Military Service and War

Last Sabbath, I gave a sermon that we are not as Christians to take human life. We follow the teachings and the example of Jesus Christ and the New Testament Church, and we look to our great God for our safety and protection. There is refuge and safety in the shadow of His wings. God is our protector, not a gun. But what about serving in the military? I'd like to give the other aspect of fundamental belief number 14. Let me read fundamental belief number 14 of United Church of God.

I hope we all have this booklet, Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God.

Number 14 is military service and war. Here's what we believe. We believe that Christians are forbidden by the commandments of God from taking human life directly or indirectly, and that bearing arms is contrary to this fundamental belief. Therefore, we believe that a Christian should not voluntarily become engaged in military service. We believe we should refuse conscientiously to bear arms. So today, I'd like to give a little follow-up to the sermon that was given last week. The title I've given to this message is military service and war. This is the United Church of God teaching, what I have just read, that Christians should not be in military service, must refuse to bear arms, and that United Church of God supports conscientious objection of its members to military service and war. Well, let's see the scriptural support for this. You know, there's even logical support that our members would not be in the military, and this is brought out in our extended write-up for this fundamental belief. If we had our members in the United Church of God in the military, think of this, we are a worldwide organization. We have members that in many, many, many different nations, many, many different languages, and if we had our members to join the military in their country, here's a paragraph in our booklet, consider that if Christians had the responsibility of taking up arms for their respective countries, then a war between these countries would have Christians fighting other Christians, an obviously untenable circumstance, as Christ's disciples are to be characterized by their love for one another. So we could have members, and if we sanctioned our members being a part of military service, we could have members in one country fighting a member of the church from another country. That, and of course in the world, there were Protestants, there were Catholics fighting each other in World War II. So in the world, you know, we have the people of different religions fighting, but not in the Church of God.

A question that comes up often is, what about Old Testament Israel, though? There's a fundamental difference between Old Testament Israel and New Testament Church. Let me read two or three paragraphs again from our booklet. Jesus stated, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. That's John 1836. In the Old Testament period, Israel was a kingdom of this world. They were a physical kingdom. They were really an unconverted nation as well. But they were a kingdom of the world, yet God was its king, and Old Testament Israel was married to Jesus Christ. And so Old Testament Israel exercised civil authority at God's command, including the power of earthly warfare. And it was actually God giving them the victory, God fighting for them in the Old Testament. And you might say, then, God was fighting, and there were battles. There was bloodshed in these battles. And our article right up here goes on to say that this situation, though, has ended. The Church of God today is a spiritual nation, spiritual Israel. As Christians, we have come out of darkness from the power of Satan to the power of the kingdom of God. That kingdom is not found in any national governments today.

Rather, we now have our citizenship in heaven. We'll read that verse in a moment. Being ambassadors of a kingdom that is yet to be established throughout this earth. Therefore, we do not fight in earthly warfare. The God of the Old Testament did fight for Old Testament Israel. There's no doubt about that. You can read the battles. Yet even there, as we'll see in just a moment, there would have been a better way. Israel, if they had really depended fully on God, would not have had to fight their battles. God would have fought their battles for them had they fully depended upon God. They didn't. God was married to them. He did fight at that time. But when Jesus came on the scene, Jesus, as far as Christians are concerned, has a new instruction. He gave a new commandment that we were not to fight, that Christians, the church, was not to fight and to kill other people. Because Jesus said in John 1836 that his kingdom was not of this world or else his servants would fight. It makes you wonder that when Jesus returns, he is going to fight again. It says in Zechariah 14.3 that he will fight as he did in the day of battle. He will fight again. Revelation 19. Jesus Christ comes back and he will fight against the nations. But he's not doing that today. Presently, he's not putting down the nations fighting like he will do it at his return. But the church of God, as Christians following the teaching and the example of Jesus Christ, is not involved in military battles and warfare of this world. This world is actually Satan's world. It's not God's world. And God doesn't have a nation on the earth like he did in the Old Testament. He has a spiritual nation, a spiritual body, but not in the same sense that he did in the Old Testament at all.

Now, the church of God is a spiritual organism. Our kingdom is not here now.

If our kingdom were here and God wanted us to fight, then we would fight. That's what Jesus said in John 1836. Notice we are translated into a spiritual kingdom. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And we are translated to the kingdom of God, which is not yet set up on the earth. But we'll be soon at the second coming of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, well, verse 2, "...in which you once walked according to the course of this world." Now, we also, we were all part of this world. In verse 3, "...among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh and the desires of the flesh and of the mind. But God, who is rich in mercy," verse 4, "...because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." Verse 6, "...raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." We many times don't think of that, but we've been raised up to a relationship with God in heaven.

We're not in heaven. We're not going to go to heaven, but we have been brought to heavenly things through the calling God has given to us. Let's look at Colossians chapter 1 and verse 12. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 12, "...giving thanks to the Father who hath qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." We have been translated into the kingdom of God, a relationship, developing godly character so we can be fully brought into the kingdom of God one day. We've been translated. And our citizenship, let's go to Philippians 3, our citizenship is a spiritual citizenship of that kingdom that's not yet on the earth, but will be.

And we are preparing for that. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So our citizenship is not in an earthly kingdom. Of course, we are citizens of the United States, but our spiritual citizenship is the kingdom of God. Furthermore, and we won't turn to it, but in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20, we are referred to as ambassadors of Christ. We have a relationship on this earth of being an ambassador of the kingdom of God. We represent the kingdom of God. We heard that in the first message. We are to represent the kingdom of God. We are ambassadors of the kingdom of God.

And you know the ambassador? We have ambassadors that go to different countries, live in their capital cities, and they have also ambassadors that come to our country, live in the Washington, D.C. area. But ambassadors do not get involved in the local and the national politics. Ambassadors do not get involved in the military of different countries. So, you know, we are ambassadors, and representatives of the kingdom of God, but we don't get involved in fighting battles or in the affairs of the nation that we live in. So, there's a huge difference between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church that we need to see. Old Testament Israel was a physical nation. It was unconverted. It was without the Spirit of God, and they could not really obey and please God.

But the Church, by contrast, is a spiritual body preparing to marry Christ at His return when He will bring God's kingdom to this earth. Our citizenship is then in a heavenly kingdom that has not yet been brought to the earth, and we are ambassadors of that coming kingdom.

So, Christians cannot be in militaries of this world because this is actually Satan's world. He is the God of this evil world. Christians do not fight and kill in the military institutions of this world. You know, when you think about it, all this fighting and killing that is going on doesn't make sense. I remember as a boy working on the farm in North Carolina where I grew up, we were out chopping corn, strawberries, or something. I can't remember.

But I was probably around age 10 or so, and it may have been about the time of the Korean War when I was age 10. And they were talking about so many people killed. And as a boy, I remember asking them and wondering, you mean people kill each other? They kill each other? It did not make any sense to my childlike mind. And really, war doesn't make any sense to my adult mind either, killing other human beings. So as Christians, we are called upon to not kill other human beings.

And, you know, even our nation and nations, if they would choose, there would be a better way.

Let's very, very quickly read just a few verses on that. Exodus 14. The occasion here we are very familiar with, the Israelites were coming out of Egypt. They were set free from slavery in Egypt.

And in chapter 14 and in verse 13, they saw the Egyptians trying to come after them and slave them once again. Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. And in verse 14, the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. And I'll say that even in ancient Israel, had they continued to really look to God fully, would not God have continued to fight for them? I think He would.

I don't think they would have had to fight for themselves. But they did not look to God, and God was married to them, and so He did protect them in the battles that they were in. Let's go to 2 Chronicles 20, another wonderful example here. We won't have time to read the entire occasion, but this is where Jehoshaphat and the Jewish people had this huge mob of people coming. Look at verse 1. It happened after this that the people of Moab, the people of Ammon, and others with them, besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. And there was a huge mob of people coming in this army. Verse 3, Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout O Judah. And they basically told God, we don't have the manpower to stand up to this giant army coming against us. So we just looked to you. We trust in you to deliver us. And so let's read down in verse 17. The prophet of God told Jehoshaphat and the Jews, You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. They went out. God destroyed this army. They actually began to destroy each other. They turned on each other and destroyed each other, and God fought them. You know, when you think about these examples, the Israelites did not have to fight. The Jewish people did not have to fight. There is a better way. It's really the better way that we are practicing in our own lives. Instead of self-defense, having a gun, a weapon, we look to God. We have the best defense there is, the very best. Let's go to 2 Kings 6. I think we may have read this, or at least referred to it last week, 2 Kings 6. Just a great and wonderful example here of God's protection. It's all around us, and that should give us great comfort and great security. We don't need to be afraid. God is on the job. 2 Kings 6, verse 15, when this army, the Syrians, came against the city where Elisha was, then the servant woke up and saw this Syrian army surrounding the city and said to, in the last part, well, verse 15, that he rose up and saw this army, and he said to Elisha, Alas, my master, what shall we do? He answered, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Brethren, we don't see that part of the spirit world at all, but there are spirit beings, I believe, protecting us this very moment. I believe there are spirit beings protecting us as we travel on the way here and back home and at home during the week and as we do our work. Yes, the angels of God are ministering spirits, Hebrews chapter 1. They minister to the heirs of salvation. They minister to us.

I don't know if we have individual ones assigned to us, but we might.

Well, you know, ancient Israel did not follow the better way. By the way, you could go ahead and read this entire account here. God blinded the eyes of the Syrians. The prophet led them to Samaria, and they were fed a meal and sent home. There was no killing that was done. Nobody died. Nobody in the Syrian army died, and nobody in the Israel or in the Jewish army died either, or Jewish nation.

Well, you know, ancient Israel usually did not follow the better way. They wanted to depend on their own protection. God was married to them. He protected them and kind of winked at the time of their ignorance. But he did fight battles for them. There's no doubt about that. You know, for our nation today, we spend around 750 billion dollars for our military defense each year. If our nation would turn to God with prayer and fasting, would He not take care of our enemies?

We could dismantle our military. Would not God take care of us and destroy our enemies for us?

Turn them against each other? Well, I got some good news for you. Our people are going to turn to God in the future. There is a prophecy. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 38. Our nation is going to turn to God, and we will not have any military protection of our own. But God is going to protect us from any nations that will come in to destroy us. In Ezekiel 38, by the way, just to get the setting for this, why don't you read chapters about 36. It's about the Israelites being restored from captivity. And you can read about that beginning in chapter 36. They're going to be a very converted nation. They're going to be drawn back to the land that God gave to Abraham.

Verse 24, Ezekiel 36, and verse 24, I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you to your own land. I'll sprinkle clean water on you. I'll cleanse you from your filthiness. Verse 26, give you a new heart and a new spirit. And verse 27, put my spirit within you. So we'll have a very converted nation at that time. You can read in chapter 37 more about this. And they'll have King David as their king.

In verse 24, chapter 37, and verse 24, David, my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my judgments and dwell in the land that I gave to Jacob, my servant. In verse 26, I will make a covenant of peace with them.

So let me get to chapter 38. We have this giant army that comes against Israel. The Israelites have been brought back to the land of Palestine. That means Americans and British and Canadians and Australians and Northwest Europeans and Jewish people. All these will be brought back to the land that God gave to Abraham and promised to them. And we have here, in chapter 38, verse 2, Gog and Magog and the Prince of Rosh and Meshach and Tubal. Thus says the Lord, verse 3, I am against you, O Gog, the Prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. Why is that?

Chapter 5, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer. You just have a lot of people here, huge armies. In verse 8, after many days you will be visited when? In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel. So this is just an extension of the chapters we just read. The Israelites have been brought back to the land that God gave Abraham. In verse 9, you, that's Gog and Magog, will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land. Thus says the Lord, verse 10, on that day it shall come the past, that thoughts will arise in your mind.

You will make an evil plan. You will say, verse 11, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. Oh, they don't have any military, no walls to protect them. I will go to a peaceful people who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates. Verse 15, you will come from your place. This is Gog and Magog coming out of the far north. Apparently, we believe will be like Russia and China, some of the Oriental nations. Many peoples with you. Verse 16, it shall come up against my people, Israel, like a cloud to cover the land.

It shall be in the latter days that I will bring you against my land. You can go on down to read the judgment against Gog and Magog, these armies. The Israelites have no protection, but they do have protection. They have the protection of Almighty God. In chapter 39, it will take seven years to clean up all the debris. It will take seven months to bury all of the bodies.

You can read that in chapter 39. And the last part of verse 39 is very important. Verse 21, I will set my glory among the nations. All the nations will see my judgment. Yeah, the Gentiles will, in verse 23, the Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity because they were unfaithful to me. In verse 25, I'll bring back the captives of Jacob. So, it's obviously when God has restored Israel back to the land that he gave to Abraham and his descendants.

So, good news is Americans, British, Canadians, Northwestern Europeans, Jewish people, all the twelve tribes, when they are restored to the land of Canaan, they will have no military. They'll be all dwelling safely in unwalled villages, but they have God's protection. They don't have to have a military. So, God's defense works. Our nation will at last look to God for its protection. Think of all the money we'll save.

Think of all the lives we will save as well. Now, so this is the church age now. During the church age, it's very clear that we follow the examples of Jesus Christ and the early New Testament church. We don't take human life. We just don't. That's one of our fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God. I believe it is soundly based upon biblical teachings.

That's what we teach and what we believe. But we believe that when Jesus Christ returns, he will fight. I mean, that's what it says. Zechariah 14.3, the Lord will fight, as he did in the day of battle. It would be more like in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ will fight.

And Revelation 19. All this big army, the based and the false prophet. So it's not that Jesus Christ can't fight or won't fight again. The slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth to the other, it says in one verse. And so there's going to be a lot of fighting. Will the saints fight with Christ? Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then my servants would fight. So if we are instructed to fight, which maybe that implies almost states, then we will fight at that time. But this is a different age and time right now. Our kingdom is not here yet.

We're not instructed to get out and fight. We're in fact instructed not to.

This sermon, I need to begin to wind it down with just a few thoughts. I hope that the teaching then of the United Church of God, the 14th fundamental belief, we believe that Christians are forbidden by the commandments of God from taking human life directly or indirectly, and that bearing arms is contrary to this fundamental belief. Therefore, Christians should not voluntarily become engaged in military service. I hope this is a teaching that is clear to all of us.

I want to have a special comment to young people. What does fundamental belief number 14 mean to you?

You know there are laws in our country right now that require all males. Congress is considering extended that to females because females are in our military, but right now all males are required by law to register for the selective service system when they're 18 years of age within 30 days.

You know 30 days to register, and right now the mandatory induction into the military, mandatory draft is not in force. Since 1973, it has been strictly on a volunteer basis and continues to be.

Those who are in our military then have volunteered to be there. They're not required. Before 1973, it was different, and if you were asked to join the military, then you joined the military, or else you could be thrown in prison unless you were a conscientious objector. Now we are in the Church of God, conscientious objectors to warfare and military service, but we had one young man back in the 1960s that was not able to convince his draft board that he was a conscientious objector, and so he had to he spent time in prison. Now that was a very rare situation. Usually most of our conscientious objectors in the Church would spend two years in some type of civic local community project work projects. A good number of people did that. Any of you see ones who didn't remember seeing that happen back in the 1960s, such was the case.

You either had to be in the military, or if you were a conscientious objector and your draft board was satisfied with that, you could just do two years of voluntary community work. You were paid, but usually not paid very well. But what if the mandatory draft was instituted again? A national emergency came along. Are young people they need to consider? Are you really a conscientious objector?

You need to. You can't stand on what your parents believe. Do you yourself really believe, as the Church teaches, that you really believe that being involved in the military is something that you would not do? So that's something that you, if the mandatory draft ever was reinstated, in a national emergency, you would need to answer that.

So to our young people, are you a believer of the Church's teaching on that fundamental belief, number 14? If the draft started again, the mandatory draft, and you were asked to be a part of the military, could you convince a draft board of your sincerity? You would appear, you would have to go before a draft board if you refused to be inducted and explain why. Now, I would recommend studying the United Church of God teaching on this, both our fundamental belief. We also have a very good article online at ucg.org. Look under military service. Look for warfare and the New Testament Christian. It's a good article explaining about being a conscientious objector and making sure that that's what you really believe. So we'll see if that mandatory draft ever happens again, but it could. It's possible. And so our young people need to know what do you believe? Have you studied it for yourself? I had to study it for myself when I was 18 years of age and become convicted, but I did not want to be a part of the military.

Okay, now let's conclude with just another comment or two. All of us, then, if we have any need for further study, read and study fundamental belief number 14. Also, we have many sermons and articles. Just look up military service. Do a search. You'll find a very good sermon by John Miller, a council of elders member. Should Christians pack heat? Very good.

Very good to listen to. Should Christians pack heat? And also a good sermon by David Nunn on fundamental belief number 14. Just go to ucg.org. Search for military service. You'll find plenty of sermons and articles right there. So, let's conclude by saying, you know, we do, as our fundamental belief brings out, we do have a warfare that we're involved in, but it's not of the physical type. It's not varying weapons or arms. We are fighting against wicked spirits.

In high places. And we are to be faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ, it says. But we follow, we are to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ in the early Church. We won't need to be out fighting and killing, whether in self-defense or the military, at this time. And God will fight our battles for us. He is with us. He is our protector. We don't need to be afraid. Not at all. Just always be very careful. Let's do our part. Watch and be alert and strive to prevent and to avoid dangerous areas. I was watching one of these I.D. programs, and I think it was in Denver. This young lady got a job. She was from EAT back east and got a job out there in Denver. And she had an apartment. And so she would go to work and then come home. She'd ride the bus within two blocks of her apartment. And so she, one day she came home on the bus. She disappeared. What happened to her? There was a two-block walk from the bus stop to her apartment.

And at nighttime, when she disappeared, she was walking alone. It was secluded enough that somebody came by. She was later found dead. And so, you know, she was in a secluded area, dangerous situation. So be alert. Be watchful. Don't put yourself in the way of harm and danger. We can do a whole lot ourselves. And beyond that, we look to God. He is our protector. His angels are on duty. And we don't have to be... we don't need to be afraid. We need to be careful. But we don't need to be afraid. God will fight for us and He will protect us as well.