Militant Evangelism! (8 page)

2.    The blood of Christ (which is like a cauldron of boiling oil poured on his head).

3.    The sword of the Spirit.

4.    The unlimited potency of a confident affirmation.

Look at the spirit of victory behind these words from Psalm 149, which seems to summarize what I have been trying to say: "Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, to execute on them the written Judgment
—this
honor
have all His saints.
Praise the Lord" (italics added).

Sharpen the Axe

A man was once cutting a tree-stump with an axe which was obviously blunt. He was only bruising the bark, as sweat poured from his beaded brow. Someone suggested he stop for a moment and sharpen the axe, to which he replied, "No way, I'm too busy chopping the tree to stop for anything." If he would only stop for a moment and sharpen the axe, he would slice through the tree with far greater ease.

Stop each day, and "sharpen the axe" through prayer. Seek first the Kingdom of God and you will slice through that day with far greater ease.

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints"

(Ephesians 6:18).

CHAPTER FIVE DISCHARGING THE TROOPS

”... I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war” (Jeremiah 4:19).

W
hile I was ministering with a fellowship one weekend, the pastor shared with Sue and
I
a dilemma in which he found himself. For about nine months his fellowship had run an entertainment club to make contact with local teenagers. Rock music was part of the
drawcard
. Over the months, a few contacts had been made, but there had been little fruit. He asked for our thoughts. We told him that it was good that he
was wanting
to reach out, but the real question was, what is God's attitude to the use of heavy rock music to draw young people to Christ? Does the end justify the means? Could we justify the use of alcoholic beverages as a means of reaching out to the ungodly—how do we reach out to the world?

I recalled how, a few days earlier, Sue and I had witnessed to a number of teenagers. They said they hated God. Their language was filthy. One hated his father and longed to kill him, while another had a genuine desire to murder someone "slowly." The pastor in whose home we were staying added to my disquiet by telling us that his counter-culture
neighbors
had named their child "Lucifer."

I was grieved at such a thought. How lost, how rebellious could a generation get! I began crying out to God, asking how this generation could be reached, when a still small voice said, "Go next door and befriend them." I said, "No Lord ... You're not capturing the spirit of my prayer!" The voice became stronger. After a little coaxing from the Lord, I went next door, but took a copy of my first book,
My Friends are Dying
(a book about the drug culture), to give to them.

As I walked up the driveway, suddenly I heard,
"Ray!"
There stood a long-haired man I had never seen before, holding a bottle of beer and pointing his finger at me. He said, "Ray ... I just finished reading your book,
My Friends are
Dying
three days ago!"

I was duly invited into the home and introduced to a number of residents. I told them that I had been praying next door, and felt that God had wanted me to come and talk to them. As I sat in that filthy, smoke-infested, stinking room, surrounded by drugs, alcohol and blaring music, it dawned on me that if we cared, we would push aside our fears and boldly befriend this lost generation.

Holiness is not separation from
sinners,
but from sin. I made five friends that afternoon, and I didn't have to attract them, they attracted me. Like Jesus, we should be the friend of sinners, yet remain untainted by the things of this world.

Without Reserve

If there is one thing the Salvation Army had under the leadership of General Booth, it was a burning zeal for holiness and for evangelism. They would stop at nothing to take the Gospel to the lost. Some of their ways may even have seemed rather radical and unorthodox, yet God anointed their
endeavors
because their passion for souls was seasoned with holiness.

Holiness is a word the enemy fears because it goes hand in hand with the word "power." Jesus was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness ..." Holiness signifies "(a) separation to God, (b) the resultant state, the conduct befitting those so separated" (Vine's Expository Dictionary).

This was the message preached by those early soldiers. They preached the great truth "without holiness, no man shall see the Lord."

They proclaimed the uncompromising Gospel which declares, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ, depart from iniquity."

Look at what happened to the tribe of Ephraim when they lacked holiness—"The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His Law, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them." To walk in His Law means to walk in the steps of Jesus, and walk in that same Spirit of holiness.

The Apostle Paul had a zeal that drove him to witness of his faith in Christ, even while in bonds. Can you imagine the boldness needed to witness to Roman guards, men who were hardened to cruelty? Yet Paul asked, "Pray for me, that utterance may be given to
me, that
I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Instead of the attitude, "Oh no, here I am chained to two guards," his was, "Thank you Lord, I have two guards chained to me!" He looked for an opportunity to witness of his faith, because the zeal of God's house had eaten him up. He could not but speak that which he had seen and heard!

Paul's zeal, his enthusiasm for the Kingdom of God, remained steadfast because it was fed by the Spirit of holiness. He was separated from the world to the God of holiness. This is the difference between the contemporary church and the fiery and militant army of the Church of the book of Acts. The tanks of evangelism of the army of God have become rusted to a standstill by the influence of the world. What is needed is an unprecedented outpouring of the oil of God's Holy Spirit to get mobile and into action, and that power will come when the Church becomes holy.

God wants those who will give their all to Him, without restraint! When God spoke to Gideon regarding his army to fight the
Midianites
, He said, "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. God wants dead men in His army! He wants those who are not afraid because they are already dead to themselves and alive to God. They are the ones who overcome the devil, because they "love not their lives unto death." They are already crucified with Christ. They are not conformed to the world because they have presented their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God ... their reasonable service.

George Mueller said,
"There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will—died to the world, its approval or censure—died to the approval or blame even of my brethren
andfriends
—and since then I have only to show myself approved to God."

Caleb was another who had given all to the Lord. He knew that there was no place for retirement this side of Heaven. At the age of 85 he said, "As yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in."

Faith does not wrinkle with the skin. Look at his words of faith, "Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the
Anakims
were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said." Remember, he was 85 years old!

I remember a 65 year old believer telling me that he expected to "take it easy" as a Christian when he retired. Shortly after his day of retirement, he was in a prayer meeting with three other Christians. There was a word from God through the gifts and an interpretation, the thrust of which was, "My child, this is not a day of retirement. I have work for you to do. I will guide and direct you as to the path which you are to take." Then there were some words of a personal nature which needed attention. The incredible thing was that those with him never heard the interpretation. They heard the message, but felt things were out of order when nobody interpreted. God blocked their ears!

Two years later, this same elderly saint made an 80-mile train trip to visit and pray for a woman in her nineties. He had been requested by the family to make the trip, and as he journeyed, he kept thinking, "What a long way to travel just to pray for one old lady. I wonder if it is worth
it?
"

On arrival, he was ushered into the elderly woman's room. She lay motionless in a coma. He was left alone to pray. Suddenly, God began to speak through the mouth of that unconscious woman. The conversation started with the words, "As I was saying . .
. "
 It was as though there was no time between the previous conversation two years earlier!

There is no such thing as an
honorable
discharge in the Army of God. The only "Heavenly-rest" is our promotion to Headquarters, and until that time, we must work while we have opportunity and the inclination. There is a time to rest, but there is a special rest for those who give all to the Lord. We enter that rest the moment we lay down our self-will and sanctify ourselves wholly for His purposes.

Equipped For Battle

If there is one thing that equips the Christian for battle, it is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The saints of last century called it "the second blessing." How the enemy fears this experience. It can take the cringing, faint-hearted, fearful, nerve-ridden, terror-stricken Christian, and fill him with fire. I knew a young man who was so shy, even as a Christian, he was afraid of his own shadow. When the "power from on high" got hold of him he was transformed completely. He went alone to take free food to a houseful of bikers, who almost everyone avoided because their very appearance was intimidating. The baptism in the Holy Spirit took Peter, from being a man who could not testify of his faith in Jesus to a little girl, to a fearless soldier of Christ who saw

3,000 saved under his bold proclamation at Pentecost. He told the murderers of the Messiah that they needed to repent. No less-welcomed message could have been preached, yet Peter was able to because he was filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God, who is a consuming fire.

The question then arises, why doesn't every Christian jump at the experience? Why isn't every soldier of Christ eager to take hold of this great weapon? There are at least three reasons:

1.    A lack of knowledge.

2.    A lack of faith.

3.    A lack of humility.