Lest We Forget

November 11 is Remembrance Day in my adopted land, Australia, and Veteran's Day in the land of my birth, America.   As we celebrate these special days of remembrance, it would be good to stop for a moment and take stock of the blessings of freedom God has given the citizens of both nations and to remember the sacrifices of those who purchased these freedoms with their blood.

We who have attended the dawn services and marched in parades with our fellow returned service men, have watched the faltering steps of those honored men who have served their country in many conflicts. We have seen the tears fall freely upon the cheeks of stooped and graying men, as they have wept openly for their fallen comrades in arms. We have heard again and again the poignant words, “Lest we forget,” issue from the lips of those who hold the memory of the fallen so dear. We have  heard the mournful notes of the last post or taps; played in remembrance of those who lie in graves on faraway fields. Such observances should move us to once again thank God for those who have gone before us.

God has richly blessed Australia and America.   Both are beautiful countries with rich and abundant natural resources. Both have good forms of government based upon a Judeo-Christian heritage and British Common Law. Citizens of these two great lands enjoy freedoms that most of the citizens of other lands  can only dream about. This is confirmed each year by the thousands of those who risk life and limb to seek safety, security and prosperity in these  nations.

There are no concentration camps in either nation. People are not executed for seeking to flee these lands. There are no dreaded knocks in the middle of the night. There are no mass graves filled with the bodies or those who have been killed by despotic dictators and godless regimes. Every person in these nations has a free voice and a free vote.

In governmental matters, the voice of the people can reflect the way and will of God. There is freedom of religion and speech.  Pastors can still speak freely from their pulpits. There is yet no law that can muzzle such free expression.   Although it seems clear that certain forces are active in both nations to change this.

Mark Twain once said, “…a Christian’s first duty is to God. It then follows, as a matter of course, that it is his duty to carry his Christian code of morals to the polls and vote them. … If the Christians .... could be persuaded to vote God and a clean ticket, it would bring about a moral revolution that would be incalculably beneficent. It would save the country — a country whose Christians have betrayed it and are destroying it...Christianity...is on trial now. And nothing important is on trial except Christianity.” He said this a century and one-half ago. How much greater are the weight of his words today!

Henry Blackaby wrote in Fresh Encounter: “Christians should not be surprised by the spiritual darkness around us. That is all it can be. Darkness is dark. The greater problem is not with the darkness. The problem is with the light. When light shines, it dispels darkness. We face a growing spiritual darkness in our land because the light is not shining brightly.”

On this Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, let us praise God for His past blessings upon our nations and pray He will continue to bless. But at the same time let us remember that if we are to expect His continuing blessings, we must recognize our need for Him in our national life today. We must be willing to meet His conditions for such continuing national blessings. Conditions that are made crystal clear in His word: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)"

The Battle Of The Ages

Ephesians 6:10-18

A declaration of war is the document that heads of state often use to unite and galvanize a people into common action against an enemy that is threatening the very life and existence of a nation. Those who remember the terrible days of World War Two will never forget the words of Churchill as he declared war upon the Nazi powers and called the peoples of the British Commonwealth to unite in a valiant effort to defend the homeland.

After the infamous day of Pearl Harbor, the words of Roosevelt were equally challenging to the American people. Even the Old Testament is replete with examples of prophets, judges, and kings calling Israel into counsel and making a declaration of war against her enemies.

In His Word, God states what should be the obvious; we Christians are already at war. Satan has declared war upon the saints and against the souls of mankind. He is a terrible foe. A powerful and dreaded enemy. He vengefully walks the face of the earth seeking whom he may devour. He is called the adversary. The accuser.  The wicked one. As someone said long ago, “Evil is not something, it is someone!”

A paraphrase of Ephesians 6:12 clearly states the situation of our war, “For our wrestling match is not with persons with bodies, but against rulership, and the realms of authority, against the world dominators of the present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.”

It is obviously a worldwide conflict. Wherever God’s people are gathered, Satan’s war strategy involves hindering and harming the cause of Christ. Just as in days gone by, Christian soldiers who are in God’s army on the earth today have a real and continuing battle on their hands. No hold is barred and no quarter is given by the forces of evil arrayed against the saints of God. His weapons of sin, temptation and compromise have never been more powerful or fearsome than in our day and time.

This war is also a personal confrontation. Hand to hand combat of the dirtiest and most difficult sort is the order of the day. It’s person to person and eyeball to eyeball. Satan is not confined to hell or Hades, nor is he residing solely on the surface of the earth. He has a headquarters in the heavenlies. He rules over a band of rebellious angels. He controls myriads of demonic spirits.Apparently he has sub-rulers in delegated areas of authority on earth. Neither empires, kingdoms, nations, states, communities, or cities escape his malevolent attention. Sovereigns, dictators, princes, potentates and democratically elected officials are all subject to his power and control. He promotes anarchy and is delighted with the breakdown of law and order. He is known as the lawless one in the scriptures.

In all out war there can be no neutrality. In the spiritual warfare that still rages the real issue is whose side are you on? Jesus said no man can serve two masters. Someone has said that the hottest fires of hell are reserved for those who in times of great crisis try to maintain their neutrality.

Watchmen On The Walls Of Our World

I’ll never forget my first guard duty. I drew the midnight watch. Some called it the graveyard shift. It was bitterly cold. The memory of my extreme discomfort still lingers in the corners of my mind. The exhaustion of boot camp. The stress of a demanding and unfamiliar task. The lateness of the hour. The devastating cold and my desire to do well. All these made my fight to stay awake and alert one of the most memorable battles of my young life.

But it was only make belief. Training for the day when I might be called on to stand guard in a real life or death situation. My greatest fear was that I might fall asleep or give an inept or inadequate response to the challenge of those who would test me.

The story of Pearl Harbor clearly illustrates the need for watchmen who are alert and wide awake to the danger of an enemy attack. That infamous surprise attack was only successful because a number of responsible people were obviously asleep on their watch. The culprits ranged all the way down the chain of command; from those who were in command to the lowly officer who ignored the warnings of the operators of a primitive radar system. They had the blood of thousands of sailors, soldiers, airmen and civilians upon their hands.

When I was stationed for a time at Hickam Air Force Base just outside Honolulu during the Korean conflict, my living quarters still bore the pock marks of the strafing of Japanese planes.Just across a green was the large boarded up mess hall where dozens had died when a bomb had fallen in the midst of a sleepy Sunday morning breakfast. Anyone visiting the Battleship Arizona Memorial can still sense the tragedy of hundreds of young lives being snuffed out and their bodies being entombed in a watery grave; all because the watchmen did not give a warning cry. It would seem the ruins of the World Trade Center might also speak eloquently of the need for faithful watchmen on the walls of our world today.

Good and faithful watchmen have always been a scarce commodity. God in His Word places a premium upon spiritual watchmen. The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, clearly enunciated the principle that watchmen on the spiritual walls of the world are absolutely responsible to warn the world’s inhabitants of the spiritual danger of rejecting God and His Son.

If we who are called as watchmen and witnesses today go to sleep on the job, the spiritual blood of a lost and dying world will be upon our hands. We are only called to give a certain sound and effective cry. If people do not respond, we will be free of responsibility and will stand with clean hands before our God at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

In light of this awesome and eternal responsibility, may we take our calling as watchmen on the walls of our contemporary world seriously and be ever alert to the forces of darkness that threaten us on every hand. May we always stand ready to cry out and warn those who are lost of the danger of rejecting the Son of God!