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America First - No More Endless Wars (Part 3)
52 Plays27 days ago
In Part 3 of our America First miniseries, Paul and Dustin discuss the issue of war, and the America First position of No More Pointless or Endless Wars.
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Transcript
Introduction and Disclaimer
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome into the Answering Pilot podcast. We actually wanted to record just a little, I guess you'd call it a disclaimer at this point before you watch this episode. This episode is going to be about war and the Christian view of that, more or less.
00:00:16
Speaker
And obviously, we know that the ongoing... world situation. We are involved in a conflict with Iran and this episode was prerecorded.
00:00:26
Speaker
We know that so there's some peace talks going on. We don't know if the war is going to be over by the time this episode airs or not. But as we talked about before, these principles are still true regardless of what the current actual situation is.
00:00:41
Speaker
Yep. Looking forward to talking about it to regardless of what's happening. We're praying for peace though, for sure. Absolutely. Thanks.
MAGA Principles: America First and Cultural Values
00:01:03
Speaker
Welcome in again to Answering Pilot, Dustin. Glad you're here. Glad to be back. Yep, same. And um we've been talking about some of these principles of MAGA, Make America Great Again. Yeah.
00:01:15
Speaker
And um I think we touched on America first, and then we touched on the issue of immigration, particularly illegal immigration and mass migration and how it yeah Again, we you know the the gospel breaks down all barriers. We want all people to be saved, but at the same time, when you have mass migration, it changes the culture, which changes part of culture's values for one thing. So I don't want to go down that road again, just saying we've talked about that. And today we're going to talk about no more endless or pointless wars.
00:01:50
Speaker
okay But with reference to America first, I was thinking... um Just while we were talking before we cut the microphones on, um yeah there's there's a major divide, as you know, between now those who would call themselves America first and those who would simply continue to call themselves MAGA.
Christianity's Influence on Culture and Politics
00:02:11
Speaker
And again, our loyalties are ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ, how we see culture through the lens of Scripture, how we see politics through the lens of Scripture. we We believe the Bible speaks to every issue, every area of life.
00:02:25
Speaker
um Not one square inch of this universe, it does not belong to the Lord Jesus. right um Abraham Kuyper was famous for talking about you know Jesus saying, every square inch of the universe is mine. right Anyway, i don't want to get bogged down in all of that.
00:02:39
Speaker
But there is a divide, the America first versus the MAGA. And if you think about it, interesting it's interesting to me, um grievous in a sense, but it's it's divided really between those who are boomers and those who are not.
00:02:55
Speaker
yeah I'm a boomer. Now, I'm not on the MAGA side at this point, just full disclosure. Sure. um um i don't I don't think that you are. if i but But again, want to put words in your mouth. You can speak for yourself. Definitely not. Yeah.
00:03:08
Speaker
And part of it is the president has essentially broken all the promises that he campaigned on.
Critique of Wars and Foreign Influence
00:03:15
Speaker
And we're in we're in another endless war, which is what made me think about it. Right. A pointless war.
00:03:22
Speaker
um In fact, this is just a war of of our own aggression. According to Marco Rubio, yeah you know, we wouldn't be in this war if it weren't for Israel and preemptive strike.
00:03:33
Speaker
Yeah, ah ah which is a pretty jarring statement in in and of itself that we're taking our orders from another a sovereign nation. Yeah. um And it just seems like the...
00:03:47
Speaker
There is more damage being done to the interests of our nation through this war than any benefit that supposedly might be being gained. Yeah, yeah.
00:03:59
Speaker
It's really tragic. And then, of course, and we're going to talk about war, but again, just still thinking about the larger... picture here, um again, like i said, I'm a boomer. Boomers, 1946 to 1964. That's the birth years. i was born in 64, so I just skated in. Right.
00:04:16
Speaker
But I don't identify as a boomer. I'm just... I don't
Economic Challenges for Younger Generations
00:04:23
Speaker
use that language. identify as Gen Z. as ah Yeah, I identify as Gen Z. Yeah, absolutely. But no, I freely admit I'm 62 years old, but I'm with the younger crowd on this because, number one, what we just said, president's going back on all the campaign promises. We're seeing catastrophic results, loss of life. It's tragic, particularly if you're a Christian.
00:04:45
Speaker
Unnecessary loss of life. Now they're trying to get a deal um just just to get back to where we were before we started the war. Right. I mean, that... That's the best we can hope for, and I'm not even sure we're going that.
00:04:55
Speaker
In fact, I'm i'm not sure. every Every time the president um talks about a ceasefire, you know, two, three days later, oh, nope, ceasefire, no ceasefire. Just kidding. Just kidding. Yeah, that's it, as they say, JK. But um so we've we've we've got all this going on, but Again, i recognize not only the the issue of war, which we're coming to, but just it's destructive of the the world's economy. It's destructive of our economy. right um And again, if we don't get out quick, and things are only going to get worse. i'm I'm not a doomsday prophet, but if you can't read the writing on the wall, I you know i don't know what to say. right But tom with reference to what we were talking about,
00:05:40
Speaker
we're We're essentially making it next to impossible for young people in this country. And it's not just what President Trump is doing. I mean, this has been going on for a long, long, long, long time. Right.
00:05:52
Speaker
And that's why the president was so popular among Gen Z. You mentioned Gen Z. Younger voters. But now they see um he's all about himself.
00:06:03
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That was the message that resonated was, you know, you said the divide is between America first and MAGA on the right side, I guess, as you would say.
00:06:16
Speaker
But that was and during the campaign. Those who would consider themselves America first. all of the things that Trump was saying, and even in his original campaign, uh, the reason that so many people did vote for him is these things that he, he was saying during the campaign sounded America first. Yes. It was not getting into pointless and endless wars.
00:06:40
Speaker
Um, it was all of our policies, not bowing to the rest of the world, but doing things that benefit, uh, uh america first um and really like you said this divide that's that's coming to place has pretty much become it's it's become a cult of personality because maga essentially now is just whatever trump says or does is right yeah and it's good and he's got a reason for it and he knows what he's doing and it's going to be great it's going to be wonderful you know
00:07:16
Speaker
Yeah. But those who truly are America first are realizing that he's really no different than pretty much any other politician that we've ever had, where they say what they need to say in order to get the votes, in order to get put in place. And then they go back on their promises and the things that they do totally go against what we voted for. Yeah, that's right.
00:07:37
Speaker
And I guess, again, the the reason I was thinking about it again, just but again, generationally, it's it's it's a shame because the folk in my generation, the boomers, like you say, whatever the president says, that's gold, that's law, which is bizarre to me. We're supposed to be thinkers, especially
Stock Market and Wealth Inequality
00:07:54
Speaker
Christians. We're supposed to be able to have some discernment and whatever whatever he puts out, but they can't see, um again, the economic issues, the young people.
00:08:06
Speaker
um The average age for a first-time homebuyer now is, I think the national average is 40. Wow. And it wasn't that long ago when it was like 22. um And again, when you're thinking about the stock market.
00:08:21
Speaker
ah It seems that the president and a lot of boomers, they measure economic ah well-being, ah national economic well-being in terms of how high the stock market goes. you hear the president talk about that. Okay, it's going higher and higher.
00:08:34
Speaker
But the stock market and and the way it's being manipulated by the billionaire class, I mean, that's just a fact that, by the way, I've been in the stock market, been out of stock market, long-term stuff, day trade. Oh, I'm no expert.
00:08:48
Speaker
I'm an expert at losing money, so I can give you advice on that. but But the reality is it's designed ah for the billionaires to take money from those who are not billionaires. And I'm not talking about class warfare. I'm not saying, hey, let's go tax the rich in order to pay the listen.
00:09:06
Speaker
If you make money legitimately, you know good on you. but um The point is the stock market is being manipulated, wealth transfer, all all of the psyops, all of the fake pandemics, you know the the foreign wars, it's wealth transfer. We're lining the pockets of the military industrial complex, the military contractors and all the rest.
00:09:27
Speaker
um but again i lose my train of thought i'm so sorry um where's the oh stock market the young people all they see the stock market going going going going going um but their salaries their income is not um rising at a commensurate level sure and so 40 years ago, you could put X number of dollars in the stock market and it would grow to a nice little nest egg by the time you you retired.
00:09:55
Speaker
And now it's impossible. So I don't have numbers in my head. I'm not an
Relevance of the Gospel in Life and Politics
00:10:01
Speaker
economic expert. I do read enough to be aware of these types of things.
00:10:06
Speaker
And again, that i want to bring this back because I'm rambling. Please forgive me. I want to bring it back to Christ because Again, we said, you said that um the gospel, the word of God, it it has bearing on every issue of life, whether politics, economics, what's happening in our culture, war, et cetera.
00:10:29
Speaker
And so ah we're not just here ranting you know on a political rant. we're We're not just here, you know, trying to, oh, me too, me too. We want to try to bring a biblical worldview to bear on these issues. So I want to bring that back and and reiterate that.
00:10:47
Speaker
Yeah, our focus is not Donald Trump and what he's doing right or or doing wrong. um Our focus is on Christ. Yeah. And how do we exist as Christians, as believers in the world that we find ourselves in, um in such a way that we put the gospel on display that we can hopefully advance the gospel and advance biblical worldview so that it has an effect on our culture and on our world. Yeah. But we have to do so in the context we find ourselves in. So that's why these things are part of the conversation. That's it, that's it. We're applying it to that context. so One of the things that we we learn in preaching class, um if you're gonna exposit scripture, where so I guess, yeah, expository preaching or hermeneutics, but yeah you you you you got it you got a biblical text, that's our authority. And then you got, like you just said, the context we live in. right
00:11:40
Speaker
And so I think it was John R. W. Stott who talked about the hermeneutical arch. You can start in the Bible and get to our context, or you can start in our context get to the Bible. But either way, you've got to cross that bridge. And he called it the hermeneutical bridge or the hermeneutical arch. you know but You can begin in in Jerusalem and end in America or begin in America and end Jerusalem.
00:12:00
Speaker
Again, I'm speaking preaching, so that's what we're trying to do here. you know When I preach, I usually start with the the text. On this podcast, we're starting with where we're at. right And we're trying to bring it back to the text because that's our authority.
00:12:13
Speaker
right. Well, I could you to you, too, unless you want to say something else. We need to get to this issue
Trump's Campaign Promises vs. Actions
00:12:18
Speaker
of war. Yeah, let's go ahead. OK, because I could just keep I could just keep rambling. OK, so this is like the third major plank of what the president ran on um and why everybody this last time around. There was a I think there was a massive spirit of optimism. ah You had young people, old people.
00:12:35
Speaker
you You had white people, black people. yeah Lots of people yeah voting for President Trump. and Wow. and ah As Christians, we've always... um How do you say it? It's like, okay, well, we know his character, and so you've always said, okay, well, is he going to betray us or not? Maybe we didn't say that out loud as much as we should, because we're hoping for the best.
00:12:59
Speaker
We know his his morals are not where where they need to be. nether Another side issue. Sorry, every time I get... You got some Christian leaders talking about Trump. Didn't we talk about this? He's a baby Christian. and Yeah. I mean, brother.
00:13:12
Speaker
No. No, no, no, no. he's He's not a Christian. I wish you were. I pray for his salvation. Every day. But yeah, he's a pagan. Anyway, he's all about him. and And again, I don't have any visceral hatred for the man. No.
00:13:23
Speaker
Praying for the man. Right. Right. right. I forgot where i was going. Does matter? we did for Joe Biden. Well, yeah. Prayed for him every day. Prayed for Joe Biden. That's right. Yeah. um I don't remember where I was going either.
00:13:35
Speaker
That's okay. um That's probably a sign we should move along. Yeah, yeah. You're not a boomer, though, are you? No, no. Okay, so your mind's not failing like mine already. Well, maybe. I mean. but All right.
00:13:47
Speaker
No more pointless. I'm not a Gen Z, so I'm far enough along. Right. Were you a millennial? I'm in that, like, forgotten generation. Oh. So i'm I'm somewhere in between a Gen X and a millennial. Oh, Gen X. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Okay. I was born 81, so it's like the tail end of Gen X and the beginning of millennial. Okay. All right. I hear you. It's the one that nobody cares about. Nobody cares.
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah. What is that? to Nate Berg gets his age? Yeah. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. All right. Sorry. Well, ah so I just, we were on my spirit of optimism. Anyway, these um America first, um the immigration issue.
00:14:26
Speaker
I forget what we called it. Oh, secure the borders. Duh. Okay. Yeah. You got to secure borders. Lots and lots of reasons. No more pointless wars. That's where we're at today. So the idea, um and and again,
00:14:38
Speaker
we We love people from all all cultures, yes right? I mean, that's the gospel, every nation, every tongue, every tribe. And we believe in the gospel spreading and and all the rest. And people are going to be one in Christ, but that's the issue. If you're not in Christ, you're not one with with Christians. Mm-hmm.
00:14:55
Speaker
And so if you're coming from an Islamic worldview, if you're coming from a Hindu worldview, you're coming from, you know, whatever kind of worldview that's not Christ, it's not Christian, you bring that worldview, you bring those values. And if you do that all at once, mass migration, that that has a massive impact.
00:15:14
Speaker
Folk that have have done more research than we have, um or at least than I have, I don't want to speak for you, ah have have talked about these things. But that you know that that causes us to segue into this whole issue of no more pointless wars.
00:15:31
Speaker
And especially um you know as a Christian, but I think on you know opposition... um We are opposed, let me put it that way, if I could just get the words out. We are opposed to what we regard as unnecessary overseas interventionist wars. Right, right.
00:15:52
Speaker
These are not wars of self-defense. and But we tell our young people, and the boomers who, they're locked into their media outlet, their news source,
00:16:05
Speaker
and it's Fox News. yeah And again, I'd watch Fox News over CNN back in the day. I haven't watched any of them in probably 10, 12 years. right I get my news from other sources.
00:16:17
Speaker
um But, you know, you're locked into, you know, what you're being fed. And and they they think it's great. um I guess that's where I was going earlier. You've you've you've got some Christian leaders who are saying, yeah, we've got to destroy Islam, and we've got to defend Israel, and of course, that's not a ah biblical dynamic.
00:16:38
Speaker
We can talk about that another show. See, we'll never get to the point if you let me lead this thing. But... um Nation building is not what we need to be involved in. Right.
00:16:51
Speaker
Interventionism is not what we need to be involved in. It costs money. It costs lives, but American lives, but also lives of others. Right. And um it's not America first, as you alluded to a moment ago.
00:17:04
Speaker
In this case, it's Israel first. In fact, all these Middle East wars are Israel first. And that's thats that's why we're there.
Unnecessary International Conflicts
00:17:12
Speaker
And so you go back our founding fathers, and they're like, don't get in unnecessary entanglements with foreign powers, and this is why. Right. And and again, this message resonated because...
00:17:23
Speaker
In the 2024 election, you know, we had just seen a a interventionist war with what eventually became a faceless enemy that lasted over two decades in Afghanistan. Yeah.
00:17:39
Speaker
That was started multiple administrations ago. But again, there was no clear objective. There was no necessarily self-defense going on there. Right.
00:17:52
Speaker
um and And in the end, I don't know that if we even ended up accomplishing what we set out to accomplish because the Taliban still exists. Right. um And then the way that our pullout was completely botched,
00:18:09
Speaker
um when biden did pull everyone out and so when trump is saying we're not going to do anything like this anymore everybody was like great let's vote for that yeah and then guess what now we're doing the same thing different country exact same thing yeah exact same thing nameless faceless enemy an unclear objective when's it going to end we don't know right how are we going to pull out it's going to be messy it's yeah yeah it's it's really tragic on so many fronts and And there again, too, again, I want Christians to be discerning.
00:18:42
Speaker
And, um you know, you you got to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. You got to be able to separate truth from fiction and propaganda.
Fear and Political Manipulation
00:18:52
Speaker
And we've been told for, gosh, most of my adult life, if not all of it, that, you know, Iran is is building a nuclear weapon. Well, every one of our intelligence agencies have been telling us for years they're not even close to a nuclear weapon. Right.
00:19:06
Speaker
We've known that since, like, what, 2003? They're not even attempting to to build a nuclear weapon. um They certainly have nuclear energy, and you need to what is it enrich uranium for that. but is is Again, I'm no expert, but there's a difference between what you do with uranium for energy versus a nuclear weapon. um But you know we're being told they're you know they're weeks away from a nuclear weapon, and if they get a nuclear weapon, then they're going to nuke is Israel.
00:19:31
Speaker
or they're going nuke us. Well, first off, I don't i don't think they can nuke us, and they certainly would have no desire. they couldn't In the same way it's been extremely difficult for us to fight a war on their territory, it would be extremely difficult for them to fight a war on our territory.
00:19:47
Speaker
And again, there are experts who have more to say about that than I do. But I'm just pleading for Christians to think, and it's fear. It's fear-mongering. Exactly.
00:19:58
Speaker
It's fear-mongering. And so everybody's like, oh, we've got to get them. And it's like, well, wait a minute. ding That's not the way of Christ, first off. And it's not reality, secondly. And thirdly, you know, an interventionist war or a preemptive strike It is not the same thing as a defensive war. Right.
Just War Theory and Its Influence
00:20:17
Speaker
And we have centuries of just war theory. And and again, we're not going to talk about just war theory per se, like line by line today, but go back to Augustine. And there are certain things that Christians have in Western civilization, that it because they've been largely influenced.
00:20:35
Speaker
ah Western civilization is the civilization is the result of Christianity, largely influenced by just war theory. And, course, the president is breaking all the rules on that, these not only preemptive strikes, but in the middle of negotiations, doing the decapitation strike to start this thing off and all this stuff.
00:20:53
Speaker
It's just so grievous. But Christians think it's great, or at least the boomer Christians, some. And it's not great. War, just to bring it back to the Christian dynamic, we'll probably talk about this war for who knows how long. I hope we don't. Hopefully not much longer. hope it ends. Yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
But from a Christian's perspective, war just evil. I mean, we know that. We know that. um And I know a lot of people may have questions. What about all that war in the Old Testament and all that? Look, the God, i wouldn't plan on talking about this. And maybe you want to address it. I just keep talking. You feel free to jump in. But God um in the Old Testament is,
00:21:35
Speaker
Old Testament is prefigurement, it's type, it's shadow. God is forming a covenant people, um which is typological. They're a type of the true covenant people of God.
00:21:46
Speaker
you've got the old covenant people, which is an earthly people, national Israel, and they're distinct from all the nations. But most of the people in Israel, most of the Israelites weren't saved, just like that wilderness generation that died in the wilderness. They were being judged for unbelief, Hebrews chapter 4. Mm-hmm.
00:22:03
Speaker
But all of that points to the true people of God, which are those Jews and Gentiles who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, of course, we're under a new covenant. We're not under that old covenant.
00:22:14
Speaker
But all the wars in in the Old Testament, well, i'm not to say all, but God's sanctioning certain wars, like going into the going to the land of Canaan. He's giving them a promised land. You've got to defeat the enemies. That's typological of Christians under the new covenant defeating sin,
00:22:31
Speaker
fighting the flesh, um defeating Satan, the Lord Jesus himself defeating sin, Satan, and death. And so under the new covenant, the the the church is to distinct from the nation and distinct from the civil government.
00:22:46
Speaker
And um the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly. They're spiritual. But it from a Christian worldview, informed by progressive revelation, because you get more revelations you go from Genesis to to Revelation, and informed by apostolic witness and apostolic teaching, we understand that we're we're not in favor of just attacking countries because we want their territory or we want their treasure. We want their their oil. Their oil. Yeah.
War and the Gospel: A Christian Perspective
00:23:16
Speaker
We're not in favor of that. Right.
00:23:18
Speaker
so So war, and this why you have just war theory that came about as a result of the people who are now born under of the new covenant thinking through. So anyway, um just war theory. soak So war is evil.
00:23:32
Speaker
If you want to comment, comment. Otherwise, I want to read a quote from Charles Spurgeon. Okay. Okay. And the reason I say Charles Spurgeon, we're Baptist. I mean, we're in that larger Christian world, larger Reformed world, but we're Baptist.
00:23:46
Speaker
So we love Charles Spurgeon, and even Presbyterians love Charles Spurgeon because he's Reformed in that regard, except for the you know be believer's baptism, right which we stand by as well.
00:23:58
Speaker
But, man, it's hard to argue a Spurgeon. So here's here's what he says. Just a quote. He says, the great crime of war can never promote the religion of peace the battle and the garment rolled in blood are not a fitting prelude to peace on earth goodwill to men and i do firmly hold that the slaughter of men that bayonets and swords and guns have never yet been and never can be promoters of the gospel. The gospel will proceed without them, but never through them, not by might."
00:24:34
Speaker
He's quoting Old Testament there. Now, don't be fooled again. If you hear of the English conquering in China, don't go down on your knees and thank God for it and say it's such a heavenly thing for the spread of the gospel.
00:24:46
Speaker
It just is not. Wow. And see, I've heard people say that, well, when you have wars over the Middle East and then somehow, some way through the soldiers and through the aftermath or, you know, even a world the gospel spreads, that's not God's means.
00:25:03
Speaker
Not God's means. And I mean, I don't see any of the means that we're using being gospel promoting either. yeah and So, yeah, it's really hard to say that.
00:25:15
Speaker
And I do want to clarify real quick yes that, um, We do have love and respect for those who have served oh yes in the military, who have made ultimate sacrifices. um This is not a condemnation of anyone who would serve. Right. um But we do want to speak against you know those who are promoting and advancing these wars yeah um for nefarious reasons. Yeah.
00:25:43
Speaker
um But yeah, ultimately we want to see the gospel overcome. yep And what we see, as you said, and through the progressive revelation, what we see in the book of revelation is that on the one hand,
00:26:00
Speaker
Christ is the one that will ultimately destroy all his enemies. yeah yeah he's already He's already written that end, yeah um and he doesn't need us to bring that about. That's right. that's right um But secondly, that the way that his kingdom advances, as we've already said, it's a spiritual kingdom. yes And so it advances through the gospel.
00:26:20
Speaker
um And that doesn't mean we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya either. Again, we do believe that there may be times when it's just to to take up arms. um And again, that's another rabbit trail we could go down. And we talked about it a little bit and in our last episode um about ah self-defense and and where do we draw the line on that.
00:26:41
Speaker
And again, we can get into that a little deeper at and at another time, I think. um But ah we we want the we want the gospel to be, and and that gospel, that message of faith in Christ to be what conquers our enemies. Mm-hmm.
00:27:06
Speaker
because we know that if they're not conquered by the gospel, that ultimately Christ himself will conquer them um when he returns. um But, you know, i would i would maybe argue that, ah and again, all respect to those who have served, I don't think we've been in a just war since World War II.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think you're right. Yeah, every, yeah. No, go ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt. No, that's fine. I disagree. You know, would we were attacked, um
00:27:41
Speaker
not really being involved in the conflict at that moment. We were attacked, and so we responded because we had in innocents on our side who who were killed at Pearl Harbor.
00:27:52
Speaker
um And so was it just for us to be involved with that? I think you could argue yes, of course. um But and then I think that then also then set off Not that it meant and may not have existed before that, but I think that really set off this whole industrial military complex.
00:28:09
Speaker
um but Suddenly the Cold War starts, and now we're fighting all of these preemptive wars. Yeah. that really have nothing to do with protecting ourselves or protecting our people.
00:28:20
Speaker
um It's fighting against this nameless, faceless ah enemy of the, you know, the big red scare at the time. And, and you know, now it's Islam.
00:28:31
Speaker
um But again, these are all... wars for decades now that we've seen, um a century almost now, ah where we have been involved in this military nation building, like you said.
Gospel vs. Military Force in World Conquest
00:28:51
Speaker
and again, as Christians, um I think we should be very leery of Supporting it. Yeah. yeah Because, again, we want we want the world to be conquered in Jesus' name. Yes.
00:29:07
Speaker
But that takes place through the gospel, through people's hearts and lives being changed from them forsaking you know they're the lies that they believe and and coming to know the truth in knowing Jesus Christ.
00:29:21
Speaker
That's how we want to see the world conquered, not not with guns and bombs and drones. Right. No, a hundred percent agree. Yeah. And, um, yeah, we were attacked and, um, yeah you know, there, there's a lot of, uh, interesting research on world war II and all of the things that were in play. And I love studying that and stuff. And so, um,
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, learning new things all the time. But that is a negate the fact that that, you know, regardless of whether ah which just as a side issue, I think President Roosevelt knew knew the new the attack was coming and he he allowed it in order to get us into that war. But nevertheless, the American public, um we were attacked and um we we were at that point in favor of defending our our homeland.
00:30:13
Speaker
And um yeah, i I think you can make a good argument there. What I was going to say is um General Eisenhower, um again, I forget his title during World War II.
00:30:26
Speaker
he He was the head general. We'll just put it that way. he had lots of generals and he was the head one. He became President Eisenhower. And he warned us. Now, this is the guy in charge of the World War II operation, militarily speaking. He warned us about the military-industrial complex. I think he's the one that probably made that term the most famous. And you know here we've been using it for 80 years or so.
00:30:52
Speaker
and um But you're right All the wars since then... you know have been part of that it's it's israel is involved has been involved since then there's lots of things we could talk about i don't just throw so i don't want just drop bombs and walk away so we'll we'll bring some research from time to support what we're saying but um ah Not only that, but as as we said a little bit earlier, lining the pockets of of military contractors.
00:31:20
Speaker
ah Congress, listen, you got all these lobbies and now. Our system is not at all like it was in our founding days. And the money that's that's you know given to ah congressmen and senators and how they raise money now through the lobbying groups, and it's just it's too much for most of them to...
00:31:41
Speaker
to, you know, stand alone and those who do or stand against corruption and those who do stand against corruption, they get ousted like a Marjorie Taylor Greene or a Thomas Massey. Um, by the way, side issue, but Thomas Massey just losing that election there in Kentucky, 20, maybe think it was over million.
00:32:05
Speaker
um I think it was AIPAC or some Israeli lobby um ah put in against. And it was it was largely, if you look at the way the vote went, all the boomers voted for the other guy. I don't even know his name, but the young people, Gen Z, and the generation nobody cares about, I think they in mass numbers voted for for Massey, but the boomers outnumbered them.
00:32:33
Speaker
And again, I'm not down on boomers. Like you said, We're not anti-military. right I'm anti-interventionist war. We are, but we're not anti-military.
00:32:45
Speaker
we the The Bible's not anti-military. you know um I forget the passage of Scripture in the New Testament where I think it's Roman soldier or soldiers got converted. What do we do? Well,
00:32:59
Speaker
Basically, don't mistreat people. Don't steal from people. Do your duty, et cetera. I can't remember all that. I shouldn't have brought it up. We can we can check that another time. Sure. You may know, but um yeah you know we we are thankful. there there There are those, as you say, who've who've paid the ultimate sacrifice. The other thing about about the military, what grieves me, though, and why we're so, one of the reasons why we're so up in arms about these pointless wars, um not only are they not America first,
00:33:28
Speaker
And not only are innocent people being killed, men, women, and children over there, but just the young people in our military that that we do honor, they're being killed. You're talking about 18-year-old young men whose whole lives are in front of them, and they go in because they've been fed a lie. You're fighting for freedom back home. No, you're not. right You're not. You've been sold a lie, and I don't blame you.
00:33:56
Speaker
yeah You're just doing what you think is right. and And it's our overlords, the oligarchs and the plutocracy that are sending you over there to line their own pockets. And you're being killed and maimed.
00:34:10
Speaker
And we all know people who fought in ah the Middle East or Vietnam. and And they've come home, the ones that have survived, they've said, yeah, we shouldn't have been there. They they realized that once they were there,
00:34:24
Speaker
But, you know, it's too late because some of them come home without arms or legs or all kind of other problems. And it's just, oh, it's so grievous. Yeah. War is always a terrible thing. Yeah. um even Even if we are involved in what we would consider to be a ah just war, um that still doesn't mean that everything that takes place there is good and just. No. Yeah. um Again, but not to...
00:34:49
Speaker
not to get too far afield or or to harp on one particular thing, but even going back to World War II, the fact that we that we did Hiroshima.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah. um Was that really necessary? um And how many millions of innocents died um with the two, with Nagasaki as well. Yeah, yeah.
00:35:17
Speaker
and And then ironically, what are we being told is the reason that we're fighting in Iran right now? Yeah. It's because they're going to build a nuclear weapon. Well, who opened Pandora's box on that? Oh, wow. Yeah. It was us. Yeah.
00:35:30
Speaker
um And again... even regardless of the motivation for the warfare, it's still a terrible thing. yeah um And so that's why as Christians we should be very slow, very reticent to support sending these young men um And even women now over to to potentially die. um and And, you know, like we've we've talked about, we've we've known I've personally known people that that served in Afghanistan, served in Iraq, even that served in Vietnam. yep And so many of them have come back and they cannot talk about the things that they've seen because it's so horrific. Yeah. Oh, I can't imagine. And so why should we be cheering, sending our young men off to them ah that? That to me does not line up with the gospel. And again, I'm not saying that there's not ever a time that we should defend, that we should stand up.
00:36:28
Speaker
But then we shouldn't. Yeah. Right. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do that. Right. But... um right I think we should be very careful before we just go cheering, sending these men off for this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree.
00:36:44
Speaker
And Japan was ready to surrender. They had already signaled that. I think President Truman made that decision, the the atomic bombs, to send a message to the Soviet Union. but that's a whole other story. Right. um Anyway... um We probably need to wrap this up, but can I read a ah quote from David
David Stockman on Military and Economic Policies
00:37:01
Speaker
Stockman? Sure thing. Because on the one hand, it it goes to what we've been talking about.
00:37:05
Speaker
p um Excuse me. By the way, we know war, as we've said, destructive of life. That's what we've been lamenting. It's also destructive economically, and um I think it's soul-destroying in many cases. Mm-hmm.
00:37:20
Speaker
David Stockman was in President Reagan's administration. I think the head of the Office of Management and Budget, I'm not sure, but he's very well known. He's done a lot of stuff since then. We'll leave it at that. We don't have time to elaborate.
00:37:34
Speaker
But yeah I got a good quote from him because he still comments. and And I agree with this statement. um you Maybe you can offer your comments, but he says this, and he still respects respects the military. So I think he's where we're at. but I am for bringing the American empire home, closing all the foreign bases.
00:37:56
Speaker
This is a Reagan guy. I'm just, again, let it's time for brief I'm saying that to the boomers. Okay. I think the young people agree with this. Mr. Peace through strength. Yeah. Right.
00:38:07
Speaker
So I'm for bringing the American empire home, closing all the foreign bases, withdrawing from NATO and all other pointless alliances, dry docking all the aircraft carriers, grounding all the airlift and amphibious landing capabilities, staying out of other people's business the world over and maintaining an invincible nuclear deterrent and a fortress America defense of our coastlines and airspace. So he's in favor the Nuclear deterrence. That's why the Middle Eastern countries there, because they're not going to attack Israel. They've got nukes.
00:38:39
Speaker
So Israel's okay. I'm not saying they could wage a war and defeat the whole Middle East without it. I don't think they could. But I don't think people want to go poke the bear, as it were. That's a whole other issue. I'm just saying, he's like, bring this home, but...
00:38:54
Speaker
um We could maintain an invincible nuclear deterrent, Fortress America defense of our coastlines and airspace. That's it. We could be perfectly safe. Safe.
00:39:05
Speaker
Safe. Okay, we'd be perfectly safe. We could cut the defense budget by $500 billion dollars and the forever wars once again. I'm sorry, I can't even read and end the forever wars once and for all. Sorry.
00:39:20
Speaker
Um, I, I just liked that sentiment. I, and it's not just a sentiment. I mean, there's ample research that says, and listen, some, some of our bases are already out of production as a result of what's happening right now. So we'll, we'll leave that there. At least I will. You, yeah you take us out. Cause I just talked too much. I'm so sorry.
00:39:38
Speaker
No, no, that's, um, yeah. I mean, that's good again. um As said before, we respect those who have served in the military because there's a it's a good thing to to want to protect ah those who need protection. Yes.
00:39:55
Speaker
That's a good thing. um That honors Christ. Yes. that's that's That's a biblical worldview to protect others. And so we respect that we honor that. um But...
00:40:08
Speaker
I think it is good for us to have protection. And again, this kind of bleeds over into what we talked about last episode that, um, maybe we should be focusing more on protecting our own borders, uh, than encroaching others borders, um, half a world away. Yep.
00:40:25
Speaker
Um, and so again, yeah, bringing everybody home and, just having what we need to protect our own borders and and not all this excess. Yeah, I think that's probably a good thing.
00:40:36
Speaker
Not taking our marching orders from um another ruler in the Middle East, um which we seem to be learning more and more day by day about how...
00:40:47
Speaker
really not good how evil and nefarious really um they are yeah and that again ultimately to bring it back around our most our greatest desire as Christians is to see the gospel yes advance.
Conclusion: Gospel and America First Values
00:41:09
Speaker
And we want everything that we do in every aspect of life to reflect that. And so in the way that we protect ourselves...
00:41:19
Speaker
but also in the way that we interact with the world around us as the world's great superpowers, supposedly still now, who knows how much longer that'll last. Right. That's where we are now.
00:41:31
Speaker
But as Christians who are a part of that culture, we want... everything that we do to to be in such a way that it advances the gospel, that it advances the hope of Jesus Christ.
00:41:46
Speaker
Not, again, we're say we're fighting against Islam. Well, what does the na what does the religion of Islam truly teach? It teaches to go out and conquer the infidel, right? um So were're we're taking their own tactics. in so many ways and and so we're not advancing the gospel right we're casting it aside yeah and so what we want is for the gospel to overcome again not to keep saying that phrase but I love it and we want we want even when we're dealing in very difficult situations and it's not just as easy as we go over there and we love them and we hand them tracks we know that's not the case right but
00:42:27
Speaker
if we blow them off the face of the earth, we can't share the gospel with And so we want again, we want to be very slow to support and cheer on war, um but we want to be very quick to promote and to proclaim the gospel, that the only hope is found in Christ and in believing in Him.
00:42:47
Speaker
um And that's that's the hope for the world. It's the hope for America. And ultimately, ah doing these things that serve and honor Christ are what is going to benefit us as a nation as well.
00:43:00
Speaker
And so that's why it is America First, because the gospel will benefit ah all those who turn to it. Yeah.
00:43:11
Speaker
Amen. Well said. I think we're done. All right. All right. Answering pilot, join us next time. Yep. We'll see you next time. Part four on the way. Amen. The Answering Pilot Podcast is a ministry of Randall House Church in Greer, South Carolina.
00:43:24
Speaker
You can learn more at www.randallhousegreer.com slash church. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at at Randall House Church. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you next time.