Regarding the Saints’ Standpoint on Military Service

I am in complete agreement with Mr. Elias Aslaksen’s view on the saints serving in the military in time of war, and I would like to expound further. In 2 Samuel 24:17, we read that David numbered the people, but this displeased God, and He sent His angel to strike the people. The Lord uses His angels to carry out His judgment over mankind. I believe He can use people for the same work. The point is not who carries out the judgment, but that it is carried out.

If it is God’s will to afflict a nation, then it doesn’t matter if it is an angel or a person who carries out the judgment. The point is that God’s will is done. God’s judgments are not executed haphazardly. If we had eyes like flames of fire as He does so that we could look into every man’s life, we would see abominations that cannot even be mentioned. From such a perspective, perhaps we would be able to perceive that war is more of a blessing than a curse. In Germany churches stood empty before the war; but after the war started, they were overflowing. This is evidence that God’s punishments are effective.

God has given the police authority to punish individuals, and military armies are able to punish entire nations. Through war, kingdoms are destroyed and others established, but the world and all that is within it belong to the Lord, and He does what He wants with what is His. Through war, He drove out the ungodly Canaanites and gave Israel their land. The Lord caused fire and brimstone to rain down on Sodom and kill the ungodly.

Those who are in the flesh have an understanding that does not please God. Rom. 7:5. They also have a wrong understanding about God Himself. With this understanding they cannot comprehend why God, who is love, would use war, hunger and pestilence to execute His judgments. Just as the mind of the flesh is enmity with God, the mind of the Spirit is enmity with the flesh. These two oppose each other. When the mind of the flesh drives people into such base ungodliness that they become disgusting and repulsive to God and man, it would be strange if such a loving and good God and Father would let such evil go unpunished.

People talk about allies and about enemies, but I must ask: Who is a greater enemy than the ungodly? And who is a better protector for our fatherland than the God-fearing? Had there been only ten righteous people in Sodom, God would have spared the city. Because of the ungodly, Babel and Jerusalem were destroyed. Because of Nineveh’s ungodliness, God determined to destroy them; but they repented in sackcloth and ashes, and the city was spared.

Some people say that war was allowed in the Old Testament, but is forbidden in the New. To this I would say that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. For that matter, most people are living in the old covenant. The law was given for transgressors, and they admit that that is what they are, since they sin daily, and sin is transgression of the law. A death must take place to redeem them from the sins they committed under the old covenant before they can enter into the new covenant. Consequently, in the Old Testament, we have a solid basis for our position, and we can stand shoulder to shoulder with warriors like Joshua, Samson, Jephthah, Gideon and David.

If someone has truly become a partaker with Christ in His death so that he has, in truth, entered into the new covenant, yet has doubts about whether it is right to participate in war, he should read about Cornelius in Acts 10. He was a centurion in the New Testament who belonged to what was called the Italian Regiment. He was a devout, God-fearing soldier. He feared God with all his household; he gave many alms to the people and prayed constantly. Peter gave him this testimony: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” Acts 10:34-35.

In other words, Cornelius, a soldier, was righteous. He was therefore accepted by God and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

“For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” Everyone is affected by war, either directly or indirectly. Either you are fighting in the military, or you are supporting the war by paying taxes, duties, fees, etc. It is impossible to be completely exempt from war or its consequences, but it is possible to be completely free from sinning.

If it were sin to engage in military service, the Spirit would convict us of this sin. But God set His seal upon a soldier, Cornelius, giving him the Holy Spirit. And not just Cornelius. Many other God-fearing soldiers have received the Holy Spirit as a seal. This proves that it is not sin to be a soldier. God would not seal a sinner with His good Spirit. Sin dwells in our lusts. If you fight, you must fight lawfully, not appropriating anything through deceit, and be content with your wages. If you do this, God will bless you as a soldier and be with you in war and in peace, because you are a man of peace, even when you are serving in the military to effect peace.

Written from the destroyer Valkyrien—March 1915