The sounds of war have echoed across the global stage ever since war was first mentioned in Genesis 14:1-2. It’s possible that wars occurred sooner without the Lord feeling the need to record it for us. Genesis 6 records the advanced wickedness of man so there is a good possibility that wars of some sort were happening.
Since the founding of America, it seems we have always been engaged in some form of war. At times, you have to wonder if the ruling powers want war more than peace despite the rhetoric to the contrary. A prime example of this happened on this day in 1898.
The U.S.S. Maine was one of “the first American battleships, weighing more than 6,000 tons and was built at a cost of more than $2 million.”1 On this day, it was docked in Havana, Cuba with a complement of over 355 personnel. By 9:40 p.m., it had exploded when 5 long tons of powder charges detonated. 268 sailors are dead. The remains of the ship sank in the harbor.
At the time, Cuba was ruled by Spain. A rebellion for independence was breaking out so the U.S.S. Maine was sent on a diplomatic mission to protect the American interests in Cuba. When the Maine exploded, the Navy board of inquiry concluded that it must have been a mine that exploded although the origin of that mine was never officially determined. That didn’t matter. Americans now wanted to go to war with Spain, blaming them for the attack and demanding that they pay. Two months later, the Spanish American War had begun.
“Within three months, the United States had decisively defeated Spanish forces on land
and sea, and in August an armistice halted the fighting. On December 12, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed between the United States and Spain, officially ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire with the ceding of such former Spanish possessions as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.”2
In 1976, a group of naval investigators reopened the case of the Maine. After their investigation was concluded, it was determined that an onboard fire caused the detonation, not Spain or sabotage. Perhaps the decision made in 1898 was due to the lack of forensics and rudimentary investigative tools. Or maybe a mob mentality took over. There were already tensions with Spain and it didn’t take much to ignite passions for war. When the dust settled from the Spanish American war, between 55,000-60,000 had died needless deaths.
I have a healthy amount of distrust for government and a small amount of conspiracy theorist running through me. Is it possible that the government wanted this war and was willing to blow up one of its own ships to get the war started? Our government knew that Americans held prejudice against Spaniards. A riot of warlike proportions is incited. Stranger things have happened!
Imagine what we are going to learn from the newly released classified documents on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Many Scriptures were violated in 1898 in regard to the accident on the Maine. Most deal with false accusations. Part of the Ten Commandments clearly states in Exodus 20:16, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Exodus 23:1 says, “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Accusing Spain or leading our nation to believe they were at fault is a false accusation.
False accusations always take you to the next step. Proverbs 29:22 says, “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” It was only right for the Navy and the families of those killed to want answers. But they needed the right 
answers. Tensions were high and there was lots of anger. Nothing good was going to come of this.
Christians, we must always be careful to act and respond appropriately. That begins with us carefully getting all the facts from all sides and not jumping to conclusions. Let me close with a couple of Biblical reminders to this point. Proverbs 15:28 says, “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.” And, Proverbs 18:13 says, “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-maine-explodes
2Ibid.
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
Photos were taken from https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/battleships/maine/NH-48621.html
Title: USS Maine (1895-1898), Description: Port quarter view, taken in Bar Harbor, Maine, 1895. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 48621
Title: USS Maine (1895-1898); Description: View looking forward on deck, port side, taken while the ship was visiting Bar Harbor, Maine, 1895. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.; Catalog #: NH 48622
Title: USS Maine; Description: (1895-1898) Gunner’s Gang, photographed in one of the ship’s torpedo rooms. Halftoned photograph, published in Uncle Sam’s Navy, 1898. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph; Catalog #: NH 50183
