Rambo Speaks Out on World Peace

A commentary by Randy Stiver
United Church of God pastor, Columbus and Cambridge, OH

Rambo is back! Actor Sylvester Stallone recently wrote, directed, acted in and released his fourth violent, action-adventure Rambo movie after a 20 year hiatus from Rambo III in 1988.

Here's the incredible irony. Rambo comments on world peace!

American conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, in a recent interview with Mr. Stallone, questioned him about a scene in the movie where Rambo saves the lives of the people he came to rescue, implying that they were liberal humanitarians. 

Stallone explained that he put this in the movie because: "… they actually believe what they're doing is right, and that someday there's going to be this mystical moment, and we're all going to join hands and sing 'We Are the World' … when the truth is, Rambo says, 'War is natural. Peace is an accident' ... we can start a war in five minutes, but it takes us a hundred years to make peace ... All the medicine, all the Bibles, all the optimism and this naïveté doesn't work in a savage world" (Rush Limbaugh radio show, 1-25-08).

Bluntly eloquent!

But savvy historians have long recognized this: "An analysis of the history of mankind shows that from the year 1496 BC to the year 1861 of our era, that is, in a cycle of 3357 years, [there] were but 227 years of peace and 3130 years of war: in other words, [there] were thirteen years of war for every year of peace.  Considered thus, the history of the lives of peoples presents a picture of uninterrupted struggle. War, it would appear, is a normal attribute to human life" (Jean de Bloch, The Future of War, translated by R.C. Long, 1903).

An ancient prophet (with the benefit of divine inspiration!) was even more eloquent: "The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace" (Isaiah 50:8).

So Rambo did speak out about world peace, saying this "savage world" isn't going to have it no matter how much wishful thinking or singing it does. The reason that it won't work is human nature.

Many modern ideas about peace bear the philosophical trappings of classic liberalism born in the Humanist movement during the Enlightenment of the 1600s and 1700s. One core Humanist belief is that human nature is basically good. Thus, if we just appeal to the goodness within others, they will love us.

Sorry, but human nature isn't that good. In fact it's often very bad, selfish and self-serving. It resents being told what to do. Some common bad traits of human nature are lying, cheating, stealing, two-timing, double-dealing—and just being plain nasty. That is why another great prophet, Jeremiah, spoke of human nature as the human heart, saying: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

So let's face ourselves the way we really are. Conflict and war are natural in marriages, in neighborhoods, in business, between parents and children, between tribes and nations.

Fortunately for us, our world will have peace thrust upon it, but not before we almost annihilate ourselves. Jesus Christ foretold events in our future. He spoke of a time of trouble on earth like never before—or thankfully, ever again. He described a "great tribulation"—a war of unprecedented, devastating proportions, a war so bad that life on earth is threatened. He said, "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved [alive]; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:22).

Those "elect" will assume the role of the Isaiahs and Jeremiahs of old. They will live as examples of the true way of peace and some will die as martyrs for the faith, exclaiming the warning of war and the good news of future peace when Christ Himself returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and thrust peace upon all the nations of the world. Jesus Christ is calling and preparing a special, peace loving people now to help Him install that peace when He returns.

You don't have to watch the Rambo movie to appreciate one of its better lines, "You can live for nothing, or you can die for something."

Would it be worth it to you to put your life on the line now, according to Jesus Christ's words in Luke 9:23-25, to become one of His sure-to-succeed peacemaking assistants in His Kingdom?

For a clear, straight forward explanation of why that would be the best choice you could ever make, simply request or download our free publication: What Is Your Destiny?