War, Killing & the Christian Fight for What’s Right

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Wolves & Wisemen Reignited — Episode 9

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About This Episode

Can a Christian support war?

Is there a difference between killing and murder?

What happens when protecting innocent people requires violence?

Episode 9 of Wolves & Wisemen Reignited tackles two of the heaviest Check In topics yet:

War and killing.

The first Check In begins with Romans 13:4 and a discussion about war throughout the Bible, military service, patriotism, government, protecting innocent people, and whether there are circumstances where Christians are justified in fighting.

The guys don't completely agree on every part of it.

They discuss their own interpretations of Scripture, America's wars, why people volunteer for military service, and the difference between the motivations of the person fighting a war and the motivations of the government sending them there.

That leads directly into the second Check In:

Killing.

Using Genesis 9:5–6 and other passages from Scripture, the conversation focuses on an important distinction the guys believe is often overlooked:

Killing and murder are not necessarily the same thing.

That distinction becomes much more personal when the conversation turns toward military service.

Two of the hosts served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they talk about the mindset that comes with knowing you may be placed in a situation where it's you, the person beside you, or the person trying to hurt you.

For them, military service wasn't about wanting to kill.

It was about the people standing beside them.

Getting their brothers home.

Protecting their families.

Protecting innocent people.

And doing what they believed needed to be done when the situation demanded it.

Episode 9 then moves into the Rebel Report, Folks on Fire, Boners, and a Fringe Files built perfectly for this episode:

supernatural stories from the military.

From strange things reportedly seen through night vision to haunted military installations, apparitions, unexplained encounters in Afghanistan, and the infamous stories surrounding OP Rock, Episode 9 ends exactly where a Wolves & Wisemen episode about war probably should:

With Marines talking about ghosts.

What We Talk About

The Check In — War

Romans 13:4

War in the Bible

Whether Christians can participate in war

David and Goliath

Fighting for something bigger than yourself

Military service and faith

Why young men and women volunteer to serve

Patriotism after 9/11

The difference between serving your country and trusting your government

The motivations of soldiers versus the motivations of political leaders

Protecting innocent people

Defending people who cannot defend themselves

Christianity and persecution

When Christians should stand up

The danger of becoming passive

Standing up before a situation reaches violence

Using your voice instead of remaining silent

Political and cultural division

Money, power, and corruption

Staying true to your beliefs

Social media and the pressure to compare your life to others

Being satisfied with what you have

Faith, community, and personal responsibility

Trusting God while still taking action

The Check In — Killing

The second Check In takes the conversation about war into much more difficult territory.

If war sometimes becomes necessary, what does Christianity say about taking another person's life?

The guys discuss:

Genesis 9:5–6

The difference between killing and murder

“Thou shalt not kill” versus “Thou shalt not murder”

Taking innocent life

Protecting innocent people

Justice and consequences

Biblical punishment

The responsibility to confront evil

Whether refusing to act can sometimes allow greater harm

Self-defense

Defense of others

Killing during war

The morality of military service

The emotional reality behind combat

Why most service members don't join because they want to kill

Protecting the person beside you

Getting your brothers and sisters home

Fighting for your family and your freedoms

Making decisions in situations most people will never experience

Reconciling military experiences with Christian faith

How people understand difficult actions years later

The difference between enjoying violence and doing something you believe is necessary

Scripture From This Episode

Romans 13:4

Romans 13:4 becomes the foundation for the first Check In.

The guys focus particularly on the imagery of authority not “bearing the sword in vain” and discuss what they believe that means when force becomes necessary to confront wrongdoing.

Their conversation asks a difficult question:

Can the use of force sometimes be part of protecting what is good?

The guys connect that question to biblical stories, military service, modern conflict, and their own understanding of the responsibility to protect other people.

Genesis 9:5–6

Genesis 9 becomes the foundation for the conversation about killing.

The passage emphasizes the value of human life and accountability for shedding another person's blood.

That leads the guys into one of the central discussions of Episode 9:

There is a difference between murder and every circumstance in which a life is taken.

From there, they discuss murder, punishment, warfare, defense, justice, and the responsibility that comes with taking a human life.

Exodus 23:7

The guys also bring up the biblical command against killing the innocent and righteous.

That becomes an important distinction in the conversation.

The question isn't simply:

“Is killing wrong?”

The harder questions are:

Who is being harmed? Why is force being used? Who is being protected? And was taking a life necessary?

Ezekiel 33:8

The conversation also turns toward responsibility when someone recognizes wrongdoing.

The guys use this passage to discuss warnings, accountability, confronting evil, and the responsibility to speak up rather than simply watching something happen.

For them, standing against wrongdoing doesn't automatically mean violence.

Sometimes it means speaking.

Sometimes it means warning.

Sometimes it means refusing to remain passive.

Key Takeaways

War and murder aren't automatically the same thing. Episode 9 explores the moral differences the hosts see between murder, defense, justice, and warfare.

The reason behind an action matters. Protecting innocent people is fundamentally different from intentionally harming them.

Military service isn't necessarily about wanting to kill. The veterans on the show describe their motivation in terms of protecting the people beside them, their families, and the life they valued back home.

The soldier and the government may have different motivations. The guys distinguish the reasons individual service members fight from the political decisions that put them into a conflict.

Protecting the person beside you changes the equation. In combat, complicated philosophical questions can suddenly become a simple responsibility to get your brothers and sisters home.

Faith doesn't remove difficult decisions. Sometimes it makes you examine those decisions even more closely.

Standing against evil doesn't always mean violence. The guys repeatedly return to the importance of speaking up before situations reach that point.

Being passive can have consequences. One of the biggest themes of Episode 9 is the responsibility to recognize problems and confront them rather than assuming someone else will.

Having faith doesn't mean doing nothing. Trusting God and taking action aren't treated as opposites.

You can question the reasons behind a war while still respecting the people who served in it.

Personal responsibility matters. Faith, community, government, relationships, and everyday life all require people willing to take responsibility for their own actions.

You don't have to agree on every answer to have the conversation. The hosts approach several parts of war and killing differently, which becomes part of the point of the Check In.

Rebel Report

After two heavy Check Ins, the guys head into the Rebel Report.

The segment moves through current events, politics, media, conspiracy theories, government, and the usual collection of side conversations that somehow become conversations of their own.

The hosts react to several political figures and controversies, question narratives coming from different sides, and discuss how difficult it has become to know who or what to trust.

As with every Rebel Report, these are the hosts' reactions and opinions on the stories they're following—not an attempt to pretend Wolves & Wisemen is a neutral nightly news broadcast.

And considering the episode already started with war and killing, things don't exactly get calmer from there.

Folks on Fire

Thankfully, Folks on Fire brings things back down a little.

Insane Shane and UnDodgeball

Sometimes somebody is on fire because they're changing the world.

Sometimes they're on fire because they're willing to stand still while their friends throw things at their nuts for points.

This week, that's enough.

The guys highlight Insane Shane and the ridiculous game of UnDodgeball, where different body parts are apparently worth different point totals and getting hit in the worst possible location earns the highest score.

It's stupid.

It's painful.

And the guys absolutely love it.

The conversation even sparks a possible future Wolves & Wisemen segment:

The Smoke Pit.

Stories from the places where Marines somehow solved every problem in the world while smoking cigarettes and avoiding whatever they were actually supposed to be doing.

Courage in the Middle of Violence

Folks on Fire also turns serious as the guys discuss footage from a violent attack in Australia and focus on a man who confronted and disarmed one of the attackers.

Rather than concentrating only on the violence itself, the guys highlight the courage it takes for an ordinary person to move toward danger when other lives may be at risk.

It's another moment that connects directly back to the Check In:

What are you willing to do when somebody else needs help?

The Norwegian Brown Bomber

And then there's Norway.

For reasons that probably don't need further explanation, the guys also give recognition to the mysterious individual they nickname the Norwegian Brown Bomber after discussing a story about someone repeatedly leaving an extremely unwanted surprise in golf-course holes.

Nobody knows who he is.

Nobody knows why he's doing it.

But apparently dedication and perseverance come in many forms.

Episode 8 would probably be proud.

Boners

Boners starts exactly where you'd expect:

With an argument about lotion in the bathroom.

From there, somehow, it turns into government spending, politicians, foreign aid, taxes, FEMA, government waste, disaster response, and a full-scale rant about where taxpayer money goes.

The guys express strong opinions about several elected officials, government agencies, foreign-aid priorities, and whether more public resources should stay inside the United States.

As usual, this section reflects the hosts' political opinions and reactions rather than a straight factual news report.

Somewhere along the way, they also manage to connect the Boston Tea Party, government spending, foreign aid, hurricanes, nonprofits, giraffes, elephants, and several ideas for government grants that should absolutely never receive government grants.

It's Boners.

Trying to explain it any further would probably make it worse.

Fringe Files — Military Stories of the Supernatural

Then Episode 9 goes somewhere completely different.

Or maybe, considering the rest of the episode, exactly where it needed to go.

This week's Fringe Files is:

Military Stories of the Supernatural.

The guys dig into stories and personal experiences involving:

Early night-vision technology

Strange reports involving red-spectrum night vision

Soldiers reportedly seeing creatures and unexplained figures

Whether different wavelengths of light could allow people to perceive things normally invisible to the human eye

The idea of “seeing through the veil”

Strange historical glasses allegedly designed to reveal otherwise unseen phenomena

Personal experiences using military night vision

Camp Pendleton

Camp Lejeune

The old H1 hospital

Military ghost stories

Apparitions in old uniforms

Shadow figures

Unexplained sounds

Strange encounters while standing barracks duty

Afghanistan

Unexplained battlefield experiences

The Giant of Kandahar

Stories of soldiers seeing strange figures through NVGs

Apparitions that seem connected to previous battles

OP Rock

Russian voices reportedly heard at an old observation post

Human remains uncovered near military positions

Figures reportedly visible through night vision but not with the naked eye

Haditha

The strange things military personnel sometimes experience but rarely talk about

One of the guys also shares a personal story from barracks duty.

Late at night, he sees someone walk past.

He follows the figure around the corner and into what appears to be a supply area.

He goes in after them.

Nobody is there.

His solution?

Go back to the movie and stop looking up for the rest of the night.

Probably the correct Marine Corps response to a ghost.

The Bigger Conversation

Episode 9 starts with a question about war.

But underneath it is a much bigger question:

What responsibility do we have when other people are in danger?

Sometimes the answer is speaking up.

Sometimes it's helping someone.

Sometimes it's protecting someone.

And in the most extreme circumstances, people may find themselves making decisions that most of us hope we never have to make.

That's why this episode becomes personal.

Two of the guys aren't discussing military service entirely from books, movies, or hypothetical situations.

They served.

They knew what they were signing up to potentially face.

And years later, they're now looking at those experiences through another lens:

their faith.

That doesn't mean they have every answer.

It doesn't mean every war is righteous.

It doesn't mean every act of violence is justified.

And it definitely doesn't mean Christians should be looking for a fight.

Episode 9 is about wrestling with where the lines are.

Murder versus defense.

Violence versus protection.

Government orders versus personal responsibility.

Passivity versus standing up.

Justice versus revenge.

And faith in a world where sometimes every available answer feels complicated.

The guys don't solve thousands of years of Christian debate in three hours.

But that's never really been what Wolves & Wisemen is about.

It's three imperfect men opening the Bible, bringing their own experiences to the table, disagreeing when they disagree, and trying to understand what their faith asks of them.

And then, naturally, talking about haunted Marine Corps bases.

Watch & Listen

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Wolves & Wisemen Reignited isn't about pretending we have everything figured out.

We're three guys having honest conversations about faith, our mistakes, what's happening in the world, military experiences, and the things people don't always want to talk about.

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