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Praetorium Honoris

Saturday, March 19, 2022

War is Hard, Part IV (Finis)

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov
(Source)
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
 
Revelation 6:1-8 (KJV)

So will war be the end of us as a species?

As the population of the world increases, as competition for resources increases, somewhere, someone, is going to pull the trigger which could set off Armageddon. I don't know if that's a maybe or a certainty. But it lies well within the realm of possibility.

The Scriptures foretell of the end of this existence ...

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
 
Matthew 24:35-37 (KJV)

What follows is beyond our ken.

It has been said that "violence never solved anything," of course that's nonsense. Violence certainly ended the threat from Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Perhaps it's wise to understand that aggressive warfare is not an answer. That's why it's been outlawed. Regardless of what we think of the situation in Ukraine, they were attacked.

Were the Russians provoked? They seem to think so, well, at least Putin and his cronies think so. But one could make the argument that Japan was provoked into attacking Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941. You would be correct, we were trying to get Japan to back off in China, where they were indeed waging a war of conquest. So yes, we provoked them, but that did not justify their attack on the United States.

Wars of conquest have caused more grief and horror than anything else in our history, it should be opposed, vigorously, perhaps even through the force of arms. But when?

That is indeed the question.

I weep for the fallen ...

Those in the past, and those to come.



No Man’s Land
written by Eric Bogle
 performed by the Dropkick Murphys
 
Oh how do you do, young Willie McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside?
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
Well I hope you died quick, and I hope you died clean
Or Willie McBride, was is it slow and obscene?

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did they play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play the Last Post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart you're forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name?
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did they play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play the Last Post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

The sun shining down on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plow
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard that's still no man's land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation were butchered and damned

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did they play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play the Last Post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And I can't help but wonder oh Willie McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did you really believe that this war would end wars
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willie McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly?
Did they play the fife lowly?
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down?
Did the band play the Last Post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
(Source


Pray for Peace, Prepare for War.




18 comments:

  1. See the header in the last week at The Feral Irishman? There was a fifth horseman added.......Misinformation......it's instrument was a cell phone. So many dead, because of one man. COC prevents me typing what I'm thinking now Sarge. A good video choice there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Misinformation is at an all time high, no one seems to speak the truth in the media any more, it's all shaded to a point of view.

      Just give me the facts!

      Delete
    2. I kind of think we're getting a lot of misinformation out of Ukraine. I'm pretty sure it's information ops though, trying to win hearts and minds around the world, so I'm good with it. The ghost of Kyiv is one story I hope is true though.

      Delete
    3. Tons of misinformation. An agenda is being sold, that's for sure.

      Delete
  2. Pray for peace, prepare for war indeed, Sarge.
    Blogger ate all of my previous comments
    Boat Guy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blogger "supports" Anonymous comments, yet eats those comments without warning.

      It also will eat my comments from time to time. I pressed publish once and BANG, nothing. Found my comment, on my blog, in the spam filter. I wonder what crooked algorithms Google has going on behind the scenes. They used to be reputable, now? Not so much.

      Delete
  3. I've spent the majority of my life studying the Bible. The times are surely lining up with what I've read. Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes all over, the breakdown of society, disease, looks like famine is coming back..... but these are just the birth pangs of whats to come. We have the tech now to support a "mark of the beast". The gist is to be ready to meet your Maker.

    Get right with God, Pray for Peace, Prepare for War, Live with Honor, be ready to die with Honor. This is just the prelims.

    ReplyDelete
  4. If they get past the Ukraine they find NATO, if they take that step all those "if & when" questions will be answered.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ideally, if we were capable of learning ANYTHING from history, the time for the killing of the greedy, the power-mad, the propagandists and the tyrants they put forth and prop up with their lies would begin BEFORE they start sacrificing our children for their own egos and profit. Sounds violent, doesn't it? Ask yourself, "Is it more or less violent than doing so AFTER they've performed their ritualistic sacrifice of YOUR children?" The truth is ugly but we all know where this shit is headed and who will be required to die for them. I'd sooner march on the Potomac than see a single American kid get so much as a splinter for these monsters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Better to nip it in the bud before it starts, I agree!

      Delete
  6. Tic, toc, tic, toc .... Between Tic, and Toc, the world pauses. That's the place you can reach out and change the future. Tic, toc, tic CHANGE!toc. Tic, one, or millions, of tiny changes push the world over the edge to toc a new world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's possible, as long as people are willing to make that change and say "No!" to insanity.

      Delete
  7. Sadly Sarge, at this point I do not know that it will be a choice of "when". I fear it will simply happen at some point through the most insignificant of circumstances, initially unknown to any but a few but quickly thereafter revealed to all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It could very well happen that way. Sad is right.

      Delete
  8. "Regardless of what we think of the situation in Ukraine, they were attacked."
    Regardless of what we think of the situation in USA, we are being attacked.
    The millions uninvited crossing over the southern border; they're just the bullets:
    who's loading the gun? who's pulling the trigger?
    Economic warfare is still warfare.

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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