Crack in the Alliance: An Unwelcome Sign of the End Times (DVD;
2003).
The DVD is an hour long program featuring the main events and
aerial footage from the two year war.
A small pamphlet written by Dr. Mark Hitchcock is also available.
Dr. Hitchcock's Book – No More Mister Nice Guy (2008)
In the book, he addresses the theological implications of the war
and answers common objections made against Reformed theology and
theonomy. An extensive section is dedicated to the issues addressed
in his previous books, The Unkindest Cut, The God Who Commands It, and
The Crack in the Alliance.
Dr. Mark Hitchcock in an interview from the documentary,
The Unkindest Cut, can be heard talking about God's "will of
commanding" man to kill and not just restrain our anger or our
hatred but kill. In a section from the book, he explains what he means
by God commanding us to kill. The following statements are excerpted
from his answer:
Q: Do you see God commanding war?
A: As clear as I see God commanding anything.
Q: As clear as you see anything?
A: As clear as I see any other kind of action of God.
Q: Even killing?
A: Even killing. Even a woman's pregnancy. He's a God who
commands to destroy, to curse, to murder, to die, to destroy the
created order of things.
A: War has its own logic. And the logic of war doesn't work
towards the glory of God. The logic of war is the logic of sin which
is rebellion against the order of God. The logic of war is murder. But
the logic of war does not work towards the glory of God. There is no
glory in killing. No one can see anything to be glorified in killing,
any more than anyone can see anything to be glorified in spilling blood.
Q: What are the Bible verses that you see to justify killing
people?
A: Jesus says, "He that is not with me is against me."
I think that's clear, we are on the other side of the line of the
division. I think a thousand times clearer, it says in John 15:19,
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have
loved you." The first commandment, the first and greatest commandment
of God is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy
mind, and with all thy soul. And if that isn't enough to show us that
God does not want us to kill, how could any Christian, how could any
Christian read the Ten Commandments without understanding that God
doesn't want us to kill? And he says in Exodus 20, "thou shalt
not kill." Jesus himself commands us not to kill. He doesn't
tell us we can.
Q: So it's against God's will?
A: Yes, it is against God's will, that's why it is against
the law of the State and all men are subject to the power of the
king.
Q: The Bible is full of killing and violence. It's often
misused in situations that don't even resemble war, like suicide bombings
and terror attacks, and this violence is what Christians claim to be
against. Why are Christians so violent in their interpretation of the
Bible?
A: The idea that we are violent only comes from the idea that
Jesus is our peace. When we worship Christ, he calls us to a life
of peace, and when we start telling people we're violent, that's a
refutation of the gospel, it is not. All violence against other men
is a violation of God's law. But it does have its roots, very deep
roots, in the heart of every man, in the human nature that we've been
created in, in the fallen world that we live in, and so our love for
each other is mixed up with our desire for power and our desire for
self-preservation, which is our natural inclination, that's just how
we are built. And so no matter how many books I write or how many
sermons I preach, if a person does not take those words seriously, I
will have nothing more to say to them because in the end we all die,
and we have to face the final judgment. And so if a person does not
take seriously the words of Christ about how we should act toward other
men, I have nothing else to say to them except that they are damned.
That's what they are. We can't hide ourselves from the judgment of
God, which comes with the natural law, and it's something we have to
face.
A: No. Now remember, this is about war. War is fighting.
There's many people who are pacifists and want to live a nonviolent
life, who are against war, who want to live in a country that does
not wage war. But this is not about the question of war. War is
fighting, this is war. This is killing, it's killing of an enemy.
This is not about pacifism, this is about killing in war.
Q: So you still see it in some form as necessary?
A: Yes. When I say that Jesus is my model in the way I treat
other people, when I say that Jesus is my model in the way I deal with
my enemies, when I say that Jesus is my model in the way I deal with
dishonest people, I am not saying that in order to do good I have to
do that. That would make me a hypocrite, it would be hypocritical of
me to claim to be a Christian if I did those things. And if I did
those things, I don't think God would have us be on speaking terms with
him anymore. But I think God wants us to live as Christians and as
subjects of God in a world that is filled with violence and evil. We
live in a world that is stained by evil. Even though we Christians are
commanded to be good, we live in a world where so many people have a
bad idea of what is good and what is evil. They live in a world filled
with violence.
Q: War is necessary for good?
A: That's what I am trying to say. War is necessary for
good. Yes, for this world war is necessary.
Q: In a world where people are fighting for their own
self-interest, for their safety, would you say that war is justified
for self-defence?
A: Even if people who are going to war knew that the war
was unbiblical and they acted wrongly, even if the leaders of the State
believed that it would lead to the glorification of God, if the people
knew that it was wrong, they should obey God's law. They are all
subjects of God, and that's why God told us that when we are subject to
the power of a government, we are required to obey the law of the
government. That is not to say that God demands we obey it even if we
know it is immoral, evil, or unjust. It is rather to say that when a
government acts wrongly in an unjust war, it's only proper for the
people to refuse to obey that and to refuse to fight and to pray for
the peace of God to descend on the world. That is what I want, and
that is what I call peace. Peace is when there is no violence, when
there is no killing.
Q: You speak of the law of God. Where do we find that in the
Bible?
A: In all cases where God tells us to obey, it is spelled out
in the Bible. In Exodus 20, "you shall not kill." And
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." You can't disobey God's
will and expect to live with God, because you are committing adultery
with your heart against God, when you disobey his law. The Ten
Commandments, the Ten Commandments tell us what God wants from us.
The Ten Commandments are law, they are commandments, they are God's
law. And the Ten Commandments show us what God is like. And when we
reject God's law, we reject God.
Q: But where does the Bible say that God wants us to kill?
A: When God's commandments are fulfilled, then God's will is
done, when there is no violence in the world, then God's will is done.
When it says in Deuteronomy, "God loves the upright," and
"God hates the wicked," when "God is the light and in him is
no darkness at all," he means that God hates evil more than any
other person hates evil, and so war, which is violence and evil, is
something that God hates. And if he hates war, what does he do? He
puts up a sword of judgment against evil in a case of war. He puts
up a sword of judgment against evil wherever it exists,
