Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

When this blog post is published, I will be out of town at a church retreat that has a theme of spiritual warfare. My pastor is planning on having me do a session during the retreat in which I will use my fencing equipment to showcase the Armor of God. Then with a sparring partner, I’ll demonstrate several of the moves and tactics that we use in the sport as a visual aid to help us see the spiritual battles that we engage in. With that in mind, I want to do a short series on spiritual warfare again. It won’t be a big one, but I’m drawn to this topic for my blog posts at this time.

We need to be prepared for battle, and there are only a few of us who are awake and aware of the battle that is going on. I know I have spoken about spiritual warfare a number of times, however, too often I still treat it in the theoretical and do not fully engage in it practically as often as I want. I’ve tasted battle, I’ve fought, I’ve won, and I’ve lost. But what I want to focus on in this series are some of the tactics that have been used against us.

For today’s post, I want to look at one of the fallouts of modern evangelistic methods. Historically, when missionaries were sent out, they were people who were armed, equipped, prepared, and ready to go, and often they went out with those who had been there before. However, back home the veterans remained, who knew the battles and were actively training the newbies and regulars. Today, usually the ones who are most willing are those sent, regardless of preparation (and a reason why so many return home to quit after just a few years), but also they seem to be the best ones we have. Today, there is such mediocrity in the church that when anyone rises out of the “normal,” they are summoned to go, serve, preach, and be a missionary with that “title” so the average church member can still be mediocre. This is an issue Voddie Baucham emphasizes. When I did a study through 1 Timothy and came across the requirements for a church elder/bishop, I realized that Paul was actually teaching that everyone should be aspiring to such qualifications. That is not happening today.

So here is the tactic I want to expose. When we keep sending out our best young men to go be youth pastors, missionaries, preachers, worship leaders, etc. just because they are starting to take their faith more seriously than the average congregant, they are being sent out elsewhere for training (nothing wrong with that by itself), but it is leaving the church defenseless. Those who are left are the mediocre ones, and church leadership has to feed them milk instead of meat.

What does this mean? It opens the door for the enemy to go after the mediocre to keep their level down. When the church is not being protected, because their best soldiers and men are out “preaching the Gospel,” eventually the church will get weaker. The quality of the best soldier gets weaker and weaker.

Now don’t read what I am not saying. I am not saying that we should send out only newbies. What I am saying is that in our zeal of going out and preaching the Gospel, we need to be building our home base to be stronger so we can build up more saints to go out into the battle and to train them for battle. We still need to be outward-focused, but we need to launch from a position of strength with the whole body focused on the mission, not just a few individuals. Instead, we are sending our soldiers to do the battle “out there” and not actually training the core to be there to protect the sheep, to be in position to take in those rescued from the darkness, so they can heal and then be trained and ready to go out and engage in the battle themselves.

I believe there need to be three primary positions in evangelism: those who go into the pit, those who hold the rope for those going in, and those who take care of and equip and train those who come out of the pit. All three positions are focused on the same mission. But with that, we need our fortresses, the bastions of truth, the pillars of truth that Paul told Timothy we are to be, to be strong, so we have a place to retreat to and rest and recharge, but also a place by which we can build our strength and go out and fight. But instead of being a stronghold anymore, the church has chosen to send its best fighters “out there” almost on their own, while the rest sit back and enjoy a life of comfort and ease. As a result, our good spiritual military leaders eventually get replaced by weak leaders who will not be a threat to the forces of darkness and then all that matters is comfort status quo, and any young voice that says that there must be more is shunned.

I helped get a local “Creation Network” going here in El Paso, with the goal and vision of getting church pastors and leaders connected to arm and equip their congregations on the topic of origins, which has been a front-line battlefield for 200 years. One thing we have noticed is that many pastors will think we are doing a good thing, but they don’t want to get in the fray themselves. They will say “Good luck” and “I’ll be praying for you,” but as long as we are doing the work, they can rest comfortably away from that battlefront. This is what I am talking about here. We are called to contend for the faith, and that includes every believer, but that involves actually getting out into the field and getting your hands dirty.

We are in a war, a war in which our enemy wants one thing: our destruction. He’ll settle with our surrender, but he wants every believer to be removed or neutralized so they are useless on the battlefield. And he’ll gladly allow some losses by individual missionaries if it comes at the cost of leaving the church home undefended. We need strong churches again, and that starts by keeping some of our best men around to guard the walls of the church from the wolves that seek to devour and from enemy plants. There are two particular types of persons that we must be watchful for, identified in 3 John as Diotrephes and in 2 Samuel as Absalom, whom I will address next week. But we need our best men in the church, arming and equipping the saints, but also ready to lead by example and go out to battle as well. One general told another officer, “Never give a soldier a command you are unwilling to do yourself.”

War is upon us. Newsflash: our kids are the primary targets this time around. I’ll deal with Diotrephes and Absalom next week, but then I’ll hit how the enemy fights and he fights dirty.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.