Fighting Against God's Plan (3)

Some Christians have more faith in military power than in the power of the spirit and the victory of the cross. Despite Jesus amazing victory on the cross and the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, they expect the gospel to be unsuccessful. Reaching the Moslem world with the gospel is too hard.

Yet the same Christians believe that military power can preserve peace. The marines could bring Syria under control, quite easily.

This faith in military power is wrong. Military power always fails, because it releases the powers of evil. War releases a spirit of violence, which undermines the kingdom.

When we respond to evil with violence and war, we stir up more anger, which grieves the Holy Spirit and releases the powers of evil. Spirits of anger and hatred get control of the people that we resist. Military power cannot defeat evil.

• When we rely on military power, the Holy Spirit flees.
• When we use coercion against evil, he is squeezed out.
• Whenever we resist evil with force, spirits of anger and hatred are empowered.

The Kingdom of God cannot be established by war, because as soon as war starts, the Holy Spirit has to withdraw. This creates a spiritual vacuum, which allows the principalities and powers to move in. War always makes a situation worse, even if the cause appears to be good. The forces of evil gain a stronghold on those who participate in the fighting, which allows them to steal the victory.

Christians with faith in military power tend to believe the following statements.

• We must resist evil, or be overcome by evil.
• Violence must be destroyed, before it destroys us.
• We must defend our way of life, or be forced to surrender our faith.
• We must use force against those who hate the gospel, or it might be lost.
• We must defeat those who want to harm us, before they destroy us.

At the physical level, these statements appear to be true, but at the spiritual level, they are wrong. Violent people often harm good people. Evil nations sometimes invade peaceful nations. However, when we use force to defend our way of life, we may gain a temporary victory, but the Holy Spirit pulls back and the Kingdom of God goes into retreat.