IS PEACE DESIRABLE?

Jason Brewer

Think of a world with no fighting, no wars, not even armies or the means to fight wars. Imagine what it would be like to have complete and total world peace. Peace is more than just the absence of war. It is the absence of war, threats of war, or even the possibility of war. So not only must all the militaries in the world disband, all weapons must be destroyed as well. Consider the world at a state of peace that is maintained because war is no longer possible. At first glance this may seem like an ideal world, one in which all could be happy; however, it is more likely that the world would collapse very quickly.

On 6 August 1945, American forces detonated a twenty kiloton atomic bomb approximately five hundred and fifty meters above Hiroshima. It is estimated that 78,000 were killed and 84,000 more were injured from the explosion (Basic Problems of Disarmament 81). Three days later, 9 August 1945, America dropped another twenty kiloton bomb on Nagasaki, killing 27,000 and injuring 41,000 (Basic Problems of Disarmament 81). These bombs, while incredibly deadly, pale in comparison to the arsenal today’s countries have at their disposal. According to the nuclear weapons archive, countries like Russia and the U.S. have up to 50 megaton bombs (Big Ivan). 50 megatons is the equivalent of 50 million tons of T.N.T. These bombs are capable of killing millions at a time (Big Ivan).

War has been a base for society ever since the beginning of mankind. It is the most basic social system we know (Iron Mountain 29). One group of people joins together against another group of people. Ancient Greece first organized itself into city states which provided protection for their citizens. The ancient empires of Persia and Rome were also empires built by wars. These empires which were based on war have been the basis of Western civilization. In other words, our culture is based on a war society. Even now nations still organize by military means. Countries achieve superpower status based on the strength and capability of their respective militaries.

So to bring about an absolute peace would require us to completely sever ourselves from our roots and our culture. Even America was founded by a war. Such a radical change will have many effects, one of which will be economic. Military bases can be found around the world. There are over one hundred Air Force installations in America alone. If we were to shut down every single military base of each military branch in every single country in the world, the results would be devastating. Instantly, the world economy would be flooded with the unemployed. Not only would soldiers be out of a job, but millions of civilians would be too. Civilians who operate the stores on base, supply the food, and deliver all the goods and materials would all lose their jobs. Even big companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin would take a huge hit. These companies in turn would have to lay-off thousands of employees, if they managed to avoid bankruptcy.

Technological and medical advances would be affected as well. Military spending and even wars are responsible for the majority of all technological and medical advances. Communication has been advanced by the military as it moved from tubes, to transistors, and then to digital communication as a result of the military’s demand for better communication. We learned how to make steel framed buildings using technology gained by building battle ships. Even the assembly line was invented during the War Between the States because there was a need for lots of guns as fast as possible (Iron Mountain 53).

Medical advances also come as a result of military spending. Often these advances come as a result of war. For example, amputation, blood-handling techniques and even surgery were vastly improved as a direct result of the Vietnam War (Iron Mountain 54). Technology and medicine are not the only areas affected by war. Most of today’s research and development, or R&D, comes through military spending. Over three-fifths of all funding for R&D comes from the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Atomic Energy Commission. This includes research done by non-profit institutions, and educational institutions such as universities (Benoit and Boulding 112-116). If this amount of money is cut from the average university, it will go under. The budget cuts we face now are severe and we can feel those effects; however, this is nothing compared to the loss researchers would take if the military were no longer in existence to fund them.

Without militaries, nations will cease to exist. There will be no need for borders. No longer will one country worry about being attacked by another country’s military. There will be no military to attack them, and thus, no need for separate countries or nations. Without nations or countries to unite people there must be some other reason to unite the masses. These people no longer have jobs, their economy is bankrupt, and the world as they know it is turned upside down. This is a recipe for disaster, unless there is some other reason for these people to unite. In other words, there must be a substitute for war.

This substitute could be one of many things. It could come in the form of some deadly virus. It could be something like pollution or a fear that global warming will melt the ice caps and flood the world. Whatever form this cause takes, it will not be some kind of philosophical ideal, but something that brings out the survival instinct in man. Basically, the world would trade war for something else just as horrific (Iron Mountain 64-66).

However, this still does not solve all of the problems the world will face. People, who once served in the military, will no longer have homes or an income. The bases they lived on are now nonexistent. The salaries they once collected are no longer there. Civilians who relied on the jobs these bases provided no longer have a place to work. They no longer have an income. Yet somehow the needs of these people must be met; otherwise, the problems of uprisings and crime, which were blocked by the potential for war, will resurface.

The solution to this is government. Government would now have to provide the needs of the people who no longer have income to take care of themselves. Massive welfare programs would be implemented. The government will now have to provide all basic needs such as healthcare, food and shelter. In many cases the new government would go about this by providing government jobs. It would have to educate its own doctors, assign people to produce food, and then provide the means for them to do so.

Regulating this system will require a worldwide police force, or a Peace Corps. The Peace Corps would insure that people stayed civil, and that no fights break out. Most importantly though, the Peace Corps would make sure that people fulfilled the roles assigned to them by this new government. In actuality this new form of government would be a new, high tech, sophisticated form of slavery (Iron Mountain 86). This government will be a form of slavery in which the people are forced to work for government apportioned rations and where “peace” is enforced by the Peace Corps. Instead of beating slaves with whips in the cotton fields, these task masters will use clubs and tasers to ensure production is on schedule.

Peace like this comes with too high a price. This kind of change will wreck our already weak economy. People everywhere will lose their jobs and be forced to turn to the government for aid. Technological advancement will come to a stand-still. The medical industry will no longer be able to provide top notch care. But the most severe penalty to be paid for peace is the loss of freedom. No people should ever be willing to become slaves, especially not for fear that they may one day have to fight. This false security robs men of true liberty, and this type of peace is by no means desirable.

 
Works Cited
Benoit, Emile and Boulding, Kenneth E. Disarmament and the Economy. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. Print.
Big Ivan, The Tsar Bomba (“King of Bombs”). Nuclear Weapons Archive. 3 September 2007. Web. 5 September 2009.
Report From Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace. New York: The Dial Press, Inc. 1967. Print.
United Nations. Reports of the Secretary General. Basic Problems of Disarmament. New York: United Nations, 1970. Print

SECESSION IS GONE

The window of opportunity for secession is gone. Liberty as we once knew it in America is lost. There are those who still urge us to continue the fight. There are those eternal optimists who dream of taking back America and rescuing her from the socialism that is turning her into a communist state.

The movement for secession might be making more noise, but the ability to secede shrinks as the Department of Homeland Security grows. Why was it not created the Department of Homeland Defense under the authority and watch of the existing Department of Defense? Probably because the sheep no longer want to defend their liberty; they want now only to maintain their personal peace and affluence.

A nation is thought to be “secure” when it is free from the danger of outside military attack, outside political pressure, and outside interference with the nation’s economy. But this type of security does not exist. The entitlement mentality is conditioning the sheep, like Pavlov’s dogs, to come to the government for everything while believing they are owed free security. Why should anyone want to secede if all he needs is given to him by the federal beast. “I want it; my government will pay for it.”

What keeps the federal beast alive? The will to power keeps it alive. Big brother tells the sheep their security is possible if they will just bow down at the altar of nationalism. Secession is anti-nationalism. Secession denies the sacrifice to the state. And what is that first sacrifice to bring? Money and more money must be offered by the sheep as the sacrifice for the cause. The god of Mammon rules by the power of the tax.

Next, the dignity of the sheep must be sacrificed to the god of government Provision. Government Provision will supply all our needs including security. Secession requires risk. Secession cannot promise to supply all our needs. And as government Provision gives more to the sheep, they must give back with their labor—government service for the “free entitlements” received. Handouts, bail outs, and more handouts, no matter what the cost, the sheep have lost their self-reliance.

Secession was an attainable goal, but it’s just no longer a desirable one; that is, the old interest in freedom has been replaced by the new passionate desire for security. As long as there are Monday night football, beer, and TV remotes, it won’t matter that increased taxes, check-points with full-body scanners, warrantless searches and seizures, and detention camps continue to appear.

FAKE TERROR: The Road to War and Dictatorship

It's the oldest trick in the book, dating back to Roman times; creating the enemies you need.
This is an article by Michael Rivero from his blog. It's a long piece, but worth the time it takes to consider it. Check it out. FAKE TERROR: The Road to War and Dictatorship

WHEN GOD LAUGHS

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision”—Psalm 2:4

Note God’s derision of the rebellious! What will the King do unto those who reject Him? Mark the quiet dignity of the Omnipotent One, and the contempt which He pours upon His raging enemies. He has not taken the trouble to rise up and do battle with them He despises them, He knows how absurd, how irrational, how futile are their attempts against Him. He therefore laughs at them! (Charles Spurgeon)

“He that sitteth in the heavens. . .” Hereby it is clearly intimated,
(1) that the Lord is far above all their malice and power;
(2) that He sees all their plots, looking down on all;
(3) that He is of omnipotent power, and so can do with His enemies just as He desires. “Our God is in the heavens! He has done whatever He has pleased.” (Arthur Jackson)

“Sinners’ follies are the righteous sport of God’s infinite wisdom and power. Those attempts of the kingdom of Satan, which in our eyes are formidable, in God’s eyes are despicable.” (Matthew Henry)

“He that sitteth in the heavens.” They scoff at us but God laughs at them! Laugh? This seems like a harsh word at first view. But are the derision, the persecution and the injuries of his saints; and the cruelties of their enemies a matter of laughter? God laughs but it is in scorn; He scorns but it is with vengeance. Short is the joy of the wicked! Oh, what are God’s frowns if His smiles are so terrible! (Thomas Adams)

The expression, “He that sitteth in the heavens,” at once fixes our thoughts on a being infinitely exalted above impotent man. And when it is said, “HE laughs,” this is designed to convey to our minds the idea, that the greatest confederacies among kings and peoples, and their most extensive and vigorous preparations to defeat HIS purposes are in HIS sight altogether insignificant and worthless! HE looks upon their poor and puny efforts, not only without uneasiness or fear, but HE laughs at their folly! HE treats their impotency with derision. He knows how HE can crush them like a moth when HE pleases or consume them in a moment with the breath of HIS mouth! How profitable it is for us to be reminded of truths such as these! Ah! it is indeed a vain thing for the potsherds of the earth to strive with the glorious Majesty of Heaven! (David Pitcairn)

SAVE AMERICA: RE-ELECT NO ONE!

Just a few more ramblings brought on by my reading “Confidence in God in Times of Danger,” by Alexander Carson.

If God is God, and if we believe He can protect His people even under the worst dictatorship imaginable, then it would seem that so-called civil liberties really do not provide any safety for His people, or anyone else for that matter, without the immediate and direct protection of His almighty arm. Our protection is not in the Constitution, which has been violated time and again since the War Between the States, our true protection comes from God graciously ordaining the liberties we enjoy to serve the establishment of His Kingdom. This means the true Christian has nothing to fear in any country and under any government. If we are called to suffer in the near future under a dictator, we must remember it will be for God’s glory and our good. All of this then seems to imply that Christians must honor even the most worthless men in power. Even a socialist President, one giving the country away, in the end is to be honored, not worshipped, but honored as the leader God has placed in office. And if God should will that this same wicked President persecute the people of God, we must understand God is good and the sin belongs to the persecutor alone. The President might be wickedly gratifying his own evil dispositions, but ultimately he is fulfilling the appointment of God, Who ordains all things. God makes the plans of his enemies to establish His own agenda. Our true safety is in the Lord and in counting all things but loss for the sake of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. This is also more reason to pray for our President and leaders, because if no one brings them the true gospel of free and sovereign grace, then these men who have actively opposed God’s people will suffer a Christless eternity in Hell. Let us pray that God might be pleased to raise up a whole new crop of truly righteous leaders, set apart by His saving grace, and committed to following the Lord Jesus Christ.
SAVE AMERICA: RE-ELECT NO ONE!

WHAT IS THE CORRECT RESPONSE?

What is it to truly be longsuffering? I don’t know; that’s why I ask. I have a few ideas about it, but I’m not absolutely convinced about any of them. Are the sins of my enemies against me more heinous than my own sins against God? Just how longsuffering was God with me? I joke about now being the time to invest in precious metals, like brass and lead, referring to ammunition. With the coming revolution—whoops! – I mean with the almost certain coming civil unrest, what should I do to prepare? Do I stock up on food, firewater, and firearms? If the civil unrest becomes uncivil and turns into a shooting match, do I take part?

Politics has come between the so-called evangelical church and the glory of the Gospel. Oh, there’s plenty of outward hustle and activity among all the political action groups claiming to be fighting for God’s Kingdom and soliciting your “gifts and offerings.” Their pragmatism will attack my skepticism and ask, “So what should we do? Just sit around and do nothing?”

What about prayer? I know James tells us that faith without works is dead, but my skepticism concerns the works and the justification of those works. What are we building, the Kingdom of God, or the kingdom of men? Are we building the true Church?

The perceived low level of spirituality, the lack of fruit in the churches, ought to alert us to a possibly misguided vision. Some of the changes in the church are labeled progress, and the voice of the people becomes the voice of God. But do not the Scriptures tell us the whole world lies in wickedness? That would seem to indicate that if we rely too heavily on a majority of public opinion to shape our goals and objectives, we might just be adopting the ways of the world, which is also known as walking in the flesh. This is also why I often say, “Democracy sucks.”

Progress, if it is only in the flesh, will ultimately degenerate. Remember the so-called “good old days” of the fifties and the early sixties with Leave It to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show. Where has that Hollywood morality taken us? Did it progress to an even greater virtue? No, the boomers of the fifties and early sixties went crazy with drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Their offspring produced the eighties, and now their children, grandchildren to the hippies, are giving us the new millennium and its new morality. Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” And if it’s flesh, it’s only going to get worse.

So, back to my question about our response to the world as we know it ending before our very eyes: Do we jump on the “influence the culture” bandwagon, or do we hide in caves until the fallout settles and attempt to survive in a Mad Max apocalypse? Or instead of TEOTWAWKI, how about TEOAAWKI (the end of America as we know it)? Our Pilgrim forefathers left Rotterdam, Holland, and arrived on our shores in the Mayflower. The place where our “American adventure” began is now under Sharia law. Do we sit idly by and watch Islamo-facists change American culture as they have done in Holland? Again, the Scriptures tell us we don’t wrestle or fight against flesh and blood; rather, we fight against spiritual principalities and powers. Our difficulty comes because those spiritual principalities and powers meet us directly in the flesh and blood they possess. Also, are we to be about building an earthly kingdom or should we not be about building the Kingdom of God? I love my country, but are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness my life’s calling? What about twenty-year-old Sandul, a Pakistani, Christian woman jailed for “blasphemy” against the Quran (the unholy Muslim book). She lost her liberty. How about another Pakistani Christian, Shafia, who was kidnapped into sexual slavery? Shafia definitely lost her liberty and her pursuit of happiness. And what about the 10,000 Christians who have died in a supposedly democratic Nigeria since 1999? Now when this begins to happen in the USA, am I to take up arms and fight against the flesh and blood committing the persecution?

Anyone who wants to know can find statistics about the persecution of Christians around the globe. So why do we in America suddenly think we should be exempt? Do we really think God needs America? I am not asking for persecution—I fear it. But how can I expect to be exempt and still claim to be a member of the suffering body of Christ? If suffering is a gift from God (see Phil 1:29), should I prepare to fight against it with guns and bombs? I believe God wills the persecution of His people; if that causes you a problem, I suggest you read the book of Esther and then try to refute it.

I would suggest that possibly President Obama is a lot like Haman (in the book of Esther); that is, he is ignorant of God’s purpose. The President might be radically opposed to Christians and will attempt to gratify his own evil dispositions; all the while, he is fulfilling the plan of God. Allow me to close this rambling essay with the comments of Alexander Carson from 1853 in his study of God’s providence in the book of Esther called “Confidence in God in Times of Danger”:
“It is a curious fact, but not a singular one, that God raised up Haman to bring His people into danger, as well as Esther to deliver them. In this, as in other things, the Divine wisdom is distinguished from the human in a striking manner. No man would nurture the wretch whom he should know to be the future enemy of himself and his offspring. But God exalted Haman in the court of the great king, above all the princes of the empire, for the very purpose of giving him an opportunity of manifesting [Haman’s] enmity against His people, and of attempting the destruction of the whole nation. He puts His enemies in the most favorable situation to oppose Him, that He may show with what ease He can discomfit the utmost efforts of their malevolence; nay, He makes the very wrath of man to praise Him, and the plans of His enemies to destroy His cause are made to effect its establishment.”

IMPOSED NEW WORLD ORDER

“One man or an elite giving authoritative arbitrary absolutes” is the only humanistic social option left for our godless society. At least that is the conclusion Dr. Francis Schaeffer came to in his ten film episodes of “How Should We Then Live?” If you think about it, and it won’t take long to figure it out, when there is an absence of moral absolutes, society becomes the sole absolute for everything. But that brings us back to either “one man or an elite”; that is, society has to be led by either one authoritarian or a group of elite authoritarians.

For years I have jokingly said, “Technology is going to kill us.” It doesn’t take much of an imagination now to see how technology can be used by an elite to control the masses. With this control will eventually come absolute power, and that’s the contradiction Daniel Bell warned about; that is, “no absolute ethic to accompany absolute power.” What if the controllers wanted to spread panic? Could they not maybe use, say a man-made virus? Can you say, “Oink, oink”? Forced immunizations from a newly created national health-care system brought about by a recognized “pandemic” might just be the beginning of the end. I could go on with guesses about RFIDs being implanted in newborns, national ID cards, mandatory vehicle GPS devices, etc., but I’ll let your own imagination run wild.

But when you think of the new authoritarian leader, don’t think of a Hitler or a Stalin; that’s simply old school. No, the new leader will probably be more of a puppet ruler controlled by an elite. He might even be told what to say by…maybe a…teleprompter. This leader can also have great influence through an ignorant media who have been taught to have the same views as the manipulative controlling elite. The deaf, dumb, and blind media will cry out for civil liberties, yet they will see government, not just as the only solution to every problem, but government as having a responsibility to solve every problem.

What this new crop of socialists fails to understand is that they wish to have what are really Christian liberties without any Christian foundation. All they will reap is chaos. With this loss of a truly Christian consensus, since the Teleprompter Of The United States (TOTUS) has declared to the muslim nations of the world that the USA is not a Christian nation, there will be no reason for an apathetic population not to surrender their final liberties whenever TOTUS and the Federal beast promises them personal peace and affluence. As long as there is Monday Night Football, a six-pack, and a remote, who cares if TOTUS declares martial law. The fears being produced daily by the media announcements of economic collapse will out-weigh any concerns for liberty. TOTUS and his willing accomplices in the media are preparing the nation to accept a manipulative, authoritarian government.

Random violence, political terrorism, economic collapse, swine flu, fuel shortages, and finally food shortages will cause the apathetic majority to give up all liberty for the false promise of “security.” Let’s not forget the constant threats of wars and the rumors of wars. Nuclear missiles in the hands of rogue states and muslim nations intent on destroying Israel will cause people to see authoritarianism as a lesser evil.

So what’s the answer? Society needs to repent and acknowledge the true source of liberty and truth. The source is found in God’s revelation in the Bible and His revelation through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As Dr. Schaeffer says, “Christianity is truth that gives a unity to all of knowledge and all of life.” All this comes from the personal God and Creator of heaven and earth. This means the true acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It means men must bow the knee to the King of kings and submit to His Law and the absolutes found in the Bible. Both liberals and conservatives are guilty of suppressing God’s truth. Both liberals and conservatives must submit to the truth that only the Bible has the foundation for liberty in any society. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only answer for all of man’s problems, and if our nation and the rest of the world continue to reject Christ as Lord, I suggest you prepare now for an imposed New World Order.
(adapted from an outline in the study guide to Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live?)
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. (Psa 62:8)