me for turning to James 4, and they'll try to say, "Pastor Anderson, James 4 is irrelevant
to a discussion about warfare."
But I'm sorry, you're wrong.
You see, James 4, yes, it is covering warfare that takes place within our body and an internal
struggle that we all face.
And yes, it is also talking about the "warfare" between us and other people, even in a church
or on the job where people fight in war with one another.
But to say that this scripture is not applicable to warfare out on a battlefield is just silly
because obviously the principle found in James 4 on a micro level within our own body or
on the interpersonal level with other people that we run into or meet also applies on a
macro level where we're talking about nations at war.
The same battle that's going on inside of my body is the same battle that's going on
between you and me and it's the same battle that goes out on a battlefield between nations.
People are people and this scripture is not just talking about interpersonal relationships.
It is also talking about warfare which is why it even uses the word kill.
You don't usually kill people that you're having problems with at church for example.
You get in a fight with somebody at church and it's like alright meet me out in the parking
lot.
You choose the weapons and we're going to kill each other.
Now that could happen, I'm sure that's happened before but I think that it's silly to just
want to throw out this scripture and say oh this doesn't apply.
Okay then take me to some New Testament scripture and teach me about God's teaching on warfare.
This is a great place to start when we want to talk about the rationale behind warfare
because it even talks about fighting and war and killing.
Let's read it together.
It says in verse one, "From whence come wars and fighting among you?
Come they not hence even of your lust that warren your members?
Ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight in war yet
ye have not because ye ask not.
Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lust."
And I think it would be very foolish indeed to not apply this scripture to warfare.
And if you want to know the motivation behind the warfare that is constantly going on in
our world today, every single day, this is the answer right here.
There's a war going on.
You say, "Well, are we at war right now?"
First of all, I can never really even figure out whether the United States is at war anymore
because technically, the last time the United States was at war, we were at war with Germany
and Japan.
You say, "Well, Pastor Anderson, you're insane.
There's been all these wars since then."
No, the last time the United States declared war on anybody, it was Germany and Japan.
Does anybody want to contradict that?
I mean, can anybody tell me what nation we have declared war on since 1945, out of all
the people here?
Yeah, we've declared war on Americans.
But anyway, the bottom line is that in our constitution, it is stated that Congress has
the power to declare war.
So it has to be a vote by our duly elected representatives in Congress that get changed
out every two years in the one house and every six years in the other house.
That is where a declaration of war has to come from.
But since our government wants to just go to war without the people's consent whenever
they want, they just fight against enemies, but they just don't declare war.
So it's this weird loophole where basically they go fight wars, but they just don't declare
war so they don't have to ask Congress.
So they can invade Iraq, they can invade whatever countries they want, they can invade Afghanistan,
they can invade whatever, Libya, whatever's going on, because it's just, well, the president
just sent troops in.
It's like, when did the president get that power?
That power was never, you say, "Well, the president's the commander in chief of the
armed forces."
Right, that means that when we're at war, he commands the troops.
It doesn't mean that he should have the power to send troops into a war.
No, Congress has the power to declare war.
Yeah, but we just didn't declare war.
I mean, that's so stupid, isn't it?
It'd be like if I said, "Hey, kids, you cannot eat dinner until you've done your chores first.
Then you can eat dinner."
And then they just sit down and do a great meal of chicken and mashed potatoes and corn.
And they say, "Dad, this isn't dinner.
This is supper."
Or, "This is a really late lunch."
Or, "It's a really early breakfast."
You know, what?
It doesn't make any sense, does it?
But that's the kind of hypocrisy that we have going on today with these undeclared wars.
Well, you know, we just didn't declare war.
Look, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, when you're sending troops in and
blowing things up, that's a war.