America has also polluted the world through her sales of armament and weapons of war. Although other countries also sell arms, the USA has had the biggest share in sales of military equipment and weapons of death and destruction. Researcher Michael Klare writes
International weapons sales have proved to be a thriving global business in economically tough times. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), such sales reached an impressive $85 billion in 2011, nearly double the figure for 2010. Arms sales have always served multiple functions. Valuable trade commodities, weapons can prove immensely lucrative for companies that specialize in making such products. Between 2008 and 2011, for example, U.S. firms sold $146 billion worth of military hardware to foreign countries, according to the latest CRS figures.[1]
A New York Times article from October 2013 says,
According to IHS Jane’s, an industry consulting and analysis company, the total global arms trade revenue in 2012 was estimated to be $73.5 billion, and the United States had a 39 percent share.[2]
That’s around 18.4 billion in arms sales. In either case arms sales are big business.
Revelations says, "And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”[3]
President and former General Dwight E. Eisenhower warned of the danger of the Military Industrial Complex back in the beginning of the 1960s. He predicted that the Military Industrial Complex would continue to encroach on the power of the government. In his farewell speech in 1961 he said the following:
We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.[4]
In talking about the waste caused by excessive military spending, Eisenhower, a military man himself, said the following:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, (and) the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 (in) population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. (No), this is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.[5]
In spite of Eisenhower’s warning, the cost of America’s military spending continues to increase every year with approximately fifty percent of the Federal Budget going to military spending. I am reminded of the verses in Genesis,
And God saw that wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.[6]
War is big business and the bankers know it. They make their greatest profits from it and the national debts they incur. Surely our excessive military budget and spending grieves God in his heart. Like Brigadier General Smedley Butler said,
War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.[7]
Right now as I am writing this war is taking place in both Ukraine and Gaza. How many times will we fight wars to end all wars or wars to make it safe for democracy? When I was faced with the prospect of war as a youth, it was the words from the New Testament that spoke to me and which I could not remove from my consciousness. The Beatitudes assured me that the war machine would not get the blessing.
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.[8]
Jesus goes on to say,
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.[9]
When Peter wants to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, Jesus tells him,
52Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.[10]
James goes on to write that it is the lust for power and possessions that causes wars.
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, …3 …, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.[11]
It seems to me that the whole world is groaning for deliverance from man’s incessant wars. We used to sing “Give Peace a Chance.”[12] But it seems the world has almost given up on peace and the expectation of peace. Israel invades Gaza resulting in hundreds of innocent deaths and all we hear is Hamas is using civilians as human shields. When will it stop?
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?[13]
I will need to add a comment here as the situation in Iraq and Syria has recently deteriorated with ISIS’s killing of American and British journalist/photographers kidnapped or captured in the Middle East. We need to remember that ISIS was a creation of America’s military policy in Syria and Libya. We need to also remember that the hatred that is manifested against American and Britain is the result of our military and political position in the Middle East for the last 50 years.
We have sowed death and destruction to support Israel’s right for existence. We have rejected Christ’s commandment to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations teaching the ways of peace and brotherly love. We have given up our duty to share His message of love to all men. Instead we have fed the world from Hollywood’s froth and filth. We have submitted our Godly convictions to those of the bankers and military men and politicians who together in the bed of war make their living. We will reap what we have sowed.
Today’s terrorist could be tomorrow’s political leader. Menachem Begin was a terrorist in the Irgun organization that killed British mandated troops in Palestine before the 1948 declaration of independence.[14] George Washington led guerilla warfare against traditional British troops to later become President of a new nation. Gerry Adams of IRA’s Sinn Féin later became member of Ireland’s Parliament and the British House of Commons. Mario Soares in Portugal was a long time political activists frequently arrested and detained by the secret police. He was twice sentenced to live abroad but eventually became both Prime Minister and President of Portugal. We have all heard of South Africa's Nelson Mandela.
We cannot hold back the winds of change. But we can influence them for good as much as possible. We can use dialogue, reasoning, and diplomacy in as many ways that are possible. The voice of the poor and downtrodden whether they are Arab, Asian or African must be heard. We can and will use force to protect our own like Sergeant York so showed.[15] But it will be tempered with love and mercy.
But remember, in the world where might makes right, God’s people will always be marginalized, persecuted or maligned. Nevertheless, we must try to influence, as much as we can, worldly men to make Godly decisions. We may be called cowards or communist sympathizers because of it. But ultimately, we are called by our committed Christian conscience to speak the truth to our neighbor.[16] Our hope is that he too will come to know and love Him that is the creator of the universe and our God, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ![17]
Footnotes:
[1] Michael Klare, Do Arms Sales by Major Powers Signal a Move to a 21st Century Cold (Or Hot) War?, Tom Dispatch, May 30, 2013
[2] Edward Wong and Nicola Clark, China's Arms Industry Makes Global Inroads, NY Times, October 20, 2013
[3] Revelation 18:24
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg-jvHynP9Y
[5] http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/all_about_ike/speeches/chance_for_peace.pdf
[6] Genesis 6:5-6
[7] Smedly Butler, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/smedley_butler.html
[8] Matthew 5:3-12
[9] Matthew 5:38-48
[10] Matthew 26:52
[11] James 4:1-3
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhyiqGIJQus
[13] Revelation 6:10
[14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Begin
[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York
[16] Zechariah 8:16
[17] Isaiah 9:6
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