The Weapons We Fight With

"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time." Genesis 6:5

Recently, Pope Francis tweeted, "Do we really want peace? Then let's ban all weapons so we don't have to live in fear of war." I am unaware of what prompted the Pope to write this, but while it may appeal to the emotions of some, in reality, it doesn't make any sense. When he says "ban all weapons," does he understand what a weapon is? In this day and age, there is a lot of talk about banning guns. For example, there are efforts to ban so-called "assault rifles" after all the mass shootings that have taken place. On a global scale, we constantly hear talk of "denuclearization" aimed at halting and/or disarming certain countries that have nuclear weapons or plan on developing them. However, by definition, a weapon is described as "a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage." A thing. What "things" are used as weapons? Within the last few years, dozens have been murdered in the United States, Canada, Spain, Sweden, England, France, and Israel, to name a few, by vehicles being used as weapons to run over people. In the past century, highlighted by the deaths of over 500 people in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 2017, thousands of people have been killed by bombs hidden inside of vehicles. At least 36 people have been fatally stabbed - and 62 overall killed - in London since the beginning of 2018. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2014 shows that more than twice as many people are beaten to death by fists and feet each year than are shot to death with rifles of every kind. Nearly 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001, in New York City, Washington, DC and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania by terrorists using hijacked airplanes. The first recorded murder in history is found in Genesis 4:8, where Cain murdered his brother Abel, presumably by using a stone. And this doesn't even take into consideration everyday items that have been used to take the lives of people; ropes, cords, clubs, cleaning supplies, pencils, pet animals, etc. If we were to take the Pope at his word and try to implement his plea to ban all weapons, there would be nothing left on this planet. No cars, trucks, planes, knives, household items, pets or even hands and feet could be left behind. Eventually, if we are honest, we would have to exterminate life itself because the ultimate weapon is the people!

In Genesis 6 we see where God states that "every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time." The fear of war will not be eliminated by the banning of weapons. Wars are the byproduct of the evil of the human heart. As long as mankind has existed on this planet, we have been in some state of war somewhere. Cain didn't murder Abel because there was a stone lying on the ground. He did it because of the evil in his heart. No gun, bomb, vehicle, metal object, hand, foot, pet, or household item ever took somebody's life. People are murdered because of others responding to the evil in their hearts and choosing to use these items to harm other people. Jesus Christ said, "But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander (Matthew 15:18-19)." How do evil thoughts come from the heart? They come because of what people believe. The type of war the Pope fears will come about because of the existence of weapons ignores the true war that has been going on for thousands of years and has nothing to do with the physical weapons he wants to ban. "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)." We are at war already. We are in a spiritual war where the weapons being used are the truth of God and the lies of the devil. In other words, it is a battle of beliefs for the control of a person's mind. Those beliefs are called strongholds. A stronghold is "a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld." It is these strongholds that must be demolished by the truth of God's Word. It is what a person believes that effects their heart and builds a protective wall around it. When God's Word, through the revelation of the indwelling Holy Spirit, begins to knock down these strongholds and change what a person believes, their heart will begin to change. When a heart changes through this encounter with Jesus Christ, the evil thoughts in their heart will start to diminish. When a person's heart changes, the desire to use physical weapons as a tool of death and destruction in warfare will begin to subside. Eventually, it won't matter what weapons are at the disposal of a person because they won't have the desire to harm their fellow man. They will have peace in their heart because they are at peace with their God through faith in Jesus Christ. This will lead to a person being at peace with their neighbor and the fear of war developing between them will vanish.