“I agree with your sentiments here, however it depends on the goal. If we just wish to survive, then peaceful civil disobedience will suffice. However, if we wish to restore a true Republic from the Government Class dictatorship that has now centralized its authority and rule, then our next leader will need to be at the head of an army, not a candidate for political office.”
Very thoughtful response, thank you. I disagree with your assertion that to restore America we must have an army and use violence. We have several cases in history that prove that non violent civil disobedience can overthrow even the most authoritarian government, such as happened in Poland and Czechoslovakia, etc in the old Soviet Union. It took a few years but really not any longer than a war would have probably taken and many lives were saved and much brutality spared.
“However, I don’t necessarily agree that Christ views peaceful obedience more “Godly” than armed resistance. I don’t believe the Founders were outside God’s will by fighting a “hot” revolution. And while Jesus did say “give unto Caesar...” he also said he was coming “with a sword...”. Our objectives and our means should govern our strategy.”
I don’t necessarily disagree outright with your assertion here however, it is how the war is fought. Lincoln said it best “with malice towards none”. But, in all wars we have excesses such as brutality beyond necessity, killing innocents intentionally. The key is if it brings on hatred, we can reasonably assume we are being tempted by Satan. That is far too easy in a hot war. However, having said that I do agree wholeheartedly with the “just war” concept. But, people are led away from our Lord during war by actions of hatred. A peaceful civil disobedience can wrap our hearts in God’s grace easily...and attract others to join us.
The main difficulty is that our ruling oligarchy will not relinquish control due to popular will. They’ve made that abundantly clear. They’ve also made abundantly clear that they are willing to use mercenaries - paid employees or Antifa/BLM irregulars to commit acts of extreme violence against us.
That action, continuing and increasing in order to exert greater control, will lead to a response in kind, regardless of any intentions we might have. We may not start with a hot war, we don’t have the means to prosecute one now anyway against the overwhelming power of the government, but at some point that may change as atrocities increase.