A certain father wants his son to be strong and a great warrior. He enrolls his boy in the best gyms since young. The boy ends up becoming a great martial arts champion. Then his father rebukes him, saying, “I don’t want you around me, because you are a contender. Is this a just father?

Jehovah is a God of warfare. “Jehovah is a warrior” (Ex. 15:3). When Jehovah would declare war against anyone, this was a forever business, even though their descendents were innocent people. “The Lord has worn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:16). Jehovah had a secret book, a kind of black book with the names of the cursed ones against whom Jehovah made war and poured his plagues and curses. Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, ‘Waheb in Suphah, and wadis of the Arnon…’” (Num. 21:14). Jehovah was not lord of private wars, but of all the wars that were waged and that are waged under the sun. He overcame Sennacherib, king of Assyria, killing 185 thousand soldiers (2 Kings 19:32-35). He fought against the Moabites and Ammonites all by himself. “You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf” (2 Chr. 20:17).

Jehovah it was who established Nebuchadnezzar. “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory” (Dan. 2:37). “‘And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. And it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that land with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,’ declares Jehovah, ‘until I have destroyed it by his hand’” (Jer. 27:6-8).

If Jehovah it was who brought the nations under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, and the nations which resisted were destroyed by the sword, the famine, and the plague, the nations, therefore, were under Jehovah’s yoke, not Nebuchadnezzar’s, because the author of the scheme was Jehovah; Nebuchadnezzar was only a servant (Jer. 27:6).

One thing is sure, for certain: any battle or war, any political scheme, any tyrannical government, all of them came from Jehovah, the king of this world and the Lord of the Armies (Jer. 46:13, 18-19). Jehovah is, therefore, the Lord of the Armies, many armies. “Bless Jehovah, all you His hosts, you who serve Him doing His will” (Ps. 103:21). The Caldeans blessed Jehovah, the Assyrians, the Medans, the Persians, they were all armies of Jehovah and praised and blessed Jehovah (Is.8:7; 13:17; Jer. 27:6). “Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him all His hosts!” (Ps. 148:2). “”Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory” (Ps. 24:9-10). Jehovah considers that glory means having in his hands bloody armies like those of Babylon, Assyria, and Persia. Let us read what Isaiah has to say about this: “Therefore I shall make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of Jehovah of Hosts” (Is. 13:13). “Anyone who is found will be thrust through, and anyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. BEHOLD, I AM GOING TO STIR UP THE MEDES AGAINST THEM, who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold, and their bows will mow down the young men, they will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, nor will their eye pity children” (Is. 13:15-18). These are the armies of Jehovah. This is why it is written, “The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood” (Is. 34:6).

Jehovah has other armies. “Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust, my great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25). Jehovah had an army of hornets (Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20). The armies of Jehovah are made up of all the things venomous and pernicious.

The Pharisees called Jesus by the name of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, when He healed a sick man (Matt. 12:24). Jesus answered them saying that Beelzebub was Satan (Matt. 12: 25-26). Who was this Beelzebub, which was Satan, to Jesus?  The word Beel is translated Lord, and the word Zebubis translated fly.

So, Beel Zebub, or Beelzebub, means The Lord of the Flies, of the blowfly, of the wounds infested by worms, and all the corruption that flies bring, which multiply themselves in the dung or filth. Satan or Beelzebub alone could send flies, which spread contagious diseases. Let us then read the words of Jehovah to Pharaoh, king of Egypt: “For if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your officials, on your people and into your houses” (Ex. 8:21) “And Jehovah did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies” (Ex. 8:24). Does Jehovah use Satan’s weapons? Do Jehovah’s works look like Beelzebub’s works? Would he be like a Prince who acts like any vulgar person, or a fine lady act like a harlot? Jehovah treats his people like manure (Jer. 16:4). He gives as food and drink wormwood and poisoned water (Jer. 9:15). Jehovah’s sword is not the Word of God, but the plague (1 Chr. 21:12). Moses says that the wrath of Jehovah is the wrath of Sheol (Deut. 32:22). Jehovah sends wild animals with the venom of serpents (Deut. 32:24). The high praises of Jehovah praise war (Ps. 149:6-7). The spirit of Jehovah is homicidal (Judges 14:19; 15:14-16). To refuse to war was sin (Num. 32:20-23).

Jesus Christ, out Lord, has another style, which is not earthly, bur heavenly: not carnal, but spiritual. The army of Jesus wages war on their knees, praying (Col. 4:12; 1  Thess. 5:17). Our hands, handling the sword of the Gospels, produce life in the lives of the dead of Jehovah (2 Tim. 2:15). “Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension” (1 Tim. 2:8). Our weapons are not carnal, but they are powerful in God to destroy fortresses of the devil and his angels (2 Cor. 10:4).

Which God are you serving, dear reader?

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira