GOD'S CHIEF JOB IS WAGING WARS, REALLY?

Pope Leo XIV verbally goes to war, chastising war-mongers President Donald Trump and Secretary of War (sic) Pete Hegseth, who really functions as Secretary of Defense. Both leaders declared U.S. forces under their military leadership achieved total victory against Iran.

Because each of these leaders appeal to the Bible to justify their claims, who correctly interprets Scripture?

Pope Leo XIV focused on Trump's and Hegseth's contaminated use of the Bible to support warr
+ing madness. At his Palm Sunday mass, the Pope told worshipers in Saint Peter's Square: "Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.'"

On Easter Day, the pontiff re-enforced his conviction that Jesus reigns over creation as the "Prince of Peace." Christian pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square heard the Pope directly castigate warring U.S. leaders. "Let those who unleash wars choose peace," he avowed. "Not a peace imposed by force, nor through the desire to dominate others but to encounter them! We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it and becoming indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people."

Trump and Hegseth win and the Pope loses if we isolate biblical texts and pretend they convey total biblical truth. Both U.S. leaders blather jingoistic taunts, like those recorded in the scriptural book of "Joshua." There ancient Israel obeyed God's edicts to decimate indigenous tribes in Canaan, where wars grew for centuries like dandelions in the Spring.

How is God described In "Joshua" and what war tactics does this God approve in this military narrative?

Before I took Hebrew at Princeton Theological Seminary, I assumed that a familiar biblical title for God, "Lord of hosts," pictured love and peace. The "hosts" alluded to crimson cheeked cherubs hovering with holy glee above God's sovereign head. Adoring cherubs planted a golden crown on his head, symbolizing God's dominion, strong and commanding as the sun's rays warming Earth.

How wrong was my interpretation!

God is often pictured throughout early biblical literature as commander in chief of a mighty army. "The Lord, strong and mighty! The Lord, Mighty in battle (Psalm 24: 8). The "hosts" are ancient Hebrew soldiers who practiced doom warfare, a common tactic heathen forces used. Ancient Hebrew armies triumphed over several Canaanite indigenous forces because God blessed them. They annihilated enemies, raped their women, and ripped open bellies of pregnant women. Ancient Hebrew armies dashed fetuses' and infants' brains against rocks, torched enemy villages, and left them as piles of incinerated rubble. Then God's soldiers salted fields, making them barren for the ages.

Secretary of War Hegseth's body is splattered with tattoos detailing battle cries of the Crusaders. He thundered as he prayed in a Pentagon Christian Nationalist Service of Worship in which Roman Catholics were forbidden to attend, that the Lord of hosts (armies) "grant this task force [against Iran] clear and righteous targets for violence" and to "Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation."

Not to be outdone in godly anger against Iran, President Trump assaulted his satanic Mid-East enemy, unleashing a triple threat of doom warfare. On Sunday, April 6, Trump on social media said Iran would be "living in Hell" if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened. On Monday, he bellowed that Iran is doomed because "the entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night." The next day he roared how our forces had achieved "total victory."

Undoubtedly, the Bible often speaks of God as the "Divine Warrior."

What Pope Leo remembers is that this title of "Divine Warrior" is seen by Jesus as metaphor for Goodness in its battle against Evil. The Pope rightly understands how Jesus wields his weapons against the Prince of Darkness and satanic hosts who often dominate our world.

Jesus, "the Divine Warrior," engages in holy warfare against all evil hosts. His weapons are armaments of peace on earth. This "Divine Warrior" is more than a messenger of Peace. He is a doer of peacemaking.

A peace that passes Trump's and Hegseth's puny, juvenile, and contorted understanding of Christianity's take on war.