Fire and Fury, Will Korean Christians Survive?

a war on the Korean Peninsula? I wonder.

Dallas’ own Robert Jeffress has once again weighed in on foreign affairs. His exact words, as reported in the Washington Post. were: “God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary – including war – to stop evil.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/08/08/god-has-given-trump-authority-to-take-out-kim-jong-un-evangelist-advisor-says.) This was his positive endorsement of the “fire and fury” comments of Trump a day earlier.

Now when Jeffress says “take out Kim Jong Un” by any measures (including war) I wonder if he’s considered just what “war” actually means. Because what it means in this case is the death of millions of people.

I don’t say “innocent” people because Jeffress may not believe that the civilians in North Korea that would be killed are innocent. Perhaps he believes that they are fully supportive of the murderous regime that keeps them in a vast prison on starvation rations.

But of course a “fire and fury” attack on North Korea wouldn’t just harm North Koreans.

Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is home to some of the largest Christian churches in the world, and a rapidly growing Christian population. It is also within artillery range of North Korea’s very substantial army just to the north. In a military conflict between the US and North Korea the city of Seoul would be turned into a mass grave amid the rubble of its churches. It will be worse, of course, if North Korea already has nuclear tipped missiles pointing at Seoul – which is a far easier target than Guam or the US West Coast.

And many if not most of the rest of the South Koreans that will die without the assurance of salvation. Are they so guilty of something that they deserve to be destroyed before they have a chance to hear the good news of Jesus Christ?

Jeffress has claimed that most Christians don’t really understand international affairs. One wonders if he has a grasp on geography. Does he imagine that there will be no consequences for Koreans, and Korean Christians if the US engages in “fire and fury such as the world has never seen.”

So let’s talk about the real world for a minute Dr. Jeffress. The material necessary to create a nuclear bomb is either purchased from abroad (meaning North Korea has nuclear armed allies) or created using massive banks of centrifuges spinning highly radioactive gas into its constituent isotopes. An attack on such a facility inevitably releases millions of cubic feet of unbelievably poisoned gas that drifts with the wind and falls upon the just and the unjust alike. Quite likely Americans in Alaska among others.

And if Kim Jong Un manages to detonate one or more of his warheads? Even worse. Or if his unnamed ally weighs in? Even worse.

The problem with assigning to Donald Trump the role of protector of American Christian civilization is that it inevitably makes him the destroyer of non-American Christians as well as all those inhabitants of the vast cities of Asia whose lives would be destroyed in a cloud of radioactive gas that is the inevitable result of the thermonuclear war that would ensue.

Fortunately even Trump is more reliable in his moral judgment than Jeffress. Despite his bluster he has real military advisors who can point out the consequences of the actions that his so-called spiritual advisor has endorsed. The US military, although it will ultimately follow orders, will no doubt offer strong opinions before a conflagration is started that will almost instantly result in the death of the 10’s of thousands of young Americans stationed on in South Korea. Fruitlessly one might add, since in kind of war that will ensue all those ground based troops will die before they can raise their rifles or start their tanks.

Did I mention the Christians in China? How will the Communist Chinese government react toward its Christian minority when not one but many prominent American Christian pastors urge war against its ally and client on the Korean peninsula? Think of what happened to the Falun Dafa but a thousand times over.

I only include as a closing note that Jeffress interpretation of Romans 12 is  specious and reveals how little he understands either the Bible or the US constitution. In a democracy the president is not a “ruler” in the sense of Romans 12.

Trump was no more appointed by God than God “anointed” him through the hands of his self-proclaimed spiritual advisors. The rulers in the US are the citizens of the US. It WE who were appointed by God to govern our nation. Trump is our servant and if we live long enough we can get rid of him as I hope we do.

As for those who claim to anoint Trump as God’s ruler? They appear to have forgotten that there is only One anointed of God to rule over the principalities and powers of the world – and that is Jesus Christ. The other who makes that claim? Well Dr. Jeffess is an expert in the Book of Revelation. Perhaps he can answer that question.