A Call to Arms (jkj 001)

Spiritual War A Call to Arms

March 2002

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians

Mr. Philip P. Bliss wrote ‘Hold the Fort’ after attending a YMCA meeting on the text from Revelation 2:25, which states, “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”

Mr. Bliss was inspired by Major Whittle, an officer in the American Civil War, as he told of a small northern force of soldiers who were in charge of guarding a great quantity of supplies. As a much larger force of Confederates pressed them, the Confederate leader, General French, demanded the Federal troops surrender.

Their moral low, facing certain defeat, the weary defenders saw a signal on a hill some miles away. That message, from General Sherman, stated simply, “Hold the fort, I am coming. Sherman.”

That must have been something. As Christians we have this hope within us. The comforting knowledge that our Redeemer will one day draw us out of the hostile territory we now occupy.

Luke 19:12-27

"A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, 'Take possession till I come.' But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' And it came to pass that when he had returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, 'Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds.' And he said unto him, 'Well done, thou good servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.' And the second came, saying, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.' And he said likewise to him, 'Be thou also over five cities.' And another came, saying, 'Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid away in a napkin. For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up what thou layest not down, and reapest what thou didst not sow.' And he said unto him, 'Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down and reaping what I did not sow. Why then gavest not thou my money unto the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with interest?' And he said unto them that stood by, 'Take from him the pound and give it to him that hath ten pounds.' (And they said unto him, "Lord, he hath ten pounds!) 'For I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me.'"(KJ21®)

Usually this parable is used in teaching about stewardship. However, I want to focus on the 13th verse. Specifically on the commandment that this nobleman gave his servants to, “Take possession till I come.” Or, as some texts say, “Occupy till I come.” Either way, the meaning is clear. We are not to simply wait around for the Lord to rapture us away from the cares of this world. We are to take possession, to occupy, to fortify, and to stand strong and vigilant against our foe until our race is run. As the song says, “Hold the fort for I (Jesus) am coming.”

As Christians we are likened to warriors and soldiers in God’s word. We are not simply to be content to wait around having a great time and basking in the joy of the Lord. We are to fight.

In I Corinthians 9 Paul tells the Corinthians that he fights, ‘not as one that beateth the air.’ In I Timothy Paul tells Timothy to, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” In II Timothy Paul says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

We know we are not alone in this fight. Remember the story of Elisha, when the King of Syria had surrounded him and his servant. Starting at verse 11of II Kings, let’s read through verse 19.

II Kings 6:11-19

Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said unto them, "Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?" And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, teleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber." And he said, "Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him." And it was told him, saying, "Behold, he is in Dothan." Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city about.

And when the servant of the man of God had risen early and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" And he answered, "Fear not, for they that are with us are more than they that are with them." And Elisha prayed and said, "LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD and said, "Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness." And He smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, "This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek." But he led them to Samaria.(KJ21®)

Not only did God deliver Elisha and his servant from the King of Syria, but He delivered the army of Syria to Elisha. We can not see those who are battling for us, but we know they are there. Remember in Daniel 10. Daniel prayed for three weeks straight. At the end of three weeks an angel comes to him and says:

Daniel 10:11-13

"O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent." And when he had spoke this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard; and I have come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia..."(KJ21®)

We see here that Daniel's discipline and effort not only had his own prayers answered, but helped the angel in his own battle with the prince of the kingdom of Persia.

Starting at the 10th verse in Ephesians 6. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (not on our own power, for we are weak, but in the power of the might of God we are to be strong). Put on the (parts of the armor of God that fit you best and are most comfortable... That’s not what it say’s, is it? The parts that are most uncomfortable for us are the ones we must work the hardest on, that we might be better protected. We are to) Put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. (Why?) For we wrestle (we don’t box or shoot at, but wrestle. When one wrestles, he must use every ounce of his strength, straining his muscles to the very edge of their ability or face defeat. One must grab a hold of to wrestle) not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Satan would like nothing better than for you to dismiss him as some cartoon character in red pajamas with a pointed tail and a pitchfork. Many Christians are convinced that demons and Satan no longer operate in this world today, that there is not a war, but that we are to simply praise God and wait for Him to rapture us away. Not so, why else would He tell us) Therefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench (some) of the fiery darts of the wicked. (That’s not what it says either, is it? We are promised that the shield of faith will be) able to quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.(KJ21®)

Note that this Sword is the only sword that gets sharper with use. The more you study the word of God, the more proficient you become at wielding it, and the sharper it will cut against your adversary the devil.

We can know that Satan is out to get us because Peter tells so in I Peter 5:6-11. Peter writes.

I Peter 5:6-11

Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. But after ye have suffered a while (Not if but it is certain you will suffer), may the God of all grace, who hath called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.(KJ21®)

Satan does not sit around waiting for opportunities. He has an army that is aggressive. If they don’t see opportunity, they make opportunity. One pastor’s wife we know had the opportunity to speak with a man that followed Satan. She said he was very nice, good looking and well spoken. While they debated, he did not attack her, he simply stated his position. One thing he told her was that he, and many others, were in the middle of a 40 day fast... they were praying that 200 Christian families would be broken. The enemy is aggressive.

We must engage the enemy, but we must be careful not to pick the fights. One writer puts it like this. ”Spiritual warfare is about loving God and other people, not about hating the Devil. It is about doing right in your own life and doing right to the people around you before it is about anybody doing anything Satanic. It is about the simple everyday decisions much more than it is about exorcisms and power confrontations (though one should be prepared). It is about reading the Bible more than it is about catching the latest hot ’deliverance’ preacher, tape or book. And, it is not something to engage in by yourself.”

Robert Longman Jr. writes, “The most important truth about spiritual warfare is that it is first and foremost a work of love. Not love for the struggle, or the love of rescue or victory. It’s a work of love for God’s Kingdom, and love for the people Jesus was crucified over -- which is each and every one.”

Sometimes great love is demonstrated in warfare. As Jesus himself said in the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

In the greatest battle ever, Jesus waged war with sin. All creation cried out in this moment of history. And three days after what seemed a great victory for Satan; our Savior arose, triumphant over sin and the grave.

I give the following illustration to drive home the seriousness of battle. Although we don’t see this battle raging with our eyes, it is fierce none the less. This illustration is somewhat graphic, which I think serves to drive the point home. War is brutal. It cares not who you are, how much money you have, where you‘re from. However, the manner in which you conduct yourself, the training you have received, how well you are prepared, how you work with your fellow soldiers and how much you love them will have a great impact on the outcome, as this account relates. In ‘Spirit Warriors’ Stu Weber writes about a soldier named Roy Benavidez.

Roy Benavidez was a Green Beret serving in the most secret and elite special operations unit of the Vietnam war. The existence of the Military Assistance Command Studies and Observation Group (MACSOG) was carefully concealed, and totally denied by the U.S. government. SOG was the somewhat innocuous, coded acronym for this magnificent unit that lived beyond the edge, across the borders, behind the enemy's lines, usually with fewer than ten men in a patrol.

The secret unit reported directly to the joint chiefs of staff in the Pentagon. Only a few inside Vietnam - General William Westmoreland and a select handful of his senior officers - were ever briefed on SOG operations. SOG always got the most dangerous assignments, patrolling deep inside Cambodia, Laos, across the DMZ (demilitarized zone), and all along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The elite unit usually operated without any artillery support - and was often even without air support.

SOG identified targets for B-52 strikes, rescued downed American pilots, and wreaked all kinds of havoc on Vietcong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) operations. The enemy was so desperate to eliminate SOG patrols that they devoted a minimum of forty thousand soldiers In Laos and Cambodia to the effort.

At one point, a single SOG patrol fought what is probably the most lopsided battle in U.S. military history-one fourteen - man team fought off a mass attack by two thousand enemy troops. SOG soldiers, though few in number, were awarded hundreds of Purple Hearts for combat wounds - and no fewer than ten Medals of Honor.

One of those medals now belongs to Roy Benavidez.

A sergeant first class at the time, Benavidez won his medal not long after the Tet offensive in early 1968, the "bloody year." On May 2, 1968, a SOG patrol was inserted by chopper forty-eight kilometers inside Cambodia's "fishhook," about seventy-five miles northwest of Saigon. Though hit almost immediately by NVA regulars, the patrol fought its way through a whole enemy platoon before calling for extraction. But so many NVA surrounded them - pouring heavy gunfire into the little unit - that landing was impossible. The choppers were forced away, losing one gunship to ground fire in the process.

The SOG patrol leader was dead, and every other member of the patrol was either dead or seriously wounded. They were about to be overrun and there was no one to help. The situation was desperate.

Back at the special forces base camp at Loc Ninh, Sergeant Roy Benavidez was monitoring the radio and heard gunfire that sounded like "a popcorn machine." He grabbed a medic bag and, to the surprise of the pilot, piled in to an available helicopter and demanded to be flown to the battle site.

Arriving at the landing zone he made the sign of the cross, tossed out the medic bag, and jumped ten feet to the ground, sprinting seventy-five yards through withering gunfire. On the way he was hit in the leg by an AK-47. He convinced himself it was a thorn vine that had grabbed him and kept running.

He dove through the brush to join the hurting team on the ground. Four were already dead, the other eight badly wounded. Benavidez bound their wounds, injected morphine, and gathered ammunition off the ground. Ignoring the NVA bullets and grenades, he armed himself with an AK-47 and rallied the surviving soldiers. Grabbing a radio, Benavidez called for air strikes on the enemy positions. In the process, he took a second bullet in his leg, and then injected himself with morphine.

Another Huey helicopter landed and Benavidez started hauling one of the wounded team members to the chopper. He took a third bullet, this one in the back and through a lung. He almost passed out but managed to get back on his feet, only to see the Huey on its side, with the pilot and door gunner dead. Coughing blood, Benavidez freed the rest of the crew members before the chopper exploded, and with the remaining team members formed a defensive perimeter.

Mortar shells exploded everywhere. Benavidez called the Air Force F-4 Phantoms in "danger-close"-meaning on top of himself. He was shot again, but ignored it. A few minutes later he took another slug. By now he was bleeding heavily from bullet wounds all over his body. The blood from a head wound made it difficult to see. Another gunship went down. One wounded man whose leg was missing pleaded with Benavidez to kill him. The sergeant barked back, "We don't have permission to die!" By now Benavidez and the team had been on the ground almost eight hours.

Then, under heavy supporting fire, another Huey made it to the landing zone in one final extraction attempt. The onboard medic helped Benavidez drag and carry wounded men to the chopper. As the badly wounded sergeant staggered under the load, an NVA soldier clubbed him with an AK-47 and thrust his bayonet toward Benavidez's midsection. The American grabbed the bayonet blade, cutting his own hand in the process, pulled the enemy soldier to him, and stabbed him with his knife.

While loading the wounded, Benavidez picked up a rifle and, as best as he could see through the blood dripping over his eyes, killed two enemy soldiers charging the helicopter. Then strong arms pulled Benavidez himself aboard the chopper. When he collapsed on the wounded bodies, he was holding his own intestines in his hands. As the Huey lifted from the landing zone, blood trickled out its side doors.

The helicopter made it back to Loc Ninh with seventeen men on board, some alive and some dead. The doctors thought Benavidez was dead and ordered a body bag, but the tough old sergeant managed to signal with his last ounce of strength.

Everyone at Loc Ninh assumed he would die at the hospital in Saigon, but Benavidez recovered gradually and in 1976 - eight years after the battle - he was finally discharged from the hospital, though with an 80 percent disability. When his old commander discovered he had actually lived, he asked the Army to award the Medal of Honor. It took five more years, but finally two witnesses were found, a special act of Congress approved the late award, and President Reagan draped the coveted medal around Roy Benavidez's neck.

Isn’t this what it’s all about? We concern ourselves with ‘things’ and affluence. But what of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Do we fight for them? Have we done enough for the unborn? Do you pray for your enemies, your leaders, or even your Pastor? Do we help those in need, at personal cost? Or are we too busy counting the cost and leaving things to others.

Roy Benavidez didn’t take the time to count the cost. His brothers needed help that he was equipped to give and he ran to the guns. Jesus knew full well the cost, yet he gave all that we might live. Can we do any less? What do you possibly have that you can’t give up? We must give all because the only one who could redeem us gave all. Stu Weber goes on to write:

Do you ever wonder what motivates a soldier like Roy Benavidez? Ever try to imagine just what makes a guy do those things? There are probably several motivations. One is certainly the sense of soldierly camaraderie, even love that soldiers-the band of brothers-have for each other. Another motivator is the sheer fear that is always present on a battlefield.

Roy said it this way: "When you're shot, you feel a burning pain, like you've been touched with hot metal. But the fear that you experience is worse-and that's what keeps you going."

So, love and fear. One more major motivator is hope, the hope of surviving, the hope of going on.

Yes, even the hope of reward.

We know we will be rewarded because God tells us so in His word. Paul writes of the promise that all who love the appearance of Jesus will receive their reward, starting in verse 7.

II Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me on that Day - and not to me only, but unto all those also who love His appearing.(KJ21®)

So let us look forward to our reward, always remembering what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-4

II Timothy 2:1-4

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, commit thou the same to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Endure thou therefore hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man who warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

I would like to refer back to the song, ‘Hold the Fort.’ Verse 2 reads, “See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on; Mighty men around us falling, Courage almost gone.”

Doesn’t that apply today? As we face the struggles of our day we see great brothers and sisters falling to pornography, adultery, greed and other temptations that we must avoid. It’s not that we’re any better than they are. It’s only by the grace of God that we don’t find ourselves in these predicaments. And I'm sure there are some among us that have battle scars from falling to some of these temptations. It’s because of this that we must lock arms and fight for each other. We must do battle on our knees for one another (as the sign on a church out in Van Zandt says, “God answers knee-mail”). We must stand ready to assist, to exhort, and even to admonish when needed. If we are standing back, counting the cost, then others will fall, and who will be there to aid us in our time of need.

The battle rages now. We must ‘run to the guns.’ There will be time for relishing in our victory later, when we’re taken to the home Jesus has prepared for us. But for now we must occupy enemy territory and give up no ground, for our adversary will not give up until his ultimate defeat at the hands of Jesus, nor will he offer quarter. He is out to destroy us, or at the very least make us impotent against him.

If you do not face the battle in your own life it must be one of two things. Either you are not running the race, but are walking or just standing around, and therefore are of little concern and only meet resistance when you are getting too close. Or you are heading in the same direction, in which case you are on the same road to destruction that Satan is on. As a preacher of ours used to ask, “If you are not running into Satan, could it be you’re headed in the same direction?”

Joe Johnson

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