What is happening in many parts of the world today where there is violence or war appears to be foolishness and unreasonableness on the part of the warring factions. The warring factions appear to be saying to themselves; ‘If I cannot have the land, let the land and whatever is in it be destroyed’. This show that the warring factions could be likened to the biblical harlots who were both laying claim to the living baby after one of them noticed that her child died during the night (I Kings 3:16-28). They brought the matter to King Solomon. The woman whose child was living said to the king that while she was asleep the other harlot swapped her dead child with hers. As the two harlots argued back and forth that the living child was hers, Solomon in his wisdom said to his servants to bring him a sword. They did. As each of the women was claiming the living child to be hers, he commanded that the living child should be divided into two so that each of the women could have a part of the living child. As soon as the King said that, the harlot whose child was alive said no to the King, she said to him that instead of killing the living child, he should give him to the other woman. She said that she loved her child very much and would not wish to see him killed. But the other woman insisted that the King should divide the living child into two so neither of them would have it. Her insistence made the King come to a decision and he commanded that they should not kill the living child. He also commanded that they should give the living child to the first woman as her plea not to have the child killed revealed that she was its real mother. The Israelite people on hearing the news of Solomon’s order said that for sure, this was a wise decision which showed that the Lord was with King Solomon.
I can now liken the warring factions to the two harlots. Those who are insistent on destroying a country could be likened to the woman whose child was dead and who insisted on the living child being divided into two. These people in their quest, insist that if they cannot have peace in their regions then let those regions be destroyed, as well as the infrastructures. They also insist on having their people killed. So many young people in those regions have lost hope in any form of livelihood that they feel there is nothing to look forward to than battlefields, and to kill and be killed.
Rather than teaching them to love one another as our Creator commands they are taught how to hate one another. Many of these young men have been indoctrinated to believe that their way is what can be described as martyrdom. This is not true. The commandment is clear; ‘Do not kill’.
The manufacturers of weapons will equally have their price to pay; the price of being instrumental to killing. This is because they have killed in their minds. We must not forget that Jesus amplified these commandments in Matt. 5, 6 & 7 when he said being angry with another means that you have killed in your mind. The manufacturers of weapons and those who engage in such battles have developed schizophrenic personalities. This makes them only think of killing or being killed or that someone is after them. It also makes them think of the best means to manufacture these weapons to enable them to kill more effectively. They extort the warring factions economically. The wars segregate the people socially and make them think of nothing else than to kill and be killed. They are not sure what will happen tomorrow as the war is ongoing, so they no longer think of new ways of doing things or being creative.
They also talk about going to live in the caliphate. The land does not belong to them. The atrocities committed by these people make them guilty of disobeying God’s commandment which enjoins all His creatures not to kill. They get the words of God wrong. Killing is of the devil. There is no part of this earth God has made holy. Probably because people would then do all that they can to go there. This is the reason God made time holy. Time comes to us rather than we go to it. It is left to us to observe it or not. This time is the Sabbath. Those who think of going to live in the caliphate are being deceived by a handful of Muslims who have misunderstood the words of God. God is God and He never changes. The Muslims who think in this direction should beware; there are consequences to flouting the words of God and His commandments.
In my earlier article I advised against the supply of arms to the rebels in Syria. I specifically wrote in the article that any supply of aid in the form of weapons will eventually be used against us. This is what is happening with ISIS. The weapons they are using are the weapons they received in the form of aid for use in ousting Assad. The ousting of Saddam Hussein made Iraq unstable and ungovernable. This will be the case if Assad is removed. The same is the case with Libya. It is also because of this problem, resulting in a change of leadership in Kiev, that there are demonstrations and mass unrest in Ukraine today. These leaders knew and know their people and know the best way to deal with them and achieve stability in their regions.
I also warned against sanctions on Russia. Russia is not like other countries when it comes to sanctions. It will hit back the countries that imposed them. Meanwhile, as Europe and the USA continue talking about sanctions against Russia, Russia in partnership with the United States of America is going into oil exploration. Ukraine is going to spend the money it does not have on replacing old weapons. This is likely to cost them 11.3 billion dollars. This amount could be used for something beneficial for the citizens. Any money spent on weapon is wasted money. Any money used to rebuild the destroyed properties or infrastructures is wasted money, because the destruction was not called for in the first place.
It is not late to seek peace in these regions. Let the destruction cease. Let the killing of one another cease. The war in Iraq cost the USA 1.7 trillion dollars. This could be more. This money could have been used towards something better for the American citizens. The cost is still going up as more is being spent on surveillance because of fear of attack from Islamic militants. If the money spent in fighting these wars was used to create social amenities there would not be this fear of attack from any quarter. The young ones who witness the killing of their relatives will grow up to hate those who were directly or indirectly responsible for the violence, and the destruction will continue. Just as the son of Hamas’ leader said in a CNN interview that he does not think there would be peace between Hamas and Israel, so this could be seen as a result of what he may have witnessed as a young man. The sooner the leaders of the world change their attitude to the manufacture and supply of weapons and think in terms of peace, finding other ways of making money, the better for the world.
I will at this point refer to the words of Bob Marley who said, ‘If you live in a glass house don’t throw stones’. This is in connection with Hamas; if they know that by firing rockets into Israel, Israel will retaliate by returning fire for fire or more, then they shouldn’t fire rockets into Israel. This last incident was premature because they thought that they had perfected their tunnels into Israel. Hamas however should think of a peaceful settlement of their dispute with this country.
By Emmanuel Opiah
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