There is something worse!
War is something of which I have no personal experience. In my lifetime, there have been but three years of it wherein the U.S. has not been physically engaged in war; and those years were just a few years ago. Now, a second major war theatre has opened, and its atrocities appear to be among the most gruesome since the Holocaust of the 1940’s. With the visual and audio technologies we have today, sharing the sites and sounds of these horrors is more vivid than in any previous wars. Without question, these sites and sounds are repugnant, repulsive, and evidence of pure evil. But as horrid as these realities are, there is something far worse!
When such world crises happen, they always prompt pleas for financial help, and at the very least, (which to me seems reversed) our prayers on behalf of the innocent victims. Yes, in war there are innocent victims, and these and their families suffer the most regardless of the reasons for war. In this most recent engagement, beheading is not new: we’ve seen that in recent wars. The kidnapping of men and the raping of women is not new either. But what is new (or at least unheard of for many years) is the beheading of children and babies, the brutality toward the elderly, and the absolute butchering of humans. But as horribly harsh as that is, there is something far worse!
Perhaps it is because we can see the carnage of war, hatred, or riot and unruliness, but cannot see the same regarding souls who are without God in this world (Ephesians 2:12). The Scriptures are very plain regarding the eternity in store for those who know not God and obey not the gospel of Christ (2 Thessalonians 1: 7 – 9). Yet, countless thousands carelessly continue in life without the least bit of concern for their souls, let alone the need to hear, believe, and obey the gospel! They go about with absolutely no fear of eternal death and believe themselves immune from the ruin of their souls. If asked, they will have an opinion about war and its ravages, and while they may claim they are “heaven-bound,” they can offer no proof of their salvation, and very little regarding their diligence in going to heaven. They respond as if heaven eternal is “owed” to them simply because they are alive and acknowledge that there is a God and heaven.
Undoubtedly, of those innocent victims of war (commonly called “collateral damage”) only a few are Christians as the New Testament describes a Christian: namely, one who has heard, believed, and obeyed the gospel by being immersed into Christ for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38; 47; Romans 6:1-6; Colossians 2:12; et al) and who diligently adds to their faith the works commanded him (2 Peter 1: 1- 10). According to Jesus, those who do not obey His commandments are not His friends (cf. John 15:14), and according to the inspired John, we can only know Christ if we keep His commandments (1 John 2:3). As we know from studying the Scriptures, obedient souls have always been in the minority. Therefore, imagine the countless number of those who die a horrible death in war, either from fighting in it, or being one of the unfortunate victims of it, who were of age to read, study, learn, and obey the gospel and did not! For them, it is a worse fate than what they met because of earthly war!
As for the innocent children and babies, let me remind the reader of Matthew 18: 3 – 6. The true and pure innocence of the young child or baby is what Jesus is speaking of in this passage. Our souls must become as innocent as theirs. Therefore, I have no reservations about saying the death of such ones places their souls in a “safe” environment with our God. They never knew sin, so there was never anything from which they needed to repent. James 4:17 tells us about the “age of accountability”. It is that precise time when one knows to do good and fails to do it! For such souls as KNOW the truth and fail to obey it, their fate is much worse than that of those whose lives are lost in war!
No, I have no personal knowledge of the horrors of war, and I’m thankful I do not! But I do know what it is to be without God and without hope in this world, and I’m thankful that from an early age, I was taught the consequences of remaining in such an eternally lost state! The difference is that I care about my soul and rejoice that I obeyed the gospel! Everyone who knows what it was like to be lost and now redeemed by the blood of Christ as they obeyed the gospel (1 Peter 1: 18 – 25) has that same knowledge and rejoices that they also obeyed the gospel! Prayerfully, we all stay faithful unto our physical deaths so we will rejoice eternally with the redeemed of all the ages! (1 John 3:3)
Yes, I grieve for those whose lives are endangered because of war. But as expressed, I grieve more for the souls who are lost because they choose to ignore the saving power of God (Romans 1:16). Additionally, I grieve for those souls who know the truth, but fail to share it, for they hide the gospel from those who need it (2 Corinthians 4:3). Being lost eternally is far worse than anything about earthly war!