A Message To Warriors
"In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage" -Henry V, Shakespeare
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" -Mao Tse Tung
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -Jesus Christ, Matthew 5
A few minutes ago I climbed a ladder barefoot. Unbeknownst to me, a family of wasps had made their home on the underside of the top rung, and considered my foot a threat. I received a fiery sting, called the wasps bad names, and destroyed their nest. After the adrenaline wore off I realized that it is natural for a wasp to defend their young, as with all animals. (Upon further reflection it occured to me that if they had sat still and had not attacked me, I would have never known they were there, and they could have raised their family in peace).
No one has to teach us to defend our families. We are born with an instinct that seems to be an unstoppable force! Nothing is more dangerous than a parent whose young are in danger. It is also natural to preserve and defend the things that we have worked hard to build or aquire. The warrior holds a highly regarded place in society because they stand between the enemy and everything that we love and value. They are ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the lives and property of their tribe or nation-state.
For those of us who hold to the teachings and the way of Jesus Christ, these ideas take on new meaning as the reality of God's Eternal Rule over everyone and everything becomes clearer and more important to us. We are warriors united against a common enemy, under a Rightful King, a new nation, being knit together in a new family. We stand against the enemy and protect our family and nation, sacrificing ourselves in the process. All of our good natural instincts may be redeemed and put into the service of the King for his Glory and the spread of his Dominion.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance..."
-Ephesians 6:10-18
As part of the family of God, committed to living by the principles of the Gospel of Christ and by the law of the Kingdom of God, there is work for us warriors to do! We are the line of defense that keeps our family safe from the enemy. Our family includes our spouses and children, and also a New Nation made up of every tribe, nation, language and race all over the world. There is no longer division between races, genders, social classes- we are brothers and sisters with one Father in common, who loves everyone more than we love our own children! In order to create this Family and to reconcile each one of us to Himself, Our Father has gone to great lengths to rescue us, to forgive us, to liberate us from our bondage to sin and death and hell and the curse. His desire is to accomplish this purpose for all people -- to reconcile all things and all people to Himself. He is not willing that anyone should be destroyed, but that all should come to repentance!
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." -Ephesians 1
The mystery of His will- His purpose- His plan for the fullness of time is to unite ALL things in heaven and on earth in himself, and thereby healing everything and everyone. We understand that Jesus' incarnation, death and resurrection was the way in which God brought his plan into our reality. His plan to create a new family, a new nation, a new kingdom, a redeemed people who belong to him was initiated through Christ. Nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus! Not even death! In his resurrection we can see the Reality of our own New Life.
What does this have to do with our mission, and the business about defending our family? We need to be reminded frequently who our family is, who our enemy is, and what our nation is, and who is King. We need to understand it until it is more real to us than any other competing false definition or narrative. Our Lord's will as revealed in scripture needs to be first and foremost in our minds and hearts. God loves all people and all peoples and has done everything possible to bring everyone to Himself!
"if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
We are invited to join our Lord and Master in bringing His purpose to full fruition! We are invited to cooperate with His Spirit in bringing His family together- in uniting all things under His Lordship! Through our words and actions, other people should be able to clearly see that they are loved and that they are welcome.
Why is there so much division? Turmoil? Destruction? Falsehood? Suffering? If a loving and all powerful Creator wants Unity and Harmony, Fellowship and Peace, why do we not see that Reality in our world? 2 Corinthians 4:4 says "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God". Our enemy does not want humans to see the Truth revealed in Christ that God loves them and has done everything he can to bring them into his family. Satan uses all the power at his disposal to keep people in delusion, believing falsehoods and maintaining division. If we are weak in our faith and do not maintain our spiritual armor, he will do the same to us. We will stop seeing the glory of God and his plan of redemption and start seeing other humans as our enemy. Hatred is the product of our enemy. Condemnation is the product of our enemy. One of his names is "the accuser". When we think of our enemies or opponents or people different from us as beneath us or deserving of damnation or punishment or beyond hope, we place them in a category that Jesus does not place them in even though he has every right to. We do not have the right to judge, and the standard of measurement we use against others is the standard that will be used against us. What we plant is what we harvest. That is why we pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". When we condemn others we are in service of the deceiver, the father of lies.
I spent most of my life in a place of judgmentalism and I can testify from first-hand experience that the frame of mind created by hating and condemning is a form of spiritual illness. It colors everything and everyone with untruth. Clarity of vision is completely lost. I can also testify that God can set us free and heal us of this spiritual illness caused by our enemy, and begin to show us the New Reality. What our loving Father desires is to use us to heal and liberate other people, especially people who are hurting and doing damage to themselves and others. We are invited and commanded to participate in the work of undoing the damage in the world caused by the destroyer.
Jesus (the Revelation of God as Love) said "I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved". Jesus knew that the world was in deep trouble. He knew how deceived humans were. His GOAL was and is to liberate them from that bondage and curse. Our goal is the same as his, our message the same, our passion the same, our actions should be like him. We are not capable of this without being empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The only way humans have ever handled a threat to survival is to be an even bigger threat. At this point we could annihilate every living thing with the technology we have developed in the ever-escalating competition for who can be a bigger threat in order to maintain "peace and safety". By contrast, consider the most powerful being in the universe becoming a human, taking on the form of a servant, and becoming obedient even unto death by crucifixion. No one took his life from him, he laid it down of his own volition. One of his last words was to forgive the ones who brutally murdered him.
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."
How should we prepare to face hardships and suffering, famine and economic depression, civil unrest and violent gangs, persecution and abuse? According to our master, we should be prepared to invite them to a massive barbeque with all the fixins. If we are abused, forgive and bless, do not curse and take revenge, and treat those who want to kill us and take all our stuff as if they are the beloved children of God. Because they are!
If you are experiencing fear in regards to some dangerous little groups of racists or communists or terrorists or gangsters or something, please know that is a result of careful programming. It is called a program for a reason, and it is working very successfully to keep everyone afraid of each other. The "us versus them" mentality has pushed us to the brink of disaster. We must be reprogrammed by the Holy Spirit, brainwashed (if you will) with the agenda of God's Kingdom and saturate ourselves in the Good News of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please consider turning off all forms of media and entertainment and dedicating yourselves to prayer and fasting. The result might save our nation from destruction but more importantly, the people of God will have their hearts aligned with his and begin to look and sound and think and feel more like Him. Jesus wants to be king not only of our soul but of our bodies and our minds and our families and our neighborhoods. He said "all authority on Earth and in Heaven has been given to me."
If you are stockpiling weapons and ammunition in order to defend your property and food and cash from marauders, you are preparing to disobey King Jesus. Murder happens in the heart first. Several times in the past few years people have driven their cars into crowds of people, killing some in the process. I wonder how many times they imagined doing this before they acted on it.
If you are reading this as a warrior who has already taken human life or done grave harm to an enemy on the battlefield and your heart is hurting because of it, I have the word of the King that you can be forgiven, you can be healed, and you can be made new. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is no transgression so horrible that our loving Father will not forgive!
If you have never heard of the Way of the Spiritual Warrior, the Eternal Rule of Jehovah, or the commandment to surrender our lives to the One who judges rightly and it sounds like something you want to be a part of, pray this prayer out loud often:
"I want to know Christ
and the power of his resurrection
the fellowship of sharing in his suffering
becoming like him in his death
so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead"
The King is soon returning to set the world right and to unify Heaven and Earth under one rule. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. We will be like Him, when we see Him as He is. Hold the line! Do not fall into deception or give yourself to any dark falsehood. Let us not engage in an ill-fated and mis-guided attempt to try and solve the brokenness in the world by the force and power of humans. Set the captives free, bind up the wounds of the hurting, and bring them into Our Family. We will never die, so do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.