Global Destiny

"Gearing Up for War"

World War II ended in the late summer of 1945, three months before I turned 8. I remember seeing maps about troop movements in the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun. I remember sitting by our radio with my dad when news came that the U.S had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I had no awareness of the human costs of war. What I remember best is playing war games with my friends near my home in Dorsey, Maryland. It was fun. In (forgiving) retrospect, I wouldn’t presume that 8-year-olds know about “‘just war” criteria or the “rules of war,” but certainly I would expect the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States to know them before starting a war and treating it as a video game!

Writing in The Bulwark, Harvard Law Professor David Opderbeck shows how “Operation Epic Fury” fails almost all the tests of righteous warfare.” These ethical principles date back to ancient times and influenced the thought of theologians St. Augustine and St. Aquinas. In turn, their work became the framework for Roman Catholic Just War Theory, which has influenced the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Conventions. Such rules of war mean nothing to Trump, who has made this threat on social media:

. . . if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalination plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’ This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror.’ Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Heather Cox Richardson pointed out in her March 30 Letters from an American that “Trump appears to be trying to force his will on the Iranians by threatening to commit war crimes. International law recognizes attacks on civilian infrastructure as … war crimes.The Geneva Convention specifically prohibits attacks on drinking water .” Attacking desalination plants is a war crime.

Over the years, exploring any kind of justification for the taking of human life led me to take a deeper dive into the concept of evil and the human propensity to cast that description on whatever “enemy” is at hand. Ultimately that led me to the writing of “The Come Away Suite,” a trilogy of songs about war and peace. The first one is “Global Destiny.”

Peering from the Captain’s deck
Of the “Global Destiny”
(Off her course for many of these years)
An isolated few, by economic piracy
Have boarded up the entry way, I fear

I.e., The “isolated few” have seized control of the “Global Destiny” and are using the imbalance of economic power to frustrate the people’s access to the levers of government.

While down below the passengers
(Once free) now must recall
How revolution forged the links that chain them to this wall
That bears the writings of the prophets; “As we live so we must die”
But mercy tempers justice and the spirit needs to fly

I.e., on the wall is a message from the prophets; people who live violently are likely to die violently. Ah, but there’s a caveat: mercy provides exceptions, and there is a larger calling happening to the spirit. How’s that possible? Could Love be the answer?

The enemy is bigger
Than the one who pulls the trigger
The enemy is quicker
Than the order they obeyed
The enemy is older
Than all the unknown soldiers
And the only thing to fear is fear itself they say
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear

(But still) they jettison provisions
To make room for larger guns
Preparing for an enemy who has already com
And stands beside them as they stare
Into the emptiness of space (never knowing)
The evil that they seek now wears their face
And dulls their heart

I.e., But wait! Who is jettisoning provisions to make room for larger guns? True, those on the Captain’s deck are currently making these unilateral decisions that affect us all, but the dulling of our hearts would apply to any of us who make choices based on fear. For in that process, alas, we are preparing for an “enemy who has already come.”

They’re gearing up for war
Though it’s all behind the scenes
You can see it on the covers
Of the fashion magazines
The kids are at the arcade
Playing “Missile Command”
And the world is laying on the rock
Like the son of Abraham

They’re gearing up for war again
And calling on the Lord
Phasing out the plowshare
And developing the sword
Though we are pastorally encouraged
To love them as we pray
We’ll evidently take a break
And blow them all away

During his Palm Sunday sermon on March 29, 2026 Pope Leo XIV said that no one can use Jesus “to justify war” and that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” The Pope specifically countered recent statements from Trump administration officials who have used religion to claim that the war with Iran as “holy” or divinely sanctioned.

Much of the use of religious rhetoric to justify the Iran war comes from a movement called New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). which often refers to the Iran war as a “crusade.” Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners magazine, gives this brief description:

The NAR, with its self-appointed apostles and prophets is their new form of the old dominionist theology where Christians take dominion or control over key sectors of society through the abuse of power. At its core, dominionism is not truly Christian and stands in direct contrast to the gospel of Jesus which is grounded in love and compassion, and humility. In their framework empire and power intertwine with a deeply distorted and manipulated version of our Christian faith to excuse harm.

Historian Jemar Tisby—whose work centers on the intersection of religion and politics explains, “This is not merely conservative theology; this is Christian dominionism—the advocacy of theocracy. Let’s just call it what it is—religious extremism in a Brooks Brothers suit.” At the core of this ideology is the Seven Mountains Mandate, which seeks to take control over the seven pillars of society—government, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, religion and family—and shape them according to their rigid and literalistic interpretation of the Bible.

What do dominionists fear and why? Who or what is the bigger enemy in the war with Iran? And how might this war affect our “global destiny”?

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Connections

Read Pope Leo’s Palm Sunday sermon in the National Catholic Observer.

Jim Wallis writes about the growing influence of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and their agenda of “spiritual warfare” in his Substack post “When War Becomes Holy.”

Vibrations

In 1985 I released an album called State of the Heart with Bodyworks, a band featuring the talents of Jimmy Nalls, Denny Bouchard, Karla Thibodeau and Kent Palmer. The title song also appeared on the 1986 PP&M album No Easy Walk to Freedom. “The Come Away Suite” plus a number of other songs from State of the Heart were later released on Circuit Rider, another Bodyworks more recently released. Watch this video of The Come Away Suite. Part 1 is “Global Destiny”; Part 2, “Nation in Love,”; and Part 3, “Come Away.”

Resonance

After reading the lyrics of “Global Destiny” and watching the video of the Come Away Suite, what comes to mind when you read or hear this part of the chorus?

The enemy is bigger
Than the one who pulls the trigger
The enemy is quicker
Than the order they obeyed
The enemy is older
Than all the unknown soldiers
And the only thing to fear is fear itself they say
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear
Perfect Love casts out all fear

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Noel at last Saturday’s No Kings Day in Ojai, CA. Photo by Cindy Pitou Burton. See more of Cindy’s beautiful work at Ojai Studio Artists.

His sign is a creation of cartoonist Liza Donnelly, who writes and draws a wonderful Substack called Seeing Things. Check out her photos No Kings Day In NYC.