Today, August 1st, the official account of The Department of Defense posted Isaiah 6:8, which reads  “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me.’”

The post was along with images of soldiers and war machines that had the caption “send me” in the middle of them.

I found it ironic how they conveniently skipped Isaiah 2:4 where he writes about the Lord’s desires for the world: “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

If you will recall, the department of Homeland security did a recruitment video for ICE with the same exact passage. It was a video of Shia LaBeouf from the movie Fury quoting this passage from Isaiah.

It shouldn’t matter our political affiliation, this should disturb every American.

Our military is meant to defend the constitution, not the scriptures of a particular religion. Even scriptures we Christians hold deeply sacred and holy.

It should also deeply disturb us Christians in the way the Bible is being used by departments like the department of defense and the Department of Homeland Security. When they equate recruiting ice agents and sending our military to war with answering the call of the Lord, and they are in charge of where those agents and our military are deployed, who then is “The Lord” in that scenario? They are equating service to them as being the same as service to the Lord.

That is heresy. That is idolatry. That is blasphemy. It is taking God’s name in vain.

Immediately after Isaiah says “Send me,” God tells him, “Go and tell this people:

‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’” (Isaiah 6:9)

Isaiah’s mission is remarkably difficult. He is sent to confront his own nation, call people to repentance, announce judgment, preach to people who largely will not listen, and suffer rejection

His assignment is not glorious or triumphant. It is a prophetic ministry that will appear to fail.

There is also a deep irony in using Isaiah 6:8 to encourage people to fight wars because Isaiah repeatedly warns against trusting military power.

Examples include Isaiah 2, which envisions a future in which, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares…” Isaiah 30 criticizes Judah for relying on military alliances instead of trusting God. Isaiah 31 specifically condemns reliance on horses and chariots from Egypt.

A recurring message throughout Isaiah is to trust God, not military might.

Imagine if this was another country and a different religion using their sacred scriptures to justify sending their troops into battle? Such tactics have long been framed as “religious fanaticism” and “terrorism.” Yet we are just supposed to sit back and see such behavior from our government as business as usual?

In reality, we don’t have to imagine other countries doing this. We’ve witnessed such behavior from Christian nationalists, radical Islam, and Jewish Zionists in recent years. How then are we going to respond to this behavior when n our country from our government within our religious group?

If you’re wondering why religion at large is becoming increasingly unpopular, this is a huge reason why.

This needs to be alarming to all Americans and all Christians in America. this is a misuse of both our constitution and our sacred scriptures.

May our voices be faithful in our opposition to such behavior.