We live in a day in which multitudes believe that God’s only interest in violent warfare is to express disapproval of it. Many suggest that the God of the Old Testament is discredited and that he has been replaced by the New Testament God on only love and peace. Such a view ignores the positive teaching of Romans 13:1–7. There we are told that rulers, bearing the sword in just causes and in defense of the good, are God’s agents of justice.
   Many pacifists refuse to recognize the depths of evil in the hearts of those rogues who rule aggressive and oppressive states. Others, with the same devotion to no aggression, are relatives who are angered to hear anyone label one cause ‘evil’ and another ‘good’. The hand of divine providence is not withheld from any war. At times the design of neither combatant is accomplished, but a third design (in the secret will of God) is established. All warriors may be left with ‘unintended consequences’, to their way of thinking.

—Walter J. Chantry, David: Man of Prayer, Man of War (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth Trust, 2007), 35-36.