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Every
single genuine Christian is in a war whether they know it or not – whether they
want to be or not. It is totally unavoidable. To be a Christian means you have
been thrown into pitched spiritual warfare, and the powers of darkness are
arrayed against you. Thus, you must put on the whole armour of God and engage
with the enemy. God by his grace gives us what we need to fully grow in Christ
and become what we are meant to be. But at the same time, we are meant to act,
to take steps to make this a reality - it is a cooperative effort
Bill Muehlenberg
It can get lonely and discouraging doing
pitched battle in the trenches:
In an age of computer-driven weaponry and
long-distance warfare, the older methods of man-to-man combat is becoming less
and less necessary.
Why bother with one-on-one fighting when a
remote-control guided cruise missile can take out an entire platoon in a matter
of moments?
So talk of trench warfare may not be all that
familiar with many of my modern readers.
But let me discuss it a bit further anyway.
This was of course a main form of fighting
back in WW I.
Here is a bit of description on this from one
war history article:
At least initially in
World War I, forces mounted attacks from the trenches, with bayonets fixed to
their rifles, by climbing over the top edge into what was known as “no man’s
land,” the area between opposing forces, usually in a single, straight line and
under a barrage of gunfire.
Not surprisingly,
this approach was rarely effective, and often led to mass casualties.
Later in the war,
forces began mounting attacks from the trenches at night, usually with support
of covering artillery fire.
The Germans soon
became known for effectively mounting night-time incursions behind enemy lines,
by sending highly trained soldiers to attack the trenches of opposing forces at
what they perceived as weak points.
If successful, these
soldiers would breach enemy lines and circle around to attack their opponents
from the rear, while their comrades would mount a traditional offensive at the
front.
The brutality of
trench warfare is perhaps best typified by the 1916 Battle of the Somme in
France. British troops suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day of fighting
alone.
And conditions in the trenches were awful:
With soldiers
fighting in close proximity in the trenches, usually in unsanitary conditions,
infectious diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever were common
and spread rapidly.
Constant exposure to
wetness caused trench foot, a painful condition in which dead tissue spread
across one or both feet, sometimes requiring amputation.
Trench mouth, a type
of gum infection, was also problematic and is thought to be associated with the
stress of nonstop bombardment.
As they were often
effectively trapped in the trenches for long periods of time, under nearly
constant bombardment, many soldiers suffered from “shell shock,” the
debilitating mental illness known today as post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). www.history.com/news/life-in-the-trenches-of-world-war-i
I mention all this because I want to use the
term ‘trench warfare’ as a very apt metaphor for the spiritual battles we are
in.
Every single genuine Christian is in a war
whether they know it or not – whether they want to be or not. It is totally
unavoidable.
To be a Christian means you have been thrown
into pitched spiritual warfare, and the powers of darkness are arrayed against
you.
Thus, you must put on the whole armour of God
and engage with the enemy.
I am reminded of all this for several
reasons. One, I am again reading the book of Joshua.
This is all about the Israelites taking
possession of Canaan, the promised land.
On the one hand they had to go in and fight
for the possession of it. But on the other hand, they were told by Yahweh that
he was giving them the land.
Consider just one passage which so clearly
demonstrates this divine/human interplay:
“After the death of
Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:
‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to
cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them–to the
Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised
Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the
great river, the Euphrates–all the Hittite country–to the Great Sea on the
west.’
“’No one will be able
to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I
will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.’
“’Be strong and
courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to
their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous.’
“’‘Be careful to obey
all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to
the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.’
“’Do not let this
Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that
you may be careful to do everything written in it.’
“’Then you will be
prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with
you wherever you go.’
“So Joshua ordered
the officers of the people: ‘Go through the camp and tell the people, “Get your
supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and
take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.”’” – Joshua 1:1-11:
That God is giving them the land and that
they have to take the land are both said repeatedly not just in the book of
Joshua but throughout much of the Pentateuch as well.
God is giving the land to the people as a
gift, but they must go in and take possession of it.
And all this is also a type of the Christian
life: God by his grace gives us what we need to fully grow in Christ and become
what we are meant to be. But at the same time, we are meant to act, to take
steps to make this a reality.
It is a cooperative effort. See more on this
here: http://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/02/28/cooperating-with-god/
But a second reason for my article is this: I
just looked up something on my site as part of a response to someone else on
the social media.
With well over 5000 articles on this site
(this one is the 5061st), I often do not need to go far to find something that
I need – I have usually written about it already in the past!
So as I found some articles to share in this
online discussion, it suddenly occurred to me that I have been slugging it out
in the culture wars for a long time now.
CultureWatch began 14 years ago, but I have
been involved in these sorts of battles for at least 35 years now – the last 31
years being here in Australia.
So, I have spent a fair bit of time in the trenches.
I have experienced quite a few battles over the decades.
I have plenty of old wounds and scars to show
for my time at the front. I have plenty of enemies who have been and still are
arrayed against me.
Thus, I do know a bit about what trench warfare
(metaphorically speaking) is all about.
While I do not expect all Christians to be
engaged in the culture wars – at least not as much as I am – I do expect that
they all should be aware of some of the key battles and should be supporting
those who are called to be involved in trench warfare.
For example, just as Wilberforce and many
concerned Christians took an active role in dealing with the evil slave trade,
so too today there should be numerous believers taking part in dealing with the
evil abortion trade – either actively, or in a supporting role.
Of course, I realise that I am not all alone
in the trenches, thankfully.
God has raised up a number of other brave
fighters who are fully engaged. I know it is woefully remiss of me to name
names, because so many could be mentioned.
Forgive me then, but let me run with just
three: the former and current heads of the Australian Christian Lobby: Jim
Wallace, Lyle Shelton and Martyn Iles. Champs all three, as are many others.
But still, far too many Christians are
sitting on the sidelines.
Too many are just wanting to sit all this
out, and leave the fighting to a handful of other Christians.
Too many believers are either too cowardly or
too unconcerned about the battles taking place all around them.
This should not be my friends. We all have a
role to play. At the very least, we all can be praying.
We all have various gifts, talents and
callings that God has given us that should be used in the many wars happening
all around us.
We dare not try to remain neutral in a time
of war.
Let me finish with
two quotes. The first is from Numbers 32:6-7: “Moses said to the Gadites and
Reubenites, ‘Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do
you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the LORD has
given them?'”
The second is from Tolkien’s The Two Towers,
part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (at least the film version of it):
Theoden: I will not risk open war.
Aragorn: Open war is upon you whether you
would risk it or not.
So, who will join me in the trenches? It can get a bit lonely out there, and having some fellow warriors by my side would encourage me greatly. Who is with me?
Bill
Muehlenberg
is an American-born Christian apologist and ethicist in Melbourne, Australia.
He has his own online ministry called CultureWatch, which features Christian
commentary on the social and political issues of the day.
He
is a prolific author and a media commentator. Muehlenberg has been featured on
many television and radio current affairs programs. He teaches ethics,
apologetics and theology at several Melbourne Bible Colleges.
Education
Muehlenberg
has a BA with honours in philosophy (Wheaton College, Chicago), an MA with
highest honours in theology (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston). He
is currently completing a PhD in theology.
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/03/12/are-you-in-the-trenches/
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