From: Ben Kelley
Subject: The Prince of Peace, later
The "religious" portion of today's anti-war, anti-gun, "let's
have peace" crowd likes to invoke portions of Bible verses in their crusade
against "violence." They repeatedly wave around this title of Jesus,
"the Prince of Peace", in an attempt to say HE would have us
"be at peace" with His (and our) enemies. They make the same
mistake some of the ancient Jews made concerning Him by only looking at a
small part of the Bible's description of the King of Kings. Jesus
will bring peace to the world, but not until
HE has destroyed His enemies and cast them into the Lake of Fire. HE is
the God of peace, but not in the way they try to describe Him. God is not
"meek, mild mannered Clark Kent"; HE's even beyond "SuperMan"; HE is
the Super God! HE will not allow evil to continue forever. His Word
tells us that evil is like yeast, in that it permeates,or leavens, everything
around it. HE hates evil, and HE will not allow it to continue on
forever. HE will destroy it and those who faithfully practise
it.
God's Word is replete with accounts of wars and battles that
God sent His people in to. Very graphic commands to
absolutely destroy various cities and peoples, without mercy, will be seen
by anyone who reads the Holy Scriptures. In fact, another one of Jesus'
titles is found when Joshua encounters a pre-incarnation manifestation of Jesus:
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his
eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword
drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us,
or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the
host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the
earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his
servant? And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto
Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is
holy. And Joshua did so. Now Jericho was straitly shut up because
of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And
the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine
hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of
valour. And they utterly destroyed all that was
in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and
ass, with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said unto the two men
that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence
the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. (Joshua
5:13-6:2, 6:21-22) The Israelites made utter destruction of the city and
every living thing in it, excepting Rahab the harlot, who had helped them take
the city, along with her family, all at
God's command, through His Son's lips,
the Prince of Peace and the Captain of the Lord's
host.
Another message from the lips of Jesus is: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth:
I came not to send peace, but a sword (in His first
coming). For I am come to set a man at variance against his father,
and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother
in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that
loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew
10:34-37)
What did God say about David, the warrior king, who at God's
direction had destroyed thousands and thousands of His enemies? And
when he had removed him, HE raised up unto them David to
be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the
son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall
fulfil all my will. (Acts 13:22) God did not
say, "that bad old David! How could he go out and shed so much
blood!?" No, God raised him up and sent him on those
missions.
I don't want to go on and on about this, but I do want to make it clear
that those who try to say we should not enter into war against evil and those
who practice it in oppressing, enslaving, torturing, and killing their
people who oppose them, by citing Jesus' title of The Prince of
Peace are wrong in their assertions. That title of our Lord and
Savior will be fully worn by Him when HE destroys this world and the evil in it,
making all things new (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation
21:5). I know, HE does bring peace into the hearts of those who seek Him
out and can bring it to a people that pray for their land, but when evil is
working its way in this world, HE is here more as The Captain of The
Lord's Host. HE does still send us into war at times and HE does
direct us to fight against evil. HE still answers the prayers of people
who cry out to Him for deliverance from oppression, and sometimes that
deliverance is brought about by the destruction of those doing the
oppressing. Sometimes, peace is only brought to a people by war. The
United States of America has had to fight a number of wars to bring about peace
for our nation. I believe fully that God directed us into them. Our
forefathers, who came to this land because of oppression against their free
practice of their Christianity in their native lands, eventually had to go to
war to win the freedom to practice their "religion." This country, as a
result of that war, has sent forth mutlitudes of missionaries to proclaim the
Gospel message throughout the world. That freedom would not have been won,
except for that war. You will find many, many examples of this throughout
the pages of the Bible, and they were instigated and directed by He Who is the
Captain of the Lord's Host. HE is going to reign
as The Prince of Peace, later.
Onward,
Christian Soldiers
Ben
Onward, Cristian Soldiers (by Sabine Baring-Gould, 1864)
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the
cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the
foe;
forward into battle see his banners go!
Refrain:
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.
At the sign of triumph
Satan's host doth flee;
on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
brothers, lift your
voices, loud your anthems raise.
(Refrain)
Like a mighty army moves
the church of God;
brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we,
one in hope and doctrine, one in
charity.
(Refrain)
Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and
wane,
but the church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can
never gainst that church prevail;
we have Christ's own promise, and that
cannot fail.
(Refrain)
Onward then, ye people, join our happy
throng,
blend with ours your voices in the triumph song.
Glory, laud,
and honor unto Christ the King,
this through countless ages men and angels
sing.
(Refrain)