Blinded by the Flight: 

Wars and Rumors of War [A Thimble Sermon]

Douglas B. Olds, June 22, 2025

Matthew 24:6-13 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, 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 pestilences] and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away,[b] and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved./

 

Matthew 16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus[a] they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[b] 4 An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They said to one another, “It is because we have brought no bread.” 8 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? 9 Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

All wars initiated by signatory states of the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact are morally illegal, not because of lack of enforceability, but because they break a public, self-binding oath of peace. The Pact was a unilateral renunciation of war—not merely a multilateral negotiation. Each state, by signing, absolutized its commitment to peace before the international community (see Olds 2023, 159 n. 52 reporting Hathaway and Shapiro 2017).

War's criminality arises from the deontological impermissability of flight from promise: war initiation by signatories, absent formal withdrawal, constitutes a breach of universalized moral duty, and is morally indefensible, regardless of strategic justification or popular support.

Further, any state participating in retaliatory war under the guise of defense but motivated by vengeance violates the justice of God, for divine justice is not yoked to retribution, but to mercy, restoration, and truth-based reckoning:

“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
“Love your enemies… pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

For countries instituted after 1928, prior standards of just war--defensive and proportionate response--cannot be doubted to hold as the de minimus commitment to neighbor and civilization.

The Cross was God’s final refusal of violent messianism. The Trinitarian standard of God in Christ has become: all war, and its planning, is metaphysically criminal after Christ. Just war doctrine—rooted in retaliation, proportionality, and sanctioned violence—

is not merely obsolete: it, and now all war, stands condemned.

Matthew 7:23: Away from me, all war planners and their accessories! 

Your attempts to transform reality are doomed.

We are at the time of judgment.