WHY WARS?

--by David Brandt Berg, January 1978

US Army fighting the Arabs for oil while Israel smiles

(After watching an old silent film on WW1:)

MY GOD, WHAT A TRAVESTY, WHAT A HORROR!--Why should the children go and die for their parents? It'd be better for the parents to die for the children! It shows the parents don't love those boys, don't love the children, or they'd never send them to war. War is Hell!

(MARIA: WHAT ARE THEY DOING IT FOR?--JUST OUT OF PRIDE?) YES, PRIDE and GREED! (Ja.4:1) Their parents tell them it's for freedom: "So we won't be oppressed and enslaved by the enemy! Blah blah!" Isn't that a joke? How more oppressed and enslaved could you be than to have them send you into the Hell of war? It's the worst oppression and enslavement possible--almost sure death!

BETTER TO BE A SLAVE!--THAT WAS THE BIBLE PHILOSOPHY! When God sent their enemies to punish them for their sins, He told them it was better to yield to the hand of the enemy, to take their yoke upon them and become slaves, than to die. Jeremiah said, "Why will ye die, O Jerusalem? Submit yourselves under the yoke of the King of Babylon and live!" (Jer.27:8-13)

IT'S ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE THAT MEN COULD CONCEIVE OF ANYTHING AS HORRIBLE AS WAR AT ALL, much less a nuclear war, literally knowing that they're contriving the deaths of millions--not just soldiers--but everybody!--Men, women, children, old folks!--Horrors! They "cause their children to pass through the fire", the Lord says. (Lev.18:21; Deut.18:10; 2Kg.17:17)

HOW MANY OF THE SOLDIERS WHO ARE SENT INTO BATTLE ARE TO BLAME FOR THE WAR?--It's their parents who are to blame, the politicians, militarists and greedy rich. How horrible! But I think this younger generation is fed up with war. They've seen the horrors! Some of them have been through the horror of Vietnam and whatnot. I think they're just going to flatly refuse to fight, flatly refuse to go to war!

WHY SHOULD THEY SUFFER? WHY SHOULD THEY DIE? I mean, they'd be better off being the children of slaves. After all, if God sent a power that's stronger than your power, He must have done it for a purpose, probably to punish your nation for its sins, like He did in the Bible.

HE SAYS, SUBMIT TO THE POWER". (Ro.13:1-8) And who's the power?--The most powerful, right? Besides, the plight of the poor isn't much different from one oppressor to the other, their own government or the so-called enemy!

MY GOD, HOW MANY WARS HAVE BEEN FOUGHT IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM?--Freedom from one enslavement to another! Americans are slaves too, total slaves of their government. Taxes and burdens are so heavy that they're working totally for the government half the time just to pay their taxes! So what's the difference between American slaves or Russian slaves or any of them? We're all slaves!--Whose slave are you?

IT'S SO RIDICULOUS TO SAY IT'S BETTER TO HAVE WAR, suffer the Hell and to bring Hell and torment and torture and misery and agony and suffering on people who weren't even responsible for it!--And to say that there's an excuse for that--to save the World for democracy, freedom! What kind of freedom did they get out of it last time? The World now lives in terror of being destroyed any minute.--That's freedom?

IT'S A TYPE OF INSANITY, THIS WAR-CRAZE! I really think it's insanity inspired by the Devil, that they'd actually rather throw their countries into war and self-destruction in their pride and their greed, than submit. And of course it's God's way of punishing the people for their sins, punishing nations for their wickedness and sinfulness and rebellion and rejection of Him, and unmercifulness and atrocities and crimes against the poor.

THANK GOD, MOST OF THE POOR USUALLY ESCAPE!--They live too far back in the hills and they don't have anything anybody wants. But under the latest system they draft the sons of the poor to fight their wars. What's that but forced labour?--Of the worst kind! Boy, I tell you, when I was in the Army it was almost unbelievable! I thought, "My God, what slavery!" You live in a slave camp and you can't do a thing on your own, you're under total orders to be a total slave day and night!

SLAVERY?--YOU TALK ABOUT SLAVERY?--THERE'S NO WORSE SLAVERY HARDLY THAN THE ARMY! It's so ridiculous to say, "You're fighting for freedom, Boys, so now be good slaves and fight for our freedom!" It's the same in every country, in every government. They're all cruel systems and horrors, but they're still better than war!

I THINK THOSE KIDS BACK IN THE STATES OUGHT TO JUST FLATLY REFUSE TO BE DRAFTED! The smartest thing they could do is leave the country, like we and our kids did. We left it, got out of it! Otherwise there were plenty of guys who preferred to go to jail than to be drafted. Well, jail is just about like the Army. An Army camp is a prison camp--they're prisoners!

WHEN I WAS IN THE ARMY, IF YOU WERE A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO FLATLY REFUSED TO FIGHT or bear arms or anything, they sent you to what amounted to a slave camp or made you a hospital slave or reforestation slave! But it's better than war!--It's better than the Hell of the battlefront and the killing and the torture and the destruction and the mutilation.--And being guilty of these things yourself!

I TOLD THOSE OFFICERS, "I'M NOT GOING TO FIGHT and KILL PEOPLE!--I've got nothing against the Japanese, why should I fight them? Why should I want to kill them? I want to go preach'm the Gospel, get'm saved! I love'm! I'm supposed to love my enemies, why should I want to kill them?"--They got so furious at me!

OH, IT'S SUCH HIGH-POWERED POLITICS and PRIDE OF THE LOFTY ONES! WARS ARE NOT MADE BY THE POOR, JUST THE RICH!--"From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members!--Put away thy sword: For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword! But blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!--And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God!" (Ja.4:1; Mt.26:52; Mt.5:3,9)

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- Faith
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- Success with People
- The Future
- Marriage
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