But, what is a believer to do when the evil doer is your own government? What is the Christian to do then?
I spent 20 years of my life serving in the United States Navy as a Hospital Corpsman, retiring as a Chief from Carrier Air Wing 8. Initially, I had no issues with wearing the uniform and serving in war. In fact, I felt it my obligation as a citizen to defend my country, my constitution and my fellow citizens from all the "bad guys" of the world. This was highlighted and underscored on 9/11, as you might have read in the aforementioned blog post.
But, in my investigations of that day's events I came to understand something deeper about wars; in particular, about modern warfare and the use of false flag ops to foment and continue conflict for the express purpose of raking in trillions in profits from the war machine.
In my research I came across a pamphlet written by one of the most decorated USMC officers, MajGen Smedley Butler. It is titled, "War Is A Racket". In it, Butler, a two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor (he was no coward) describes himself as high paid muscle for American business interests, pacifying the Philippines and S.Amer so American Oil and Corporate Farming companies could insert themselves into their economies and siphon off their resources with cheap labor and few restrictions. Butler renounced war and his part in it. As a result a pacifist movement was begun in his name.
Reading Butlers work, I learned of other "false flag" ops such as Pearl Harbor (our government provoked the attack and withheld valuable intel from Hawaiian base commanders, allowing the attack as it would then tip the public in favor of American involvement in WWII); Gulf of Tonkin (the USS Maddox was never attacked as was stated, but it provided the excuse to enter into the Vietnam conflict); the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty during the Arab/Israeli conflict (designed to be blamed on the Arabs and give the US the excuse to send troops to the Middle East...a plan foiled by the courage of US sailors, but finally put into effect by 9/11). And don't get me started on the whole Global War of Terror and the ever-present, ongoing threat of radical terrorism that just happens to pop up whenever public support for never-ending war seems to be waning.
Having my eyes opened to the dark side of nearly every conflict in modern times, I was left with the conclusion that modern warfare is never fought for the reasons publicly stated. As such, while I am not a pacifist, I conclude that I could never put on the uniform and involve myself to that degree in our armed forces adventures. Today, while I understand the desire to sign-up, I do not encourage anyone to do so today. It is, to put it mildly, putting effort after foolishness.
So, while I am not a pacifist, I have to say I am a conscientious objector. And I challenge anyone to show me a modern war that wasn't, in some way shape or form, manipulated to provide the incentive and opportunity for the warmongers and war industrialists to make huge profits off of the sacrifice of those dedicated, but ill-informed masses they care little, if anything, about.
I leave you with one of the best speeches I have ever heard on this topic. It was given by Martin Luther King Jr back in April of 1967, titled "A Time To Break Silence". His words can just as easily be applied to today's conflicts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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