For years, much of the American evangelical church has warned us about a coming false peace.
More specfically, a deceptive global peace that that will prepare the way for Antichrist.
Meanwhile, actual war keeps devouring actual human beings.
Cities are leveled to the ground.
Babies are buried beneath the rubble.
Limbs are blown off and families are erased from the earth.
And many American Christians, who can spot a future false peace from a mile away, can barely summon the nerve to oppose the present homicidal violence because they view it all as “inevitable.”
While evangelicals prefer to view their fixation on a false peace and their tolerance for war as some sort of end-times discernment, I believe it represents a complete and utter moral failure and a scandal of the highest order.
Yes, Jesus did say that wars would come.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6)
Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say, “Many wars will come… and you should approve of them and tolerate them.”
He did not say, “Many wars will come… so join them.”
He did not say, “Since war is inevitable, peacemaking can wait.”
He said, “Do not be alarmed.”
Jesus is not telling us to surrender to violence but rather commanding us not to be ruled by fear while the world tears itself apart.
Then there is Paul.
“While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them…” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
This verse has been used for years to make Christians suspicious of peace itself. That is a misuse of the text.
Paul is not warning against peace but rather against delusion. He is describing false confidence, not condemning peacemaking. He was also warning against spiritual blindness, which leads to a kind of shallow optimism that ignores reality.
Jeremiah says the same thing.
“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14)
Again, the problem is not peace. The problem is fake peace. Fraudulent peace. Peace talk that covers up injustices instead of healing them.
The answer to false peace is not war. It is truth, repentance, justice, and real peace.
That distinction should not be hard. Yet somehow many Christians have managed to turn warnings about counterfeit peace into suspicion of peacemaking itself.
It should be obvious that if your theology excuses war as “inevitable,” you will stop working for peace. When Christians stop believing peace is possible, they stop trying to make it real.
And the New Testament could not be clearer about the calling of the church in an age that is so committed to homicidal violence and warfare.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
“Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52)
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:18)
“A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:18)
There it is. Plain as day.
Far too many in the evangelical church have built their entire political imagination on a few warning passages while side-stepping the direct commands of Jesus and the apostles.
And this is not some harmless end-times fascination. It shapes people and trains them to distrust peacemaking, shrug at militarism, and treat global diplomacy like a spiritual threat. When peace sounds suspicious, war starts to look normal. When violence is treated as inevitable, Christians stop resisting it with any urgency.
Many Christians seem deeply worried that someone, somewhere, might one day offer a deceptive peace deal. Actual war, actual torture, and actual piles of corpses rarely trigger the same concern.
Let me suggest that a church that fears peace more than war has lost the mind of Christ.
A church that excuses war because prophecy says dark days are coming is not being sober and watchful. It is being discipled by fear.
Jesus predicted violence. But He never told his followers to make peace with it.
The church does not honor Christ by obsessing over counterfeit peace while ignoring real war. The church honors Christ by telling the truth, loving enemies, resisting homicidal violence, and refusing to baptize the works of death.
Jesus predicted violence. He commanded peacemaking.
The prediction does not cancel the command.
If the church will not lead the way in peace, it will follow the world into war.
And that is exactly what much of the American evangelical church has done.
