The Case(s!) for War(s!)
11/3/24 12:17 AM
Anno.Domini.144K
November 2, 2024
This week I heard in the Spirit the words, “casus belli.”
The phrase is a legal term defined by Oxfordreference.com as “An act or situation provoking or justifying war. The phrase is Latin, and comes from casus ‘case’, and belli ‘of war’.”
According to Britannica.com’s entry for casus belli, “The United Nations charter provides that warlike measures are permissible only if authorized by the Security Council or the general assembly or if necessary for “individual or collective self-defense” against “armed attack.”
Some examples of casus belli include:
- The 2003 invasion of Iraq: The US and its allies started this war on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
- The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: This event was considered a casus belli for the United States to declare war on terrorism.
- The 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany: This event is considered a casus belli for the start of World War II.
- The 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria: This event is considered a casus belli for the start of World War I.
- The 1898 USS Maine incident: This event led the United States to take Puerto Rico and the Philippines and to occupy Cuba from the Spanish Empire.
The Holy Spirit then downloaded the words, “Jeremiah 21”, and placed emphasis on “verse 7”. When I looked up the reference and read the scripture, the message’s harsh judgement of King Zedekiah and the ensuing suffering of the people of Jerusalem was unmistakable.
Jeremiah 21 (AMPC)
21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,
2 Inquire, I pray you, of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, forcing him to withdraw from us.
3 Then said Jeremiah to them, Say this to Zedekiah:
4 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the midst of this city [Jerusalem].
5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation and wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. And he will smite them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have pity or mercy and compassion upon them.
8 And to this people you [Jeremiah] shall say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9 He who remains in this city [Jerusalem] shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence. But he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him his only booty [as a prize of war].
10 For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11 And concerning the royal house of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord:
12 O house of David, thus says the Lord: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn so that none can quench it—because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, says the Lord—you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or, Who shall enter into our dwelling places?
14 And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forest, and it will devour all that is round about you.
The Holy Spirit impressed upon me that soon many wars—far beyond the current scenes of conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East—will erupt in diverse places like pox in a contagion upon the body of the earth.
Other Scripture:
Matthew 24:6-8 (AMPC)
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place;
8 All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the birth pangs [of the intolerable anguish].
1 Peter 4:17 (AMPC)
17 For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God?
Revelation 6:4 (AMPC)
4 And another horse came out, flaming red. And its rider was empowered to take the peace from the earth, so that men slaughtered one another; and he was given a huge sword.
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