Cross Currents -- A Christian Perspective on Current Events Johnny Almond  

Wars and Rumors of Wars


When you hear about wars and rumors of wars, be not alarmed; for it must be so, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall revolt against nation . . .  Mark 13:7-8a MLB   


Sadly, the world seems to thrive on war. Estimates for the total number of people killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion. One war leads to another, then another. Retaliation kills and destroys, but does nothing to stop the deadly vicious cycle of greed and hatred. Combat’s bloody holocaust goes on and on, generation after generation, disturbing the peace of the world.

     The pages of history are stained by the blood of millions slaughtered by killing machines, and civilians caught in the crossfire. Beautiful landscapes have been spoiled by rampaging armies trying to annihilate each other. Rolling hills and grassy slopes of Civil War battlefield sites today look nothing like they did when they were pockmarked by exploding artillery shells and covered in thousands of mangled bodies. World War I and World War II battles are romanticized in movies, but there was nothing pretty about any of them. Martin Luther said “cannons and fire-arms are cruel and damnable machines; I believe them to have been the direct suggestion of the Devil. If Adam had seen in a vision the horrible instruments his children were to invent, he would have died of grief.” I wonder what Luther would say today about cruise missiles and nuclear weapons of mass destruction?

     Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “There never was a good war or a bad peace.” Diplomacy only temporarily halts fighting. Sanctions do little to halt combat. Pacifism rarely softens militant hearts. Israel’s David’s Sling and Iron Dome stopped most of Iran’s drones and missiles. But what will happen next—a wider war in the Middle East, American involvement, World War III, Armageddon?  

Will the next war be “the war to end all wars”? We’ve heard that before, so have reason to be skeptical. It looks like it will take the Lord of Hosts, the Captain of Heaven’s Armies, to finally put an end to the insane cycle of war. “He shall arbitrate between nations and decide disputes for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore.”  (Isaiah 2:4 MLB). God speed the day!

By Pastor Johnny R. Almond         

Johnny

Johnny R. Almond earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and a Diploma in Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge. After pastoring churches for a decade, he served the Air Force as a military chaplain in worldwide assignments. After retiring from the military in 2000, he began serving as pastor in Virginia. He currently serves as pastor of Hull's Memorial Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He and his wife, Beverly, have four sons, three grandsons, and three granddaughters.