The idea of a church militant, of a conquering, battling church advancing the cause of Christ, has become a faded memory for most American Christians. Too often we compromise, concede, cater, and coddle in hopes of winning souls to Christ, instead of conquering evil that enslaves them. In America's present backslidden condition, it's prudent to recall the necessity of conflict.
Dr. Augustus Neander, in Memorial of a Christian Life wrote:
Christians [in history] rejoiced to consider themselves as the soldiers of God and Christ (milites Dei et Christi), against the hostile powers of darkness, against everything which appeared to them as belonging to the kingdom of Satan, against the services of sin and of false gods.
Dr. Neander was a church historian born in 1789. His works include the six volume classic, A General History of the Christian Religion and Church (first published in 1826) and History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles (1832-1833). He also wrote the famous apologetic, Life of Christ (1837). His understanding of church history makes his remarks all the more compelling.
Dr. Neander wrote:
As the whole of life of the Christian, from the beginning to the end, is a conflict with the world and the powers of darkness, a conflict within and without, the kingdom of God in this world must appear as militant, and must make its way by conflict; so that often, in Holy Writ, the calling of the Christian is compared to that of the military life, and the Christian is represented as the soldier of his LORD.
This image was very clear and familiar to the first Christians. Though Christians, in later ages, may have been led to forget the nature of their calling as one of conflict, amidst the external tranquility and prosperity, yet in primitive times their entire outward condition served to remind them of the spiritual warfare; for the church found itself on all sides in conflict with the heathen world, and the public profession made by Christians compelled them to take a share in this conflict.
Christian men, it's time you took your share in this spiritual conflict. In World War I, when soldiers heard the whistle they knew it was time to rush over the top of the trench and charge the enemy. They knew it was time to die. Young men, The whistle has blown. It's time to die, so Christ can live and reign through you. Run to the roar of battle! The warrior's sword and shield has passed to you. It's your turn now.
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2 comments:
This book is psycho! Anyone that believes in imaginary "spirits" or an unprovable "god" is crazy. It's too bad that you all won't find out the truth- that the end is just silence. No heaven. No virgins waiting for you. No pearly gates. Just the closed lid of a coffin.
Two things are true according to atheism-there is no God and I hate Him. My friend, your god of science has deceived you. And in the end it will betray your soul to hell. Repent and believe the good news. Jesus Christ is Lord.
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