God's Providences in War
By Editor
ONE conspicuous thing in this great war of Europe is the fact that the various rulers are calling upon God to bless their armies. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace. He is not the god of war. And how utterly do so-called Christian peoples belittle the great work of the gospel of Christ, by trying to bring its Author as a partizan into all their selfish and wicked strife! Without question, God, by His mighty providences, overrules and works in connection with the wars, but not in the way that many people would have us believe. He says in His word, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." Ps. 76: 10. In this war that is now raging, God may overrule to change the despotisms of Russia and Austria, so that more freedom will be given for the proclamation of His gospel, and so that the yoke that is resting upon humanity there may not be so intolerably oppressive. God has a gospel message of peace and salvation to every man, and is seeking avenues through which it may be carried to every part of the world; and when conditions become unbearable, or when the way is absolutely blocked so that His work can not go, He may permit wars, and overrule in them so that His own will may be worked out in the saving and uplifting of men. But the Captain of our salvation, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, will never be placed, by any who know Them, upon the low plane of the gods of war whom heathen nations from the remotest times have carried with them into battle, and implored to give success to their arms. Our heavenly Father is the One who "so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." Hence He is not interested in destroying men, but His work is a work of salvation. And if we study the Bible with the thought in view of finding the actual part that God has ever taken in any battles, we will learn that He has never destroyed nations until they had become so unbearably corrupt that it was the only merciful thing to do. So, then, we may conclude that while God's providences may overrule in this war, in the interests of greater freedom in the promulgation of His gospel, yet it is futile for the various armies to pray to Him for success. This war is one that has been brought about by the demons of greed and ambition and by the gods of commercialism. And it is wicked to make the Jehovah of the Bible in any way responsible for it.