The Truth War by John MacArthur Page B

spiritual warfare has nothing whatsoever in common with the tactics of Islamic jihad.
    WAR IS ONE OF THE MOST
CALAMITOUS CONSEQUENCES
OF EVIL. IT IS CATASTROPHIC.
IT IS ALWAYS UGLY. IT
SHOULD NEVER BE
GLAMORIZED, AND
NO SANE PERSON SHOULD
EVER DESIRE THE CONFLICT
OR SAVOR THE STRIFE OF
WAR. THERE ARE TIMES,
HOWEVER, WHEN EVIL
MAKES WARFARE
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
    Scripture is clear that physical force is not a legitimate tool for the advancement of the kingdom of God. The church has no authority from their Lord to wield a sword for any reason—certainly not for the expansion of their influence, and not even to fend off their enemies. Those things have been perfectly clear and almost universally affirmed by godly, Bible-believing Christians since the night of Jesus’ betrayal, when Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).
    By the way, this is not to suggest that the use of force is forbidden for individual Christians acting lawfully in self-defense or in defending their families against criminal or military aggression. Physical resistance in such cases is nowhere forbidden in the Bible. (The turn-the-other-cheek principle of Matthew 5:39–40 pertains to personal insults and acts of persecution for Christ’s sake, not all types of criminal assault. In normal cases where a person is resisting unlawful threats to property or life and limb, the use of force in proper measure is perfectly lawful by biblical principles—Nehemiah 4:14.) Of course, believers who are policemen, soldiers, or otherwise agents duly authorized by the government must be willing to use deadly force when necessary as part of their duty to the civil government. Scripture nowhere endorses any kind of absolute pacifism.
    The point is that the church as a body , and Christians acting in the name of Christ , are never entitled to employ force for any purpose related to the work of advancing Christ’s kingdom on earth. The Truth War has nothing to do with carnal warfare or physical violence. In the words of Charles Spurgeon, “For the church of God ever to avail itself of force would be clean contrary to the spirit of Christianity: for the Christian bishop to become a soldier, or employ the secular arm [of military force], would seem the very climax of contradiction.” 2
    Of course tragic episodes of wars, crusades, and inquisitions have been carried out in Christ’s name, sometimes even under the direct authority of ecclesiastical institutions. All of them have been unjust and unjustifiable on any biblical grounds. They have also been unmitigated disasters as far as the true ministry of the church is concerned. Sometimes such wars and violence occur when the church is utterly corrupted by the culture. (That is especially true of the religious militarism occasionally seen in Byzantine and medieval times.) In other instances, confusion about the relationship between church and state has empowered a few overzealous political leaders or misguided military commanders who thought they could wage holy war in the name of Christ. (That was a serious problem, for example, during the English Revolution. The conduct of Cromwell’s military campaigns no doubt seriously undermined the true piety and influence of the Puritan movement. And in the name of preserving religious freedom in Scotland, the Covenanters retaliated against English brutality by killing a number of Englishmen.)
    The Bible says categorically that the Truth War is a completely different kind of war, fought with entirely different weaponry and with totally different objectives in view. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12). “We do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (2 Corinthians 10:3–4). Every mention of spiritual weaponry in the New Testament makes this point perfectly clear. The tools of