen in the future. There are wars waged by evil people to usurp the rights of others, be it their lands, possessions or merely their freedoms. And there are wars waged by good people who only want to reclaim these same rights back. There were many wars mentioned in the Bible. Many of these wars were championed by stalwart saints like Moses, Abraham and David. In the New Testament, some Christians have got the wrong notion that Jesus was A PASSIVE PACIFICT. These Christians immediately rush to wave one of the Ten Commandments in the face of any one who disagrees with them, “THOU SHALT NOT KILL.” They do not realize that this commandment was translated wrong. The correct translation is, “THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT MURDER.” The proof here is that Moses, who delivered these commandments himself, was the general who commanded many of the battles of the Israelites, and he appointed Joshua to lead the wars of his people after his departure.. We do not believe that the New Testament contradicts the Old Testament. That is why we see the Church does not oppose enlisting Christians in the Military. (Cults like the Jehovah Witnesses prohibit joining the military and leave the defense of their rights to some one else to pay the price and carry their burden) The conclusion here is that it is honorable and great for every member in society to defend his/her rights in a dignified and fair manner. We do not advocate aggression, or promote injustice, but rather stand for what is right and should be willing to die defending it especially when this has a huge impact on our right to practice our religion free of fear or persecution… thank you Emperor Constantine for accepting the guidance of Heaven to raise the banner of the cross and stop the bitter persecution inflicted on the Christians by previous emperors.. Yes, I know some people later on abused this information and waged war for the wrong reasons.. but that is the way of humanity.. you can use a knife to cut your food, or kill another human being.. same with the gun, or just a simple rock… like Cain probably did to kill his brother Able.. you cannot compare the moral equivalency of Nero butchering thousands of Christians in the arena, and the islamists beheading and burning their adversaries.. to the armies of the allies fighting against the hordes of the Nazis..  

As for the specific war, e.g. in Iraq, it is fair to debate the merits of the war in hind side. It is also fair to debate the merits of any war. What is not fair is to try to put down and undermine the efforts of others who are trying in good faith to defend you and protect you, just because you disagree with them. This is especially true because there was a point in time when there was NO DISPUTE about the validity of that particular effort, when every one was privy to the same information and we all had a unified agreement to launch that war. Undermining the effort of the military while they are already at war, will embolden those who hate us and will leave us vulnerable to future attacks by those who want to take away our religious rights and our way of life. They are exploiting the freedoms we afforded them itself, to take away our rights and force us to live in the manner they prescribe and to adopt the savage religion they are so fanatically trying to spread. If History can teach us any thing, it should open our eyes to the barbaric methods and savage, ignorant and primordial mentality we are fighting against in this twenty first century.

I believe it is fair to say… that sometimes a community does not have the capacity, resources or logistics to defend itself, in which case it may be well advised to reconcile itself to adjusting to their circumstance and deal bravely with it.. like the Christians did in old Rome and Alexandria… yet, if a community has the leadership, and resources to remove the injustice and provide for themselves – and the world around them – peace and prosperity and above all the freedom to worship God without hindrance or persecution.. then by all means they should..

I recommend that you ask your servants, councilors and guides to prepare presentations and debates on this matter to help young people who were never exposed to persecution or experienced the savagery of those who were trying for 14 centuries to destroy the church and could never prevail against her… when war is fair, and when it turns into an atrocity.. because war, is like a surgical procedure, in the hand of a surgeon, it can be life saving… but in the hands of a criminal, it is immoral and a crime.

By the way… there is a different kind of war, vicious and unrelenting, going on now all over the world.. it is subtle and deadly.. and unfortunately it triggers far less attention and consideration.. it is the spiritual war between good and evil.. the tools are not knives or guns.. but ideas.. and media outlets.. this war is extremely detrimental to humanity’s future.. and I am afraid it is the kind of war predicted to eventually lead to the inevitable apocalypse.. (discussed in a different article)