The Christian Militant

The martyrdom of St. Stephen
 by Juan Correa de Vivar 

...for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Mat 26:52

From the outset, the Christian church has been under attack. Stephen was stoned, James beheaded, and the apostles beaten and imprisoned, yet there was no retaliation, no revenge, and no counterstruggle, at least not a physically violent one. Their methods of combat were prayer, compassion, and preaching because they believed:

2Cor.10:4  For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, and yet:

Acts 6:7  And the Word of God was increasing. And the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was multiplying exceedingly; even a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith.

For the next three centuries Christians were persecuted, murdered, used for circus entertainment, set alight as human torches, and fed to wild animals, and yet:

Acts 12:24...the Word of God grew and increased.

Over the years Christians were attacked by Romans, Jews, Persians, Muslims, Vikings, pagans, and even other Christians, and yet:

Acts 19:20  So the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed.

Christianity has been at war since the birth of Jesus when Herod sent his army to kill the babes of Bethlehem. Its weapons of resistance have always been the Word of God and prayer. It was a war won with the blood of martyrs, some of whom gave their lives voluntarily. The endless attacks eventually spilled over into physical retaliation. 

Lord, my enemies are not always Your enemies.

 

An interesting thing happened at Sunday morning service – an elderly lady requested prayer for a sore leg. There was nothing unusual about that and I asked a couple of the leaders to petition God for healing. After the prayer, she said she felt much better, but when she turned to go she winced painfully and it was apparent that her leg was still sore. I said nothing as I watched her clinging to the pews for balance. She was back for evening service and I asked how she felt. She smiled and said she felt fine, she knows that God had touched and healed her. The expression in her eyes, however, told a different story, one of defeat and pain. It’s time for Christians to be real.

The certainty of death, taxes and prayer.

 

Is prayer always a good thing? What about prayer without much thought to consequences? What about praying a curse over somebody? What if prayer was a problem and a scourge like death and taxes?