As I watched the scenes commemorating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of young Americans who had gone to war for …. what?  Why did they fight?  Why were they called upon to risk everything?  Why did they die?  The answer can be summed up in one word: SIN–personal and national sin.  Since the debacle that took place in the Garden of Eden, SIN HAS BEEN THE CAUSE OF ALL OF MAN’S PROBLEMS.  Proof?  Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 where the same God (the Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) told the ancient Israelites that if they obeyed Him He would guarantee them health, wealth and peace.  However, if they disobeyed Him He would guarantee them the exact opposite.  The New Covenant Church was built upon the writings of the Old Covenant prophets and the New Covenant apostles, both of which were headed by the same God.  Read The God of the Old Testament and Who and Where is Israel Today?  Key words–Old and Today respectively.  Let us return to where man’s subconscious death wish began–the Garden of Eden.

Adam’s only assignment was to take care of the paradise God had created for him and his descendants.  For living a no sweat, no work, no enemies, no wants life, he, Eve and their offspring would be allowed to live in health, wealth and peace.  As their family grew the garden would grow until it covered the entire earth.  As if that were not enough, they would be allowed to eat of the Tree of Eternal Life and live forever–in paradise.  What happened to ruin all of that for them and their descendants?  SIN–disobedience to God’s Word.  Why did Adam and Eve sin?  They subconsciously wanted what the Serpent (Lucifer) wanted–godhood–the power of self-determination, otherwise known as PRIDE.  As the Bible tells us, “Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall.”   The result of such God-rejecting attitudes came quickly and decidedly.  Satan and those who followed him were put out of God’s presence.  Adam and Eve were put out of Eden.  Both lost paradise.  Adam and Eve lost their second son at the hands of their first son.  Man has been killing man ever since.  If Adam had obeyed God’s Edenic Law Satan would have been removed and we would all be living in a global paradise today.  Unfortunately, Cain embraced his father and mother’s craving for self-determination which resulted in his becoming a murderer.

Later, the Almighty raised up a man named Abraham (Abram) who obeyed Him to the nth degree.  He mightily blessed Abraham and made him not only a great man, but through him a great nation–Israel.  All was going fine until one day some of Abraham’s great grandsons decided to sell their brother.  Sin had filled their hearts.  The result was that they and their families spent over 400 years under the control of the heathen Egyptians, eventually becoming their slaves.

In His mercy, God promised to free them.  His only command was that they observe Passover.  They did, along with a multitude of Gentiles who left Egypt with them and became part of Israel.  God performed miracle after miracle to get them out of Egypt, walked them through the Red Sea on dry land, protected them as they made their way toward the Promised Land, the Israelites whining and moaning all the way.  Nearing the Promised Land He gathered them at Mt. Sinai and spoke to them in an audible voice.  He told them that IF they would obey His words they would have health, wealth and peace.  In Exodus 23:20-30 the Lord promised that He would destroy their enemies and clear them out before them (Israel), even sending hornets to force them out of the land He had promised Abraham.  Their response–a sex orgy, idol worship, dreams of returning to Egyptian slavery and loss of faith.  God responded by sending them on a wandering 40-year journey to nowhere in the Sinai desert, fighting and dying all the way until all of that sinful, faithless generation were dead.  When they finally did enter the Promised Land they had to fight and die for every inch of it.  Why?  SIN.

Fast forward to Matthew 24:6,7 where we find Jesus warning His disciples that war would be an ever-present reality in man’s life.  War produces multitudinous death.  So why does wage war?  SIN.  Why sin?  All sin results from pride–man’s insatiable desire for self-rule.  Why does man want to rule himself?  Because his way is better than God’s way.  Due to pride man has always done what Adam and Eve did–listen to Satan who fed his ego.  To satisfy man’s need for religion, Satan taught him how to created his own religions based on his own likes and dislikes.  Like their original parents, men followed their own religions and the result was SIN.

Fast forward to the present.  Individual, national and church sin keeps man in a state of war or preparation for war.  At any one point in time there are on average 10 wars being waged globally.  From tribal wars in Africa to national wars in the so-called civilized world, there is continuous killing, maiming, destruction, terror, ….  Why?  SIN.  Man simply refuses to learn that he is incapable of making peace, creating plenty and treating his fellow man with respect and love.  Only by obeying God can man achieve this goal.  Instead, man kills his fellow man.  Why?  SIN.

Today we memorialized those who are the victims of mankind’s sin.  Generation after generation creates more deadly methods of killing their fellow man while wondering why?  Generation aftger generation the answer is the same: SIN.  L.J.