Should God Bless our Troops? by Dr. Eric Benson

By Dr. Eric Benson

Don't Serve, Don't Go!

December 26, 2010

I work with the Celtic Apostolic faith in the province of St. Brendan which is affiliated with the Celtic Apostolic Church in Scotland. A couple years back they started doing an outreach here in the States. As some of you may be aware, Brendan was the Irish missionary who came over to N. America about 500/600 AD to do evangelism work. Historians are just coming to be able to accept that as not just myth but fact as they continue to find a lot of Runic/Odin inscriptions from the Irish and Welsh and Vikings all up and down the east coast of America and Canada, proving that a few people were here before Columbus. I actually delivered a lecture on Celts Before Columbus when I was living in N. Carolina. It's fascinating, the stonework and archaeological finds that are turning up and are reshaping our American History. Maybe truly WE are the native Americans.

Well this morning I wanted to talk to you about what is happening in the news and see if we can relate that to our faith. Because we know from 1John 5:2,3 that the love of God is the keeping of his commandments. We also know that God's law is not burdensome to us but is in fact life giving and as we honor that we show our love. We claim to be people of faith and we believe the word or God. Now the problem today is that people take what i like to call the smorgasbord or buffet mentality towards faith. They go down the buffet line and they say, "I'll take that, I like that casserole, give me some of that, I do not like that and I never have, I'll take that chicken, that looks interesting. Nope none of that, it has cream cheese in it and cream cheese was invented buy some evil person. At least that's what I believe, I don't know about you. But you will go through the buffet line and pick out the things that appeal to you and agree with your stomach and that you want to consume. And we do that so often today with our faith, we go through the scripture and pick and choose what we want to believe. If we claim to believe that the commandments of God should be honored, then that means that the Bible, in it's entirety should be honored, revered and followed. Not just the parts that are pleasing to us. It's not only a way to show our love for God but also to avoid transgression.

The definition of sin is a transgression of the law and in James 2:10 it states that if you fail in one point of the law you have broken the entire law. It's not just about how we conduct ourselves on Sunday, it's about the decisions we make in our daily life and especially about how we operate our Gov't and society because believe it or not the scriptures in their entirely are generally a constitution of a Gov't. This is a governmental document for the people of Israel. This is how we are to operate as a society.

Let's compare the word of God with what's happening in reality, get ready because it might get a little uncomfortable. Something happened this past week in our gov't. There was a vote that took place. A senate vote that was 65 to 31 and an exact same bill was passed it the House that passed with 250 to 175. It was a repeal of the military policy of "Dont ask Don't tell". It was repealed to allow sodomites to serve freely and openly in the US military. It gave Barak Obama a chance to fulfill his first campaign promise since elected to office. Although the change will take 60 days to take effect. The repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy means that for the first time in the history of America, Sodomites will be openly accepted by the military and can acknoledge their sexual preference without fear of being kicked out. Marine Corps commandant General James Amos said that he thinks the lifting of the ban during war time would cost lives.

No early discharges will be granted because of repeal of this ban. In other words if you are serving in the military and you disagree with the repeal because of your religious beliefs, you cannot end your enlistment early. Also 20 t0 30% of enlistees have said they will NOT reenlist because of the passage of this bill. We cannot fight a two front war with a loss of 30% of our troops. Options are to call up more national guard troops or reinstitute the draft. In the situation of a draft, you are basically an indentured servant of the govt. This would cause many to claim Conscientious Objector status to avoid service. "CO" is defined as, "an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion". The two catagories that you have to prove in order to qualify as a CO are;

1. It has to be a sincerely held belief.

2. You have to be opposed to all forms of war.

We as Christians recognize by studying the Word of God that occasionally God will ordain a battle. But the govt says you have to be opposed to ALL wars. You can't pick and choose which war you want to participate in. How can we claim CO status when God clearly ordains warfare in some situations? Is it possible to have just warfare today? If we can make a case that it is impossible to have a just war under our current govt then you can be opposed to all warfare under current conditions and can qualify as a CO and hold on to your beliefs. Lets compare what is happening with the military with scripture. Remember, if you break one of Gods laws you are breaking all of God's law.

Christians are obligated to make a choice. You cannot go down the buffet and say I'll take a serving of faith here and I'll have a serving of patriotism there. You either believe and obey or you do not. Lev 18:22 says ,"thou shalt not lie with mankind as with woman kind, it is obama-nation". Society has become more and more disposed to allow these types of perversions to take place. The New Testament is in agreement with Leviticus, Jude 1:7 "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Fornication here being the egregious form ie, homosexuality. A society that rejects the word of God will eventually fall into anarchy and chaos.

1Ki 8:44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: 1Ki 8:45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. The modern translation of this would be "God Bless Our Troops". Right? But if our troops are living in perversion, how can we cry out to God to bless them? A very difficult contradiction is it not?

We are now living in the society that Isaiah spoke of in Isa 5:20 " Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! " Our society once considered sodomy abhorrent, but now considers it an alternative lifestyle. Under "Don't Ask Don't Tell" sodomy was simply tolerated.

What Obama has done is essentially to promote it because every time a homo puts on the uniform he is an ambassador of this country. This sends the message that our govt endorses this behavior. Woe to the nation that rejects the authority of God. As individuals, we can be judged both here and in the hereafter. Nations are only able to be judged HERE AND NOW. If this was the only thing, it would be bad. And it would be grounds for a reason to not serve.

There are more things we are doing as a nation, a military, that are against God's law. Deu 20:1 "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."As we see here, God goes with the forces. Therefore we must believe that this is a Godly conflict. Every conflict must be Biblical in nature and must not violate the spirit of the Law. If that is the case He goes with us. Deu 20:2 "And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people," If you want the people to know that the coming battle is God ordained, who better to explain to them than the priests? Unless of course he is a paid religious leader serving under the authority of the military, ie, a chaplain, who is instructed to minister to the sodomites just like you would to someone doesn't believe the way you do. Which is what the chaplaincy corps has been instructed to do.

Deu 20:3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; Deu 20:4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. When your God goes before you and fights for you it inspires confidence and allays fear. When you know the great God of the Universe is actually leading the charge how can you be afraid? Deu 20:5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. Deu 20:6 And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. Deu 20:7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. Deu 20:8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. How many families have been separated and destroyed by these call ups and deployments. How many small businesses have failed because of loss of personnell and ownership because of individuals being called up on 2, 3, 4 or more tours of duty overseas?

Some say verse 8 is to root out the cowards. I say to you, look earlier in the chapter, what tells us to not fear? If God goes before us. If God's law is honored and this is indeed a God ordained battle, then we are not to worry or be afraid. If a military force is engaging in a non-biblically mandated engagement, in non-biblical ways, violating God's word, God will not go before you, therefore you have every reason to be afraid. I say to you that this passage is not about cowardice, it is a check and balance to the leadership of a nation to say that we are going to make sure that you honor God's word, because if you choose not to, we won't participate. This one verse alone is a general opt out for people. This one verse alone makes a draft unbiblical. If your faith tells you that the US military is engaged in unbiblical practices, such as honoring sodomy or other types of activities, you are biblically required to have an opt out and if they don't provide you with one they are violating God's word. I say to you, anytime there is a draft, it automatically makes whatever engagement that draft is for unbiblical.

So could you be opposed to all warfare? Yes. But wait, there's more.

Deu 20:9 And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. When do you appoint commanders of the military? After you've shown the battle to be biblical and weeded out those who do not wish to participate. Does this allow for a standing army? No! Remember our forefathers believed strongly that there should not be a standing army in the country. They considered it the "bane of liberty". Why? Because back in Europe any kind of standing army had to have justification for being around all the time. Political leadership would have to find things for it to do. Eventually against its own people. The standing navy is for protection against pirates, etc, and for defensive purposes, which is a purely biblical principal. The leadership is supposed to be chosen after the fact. This may help to clear up some of the confusion about the second amendment and the differences between a militia and the national guard and the army.  This country began implementing conscription in the war between the states. It resulted in riots in NYC.

Deu 20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. Deu 20:11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. Deu 20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: Biblically you are to offer a chance of surrender first, not shock and awe.

Deu 20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: Deu 20:20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. In other words, purely non-combatant assets should not be attacked and destroyed. That rules out things like burning the village to save it (Viet Nam), firebombing Dresden, "collateral damage", etc. We have an obligation to focus on military targets, trusting God to give us the victory. Not spray and pray. The end does not justify the means.

Deu 17:15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. Our commander in Chief is a brother, to be sure, but not our brother, are you with me? Some might say that that only applies to nationality and not ethnicity. But the Hebrew doesn't support that. The best leaders for the Chinese military would be chinese people. Right? They understand their people, their people's needs and how to lead them. The best leaders for the US army are individuals of our ancestry. Anything different would incur sin against God. When our men serve overseas, very often we are engaged in what are called police actions which are "UN" actions. Under these operations, we give joint command authority to foreign govt's. Generals and leaders from foreign countries wind up commanding our troops. This should not be so.

I ask you, if we have a military force that endorses homosexuality, engages in sneak attacks for shock and awe value, allows foreigners to serve in leadership over our troops, allows women to serve in the military, destroys non-combatants and civilian assets, engages in draft or conscription or forced retention (not allowing individuals to get out because of the new policy), if we have a standing army that exists on a regular basis whether at war or not, are we honoring God's word? If not, then you as a believer have to make a choice. How can we ask God to bless our troops when we are not honoring God?

The Bible speaks of justifiable homicide, and unjustifiable homicide. There is just killing and unjust killing examples in scripture. If you are, as a member of the military, engaged in an unjust military situation, and you killed someone, it would be murder. So when you are told to pray for God to bless our troops, when the drums of patriotism are beaten when the fire of war is fanned, ask yourself this question. How can God bless our troops knowing what you now know?

At what point in history has it ever been dangerous to honor God? We are in the most danger when we fail to honor our God.

We will never truly have "homeland security" until we do.