A new military weapon is now revolutionizing warfare as did the machine gun and the atomic bomb. Miniature killer drones are inexpensive, more efficient, and silently effective compared to guided missiles that cost 20 times as much. This is not futuristic fiction. The Army is now in Phase III development testing of these mini-drones, recently used by Azerbaijanis to devastate Armenians in a fight over a disputed enclave. Russia, Iran, and China have also been developing drones. A Slaughterbots video trailer depicts what autonomous dystopian warfare would look like.

Since before recorded history, mankind was engaged in countless wars. Many causes and cures for war have been stated and proposed. Eisenhower blamed the U.S. military-industrial complex as the instigator of war for added profits. Kondratieff discovered his “inevitable” 27-year war cycle. Transhumanists would reconfigure the human genome to eliminate our hard-wired aggressive instincts.

More than one man has proposed that our heavily carnivorous diet provokes an over-aggressive libido. Ambassador James W. Gerard’s My Four Years in Germany (1914) speculated that diet was partly responsible for launching WWI. He reasoned that the northern infertile plains of Germany could not easily support its rapidly expanding population with its gargantuan appetite, so its leaders turned covetous eyes to the more favorable terrain and clement weather of neighboring nations, then marched. He wrote:

Many of the doctors who were with me thought that the heavy (meat) eating and large consumption of wine and beer had unfavorably affected the German national character, and had made the people more aggressive and irritable and consequently readier for war. The influence of diet on national character should not be underestimated. Meat-eating nations have always ruled vegetarians.

Dismissing his theory as baseless ignores the fact that Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhist monks have long practiced lacto-vegetarianism to subdue aggressive lust and greed. Saint Ignatius Loyola, after being badly wounded in battle in 1521, advised disciples in his new Jesuit order to avoid meat-eating that can “stir up concupiscence.” Thus, it is no coincidence that the Church restricts meat on Fridays (but after 1966, only during Lent).

Well, Jesus of Nazareth presumably ate lamb and drank wine. He knew wars and rumors of wars would always be with us in this imperfect world (Matt. 24:6). He taught us genuine peace is achieved only by an inward struggle. It’s not what goes in his mouth that defiles a man but what comes out of his mouth (Matt. 15:11).

Did the militant leaders of history accept Satan’s offer of the whole world upon kneeling to him (cf. Matt 4:1-11)? Nebuchadnezzar II ended up grazing on grass, Alexander was crazed by syphilis, Julius Caesar was assassinated by his Senatorial “friends,” and Adolph Hitler committed suicide. WWI was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but its dire effect spawned WWII. War does not bring true peace, especially not to those who sell their souls for power and glory. 

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

Man’s aggressive carnal instincts, collectively organized, have precipitated every war. As long as war is profitable, the world will never know lasting peace on Earth. Christ Jesus has shown us how to achieve repose of soul by waging decisive, interior battles against Satan. Those who triumph over their unruly flesh can proclaim with Him, “I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). Forever blessed with Christ’s unfathomable peace, they can hear Him say, “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27).