Posted on 06/21/2009 10:43:41 PM PDT by AlaskaErik
War is hell.”
So said Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. By the time Sherman retired from active duty, that saying had become virtually synonymous with his name. Sherman’s contempt for war was well-known throughout most of his career as a soldier. A month after the Civil War ended, when Sherman was at the height of his fame and the pinnacle of his success as a soldier, he wrote to a friend, “I am sick and tired of fighting.”
He was not yet finished fighting, however. He spent the next 14 years as commanding general of the United States Army. Those years saw some of the most difficult battles in the horrible Indian wars that marred the settling of the American West. As much as Sherman despised warfare, he couldn’t seem to get away from fighting.
Sherman has been described as a brilliant strategist, an uncompromising combatant and a ruthless fighting man. His career was highly controversial. History’s judgment has been mixed regarding his personal character and the conduct of the armies he commanded. As a soldier, he was by no means an ideal model in every sense. Even though he despised warfare, few soldiers in all of history have been more determined or tenacious warriors.
Like Sherman, we ought to despise warfare with every fiber of our souls. War is one of the most calamitous consequences of evil. It is catastrophic. It is always ugly. It should never be glamorized. No sane person should ever desire the conflict or savor the strife of war. There are times, however, when evil makes warfare absolutely necessary. When we have a moral obligation to fight, we should never shirk that duty, compromise with the enemy or enter the battle halfheartedly.
As believers we must stand for the truth. God’s truth is revealed in the Bible. Satan always attacks God’s word. The latest attack on the truth is the Emergent Church. The Emergent Church attacks the clarity of the Bible. They claim the Bible is not clear. Brian McLaren, one of the emerging leaders, says he is not sure “what we should think about homosexuality.” He called for a five-year moratorium on making any pronouncements about whether homosexuality is a sin or not.
“In five years, if we have clarity, we’ll speak,” he said. “If not, we’ll set another five years for ongoing reflection.”
Thankfully, the Scriptures are very clear. Dr. Al Mohler said, “The postmodern age is the age of no truth, an age that has reached a point of deadly fatigue when it comes to facing the truth — a generation that no longer believes truth can be known.” As Christians, we know better. We must be armed with courage to confront this age with a bold defense of the truth.
Ever since that day in the garden when the serpent tempted Eve, he has relentlessly attacked the truth with lies. Satan uses the same strategies over and over to sow doubt and disbelief in the human mind. The Apostle Paul reminds us, “We are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
The form of his evil dialectic rarely changes. The devil’s methodology always involves three steps.
First, he questions the truth God has revealed. “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ (Genesis 3:1).
Second, he then contradicts what God has said. “You will not surely die” (verse 4).
Finally, he concocts an alternative version of truth. “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (verse 5).
The devil’s alternative credo often has a few carefully chosen elements of truth in the mix, but always diluted and thoroughly blended with falsehoods, contradictions, misrepresentations, distortions and every other imaginable perversion of reality. Add it all up and the bottom line is a big lie.
Even worse, in the promotion of his dishonesty, Satan uses every agent he can dupe into being a shill for him. This includes demons, unbelievers and (most effectively) people who are in some way actually associated with the truth, or (even worse) who merely pretend to be agents of the truth and angels of light. That is one of Satan’s favorite and time tested strategies (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote concerning the pressing urgency and the absolute necessity of fighting for the truth. “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3).
The expression “contend earnestly” is translated from a strong Greek verb epagonizomai literally meaning “agonize against.” The word describes an intensive, arduous, drawn-out fight. There is nothing passive, peaceful or easy about it. Jude urged and commanded them to wage a mighty battle on behalf of the true faith.
The gospel is good news. It is the best news. Even though we as sinners were born lost and separated from God, Jesus came to die for us. He is our substitute. He died on the cross. All of God’s wrath and fury against sin were poured out upon him. Forgiveness, pardon, reconciliation, new life, fulfillment and satisfaction are all found in Jesus. He rose again. His arms are open to you. This truth is worth fighting for and responding to.
Ethan Hansen is pastor at Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake. He can be reached at eh ansen@biglakefaithbible.org.
I am tempted to say no just to be contrarian.
Though perhaps it legitimately can not.
Of course it can’t. The point of postmodernism is to deny that truth exists and “its all relative”. That’s why we have to expose it for the poison it is, and discredit it.
Can the Truth survive in a postmortem society?
It has been a while since God has rained down fire from heaven. And thus the world has purchased Satan's lie that God must dead.
O’ Sodomite, Gods grace has been extended to you due to Christs death on the cross and this is the ONLY reason that you're allowed to continue breathing His air.
It doesn't matter what you have done, all ground is level at the Cross, all sins can be forgiven.
The Truth cannot die, for Christ is the Truth, and He died once for the sins of the whole world, and He cannot die again. This age will pass away, but the Truth shall never die.
You said — It has been a while since God has rained down fire from heaven.
—
But, coming soon..., during the time of the Great Tribulation. And yes..., it’s right around the corner...
And I thought this was leading to some good stuff about Sherman... some moral example applicable to our times or something. Then it gets into religion and gays. I think the authors ground out the transmission by shifting gears half way through at high speed.
I tend to agree with some of the stuff posted here. Christ said something like we need not be concerned with the goings on in the world for we need to be more concerned for the kingdom of heaven, and I believe it. The phrase “there will be wars and rumors of wars” I think is more passive than active because we need to be concerned only with the happening and prepared for what is to come.
He tells us that in the end times evil will be come so great that He will have to intervene in the natural workings of things or man will surely destroy himself. Come what may, I don’t really worry about it because He said he’s going to take care of it, and that’s all I really need to know.
Well you probably would be disappointed if you go into Shermans thinking outside of him being a military man. The man never claimed any Christianity, even though his wife really really tried to get him to become a Christian right up to the end of her life or his life. He probably would of fit in good with the postmodern christian movement.
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