Bully or Protector? from ‘Brother Bill’
Victor Davis Hanson’s said war is normal peace is not, but why?
Why do we war, and if you beat up a bully does that make you a bully or a protector?
The USA has been known as the protector and had the high moral ground. So, are we still protecting?
Victor Davis Hanson’s observation is historically accurate: war has been the far more common ondition for human societies across most of recorded history, with extended periods of genuine peace being rare exceptions rather than the rule. Modern assumptions of perpetual or easy peace often overlook how fragile and unusual stable peace truly is without strong institutions, mutual deterrence, or cultural restraints.
What does the NKJV Says About Why We War:
The New King James Version (NKJV) doesn’t frame war as inherently “good” or glorify it, but it offers a clear, unflinching diagnosis of its root causes—rooted in human nature itself.
The most direct passage addressing “why we war” (or fight and quarrel) is James 4:1-3 (NKJV):
“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
In short:
• Internal “wars” (uncontrolled passions, lusts, covetousness, and selfish desires) spill over into external conflicts.
• People fight because they want something (pleasure, power, resources, status) and can’t get it through legitimate or patient means—so envy, greed, and frustration escalate.
• This applies on personal, communal, and even national scales: unchecked human sinfulness leads to strife.
The NKJV here uses “wars and fights” (echoing older translations like the KJV’s “wars and fighting’s”), emphasizing that conflicts don’t arise from nowhere—they stem from the battle already raging inside people (“that war in your members”).
Broader Biblical Context in the NKJV – Other passages reinforce or expand on this without contradicting it:
• Ecclesiastes 3:8 (NKJV): “A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” War has its season in a fallen world, but it’s not the ideal.
• Matthew 24:6-7 (NKJV): Jesus warns, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation…” Conflicts are expected as part of the human condition until God’s ultimate kingdom.
• Romans 3:10-18 and related texts describe universal human sinfulness (no one is righteous), which makes large-scale peace difficult without restraint or grace.
• The Bible also calls for pursuing peace where possible (e.g., Psalm 34:14: “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it”; Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all”) and envisions a future without war (Isaiah 2:4: nations beating swords into plowshares and not learning war anymore). But it realistically acknowledges that in a world of sinful people, war can sometimes be necessary to restrain greater evil (as seen in accounts of defensive or divinely sanctioned conflicts in the Old Testament).
Today we’re connecting the dots precisely—and the NKJV lays this out with unflinching clarity. The underlying emotions that fuel personal quarrels (and scale up to national/international wars) all flow from the same corrupted human heart: unresolved anger, pride, unforgiveness, covetousness/envy, and the lust for vengeance or control. When these aren’t confronted internally, they spill outward—we obsess over fixing “their” problems (the speck in their eye) while ignoring our own massive issues (the plank in ours). That hypocrisy doesn’t just damage relationships; it escalates into conflict, oppression, and war.
Here’s how the NKJV directly addresses what you mentioned, with the exact wording:
• Going to bed angry gives Satan a foothold toward vengeance:
Ephesians 4:26-27 (NKJV)
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.
Unresolved anger doesn’t stay neutral—it festers overnight into bitterness, grudge-holding, and eventually a desire for payback. The NKJV calls this “giving place to the devil,” turning personal wrath into something destructive and vengeful.
• Remove the log from your own eye first:
Matthew 7:3-5 (NKJV)
“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
This is exactly what you said: we’re quick to judge and “solve” others’ faults while blind to our own. Pride blocks self-examination, so we project and escalate instead of repenting.
• Unforgiveness leads to condemnation/judgment,Jesus said judgement is mine not ours:
Matthew 6:14-15 (NKJV) (right after the Lord’s Prayer)
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
And Matthew 7:1-2 (NKJV): “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…”
Holding onto unforgiveness doesn’t just hurt the other person—it traps us under God’s judgment. It breeds a spirit of condemnation that mirrors the very evil we claim to hate.
• Coveting leads to jealousy, envy, and fighting:
This loops right back to James 4:1-3 (NKJV) we discussed before: desires for pleasure “war in your members,” lust → murder/covet → fight and war. The Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:17 NKJV) warns against coveting anything that belongs to your neighbor—house, spouse, possessions, status. Unchecked, it becomes envy and jealousy, which the NKJV ties directly to conflict.
These emotions—anger without resolution, prideful hypocrisy, unforgiveness/bitterness, covetous envy, and vengeful retaliation—are the root drivers. They make us laser-focused on “their” sins (the bully, the opponent, the dissenter) while refusing to deal with our own.
On a personal level, it destroys marriages, friendships, and communities. Scaled up to nations and leaders, it becomes tyranny, aggression, and war: dictators killing their own people who disagree (as in China, Iran, North Korea, etc.), empires coveting resources or power, or nations nursing generational grudges instead of pursuing justice with restraint.
In September 2025, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, his widow Erika Kirk stood at his memorial and publicly forgave the shooter: “That man, that young man… I forgive him… because it was what Christ did and it’s what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate.” Trump, who spoke at the service and called Kirk a “martyr for American freedom,” was visibly moved by her forgiveness. Coverage captured the sentiment you described—Trump and others expressed awe at her Christ-like response while acknowledging how extraordinarily difficult it would be for most people (including himself) to do the same in that moment.
Her act didn’t deny justice or excuse evil—it broke the cycle of personal vengeance that the NKJV warns against in Ephesians 4.
That’s the personal-level antidote. Without it, the same heart issues that start bedroom arguments or family feuds become the fuel for national aggression and endless wars. Bullies (whether individuals or regimes) thrive when we refuse self-examination and forgiveness, or when we let unchecked anger/envy dictate policy instead of truth, strength, and moral clarity.
The NKJV’s diagnosis is consistent and sobering: war (personal or global) isn’t primarily about “systems” or “the other side”—it’s about hearts at war with God and each other. The solution starts inward: confess the plank, forgive as Christ forgave, let no anger fester overnight, and reject covetous envy. Only then can we address external threats clearly—without becoming the very thing we condemn. That’s what makes Erika Kirk’s witness so striking: it shows what’s possible when someone actually lives the NKJV’s commands instead of just quoting them.
The NKJV (like other faithful translations) doesn’t romanticize war or treat peace as the “default” state. Instead, it traces conflict back to the heart: selfish desires at war within us produce outward fighting. This aligns closely with Hanson’s historical point—peace is precious and hard-won precisely because human nature tends toward competition, scarcity, and power struggles unless checked by virtue, law, or higher principles.
Whatever weapons we use to fight be they guns, knives, gossip or slander, never forget Jesus said if we live by the sword we will die by the sword whatever sword we fight with. Maybe that’s why he said for us to do unto others as we was done to us ? Yet he also said forgive THEM father for they know not what they do and he who is without sin cast the first stone. So, WHY CAN’T we just get along. Rodney King after a 100 plus mile an hour chase. Blessed journey brother bill/dad
About the Author
Mychal Massie
Mychal S. Massie is an ordained minister who spent 13 years in full-time Christian Ministry. Today he serves as founder and Chairman of the Racial Policy Center (RPC), a think tank he officially founded in September 2015. RPC advocates for a colorblind society. He was founder and president of the non-profit “In His Name Ministries.” He is the former National Chairman of a conservative Capitol Hill think tank; and a former member of the think tank National Center for Public Policy Research. Read entire bio here
