Title:  Thomas Paine Quote

   These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph.

   -- Thomas Paine, The Crisis -- December 1776.

See:  Rom 12:21; 2 Cor 4:8-9; 1 John 5:4

Title:  Two Years of Peace

   On the basis of the computation in the Moscow Gazette, Gustave Valbert in his day could report that "From the year 1496 B.C. to A.D. 1861 in 3358 years there were 227 years of peace and 3,130 years of war, or 13 years of war to every year of peace. Within the last three centuries, there have been 286 wars in Europe. He added that from the year 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1860 more than 8000 treaties of peace, meant to remain in force forever, were concluded. The average time they remained in force was two years."

See:  Jer 6:13-16

Title:  More War, More Dead

   Wars and battles, skirmishes and ambushes -- fighting rages day and night through cease-fires and truce talks around the world. It happens on Belfast's streets, along Iran's and Iraq's 1,000-mile front, in Central America's mountainous jungles. And it won't stop just because Pope John Paul II declared today "World Peace Day" and called on everyone with a weapon to put it down. "It's going to get worse before it gets better," said Richard Staar, international studies director at the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace in Pal Alto, Calif. "There are more wars with more people killed all over the world than 10 years ago." True, it's been 41 years since the world's major powers last bombed and shelled each other, but on any day soldiers are firing in 30 to 40 nations. Wars of liberation. Territorial disputes. Religious principles  "One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist," the saying goes, but the common denominator is death. The Center for Defense Information estimates the number killed since the early 1970's at anywhere from a "conservative" 4.5 million to a more realistic 7.1 million. "Body counts" vary, but most participants agree peace is unlikely. The bottom line: 1.56 billion -- one in three of the world's 4.84 billion people -- live in lands enduring armed conflict. Ahead? Staar says: "Regional conflict will increase."

   -- USA Today, Oct. 27, 1986.

See:  Matt 24:6-8; Mark 13:7; John 14:26-28

Title:  No Peace!

   In the over 3100 years of recorded world history, the world has only been at peace 8% of the time or a total of 286 years and 8000 treaties have been made and broken. Even now we seem headed for a nuclear showdown.

See:  Jer 6:14; Jer 8:11

Title:  Wars and Rumors of Wars

   The Dallas Morning News recently shook its readers awake with 24 pages devoted to 19 wars which are raging right now. Most of the wars involve Governors killing their own people in disputes over land and religion, ethnic and tribal differences, political power and drugs. In the 19 wars going on right now, 3 million people have been killed, 90% of them civilians. Drug wars in Latin America relate directly to the appetite for drugs in the United States. Now war is defined as any strife which results in a thousand or more deaths per year. Central America's bloodiest war in Guatemala has killed 138,000 since 1966. The Dallas Newspaper audit does not include the lesser number of people killing people in the name of religion in Northern Ireland and in Israel's Gaza. And among its hidden wars it does not include the gang wars and the drug wars which are piling up 22,000 dead Americans this year.

See:  Gal 5:15

Title:  The Heavy Price of War

   People are starving because of civil wars raging in two African nations.
   Sudan's war has been going on since 1983. In one area, 50% of the children are orphans, 50% are malnourished and 50% die before the age of 5. One hospital must serve 1.5 million people.
   Mozambique has been a battlefield since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975. In the past few years, more than 100,000 Mozambicans have died due to war. About 1.6 million people have been displaced form their homes due to warfare. Another 900,000 have fled to other countries.

   -- World Vision

See:  Gal 5:15

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