Before the War

It was an illusion that we were at peace. Our enemy had already begun
to act in concert to lay siege against our values, capture or kill our
citizens, invade and attack our territories or embassies, discourage or
divide our allies. Until we became disillusioned (delivered from our
state of being deceived), we were denying his true intentions by seeing
what we wanted to see rather than seeing life as it really was. We
thought, “If I leave him alone, he’ll leave me alone.” Instead of
enjoying peace and safety, what we got for our lack of vigilance was
sudden destruction. Our illusions were shattered when the conflict
broke out into the open. We discovered that projecting our goodwill
onto our enemy was naïve and costly.

This opening statement could have been written about Japan prior to the
bombing of Pearl Harbor in WWII or about Islamic terrorists before the
World Trade Center attacks on 9/11/2001.

In either case, it was better to give up our illusions than to keep
living in a fantasy world. If only we had seen more clearly and acted
sooner, perhaps lives could have been saved and the enemy not made
bolder. Small victories, left undisputed, make enemies stronger. If
President Jimmy Carter had not permitted Iran to hold U.S. citizens
hostage in our embassy for a year, much of the wave of subsequent
terrorist acts could perhaps have been averted. Acting too little, too
late, causes situations to escalate.

For leaders we entrust with our protection, it is absolutely vital that
they see the flow of history and the movement of forces arrayed against
us in stark reality and not through rose-colored glasses. Winston
Churchill knew this to be true when he set up his own intelligence
department, circumventing the usual channels, to reassure himself that
he got the true story from the battlefront and not the
“politically-correct” sanitized version colored by layers of appeasing
optimists.

Fighting a war to a successful conclusion requires accurate
intelligence that provides insight into the enemy’s tactics so leaders
can have foresight for a good defense and strategically position troops
and resources for effective offense. It is the function of the prophets
in the church (those seers gifted with Holy Spirit’s perception) to
provide actionable intelligence to the apostles in the body of Christ
(God’s generals of intercession) who can marshal their troops (gathered
into companies called churches) into action along strategic lines for
the purposes of either defense or offense.

In reading the compelling theological study, God at War by Gregory Boyd
(Intervarsity Press, 1997), I further realized that the whole cosmos is
engaged in an epic battle by our Creator for his precious family. Apart
from war, there is no peace. In being called to preach under the mantle
of the late missionary evangelist Richard Vinyard, a man who engaged in
every revival campaign like it was a military battle with the
preparation of fasting and prayer and the demonstration of the gifts of
power by the Holy Spirit, I saw that the battles are worth fighting and
the fruit is salvation in all its visible results.

In studying apostolic teams and their composition as described in the
New Testament, you have to be a little surprised by the Apostle Paul’s
description of his team members as “fellow-soldiers.” Today, we have
“fellow-graduates” from seminary or “associate-pastors” on the same
church staff, but not fellow soldiers. Soldiers in a war are comrades
in arms; they think differently about what is truly important. In a
time of peace, perhaps we can afford low-level disputes. But in a
battle, you have to know and trust the soldier guarding your back to be
alert. Can doctors debate minor points of theory about hospital
protocol while the patient is dying on the gurney in the emergency room
doorway?

In most of the church, our world-view is stuck in the peace-mode, not
yet positioned in the war-mode. The proof of this is where we send our
resources and how we train our future leaders. Most of our effort and
energy is expensed on maintenance, rather than mission; on maintaining
the status quo, rather than extending the frontier borders of the
kingdom of God; on defending our position rather than taking ground
from the enemy. Our viewpoint of events is still distorted by our
inadequate perspective. We fail to see the kingdom of God as in a war
while on its knees, advancing through violent conflict in heavenly
places; we fail to see our loved ones or friends who are not yet
believers as prisoners of war; we fail to see that our decisions and
distractions can add up to victory or defeat for many more people
besides ourselves.

Maybe it was okay then to fight over whether women could wear makeup,
but not now. Maybe it used to be okay to debate what day to worship, or
whether it’s okay to drink wine, or whether the antichrist was Nero or
is still yet to come, or whether the gifts of the Spirit are for today,
or whether you can lose your salvation versus losing your
sanctification, but those days are over. War with the devil makes us
realize that many issues are more fundamental. Hell and heaven are
equally real. People are of eternal worth with souls that need
redeeming. Ideas that enslave (the roots of idolatry) versus ideas that
liberate (the truth of the gospel) are worth fighting over. Freedom is
never free: somebody has to pay for it (pray for it; say for it, stay
for it.). What Jesus paid for on the cross is worthy of us filling up a
little bit of suffering for others.

The two great words the Apostle Paul used to describe the epitome of
Corporate Life in Christ in his letter to the saints at Ephesus were
“struggle” and “stand” (Ephesians 6:10 NAS). We struggle (literally,
wrestle) with dark spiritual beings of evil intent who hold sway over
individuals or grip entire people groups. When we are assailed, we
stand (not being moved away from your position) so that what we have
gained may not be lost.

The ability to struggle successfully (in persistent prayer, in keeping
unity in love, in your testimony of Jesus) in order to see salvation
extended to precious souls, and the ability to stand during the enemy’s
onslaughts against your faith (without compromising, without yielding
to fear, without breaking rank) are notable marks of further maturing
in Christ, measurable evidence that you are more and more becoming
equipped for every good work and thus dangerous to the enemy, not just
being filled up with more useless information or made to feel good
about your present (temporary) peaceful situation.

---------------------------------------

© 2005 by Ron Wood, President of Touched by Grace, P. O. Box 12749,
Wilmington, NC 28405 USA. Touched by Grace is a 501-c-3 corporation
and a network of leaders serving to equip the next generation of
emerging apostles and prophets in the developing church. For contact
information concerning speaking engagements, email us at
ron@touchedbygrace.org or visit our website at www.touchedbygrace.org.
(Please assist us by subscribing or unsubscribing to this newsletter at
our website or by email. Thank you!)

We are touched by grace to touch the world!