by Cheryl AF Okimoto
“Onward Christian Soldiers!” For many Christians this is a dear old favorite:
Onward Christian soldiers
Marching on to war
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before
Like a mighty army
Moves the church of God
But this isn’t just a cool song that gets your blood pumping and your feet stomping. It’s the truth! We are soldiers, marching to war. But who is the enemy?!
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Our enemy is Satan and his minions, not other Christians or even unbelievers!
Too many of us see the enemy not only in flesh and blood, but in other Christians. We don’t like mega-churches because they’re impersonal. Or we don’t like small churches because they must be stagnant. Maybe we don’t like that one because it’s too noisy. Or that one is too staid. We don’t like denominations because they rely too much on tradition. Or we don’t like independent churches because they have no tradition.
But the truth is that the only perfect church is the one gathered around the heavenly throne. And until we get there, we have to find our place in the imperfect churches on earth. Rather than criticizing other Christians, first ask yourself: Where do I fit in the battle against “spiritual wickedness?”
When you join a war-fighting group, the first thing you learn is basic skills that will help you fit into your unit. You learn how to use your weapons, how to establish a defense, and how to support your fellow soldiers, both by working together and taking care of each other, like when first aid is necessary.
After you have learned the basic skills, you become a little more specialized. Maybe you become a medic or a mechanic. Maybe you learn to operate tanks or helicopters. Maybe you take care of personnel or legal issues. But whatever you move on to, you are still a member of the greater fighting force, and you still maintain the skills you learned in basic training.
When your specialized training is complete, then you move out into a unit where you have an active part in completing the unit’s assigned mission. You learn to work with the people in your team. Your team works with other teams. It is only after you are plugged in with experienced personnel that you begin to learn how to recognize and engage the enemy.
The same is true of the Christian “army.” When you receive your salvation, you become a member of the Satan-fighting team. Through devotions and small group fellowships, you train to learn how to fit in and how to fight. But you are not fully equipped to fight the enemy until you learn where you fit into the unit as a whole. You have to become an active member of a church.
But even after you fit into your own unit, you don’t understand the missions or methods of other units. If God chooses to move you up in the ranks, you may end up with multiple units in your “command.” But there will always be units that you don’t understand or control. Only the Commander-In-Chief and his advisors know all the missions of all the units. In our Christian army that’s God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
It isn’t our call to say what is right or wrong about what other units are doing. As long as they are part of the body of believers, their orders come from God, not us. And the only thing that is required for them to be believers is the same thing that was required of you: accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The enemy wants us to be distracted by what other units are doing. If he has us looking within our own perimeter then we can’t be looking where the true attack will come from. We’ll be unprepared for the battle and his forces will overwhelm us. Be wise to his strategy. Keep your focus where it belongs.
The important thing for us as Christian soldiers is to be able to identify our mission, to know when orders are legal, and to recognize attacks of the enemy. The bible is our one true guide in all that. Center your attention on your war-fighting abilities and the abilities of your own unit. Let God take care of the rest of the army.
Copyright 2004 Cheryl AF Okimoto
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