It is also on the focus on the family web site. I urge you all to listen or read it for yourself.

Also, I think the sermon was a good one, but it suffered from some internal inconsistencies, a hazard encountered by almost anyone who would undertake a sermon or speech on this kind of issue. (I certainly don’t blame Adam for trying.) Particularly inconsistent was the comparison of the defense budget numbers with the humanitarian or foreign aid numbers. I remember studying those numbers thoroughly in college after hearing similarly inappropriate or naive comparisons. To use Adam’s words, the numbers he used are not “black and white”; there’s a lot of “gray” in them. The comparison was a poor one.

This was an excellent sermon and I really feel people were blessed by it. Thankyou for allowing the Holy Spirit working through you in giving this message.

I would like to say something about the idea that God has “withdrawn the protective cover from the USA” as another poster mentioned. Although I was brought up in a strict fundamentalist sect, it was one that did not teach that God actively intervened on the behalf of one nation over another, nor saw a country like the USA as more righteous or worthy of protection than, say, Guatemala (a poor Catholic country.) I believe this idea of a “protective cover” comes from a strain in the evangelical movement called dominionism (I am told it comes specifically from one Bill Gothard) and as my upbringing attests, dominionism or Gothardism is not the only way to be a fundamentalist or strict or pro-life or born-again. This view is getting more and more popular but I wish more in the mainstream would discuss it out in the open. So many people seem to believe this. Does God really hold one nation up to protect it because of its founding principles and is one nation really more “righteous” than another just because it is powerful, wealthy, and has great ideals about freedom? Or can it be that a poor nation is just as Christian and has just as many righteous people? If Guatemala loses a war or becomes more poor because some multinational company comes in and exploits their natural resources, does that mean God has “withdrawn His protective cover” from Guatemala? I think America has many righteous people and so does, say, Guatemala. I am reminded of the story of Sodom and God told Abraham (or was it Lot?) he would not destroy Sodom if he could find one righteous man. I think that story teaches that God looks at individuals not at nations as if they were entities.

I am pro-life but I do not think God has “withdrawn His protective cover” of the USA because many people get abortions, any more than God would withdraw it because many people shop till they drop and have road rage.

I was a fledgling Christian when the war began, but as my faith deepened I looked to Christ’s words for an answer. He told people to respect soldiers. He himself showed no animosity toward the Roman centurion; he healed the servant of the centurion. Just now it occurred to me that Christ might have had such respect for him, because he cared even about his servant – a rare quality in Romans. Regardless, Christ never attacked soldiers,” enemy” soldiers, and never condoned violence toward them, or even protests. At this time, this confused me. I knew much more about Roman history than I knew about Jewish history, and I knew that the Roman emperors were boundless in thier cruelty and sadism. Not only that, even the Judeans and the Disciples themselves seemed to be confused by his seeming complacency with the tyranny.

The possible answer, for me, was not found in the New Testament, or anywhere in the Bible. However, a non-Christian Jewish historian and Roman Historians explain a little. In short, in AD 66, after the Roman Emperor having put his own image in the temple of God, demanding prayers and sacrifices to himself, and after blasphemy upon blasphemy against God and heavy burden upon Jews (if you want to know more, I used Wikipedia, under First Jewish-Roman War to check my facts) , the Judeans began an armed revolt ending in over a million deaths, enslavement , destruction of the temple and permanent separation from the Land of Milk and Honey that God had promised them. No wonder Christ wept for Jerusalem. He knew where the path they were taking would lead to.

I am not trying to make any point about the circumstances in the world is in today, except that we all need to be very careful, very sure about our actions. What the people of that generation long ago had hoped would lead to freedom, and, very possibly, the Kingdom of God where the lion and lamb would lie down together with a child, presumably the Messiah, to lead them, instead ended in massacre, humiliation and permanent separation from “the dwelling place of God.” Christ had warned them and been called a fool, gained too large following and had been called an enemy of God and Jerusalem.

If I had had this understanding before the war, I would have opposed it. I think Christ never gave guidelines for when a war was just, because he wanted us to consider every option before jumping to the conclusion that killing is the only answer. Today, unfortunately, we have no choice and, with all the chaos in Iraq and the distrust in America around the world, the situation is very gray. We need leaders who don’t focus on dividing the country, who will swallow their pride and begin to work together. Just as much, we need the world on our side again. Again, we will have to swallow our pride, but the respect gained would be much better than the respect sacrificed. Most of all, we Christians, need faith in Christ – not in our world leaders-for they will fail, not in our church leaders - for they will fail, not in our college professors, wives, best friends. And least of all in ourselves! Because we all will fail over and over again! God was not made in our image, be we are to make ourselves in His. If Christ was foolish to say, “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” then what I am about to say is foolish. But I believe Christ was God in flesh. Therefore, I don’t know the path, but I know the destination. America and the entire world need peace. We don’t need war strategies, but peace strategies. We don’t need to ask how long will these wars last? But how soon until we find peace? We need to stop asking how many people in the world are our enemies and ask how many will be our friends. Not who should we forgive? But who will forgive us? And most of all not, “Will God forgive them?” But instead, “Will God forgive us?”

“I am no prophet, nor was meant to be…(TS Eliot):-))” I am no better than, and probably worse than at least half the members at COR. No one is worthy to say, “I am righteous,” but that doesn’t make one unworthy to seek righteousness. :-))

I have not put this forth to debunk anyone else’s opinion. I simply wished to state mine.
I know that Adam asked us to keep these statements brief, and I meant to…! The problem is that when you are “seeing gray,” more explanation is need than if you were making a statement in black or white. Enough said! I’m only adding more words Ur… I’ll just make fewer comments with more words maybe…anyway…:-)

May Christ unite us all in His name.

Thank you for your service to our country, and for the freedom that I have due to men and women like you.

What would Jesus say? I have no idea, but he would not be happy with our degrading society.