While some will doubt the degree to which Christianity and the Bible permeate American culture, it is often interesting to see people cite quotations from the Bible, often unknowingly.  (It’s often more entertaining to see them claim something is in the Bible that isn’t, though.)

A recent article from Army.mil talked of an Army unit helping give Afghans a way to live their lives without having to fight for the Taliban to support themselves.  The Army is trying to teach them “agribusiness.”  These soldiers are trying to turn the Afghan’s “swords into plowshares.”

Turning swords into plowshares is not what comes to mind when one thinks about the mission of Soldiers. But this is exactly what some are doing to bring peace and stability to a troubled region: Afghanistan.
 
The poor of Afghanistan, which is the majority of the people there, are often recruited by the Taliban and al-Qaida, simply because they have no other means to make money, said Col. Aaron T. Barrier…
 
“We see this as an opportunity to take some of the talent and some of the experience that we have gained through our agriculture members to go in to these (Afghan) communities and teach new techniques and new ways of farming and developing business to help them be more self-sustaining,” Barrier said.

From Isaiah 2:4,

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Despite the relevant, interesting, and benign Biblical reference, Michael Weinstein is probably getting goosebumps, because the context of these words is often used as discussion on the end times.