The Spiritual Reason for the War
by Andrew Baker

Jerry Falwell fell under heavy criticism for his remarks to the effect that homosexuals, abortion advocates, the ACLU, etc, "caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812." Now I have no sympathy for Falwell's statements about homosexuals and other people in America. I do however believe he was unknowingly onto something when he attempted to put this attack in the perspective of the church.

These attacks did not happen because America has homosexuals in it's borders and God is pissed off at that fact. Still less did they happen because America has "left it's God." Let me be clear, the only god America has ever had is money. The only way of worshipping that god America has ever had is its wars.

The war is not really about the USA verses Afghanistan or terrorists. There will always be violence in the world. It is the nature of the world to kill itself. The "prince of this world" is not concerned with Afghanistan or the USA, they are already under his control. The USA and Afghanistan both have the same ruler. The "Prince of these kingdoms" is more concerned with what is NOT under his control: the Kingdom of God incarnated in the church.

The rulers of this world know the gospel. They know that Jesus offered humankind a "radical vision" of forgiveness and freedom from the necessity of retribution. They know that Jesus gave to us a radical calling of loving our enemies as God's way of salvation in this world of war.

The current conflict is none other than an attack on the kingdom of God, by the ruler of the USA and Afghanistan. It is an attack on the church to tempt us to bow down to the state, to bow down to the prince of this world. This is a temptation like that of Jesus in Luke 4 :

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

This is an attempt by the devil to force Jesus to be a certain type of Messiah: a Messiah who uses political might to bring in God's kingdom. If he does so, he can bring all nations together under his rule. All he has to do is "worship" the devil.

Now Jesus is not tempted to join a "satanic cult" as a superficial reading might suppose. The story is deeper than that. The temptation is to assent to the necessity of violence; to enslave himself to political action.

The current war is a reenactment of this temptation in the life of the church. If only the church will agree that killing and hating the enemy is the correct course of action, then the church will have influence in society. If only the church will take up arms against "terrorists" and kill them, or at the least bless the state as it does so, then all of the kingdom's of this world will be given to it. After all, is not Bush the head of the US state? Is he not Christian? The church can have new influence in American history, it can direct the course of America if it will only kill the enemies set before it.

This is the significance of the new manifestation of war. For if Jesus Christ is THE center of history, then even this historical event must be seen to have it's significance in his life, death and resurrection. The devil is attempting to lure the church away form the gospel, and to the power and violence of the world. He wants to defeat us by making us assent to a just war. He wants us to leave our love of enemies at the congressional doorstep and bow in the temple of the Pentagon to necessary evil.

This war like all wars is a battle for the human heart. It is a battle by the kingdom of the world to overcome the Kingdom of God that has planted itself in enemy held territory. This war is an attempt by the State to defeat the Kingdom of God and force it to bow to the Prince of this world.

Our response to enemies is not to kill them. Our response is the same as Jesus' response, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" A Christian response to the nations would be prayer. A Christian response is to love all sides. It is to send a missionaries to Afghanistan instead of youth with guns. It is to continue to feed the poor. Christian responses there are to stand as human shields against American bombs that might fall on starving Afghani's. It is to tell America the truth about it's foreign policy, and to call Americans to look at the sins we are involved in. A Christian response is to love both US leaders AND Afghanistan leaders.

I hope this essay helps put events in a new perspective. May the faithful stand firm knowing that God is not mocked, that there is no other God than the God of Jesus Christ. He has given us life abundant. We should not trade it in for hatred.
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Andrew Baker currently works with the mentally disabled in New York City. He is a Mennonite and is active in his local congregation. He has a BA in theology from Wheaton College and is currently considering seminary studies.