US OFFICIALS LYING TO START WARS: THE BIBLE TOLD ME TO DO IT

Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora. In the text of my answer further below, items [in brackets] were added after the posting at Quora.
 
First, let’s talk about the news from Defense One that has hit major outlets today. It seems Trump was not telling the whole truth when he tweeted “all is well” the day after the Jan. 8 Iranian ballistic missile strike on US.
 
According to Defense One, it turns out that 11 troops were wounded in the attack. Let’s analyse this. The attack was over a week ago, and finally, the news comes out that there were wounded.
 
Now the patriotic US msm and pols keep screaming that the Russian government manages its news and is therefore a dictatorship. But what is the US government waiting over a week to finally divulge that Americans were wounded in a strike that – no matter how you spin it – was triggered by the president issuing an order to murder a high foreign official and thereby taking the whole world to the brink of war? It’s called managing the news. And it’s not just Trump doing this. When the US Establishment wants war, the last thing they want you to know is the truth.
 
GW Bush did it with the phony WMD story. Clinton murdered 13,500 Serbs based on the lie that they were committing genocide, but after the war, UN prosecutor Carla del Ponte found that it was the Albanians (Kosovars) – the ones Clinton swore he was “protecting” – who were committing crimes against humanity (like murdering Serbs and selling their organs. And we’re supposed to believe that the Russians are the ones “managing the news”?
 
And there’s more. First the State Department’s Mike Pompeo told the House and Senate the reason behind the attack was to prevent Soleimani from carrying out a  planned attack on 4 US embassies. But when pressed for details on which embassies they were and how he knew this, he backed off, indicating to thinking people that it was another US lie to fool Americans into accepting another in an endless string of military risks imposed from above on US kids in uniform. A few days later, Pompeo ratcheted the narrative down, simply saying the murder was for “deterrence.”
 
Here is what Defense One wrote about this deterrence:
 
ICYMI: “re-establishing deterrence” has been U.S. officials’ latest and possibly final justification (AP) for the strike on Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr gave voice to the broader rationale on Monday, saying deterrence was a key component of the strike,” AP writes. “Trump himself implicitly acknowledged the deterrence aim, telling reporters Monday that the strike against Soleimani ‘should have been done 20 years ago.’”
 
On the other hand: “If firing missiles into bases housing U.S. soldiers is ‘restoring deterrence,’ I don’t know what the word means anymore,” said Ali Vaez to the NYTs. 
 
The question I answered at Quora has direct bearing on this because it shows that the grassroots is very much complicit in the skullduggery that we often attribute solely to the Establishment, or as some call it, the Deep State.
 
https://www.quora.com/What-would-it-take-to-get-the-American-public-to-finally-turn-against-the-massive-amounts-of-military-spending-every-year-that-contributes-so-deeply-to-our-deficit/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
Q: What would it take to get the American public to finally turn against the massive amounts of military spending every year that contributes so deeply to our deficit?

Vince Dhimos, Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016-present)
 
This is an excellent question because many analysts consider only the US government or Establishment as the cause of eternal wars and debt, but without the support of the grassroots, the Establishment would not be able to continue the deficit spending and the totally unjustified eternal wars. In fact, warmongering politicians would no longer get elected.
 
There is an aspect to this that no one ever discusses, though it is the most important reason why Americans accept the wars, and that is the cult-like religious belief in war.
 
After all, if you believed with all your heart that God wanted you to fight, or send your sons to fight, to save Israel from a deadly enemy, wouldn’t you do as God bids you?
 
The region that sends more young men to fight abroad is in the South, ie, the Bible Belt, where war and the Bible are often synonymous. This is due in large part to the fact that 80% of Evangelicals believe their government should support Israel because they think that Israel’s military leaders (who have committed genocide since day one) are led by the Almighty. They base this belief on the dry bones prophecy of Ezekiel 37. Incredibly, virtually no pastor ever mentions verse 24 of this chapter, but this verse is the key, declaring that the resurrected Israel “will be obedient to God’s decrees.” The problem with this is that the most recent WIN/Gallup poll shows that a full 65% of Israelis have no religion at all (due in part to the migration of millions of Soviet Jews to Israel). This makes it impossible to interpret this chapter as it is interpreted by most US churches. To put it bluntly, modern Israel is not Ezekiel’s Israel! Further, Jesus never once even hinted that his followers must defend a secular state calling itself Israel in the latter days. Quite to the contrary, he railed against the leaders of Israel calling them hypocrites and murderers of the prophets, and saying that they would not see Him again until they had said “blessed is the one [Jesus] who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39). Thus the name "Christian" Zionism is pure blasphemy if you let Jesus' teachings be your guide.
 
[Megachurch Preacher John Hagee has mesmerized his home and TV audience to believe in the twisted Bible message that “Christian” America has a duty to attack Iran to save Israel, even though Israel has been doing nothing but antagonizing and provoking Iran for years by bombing its troops in Syria, which – unlike the US – was invited by the Syrians to fight terror in that county. Iran has taken it on the chin all this time and only occasionally warned Israel to back off or else. But many brainwashed Americans believe that, while Israel has a “right to defend itself,” Iran does not enjoy this same right to defend itself, citing the warnings by Iran to back off as “threats.” Hagee, who is friends with Netanyahu, has repeatedly urged the US to conduct a pre-emptive strike against Iran, claiming, inaccurately, since 2006, that the country would "soon" have a nuke. Likewise, “Christian” Zionists Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo both urged Trump to kill Soleimani, claiming this would make the US safer. Question: If God wants the US to invade Iran, supposedly based on the Bible, why do "Christian" leaders have to lie to make it happen?]
 
The only way to straighten out government war mongers is to change the minds of the public, and the only way to do that is to show them that the Bible does not support eternal wars against Shia (the milder Muslims—which is absurd in itself) to “save Israel.” All wars in the Middle East are instigated by the US under pressure from both Israel and Saudi Arabia (as I showed here https://www.quora.com/Which-of-the-USAs-global-interventions-were-purely-well-motivated/answer/Vince-Dhimos). And the blind support of Israeli war policies is rooted in the cult-like beliefs of  “Christian” Zionists as described above, which are not biblical — though most US pastors believe they are. And of course, no politician would want to set them straight because their support for war is what got most of the misfits elected in the first place.
 
If this message goes to enough grassroots Americans, the wars will eventually stop. But today, contradicting the church's popular warlike view is considered blasphemy. In fact, criticising "Christian" Zionism can get you kicked off of social media platforms (I speak from experience). But since the popular view is not biblical, as we have shown, which view is really blasphemy?
 
Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.
                   Matthew 7:13