Wars and rumours of war

US President George Bush & Secretary of State Colin Powell

Matthew 24:6 “And ye shall
hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled:
for all these things must come to pass, but the end is
not yet.”

We live in a world which is
progressively being torn apart by violence and war and we are
becoming desensitised to it. Violence is romanticised, glorified,
promoted and loved throughout the world – the media revels
in it, and their business grows as a result. On one page of
today’s newspaper I read of conflicts happening in the
Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Liberia, Chechnya, Korea, Israel and
of course Baghdad. Alongside the current conflicts are articles
about the latest developments in the US nuclear programme, Japans
new aircraft carriers and expanding military power and
Korea’s nuclear issues.

The nature of the game of
war is absolutely fascinating - central to the game is the
very deliberate purpose for which wars are utilised. War is a
tool for achieving political objectives as Karl Von Clausewitz
stated in ‘On War’ – “It is …a
continuation of policy by other means; the political intentions
are the objects and the war is the means. The nature of war is
therefore determined by political objectives…it is,
therefore, a political act.” We mentioned a few months ago
that the Governments of the world are failing badly in
playing their role as God. Nothing has improved in the
‘hearts of men and women’ historically, power is
still as corrupting as it was back in 330BC when Alexander
declared to his troops “The limits of our empire will be
those which the gods have fixed as the limits of the
earth.” In eight years he conquered, and conquered again,
until his empire stretched from Greece to India. In 2003 we hear
similar statements from world leaders who seek to justify the
means, even declaring “God is with us.” The
truth is, war is financially and socially profitable for those
who control them.

Of course what we do not see
through our ‘CNN world-view perspectives’ is the
hypocritical corruption which drives war efforts. RE McMaster
asks a simple but probing, very useful question: “Who
financed the rebuilding of the Japanese railroads and
industry?” (Ed’s note: following the 1945 almost
total atomic devastation of all of Tokyo’s industry and
railroads.) The point being “Whoever built them
– owns them!” Indeed, post-war reconstruction has
always been profitable – military/industry, blood
money.

You can apply McMasters question
to the war against Saddam’s Iraq…or the war on
terror…or any other war; and if you scratch just below the
surface it is interesting what is glaringly obvious. For example,
who financed the reconstruction of Germany, Japan and Korea? What
about Vietnam? Who supplied weapons for the Iran/Iraq war? Who
supplied the industrial and military technology to the former
Soviet Union, and in so doing assisted the establishment of the
biggest threat to the Western World? The answer to all of the
above – powerful people from the West (primarily
the USA, through the Council on Foreign Relations.)

“In 1933, Major General
Smedley Butler, who fought wars on three continents, gave a
speech at an Armistice Day celebration in Philadelphia. He
confessed “War is just a racket. A racket is best described
I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority
of the people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about.
It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of
the masses.” Butler continued “…The trouble
with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over
here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent.
Then, the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the
flag. This is done to defend some lousy investment of the
bankers…”

“There isn’t a trick
in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It
has its ‘finger men’ to point out enemies, its
‘muscle men’ to destroy enemies, its ‘brain
guys’ to plan war preparations, and a ‘Big
Boss’ – super nationalistic
capitalism…”

“The record of racketeering
is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking
house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the
Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In
China, in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way
unmolested…”

It is hardly surprising then that
our world is being torn apart by war. In this regard the human
race is spiralling downwards. Ironically, those who think
they are in control are not. Jesus’ prophecy in
Matthew 24 foretold us of these events, and that we are
‘not to be troubled.’ Wars and rumours of wars were
‘not the end’, but the end is near. At the time of
writing humans are killing humans in around 400 different
conflicts worldwide.

I remember clearly Barry
Smith’s words, “If the problem is spiritual, the
solution will also be spiritual.”

So then the spirit behind this
global conflict is fulfilling God’s purpose for the end
times, working through the human condition, mankind without God.
The ‘survival of the fittest’ is taken very seriously
by the power people of this world, but little do they know that
they are being manipulated by principalities far more clever than
themselves.

All because we have driven God far
from us and reduced our position to that described below.
Romans 1:28-32 “And even as they did not like to
retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing
the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them
that do them.”

There is a day coming, not very
far away at all, where God will ‘sort out all of the
affairs of mankind’, and will bring all those who have
caused torment to others, suffering and injustice to account.

May we encourage you to find your
security in Jehovah Nissi - The Lord our banner. He is our
defence from those attacks we see, and those we cannot see. We
need not fear or be anxious, because the outcome of the battle
which rages here has already been determined.