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08/18/2004: "Is God With Us in the War on Terror?"

This is an excerpt form my next book. It is a comment on a speech that Herod made to the ancient Jews, as they were about to go into a battle with the Arabians who had taken their Ambassadors hostage. The Jews were vastly outnumbered, so Herod made a wonderful speech to give them courage in battle. My comment follows:

This was a wonderful speech by Herod, but there is a great danger in it that threatens us to this day. Herod made the case that God would support his men in battle because they were righteous. He says; “…what is righteous, is indeed on our side, but that the Arabians are either more courageous or more numerous than we are. Now, as to this, in the first place, it is not fit for us to say so, for with whom is what is righteous, with them is God himself; now where God is, there is both multitude and courage.”

Does God need men to fight righteous battles for Him? Did God need Moses to drown the armies of Pharaoh in the Red Sea? If God is with people, they have no need of an army! Throughout history: Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, have been building ever bigger armies and supplying them with ever more dangerous weapons to fight the “battles of God.” Like Herod, people who think that God is with them become extremely dangerous. These “godly” leaders have killed hundreds of millions of people in His name. As in the case of this ancient battle, we have recently seen the American Ambassador to Iran held hostage by a Muslim cleric. As long as we continue the pretence that the God of Abraham is interacting with mankind in the modern world, we will be in grave danger of slaughtering each other in “His name.”

It is incredible to me, that men who commit acts that are of the most profane nature (the Holocaust comes to mind) can actually convince themselves that it is God’s will. And even when they lose a war that was fought in the name of God, they never reach the conclusion that God is not interacting with them, rather that they were not holy enough at the time. They always find an excuse that allows them to continue the pretence, be they Christian, Muslim or Jew. They can’t all be right!



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