"Do Violence to No Man"

John "the Baptizer," perhaps preaching somewhere between Nazareth and Jerusalem, in "the region around the Jordan River" (Luke 3:3), appeared to display incredible ignorance of basic marketing principles. To the "publicans" ("tax farmers" who made their profits by extracting a percentage above the minimum required by the Roman Empire), John told them not to collect more than the Empire required (Luke 3:12). He called the religious leaders a bunch of "snakes" (Matthew 3:7). And to the soldiers, Jesus said, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages" (Luke 3:14).

Lawrence M. Vance, with extraordinary perception, makes this application:

Are you a soldier in Iraq? Do violence to no man. Do you know a soldier in Iraq? Tell him to not accuse someone falsely of being a terrorist. Are you thinking about enlisting in the military? Be content with your wages and don’t covet the Army’s $20,000 signing bonus to be a hired killer. Isn’t it time, after the loss of a million Iraqis and almost 4,000 U.S. soldiers, to say enough is enough?

All Americans have choices. Germans under Hitler had choices.

For the soldiers currently in the United States who face the possibly of going to Iraq the solution is a much simpler one: Don’t go. Go AWOL, go to jail, get court-martialed, get dishonorably discharged, lose your rank, lose your retirement – just don’t go. Make the military drag you there kicking and screaming.

Marketing Guru Seth Godin asks questions about marketing the war. How could America have marketed the idea that the ideals of America are good, and the ideals of terrorism are bad? I have suggested that we should have sent missionaries instead of soldiers. Let people in the Middle East see America's charity, small business loans, tariff-free trade, hospitals, universities, irrigation and advanced agriculture, and see how well the religion of suicide bombing looks in comparison.

As it stands now, suicide bombing looks more attractive than being an American.

There's a word for what the world's superpower is doing in the Middle East. The word is "genocide." Three thousand Americans died on 9-11. The U.S. has killed not just twice as many Iraqis, not just seventy-seven times as many Iraqis, but three hundred times as many Iraqis as died on 9-11. But it's "good for the economy," especially military contractors, because U.S. forces have expended at least 250,000 small-caliber bullets for every one insurgent killed in the present wars.

And Christians in America who believe Iraq had something to do with 9-11 and support the wars are often baptists (boasting of some connection to John the Baptist) who claim to be followers of the "Prince of Peace."