Come on board. We’re on a bus journey to the end of the ride. See if you like it. There are ten stops and you can get off at most of them. You are possibly a Christian and the driver is a Christian but anybody can travel on the bus and it is a big one and more are coming.

1. WARS DO NOT WORK. If you look out of the window you know that wars do not work. A kills B and B kills A and both sides weep. If one side wins, as Germany did in 1870, the other side France will win later and Germany will be full of screaming horror. Everyone knew in 1918 that Wars had to end, and then again in 1945 because it was the death of civilisation, but they went on. George Bush said “Mission Accomplished” in 2003 and twenty years later the US lost the war they had won, trillions of dollars poorer. Russia and Ukraine are both losing. Israel and Gaza are both losing, Israel because, aside real justice, it will be surrounded by enemies for a lifetime. Korea, Vietnam, Sudan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Congo, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Yemen are all wars that did not work, killing both sides, spreading destruction and costing the earth.

Oh, the Driver has stopped. This is the WARS DO WORK stop. No-one gets off. “There will be wars and rumours of wars, but stay on board” says the conductor. Someone starts singing, “When this bloody war is over, oh how happy I shall be…” On we go.

• ARMS MESS UP THE WORLD. Oh, there’s an arms company out of the window. Arms firms back to Krupp, Armstrong, Vickers and Du Pont need wars for their business. Go to work on a tank is not a good slogan. Arms firms, the merchants of death, need wars and go out and get them. They do arms races, threats, fear, new weapons and arm both sides. For most of modern history they have bribed rulers and created military dictators. Arms are made to destroy and they do what it says on the can. Arms sales push towards war for everybody. The arms companies are inside government, getting very big contracts in the US, France, China, Russia, India, UK, Germany, Japan, Israel, Iran. The massive world arms industry drives towards war.

Oh, the Driver is speaking, “Take weapons and they will get you” he says. “This is the ARMS ARE GOOD FOR YOU stop, but feel free to stay on board.”

• THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. What is this chaos out there? Since 1900 we had had some 200 major wars, about 200m dead, a similar number injured, billions traumatized, destruction costing hundreds of trillions and military costs with no useful benefit absorbing the work of 30-40m mainly men. Militarism and war are the biggest source of poverty, bereavement, trauma, refugees, bad government and global warming on the planet. We have seen devastation from Hiroshima to Gaza and know this system does not work.

This is the OH WHAT A GOOD WAY TO RUN THE WORLD bus stop. The Driver says, “If you get off here, there will be yet more wickedness and distress” and invites us to stay on board.

• THE MIGHTY ARE POWERLESS. Oh! That looks like the Pentagon! The Superpowers, the Big Boys are running their show. The US, Russia, China, UK, France, Iran, India, Pakistan, Saudi and other big states are ruling the world by might. They face off against each other, arm, threaten, play goodies and baddies and spend big chunks on arms and defence. “Defence” threatens others. They are stuck, like the Grand Ol Duke of York. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. They cannot do anything. They ignored the UN-ratified Nuclear Abolition Treaty. They have been locked in the same pattern since 1945, even after 1990, kow-towing to their god.

This is the SUPERPOWERS KNOW BEST stop. Oh, the passengers are falling about laughing and no-one gets off. The Driver says his Mother got this right and they need forgiveness because they don’t know what they are doing. Off we go…

• IT IS URGENT. Look, there a bombsites everywhere. We have twenty or so hot wars and several cold ones. The destructive powers of new weapons systems, like drones and in space, will spread. Military rulers become less popular and so civil wars will increase. We have 120m war refugees now and war-based poverty. Arms spending in increasing. The military and wars add 5-10% to global warming. Climate catastrophes will tend to lead to war. We have perhaps ten years before the pressures will be too great.

This is the DON’T BOTHER – DO NOTHING STOP. The DRIVER says darkly, “You can work out tomorrow’s weather from the sky, but you can’t work out what’s going on in the world… “ Better not get off.

• WE GO ROUND THE SUPERPOWERS. You can get off here and stay locked in with the Superpowers, doing nothing effective, or you can journey on and find a way through. What do you do? The Superpowers believe in might and enemies. They make us frightened. Every day they make you believe in their silly system. They have taught you to be fatalistic, thinking nothing can happen. But perhaps we have all been idiots and we can go round the big boys or through their legs.

This is the next bus stop. IT IS THE BE AFRAID AND BELIEVE THE SUPERPOWERS stop. Oh, the Driver keeps saying, “Don’t be afraid of those who can kill.” He obviously knows what he is talking about. He’s off again.

• WHAT DO WE DO? There’s a lot of traffic. How do we fight the big boys?  A Peace army? You mean Christians act together? All of us. How many? Hundreds, then thousands, millions, then two billion Christians. We vote for peace? We do disarmament? Why did nobody think of that? Quick, the driver has a coughing fit. Oh, we’ve been looking out the side but not at the front and back. This is just one bus, but there are thousands of them. We miss them because they are behind and in front. We all know the system is broken and knock it over, like Goliath come to think of it. The mighty stay with the Examine My Armpits Way and Be Strong.. We know the Superpowers don’t move; so we go round them. We can fight their might.  We little people stay on the bus.

Oh, this is the next bus stop. It is the I CAN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOR CAN MY MATES. Oh, the Driver is picking more up here; he gives out peace tickets to get on the bus. They are standing for peace because there are no seats. Apparently, we get peace first and then make it work.

• WE MOVE A MOUNTAIN. Oh, look! It’s too big for us. Surely, we can’t end all this war and militarism. It’s massive, immoveable. Superpowers with all these weapons rule the world and you can’t possibly do anything against them. Oh, dear the Driver has just driven past a LET’S JUST HAVE A VAGUE HOPE AND WAIT FOR THE END OF TIME STOP because those layabouts were looking the other way. We have to collect peacemakers, do peace, make peace, stand for peace. There is standing room only on the bus. People are signing up and telling others about it. It used to be a process of collecting signatures by hand, but now we can do it online on mobile phones anywhere in the world. My bit of faith takes five minutes plus work contacting others. Oh, churches can sign up. Everyone’s signature counts. https://www.change.org/DisarmTheWorld You will make a difference.

The driver has stopped the bus and pointed out that faith can move mountains. He is a bit insistent. He won’t let anyone off. Even faith as small as seeds can dump a great mountain in the sea. Yes, he is talking about the two billion in the whole world church who can combine their little bits of faith in one operation. Yes, now he’s said it, it is obvious. We act by faith and do not just hope it will happen. Most people on the planet have seen through war and weapons and together we do peace and together we act, and that mountain in front is moving. This is a real moving mountain holiday.

Oh, the bus drivers are all sitting on their horns and it is one hell of a noise. No actually I quite like it. Now he’s driving off, muttering something like about time too and he’s been waiting a long time..

• WE BRING ABOUT FULL WORLD DISARMAMENT. So we stand for peace to bring about full world disarmament. States will have the hard task of NOT fighting wars. The United Nations are united with peace of earth. We have no defence budgets. We close down the weapons of destruction and annihilation. Everything is done in the open. Isaiah worked out that weapons could be repurposed into good stuff more than 2700 years ago and now get round to it. Everyone understands the process.  The military are not in charge of disarmament, because turkeys do not vote for Christmas, but we all disarm, 20% a year for five years, open inspection, policing. Of course, there is some difficult stuff. Justice remains. Any states which try to stay armed pay for it. This is practical politics. The healing of the nations from trauma will take several decades. There are the homeless from many wars to rehome and welcome. Those who have learned to fight, kill and die will have to live and journey on to another place. We might have to give the mighty dictators retirement homes and water pistols. We need the people of peace to be firm and run the show.

Hallo, the bus driver has stopped the bus at this stop and the crowds are everywhere. He has told us all to get off and walk to the final destination. He says “Peace be with you” and move along there.. Apparently, there is going to be a party and he’s already got a seat. We ordinary people on a bus have nearly arrived.   

1. WE WALK TO THE PARTY. This is some party. It is all over the world. It’s an everywhere summer holiday. It’s a bit odd. The top guy is called the Lamb on the Throne, and now we all get it. Lambs don’t do weapons and bombs and we needed the Lamb on the throne, the gentle one. He says that his only weapons are the words from his mouth, and he will reign for ever and ever. We are at last turning up for the holiday. People are chatting about getting rid of the great empires and war, destruction, economic chaos, famine and the horror of it all and the idiots we were and how rich we are now. People gather beyond what the eye can see, there are tears of joy everywhere, big wet smiles. Invitations to the party were sent out two thousand years ago and at last we have got round to it and we love it. This is the summer holiday and He is the sun..