Q. I know that throughout the Old Testament war seemed to be popular. Does God punish evil national leaders? Does God advocate war now? Specifically war in Iraq?

We are not sure "war was popular" in the Old Testament , but there seems to be many times when God did use Israel's enemies in a war to punish Israel because they had lapsed into idolatry and committed many sins. And God sometimes punished her enemies by war, because they abused Israel. The Amalekites were totally wiped out for this reason.

1 Chron 4:43 "They destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have lived there to this day."

War was not "popular" with God then -- or today.

The New Testament says we are to obey our leaders.

Let's read Romans 13 together.

1 Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2 Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.

Paul is trying to get us to see that while we serve a higher calling, nevertheless, those who serve as our national leaders are put there BY God for our good -- and to punish us. Therefore they are His servants.

But throughout the Old Testament God delivered Israel from her enemies as long as they were true to Him and did what he commanded. The minute they neglected His commands, they were placed into captivity or suffered excessive punishments, including death of whole families.

Why?

Because men turned to their worldly logic and served gods of selfishness and greed other than serving the True God.

David L. Roper in his new and exciting Commentary on Revelation makes this comment about war in chapter 6:5-6...

“An inevitable consequence of war is economic hardship. Those who have lived in countries ravaged by war can testify to the truthfulness of this statement. Of course, if the war is being fought elsewhere, the economy of a nation may be temporarily improved with a handful of people becoming wealthy. Ultimately, however, war diverts money, time and effort away from solving a nation’s internal problems – and the nation suffers.” Truth for Today Commentary, page 249

If you know the New Testament scriptures, you probably know that Solomon is NOT listed as one of the faithful men in Hebrews 11.

Why?

Because Solomon forgot his allegiance to his God and allowed his many wives to let him introduce false gods into his nation’s way of life. We always quote Proverbs and say the wise man wrote them. But if Solomon was so wise, how come he is not listed in Hebrews 11?

The answer is he forgot God was on his side.

We know where you live with this problem. Yes, the government, of which we are free to disagree, nevertheless is a minister of our God for our good. And if that government declares war to keep from having a total disaster in the world, then it may cost lives today. However, if that was not why our government declared war and it turns out to have been for personal reasons or to gain wealth, God will see we pay the price in lives and perhaps in our freedom.

In every military service, men have the option to serve as conscientious objectors. That means if a person declares themselves to be one, they can serve and get all of the benefits while in the service and afterward, and they never have to carry a gun or kill anyone. They may even serve as a Chaplain and preach the Word to the troops.

Killing the enemy in war is not murder. God, time and again, instructed the Jews to kill not only the soldiers they battled, but when they took over a land, to kill every man woman and child to rid the land of sinful heathens.

Look at this description in Joshua 10 where God instructed such slaughters:

30 And the LORD gave it also with its king into the hands of Israel, and he struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor in it. Thus he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho.
31 And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish, and they camped by it and fought against it.
32 And the LORD gave Lachish into the hands of Israel; and he captured it on the second day, and struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah.
33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua defeated him and his people until he had left him no survivor.
34 And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it.
35 And they captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; and he utterly destroyed that day every person who was in it, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
36 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it.
37 And they captured it and struck it and its king and all its cities and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eglon. And he utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it.
38 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Debir, and they fought against it.
39 And he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had also done to Libnah and its king.

Five times God told the Jews to utterly kill every person and leave no survivors, just in these few scriptures. And there were other times.

Was God promoting murder?

No, He was protecting His people.

So protecting one's family by killing someone who threatens them is justifiable and men are exonerated in our courts every day for doing that.

God spells out when it is murder and when it is justifiable killing and He never mixes the two as unjustified.

We know everyone's anxiety, and it is a frightening thing to contemplate going to war, but God must protect our nation because we seem to be the last vestige of any hope for peace.

We do have a grave concern when some religious church leaders say we are to go to war because "God told them to do it". We do not believe them, and the scriptures indicate they are liars.

In lesson 2 of my study of Demons, are these scriptures about men who predict the future for a price ---

Ezek 13:1 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, Prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, 'Listen to the word of the LORD! 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. "O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. "You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the LORD. "They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, 'The LORD declares,' when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. "Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, 'The LORD declares,' but it is not I who have spoken?”

The Prophet Micah said in 3:6 “Therefore it will be night for you – without vision, And darkness for you--without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, And the day will become dark over them. The seers will be ashamed And the diviners will be embarrassed. Indeed, they will all cover their mouths Because there is no answer from God.... Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests instruct for a price And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD saying, "Is not the LORD in our midst? Calamity will not come upon us."

Zech 10:1 adds “Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain the LORD who makes the storm clouds; And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man. For the teraphim speak iniquity, And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.”

Unfortunately, our own nation is getting so sinful in nature, that there may come a time when God has to providentially cause other nations to come and destroy us.