Since my last post I have been reading-up on Islam and the Koran.  I feel I need to recant what I said. I was ignorant. I assume you must all know what I did not: Muslims will kill us all. Period. We must fight them, even fight them first, or there will be none of us left to defeat them. Sure, the next life will sort things out, but we have children that do not deserve to be slaughtered.
I'm going to be away for awhile, praying.  Sorry for any offense I may have given. I meant none.

I forget, how long did Job wait until he retaliated? What was the final straw that pushed him to avenge the death of his workers and family? It is frightening to me that Christian's hate pacifists, especially since it was Christ that tried to teach us how to be one. An eye for an eye was replace with turn the other cheek for a reason and most modern day Christians don't get why.

When God allowed Satan to test Job in the Old Testament, the “Sabeans” and the “Chaldeans” (some translations call them “Raiders”) came and killed his workforce and stole all his livestock leaving him with no way to earn a living. Job did not call on the militia to hunt down and kill these “raiders”. He did not build a memorial at the site of the massacre and hold press conferences demanding revenge and inciting his neighbors to war upon “the raiders”. He did not use the loss of all of his worldly possessions as an excuse to kill. Job simply praised God. He “turned the other cheek”. He took the higher ground and to this day Job is known for his “patience”. God used Job as an example to show Satan that people who follow Him do not get upset and kill in His name; rather they trust Him to handle things.

The Christian leadership of today seems to have no sense of the worth of seeking the “higher ground”, thus setting an example at which the rest of the world can marvel as we still do at Job. I think most people, “Christians” included, do not understand the concept behind turning the other cheek. Do not put yourself in the shoes of the person who has been struck on the cheek to understand this concept. Put yourself in the shoes of the person doing the striking. If you hit or slap someone in anger across the face what reaction are you preparing for after you strike? You are preparing to defend yourself from a return blow. How would you feel if you saw this person, recovering from your hit, slowly turn, look you in the eye and then turn the un-struck side of his face toward you, completely defenseless? Well, sure in the capitalistic mindset of kill-or-be-killed, this is a “golden opportunity” and the only dilemma is whether or not you can deliver a knockout blow. However, that is not what Christ taught.

Can you not see how turning the other cheek made the person you struck a better person than you? When you do not give your enemy anything to push against there ceases to be a reason for the enemy to push. When your enemy is exposed on lower moral ground than you, he will want to rise up to your level of morality. Suddenly you are talking out your differences instead of fighting endless battles with no winner which is Christ’s whole point.

Christ says that we cannot just love those who love us already. He says there’s no point to that, Matthew 5: 46-48: “For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do that? And if you salute only your brethren (loved ones), what do you more than others? Even the tax collectors do so. Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

When the Saudi’s brought terror to the United States on September 11, 2001, did we have to retaliate? Did the Christian Right look for lessons that God might be sending or did they just want revenge? Did any Christian have faith in God like Job or did the Christians believe we had to strike back, harder than we had been hit? If Christ told us to turn the other cheek are we sinning by not doing so and letting Him handle the situation? A principle is a principle is a principle. Core values are not core values if they change depending on the circumstance.

We need to learn Christ’s values and use them so that we may be “a light unto the world”. Make the world marvel at us the way we do at Job. Let our enemies look at us and say, “Oh that is what it means to be a ‘Christian’! Wow, they are really good people.” We are not living for Christ by waging and eye-for-an-eye battle with Muslims. Neither can we bring others to Christ this way. We cannot, as Christians or civilized people, hold to the belief that we should fight terrorism with terrorism, Christ said, “You have heard that it has been said, ‘An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth’: But I say unto you…whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” Matt 5:38. A “blood and guts Christian” is no example of Christ.

If we fail to recognize that our leaders are not being Christ-like in their actions we fail to realize that they are not really Christians and therefore should not be followed. Just as the Germans followed Hitler based upon national pride we too can follow people who call themselves “Christian” but put country ahead of God. This is why Christians should concern themselves with why we are failing to live in peace rather than with how close we are to the rapture. We cannot give up on peace just because we believe we are living in the end times. We must continue to act the way Christ instructed us or we will not be able to stand before Him on judgment day.

"I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind," George W. Bush Meet the Press Feb 7, 2004.

I'm certainly not a Democrat.  I stand on God's side not the Republican or Democratic side. War is always the last act of a desperate nation. We are a nation that has turned to its military as it's only strengthen, just like Rome in its final years.

We have "passed by" other nations and other people in their hour of need. What makes the Middle East more deserving of our rescue than the people of Africa or South America? Justifying war in the Middle East just because we believe that we are in the "end times" is an abandonment of Christ's principles. Dress it up all you want to justify it in your mind, but seeking peace is far harder. War causes more souls to be lost that might otherwise have been saved through a show of superior principles. Might doesn't make right. Christians should be leading the way on peace and not following the war machine. Is this the light we are trying to shine to the world: it is necessary to destroy you in order to save you? " This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." It's just sad that the "light" is a message of war. No one will want our "light" because they will not see why it is better than what Muslims offer.

Hello everyone,
I keep wondering how the Antichrist is going to gain power given that the entire Christian world is on alert for him/her.

I wonder if the "Antichrist" is actually a state of being rather than an actual being. For example, Christ tells us in Luke 21:36 to "Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
If we are anxious to usher in the end times by supporting war in the Middle East we are not following Christ's command to "love our enemies".  Christ commands us to seek peace. However, we are all so afraid of being caught off-guard by a peace-talking Antichrist that we are failing to follow Christ's message of peace. None of us will be "able to stand before the Son of Man" if we do not follow Christ's message of peace.
Therefore, we should not be SO concerned about being deceived by a person who wants peace that we are deceived by those that want war. By favoring those who want war over those that want peace we are becoming anti-Christ. Christ preached peace. If we do not seek peace we are "anti-Christ".
Bush calls himself a "war president". Do not abandon Christ just because you are afraid of being deceived by an "end-times" character. The anti-Christ is a necessary evil of the end times, but it is no excuse for you yourself to be anti-Christ. Do not be deceived by those that make war in the name of God. Christ did not command you to war in His name, He commanded you to love. Choose Christ, choose peace; don’t be anti-Christ and choose war.
“You have heard that it has been said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,” Jesus (Matthew 5: 43-44).
Peace.