Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Dec. 1, 2025
Update	: Dec. 1, 2025
Parts	: 03

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part two regarding the Lord's spiritual army, similar to any earthly fighting force which uses physical weapons to fight against its perceived enemy, God's army likewise has weapons of its own. In fact, those weapons were mentioned in a verse I shared with you in part one. Consider the verse again, along with a number of other Scriptures which reveal the fact that we Christians are truly engaged in spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness, and that we have our own spiritual weapons as well. What is our primary weapon? It is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the very Word of God itself. It is the truth of God's Word which convicts people's hearts so that they will hopefully repent of their unbelief, and come to the saving knowledge of, and faith in, Jesus Christ:

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (FOR THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE ARE NOT CARNAL, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"


"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."


"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."


"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."


"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"


"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"


"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."


At this time, allow me to reiterate one of the key points of this series. While humanity's wars only promise us violence, destruction, misery and death, and rarely ever anything good, the primary purpose of God's holy war is to defeat spiritual darkness, evil, rebellion and ignorance, and to bring us to the Light of Jesus Christ, so that we all have an opportunity to repent of our unbelief, embrace Christ, and thus inherit Eternal Life in the amazing Kingdom of God. God's war is all about Light, Life and Salvation. Period. In short, Satan's war, and God's war, are in direct opposition to each other, and have very different goals in mind.

What you also need to understand is that Jesus Christ ALREADY did His part when He willingly died on the Cross for our sins and became the Captain of our Salvation, and the Head of the Church. Now it is up to each of us to come to the Light when God himself draws us to Jesus Christ by His Spirit. Have you done so yet? I hope so. After all, we can either come to the Light of Christ and be saved, or else we can rebel against it, hide from the Light, and bring condemnation upon ourselves by our own foolish choice, as we see by the following group of Bible verses:

"He that believeth on him [on Jesus] is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."


Now, as I mentioned earlier, because I know and understand the wicked, unbelieving heart of man, I realize that by even saying these things, certain nonbelievers who still remain in a darkened state in their minds, will probably be tempted to refute what I have just stated. I can just imagine some of them offering a cutting retort by saying something such as the following:

"Now just wait a minute there, Bill! What kind of nonsense is that? How can you even say that? Many of us are fully aware of the fact that down through history, many bloody wars have been instigated due to religious differences. As an example, just look at the Christian Crusades. They certainly did not reflect the light and life of which you have spoken. Or how about the Roman Catholic Church persecuting and killing many of the Reformers and other Protestant believers. Let us also consider the ongoing conflicts between the Shi'ite Muslims and the Sunni Muslims in the Middle East. Then there is the ongoing war between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which is also a religion-based war. Or how about the long-standing "Troubles" between Irish Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and Northern Ireland? Despite the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, friction still exists between these groups. I can go on and on, bro'."

Okay, that is a very fair argument, and I will briefly address it for anyone who may possibly think that way. In fact, I have ALREADY addressed it in large part, but perhaps you missed it because you were not paying close attention. First of all, I can only speak for my own Christian faith. I cannot speak for, and do not presume to speak for, any of the other religions of the world. In part one of this series, I clearly spelled out for you exactly what Jesus and the Apostles taught regarding the issues of violence and war. Their main message is that we born-again Christians are NOT of this world, that we are to strive to live peaceably with all men, and that we should NOT engage in the secular violence and wars of this present world. As I already explained to you, that is precisely how I have lived my own personal life, not engaging in violence and war, and never even owning a gun. I have really lived by my creed.

So taking into consideration what the verses in part one say, what should that tell you concerning any so-called Christian entity which behaves in a manner which is actually contrary to the peaceful teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles? Is it not clear? It should be that those Christian entities are NOT a true reflection of our Christian faith, as it is taught in the pages of the Bible. Plain and simple. In short, they are in fact clear examples of the false Christianity which slyly replaced true Bible-based Christianity many centuries ago. If you do not know what I am talking about, then I encourage you to read some of my other BBB articles, including "Rise of the False Church", "Pontifex Maximus: Pagan High Priest to Roman Catholic Pope" and "Churchianity or Christianity: Which Do You Practice?". You will find all of them listed at the end of this same series with clickable links. So that is my answer to those accusations for those of you who can accept it.

To be clear, I am NOT denying that some wars have indeed been instigated by religious differences. This is true. But again, they do NOT reflect the true peaceful Christian faith that is spelled out for us in the Scriptures. It might interest some of my readers to know that back in 1999, while I was working on another series, I conducted some very in-depth research regarding the terrible death tolls which have resulted from humanity's many wars. While my research was limited to wars which were conducted during the 20th century -- which doesn't include the Russia-Ukraine war, the Gaza Strip war, ongoing conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, etc. -- what I actually discovered was nevertheless very mind-boggling and disturbing.

These 20th century wars included, but are not limited to, the Mexican Revolution, World War I, the Russian Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Chinese Civil War, the French Indo-China War, the Korean War, the French-Algerian War, the Vietnam and Southeast Asia War, Israel's Six-Day War which was followed by another Israeli war in 1973, the war in Bangladesh, the Biafran revolt in Nigeria, the Angolan Civil War, the Mozambique Civil War, the Iran-Iraq war, the war in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, civil wars in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, the Iraq War -- which came years after the Gulf War, the 1995 war in Chechnya and the renewed war in the same, and the various wars in the Balkans involving Bosnia, Albania and Yugoslavia.

Exactly how deadly have these wars been? As I said a moment ago, the numbers I discovered while conducting my research are nothing short of astounding. The following war figures are provided to you courtesy of Matthew White's "Historical Atlas of the 20th Century" web page. In sharing this data with you, please understand that, as Mr. White explains on his site, it is virtually impossible to provide one hundred per cent accurate data. This is due to a variety of reasons, which I will now very briefly explain to you. In fact, the death toll figures I shared with you regarding the Vietnam War and the Iraq War reflect these very same problems.

The primary reason is that in dealing with numbers that are associated with death tolls from war, there is always some degree of manipulation involved, due to either political or personal reasons. In some cases, the numbers are purposely underestimated in order to conceal the level of atrocities which have been committed. In other cases, the figures are purposely exaggerated in order to gain sympathy for one side in the conflict. It happens all the time, and you should be aware of this point when you read or listen to the news. As the saying goes, history is written by the victor. Not only that, but during times of war, large numbers of people can be destroyed from off the face of the Earth without ever being accounted for. In such cases, one must rely upon a certain degree of educated guesswork, based upon the facts that are known.

Having said that, Mr. White assures us that he has consulted a wide variety of sources, and that he has endeavored to be as fair, accurate and conservative as possible with his data. In the following table are listed what White considers to be the top twenty wars of the 20th century, and the approximate death tolls associated with each one. Please note that these figures only represent actual military death tolls. They do NOT include civilian death tolls due to primary or secondary causes such as war-induced famine. As we saw earlier with regard to the Iraq War, non-combatant civilian casualties can in fact amount to literally hundreds of thousands of people, sad to say:

Est. Death Toll	War	Dates
20,000,000	Second World War	1937-1945
8,500,00	First World War	1914-1918
1,700,000	Korean War	1950-1953
1,200,000	Chinese Civil War	1945-1949
1,200,000	Viet Nam War	1965-1973
750,000	Iran-Iraq War	1980-1988
700,000	Russian Civil War	1918-1921
400,000	Chinese Civil War	1927-1937
400,000	French Indo-China War	1945-1954
200,000	Mexican Revolution	1911-1920
200,000	Spanish Civil War	1936-1939
160,000	French-Algerian War	1954-1962
150,000	Afghanistan War	1980-1989
130,000	Russo-Japanese War	1904-1905
100,000	Riffian War	1921-1926
100,000	First Sudanese Civil War	1956-1972
100,000	Russo-Polish War	1919-1920
100,000	Biafran War	1967-1970
90,000	Chaco War	1932-1935
85,000	Abyssinian War	1935-1936
36,265,000	Estimated total military deaths

To add some balance to this picture, I will now provide you with a second table with some data from Mr. White's website, which shows some of the same wars, but this time with actual civilian death tolls included in the totals, and other human atrocities which have been either directly -- or indirectly -- associated with war and/or political and social struggle. Between these figures and the previous ones, we should obtain a general idea of how many lives have been lost due to man's inhumane treatment of man in the events listed, during this past century. Please note that I have added footnotes to six of the death toll listings below:

Est. Death Toll	Event	Dates
50,000,000	Second World War (a)	1937-1945
48,250,000	China: Mao Zedong's Regime (b)	1949-1976
20,000,000	Russia: Stalin's Regime (c)	1924-1953
15,000,000	First World War (d)	1914-1918
7,000,000	Russian Civil War	1918-1921
4,000,000	Chinese Civil War	1945-1949
4,000,000	China: Warlord/Nationalist era	1917-1937
3,000,000	Korean War	1950-1953
2,400,000	Viet Nam War (e)	1965-1973
2,100,000	German expulsions after WW II	1945-1947
2,000,000	Congo Free State	1900-1908
1,900,000	2nd Sudanese Civil War	1983-
1,671,000	Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Regime	1975-1979
1,500,000	Armenian Massacres (f)	1915-1923
1,500,000	Afghanistan: Civil War	1980-
1,400,000	Ethiopian Civil Wars	1962-1992
1,250,000	Mexican Revolution	1910-1920
1,250,000	Bangladesh	1971
1,000,000	Iran-Iraq War	1980-1988
1,000,000	Nigeria: Biafran Revolt	1967-1970
800,000	Mozambique: Civil War	1976-1992
800,000	Rwandan Massacres	1994
600,000	French Indo-China War	1945-1954
500,000	India-Pakistan Partition	1947
500,000	Indonesia: Communists massacred	1965-1967
500,000	Angolan Civil War	1975-1994
500,000	1st Sudanese Civil War	1955-1972
365,000	Spanish Civil War	1936-1939
350,000	Somalia: Civil War	1991-
320,000	French-Algerian War	1954-1962
175,456,000	Estimated total deaths

Footnotes:

a - Some overlap with Stalin. Includes Sino-Japanese War, but does not include post-war German expulsions.

b - Includes famine.

c - Includes World War II era atrocities.

d - Some overlap with Russian Civil War and Armenian massacres.

e - Includes Laos and Cambodia.

f - Some overlap with World War I.

My friends, isn't that absolutely horrifying? If we accept these figures as being close to accurate, between 36,265,000 and 175,456,000 individuals lost their lives during the 20th century alone due to wars, and the other atrocities and side effects which are associated with war. In all the research I conducted for that 1999 series, no other death toll figures for any of the other things I discussed -- such as disease, earthquakes, famine, smoking, floods, etc. -- came close to these figures. If we take the smaller number, that is like 77% of the current population of Australia! In contrast, if we take the larger number, that is about 51% of the current population of the United States of America! There should be no doubt then that humanity's wars and oppression against his fellow man have clearly been the most destructive force upon the face of this planet! Let that sink in for a moment!

Furthermore, if we add in 21st century death tolls from the Russia-Ukraine War, the ongoing slaughter in African nations such as Sudan and Nigeria, the tragic genocide occurring in the Gaza Strip, etc., we can easily add several more million deaths to our overall tally. What a disgrace! Perhaps you the reader can now more fully understand why it is so imperative that the production and storage of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons -- a.k.a. Weapons of Mass Destruction -- be brought to a complete halt! If the world's wicked warmongers were able to wreak this much carnage and destruction from conventional weapons, God only knows what such vile people could -- and probably would -- do, if what occurred to the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, were repeated on a much larger scale by many nations simultaneously, and with even more powerful weapons!

Tragically, as some of you will already know, that seems to be EXACTLY where we are headed, whether we the common people like it or not! As I explain in articles such as "Robot Wars and Skynet: Is Sci-Fi Becoming Our Reality?", it seems that these evildoers simply cannot help themselves. As if 20th century warfare was not already bad and destructive enough, now we have got AI technology, drones, hypersonic missiles, space-based weaponry, computer viruses, laser weapons, etc. In fact, as has become common knowledge, the Russia-Ukraine war is being largely fought with drones now, and robotic war machines are on the rise as well and possibly super soldiers.

Yet sadly, even that is NOT the end of the madness of Satan's warmongers. As you may know, recent news reports state that the three primary members of the UN Security Council -- the Unites States, Russia and China -- have ALL issued a public statement concerning their intentions to begin nuclear tests anew! Where will it all end? With a crispy, toasty, lifeless planet? Will some distant alien race one day suddenly notice that a particular blue heavenly body has disappeared from their night sky? Unnerving, isn't it?

This issue of humanity's many wars and human exploration of Outer Space is something I have discussed before in articles such as my eight-part series "Alien Life, Extrasolar Planets and Universal Atonement". I have given much thought to the issue over the years. As I have questioned before, given our violent, war-prone nature, does humanity even have the right to explore Outer Space? Do we have the right to pollute it with our space junk, war machines and violent nature? Won't we simply repeat on other worlds what we have already done to our own precious planet which God has given to us in His amazing love?

As is already well known, some people in the UAP/UFO circles insist that not only do other intelligent alien civilizations exist, but in addition to visiting our planet for millennia, they have grown increasingly concerned regarding humanity's obvious destructive nature, as well as man's possession of increasingly destructive weaponry. Of course, I honestly do not know how much of this talk is really true, but I do keep a very open mind concerning it, as is reflected in some of my BBB articles. Along the same lines, while I was writing these paragraphs, I was reminded of part of a 1987 speech which US President Ronald Reagan gave before the 42nd session of the UN General Assembly. Following is a direct quote from it:

----- Begin Quote -----

"In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?"

----- End Quote -----

While some people adopted the position that Reagan was simply acting a little "loopy" due to his advancing age -- he was 76 at the time -- others interpreted his message as a direct hint that there was already an alien presence amongst us. And yet others took the president's words at face value, and accepted them as meaning that they were a condemnation of war, and a desire to see unity amongst the nations of the world. Below is an actual video of that portion of Reagan's speech. If you do not hear the audio portion of the video, simply click or tap on the video, and adjust the volume according to your personal liking:

This browser does not support the video element.

If for some reason the above video does not play in your web browser, you can likewise watch it on YouTube at this URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPyY0QjgpY

As I mentioned earlier, the children of the world will do as the children of the world will do, and there is really little that you and I can do about it. However, regardless of what they do in the coming years, we can't allow their wickedness to rob God's peace from our hearts. And they won't, if our eyes and minds remain focused on Jesus, as we plainly see by the following two Bible verses:

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."


"LOOKING UNTO JESUS the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."


In conclusion, my friends, please live a life of peace. Even more importantly, place your faith in the sacrifice of the Prince of Peace himself -- Jesus Christ -- so that you can be reconciled with our Heavenly Father, and be at peace with Him. Following are some closing verses for your personal consideration:

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."


"Therefore being justified by faith, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST . . . For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."


"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."


"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. FOR HE IS OUR PEACE, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."


"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, HAVING MADE PEACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:"


"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."


"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."


"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."


With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Alien Life, Extrasolar Planets and Universal Atonement

America vs. Iran: This Was an Act of War

Are You Committing Adultery?

Beware of Dominionism!

Churchianity or Christianity: Which Do You Practice

Divine Protection: Do You Have Fear or Faith?

Dracula, Nosferatu, Twilight: The Vampire Fad

Free From the Fear of Death: Law and Works vs Grace

Killing and the Phinehas Priesthood

Killing, Murder, War and Military Duty

Obama, McCain and the Bush Legacy

One From Beyond: Hebrew of Hebrews

Owning Guns: What Saith the Scriptures?

Pontifex Maximus: Pagan High Priest to Roman Catholic Pope

Rise of the False Church

Robot Wars and Skynet: Is Sci-Fi Becoming Our Reality?

Saddam Hussein's Execution and the Euro Dollar War

School Shootings: The Second Amendment Controversy

Science and Technology: The Forbidden Knowledge?

Star Wars: The Real Battle Wages On!

Strangers and Pilgrims: Are You an Alien?

The Heavenly Vision: Have You Got It?

The Internet: Our Final Frontier; Your Last Chance?

The Plight of the Children: School Gun Violence!

What Does Blessed Are the Peacemakers Really Mean?

Who is the Real Terrorist?

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the BBB Bible website. There are many treasures for you to discover.