I am in complete agreement with Mr. Elias Aslaksen’s viewpoint with regard to the saints serving in the military. At his request, I would like to add the following: David numbered the people, but that displeased God, and He sent His angel to strike down the people. 2 Sam. 24:17. Since the Lord uses His angels to execute His judgments among the children of men, then I believe He can also use people for the same work. The main thing is not who carries out the judgment, but that it is carried out.

If it is God’s will to strike down the people, then it makes no difference if it is an angel or a person who carries out the judgment, only that God’s will is done. God doesn’t undertake such judgments without good reason. If we had eyes like flames of fire as He does, so that we could look into the circumstances of all humanity, we would see abominations that could not even be mentioned. In light of this, it would perhaps be easier for us to understand that war would be more of a blessing than a curse. In Germany, churches and meeting houses were almost empty before the war began; but since the war started, they have been packed. This is evidence that the Lord’s punishment is effective.

God has the police to punish individuals and armies to punish nations. On account of war, one kingdom is destroyed and another is established, but the earth and all that is within it belong to the Lord, and He does what He wills with the things that are His. Through war, He drove out the ungodly Canaanites and allowed Israel to receive their land. The Lord allowed fire and brimstone to rain down on Sodom and thereby killed the ungodly.

A person who is in the flesh (Rom. 7:5) has a mind that cannot please God. People who are in the flesh have a distorted understanding about God Himself. With this understanding they cannot comprehend why God, who is love, would use war, famine, and pestilence to execute His judgments. Just as the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, the mind of the Spirit is enmity against the flesh. These two are contrary to one another. When the mind of the flesh drives people into such depraved ungodliness that their conduct becomes disgusting and repulsive to God and to man, it would be strange if such a loving and good God and Father would allow such evil to go unpunished.

People can be for or against the military, but then I would ask: who is a greater enemy of the military than the ungodly? And who is a better defense for our fatherland than those who are God-fearing? If there had been ten righteous in Sodom, the city would have been spared. Because of the ungodly, Babel and Jerusalem were destroyed. And Nineveh was doomed to be destroyed because of the ungodliness of the people; but they repented in sackcloth and ashes, and the city was spared.

Some people might say that war was allowed in the Old Testament but is forbidden in the New Testament. To this I would simply say that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. For that matter, the vast majority of people are living in the old covenant. Furthermore, the law was given for transgressors, and they show themselves to be transgressors when they sin daily; and sin is transgression of the law. A death must take place in order to be liberated from the sins committed in the first covenant before it can be said that a person has entered into the new covenant. So, for this reason, they should be sufficiently rooted in the Old Testament and thus be on equal footing with warriors such as Joshua, Samson, Jephthah, Gideon, and David.

But if someone has truly become a partaker with Christ in His death and has thereby entered into the new covenant, but still has doubts about whether or not it is right to participate in war, they should read about a man in the New Testament, Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. Acts 10. He was a devout, God-fearing soldier. He feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly. Peter gave him this testimony: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” Acts 10:34-35.

So Cornelius, a soldier, was righteous. He was therefore accepted by God and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

“For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” Everyone is affected by the war, either directly or indirectly. Either someone is fighting or is supporting the war by paying taxes, duties, fees, etc. It is impossible to be completely exempt from the war or its consequences, but a person can stop sinning.

If it were sin to engage in military service, the Spirit would convict of this sin. But God set His seal upon a soldier, Cornelius, by giving him the Holy Spirit. And not only Cornelius; God has also given the seal of the Holy Spirit to many other God-fearing soldiers. This proves that it is not sin to be in the military. God will not give the seal of His good Spirit to a sinner. Sin dwells in our lusts. Therefore, those who fight must fight lawfully and be content with their wages and not gain anything through deceit. When a person does this, God will bless him as a soldier and be with him in war and in peace, because he is a man of peace, even when he is serving in the military in order to win peace.

The destroyer Valkyrjen, March 1915