Christians on the Warpath

                Onward Christian soldiers, Marching as to war

                With the cross of Jesus, Going on before

                Christ the royal Master, Leads against the foe

                Forward into battle, See His banner go (Sabine Barine-Geould 1865)

Christianity is a religion of peace. True? False!

Where did people get the idea from then? You are wont to ask. What is all this argument that Christians are supposed to be jelly in everybody’s hands?

I want us to go for a small expedition in the scriptures to look at the militant aspect of our faith. I will start with words attributed to the founder of Christianity.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12)

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10: 34)

Of course that is not a declaration of a cessation of hostilities by any means.

But I want us to go farther to demonstrate that even its predecessor (Judaism) was not any different. God’s people were militant from the beginning. It was their militancy that made them who they were. Let us look at a few of them.

Abraham defeated five kings to rescue his nephew, and it was not in defense. He had his army as the Bible records. He left everything and everyone to go to a place he did not even know the direction.

Jacob’s sons killed a whole tribe (Shechem) and plundered them because one of them did what most churches are looking for ways to justify; fornication and come we stay marriage with their sister.

Joseph was militant as he refused to share his seed that he went to prison for it.

David was probably the most militant of them all, yet it is recorded that he fought the Lord’s battles and that he was a man after God’s own heart.

Solomon fell because he abandoned militancy and used negotiations to grow his kingdom.

Elijah was militant. The king would tremble at the mention of his name. He stopped rain and caused a devastating famine in Israel for a long time. He single handedly killed eight hundred fifty idolatrous prophets and priests. He at one time burned two captains and their fifty men with fire from heaven for daring to bring a king’s order to him.

Elisha was not much different. After his inauguration he cursed some youth who derided him and they died, 38 of them. He condemned his assistant with leprosy for greed.

Daniel and his three friends were militant. Imagine refusing to eat the king’s food, so that their supervisor feared for his life. The three appeared to insult the same king when he wanted to bend his own rules to offer them a second chance. Daniel went against the constitution as if he did not care to live.

In fact a study of the Old Testament that does not bring out the militancy of God’s people is suspect. You even remember that Israel was ordered never to negotiate with the Canaanites but instead annihilate them, in places killing even their animals.

But before you start protesting that we are in a different dispensation, let me take us to Christ. He single handedly whipped people and messed their businesses for doing it in the temple at both ends of his ministry. He was harassing people wherever he went. They did not kill Him just because they hated Him. He was messing their reputations and livelihoods big time.

We see the same with the early church. Imagine calling a prayer meeting to thank God for allowing you to be harassed, imprisoned and beaten for His name! Ananias and his wife die even after bringing a huge offering.

I need to state that at this point in time the only option we have is being militant in our faith. Pursuing peace without setting the standards is the peak of folly.

Let me explain. Jews were content wherever they were scattered to since 70 AD. They were comfortably at peace with the world because they assumed that they did not have any enemies. They did not think that the fact that they prospered elicited and spurred ancient hatred.

Then comes Hitler and the second world war and they realize that something had to change, and drastically. The death of 6 million of them (in the 40s) was a wakeup call. They then realized that they had to go back to their own land, probably thinking that it would solve their problem. And of course they went.

Three wars later and they realize that they will never be safe wherever they go. They are hated because they are the people of the promise and they have people who hate them for that single fact, among them Ishmael who due to the fact that he was born first believes that he was short changed in the whole affair as it had been with Edom in Bible times.

It was then he realized that only active militancy would at least allow him to exist. That there are nations sworn to his obliteration was not in doubt any more. Militancy is their only means of existence. And now they can at least be at peace.

Let us look at the church, especially in the west. They thought that not offending was their only route to living in peace and enjoying their faith. This was because sharing their faith created enemies wherever they went, from their neighbors to far off nations. They therefore slowly removed or weakened their missions. They forgot this.

He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. (Luke 11:23)

That simply means that doing God’s will MUST attract enemies whichever way. But they assumed otherwise.

Now what has happened? Their nations have become more anti God than those they feared to offend. It is now illegal for most part to evangelize in those formerly missionary sending nations. It is easier to practice active homosexuality than it is to practice Christianity. It is legally easier to preach abortion and witchcraft than it is to preach Christ.

What it takes for evil to spread is for good people to do nothing (read militancy).

The devil is actively militant. What it takes for him to explode and spread is for the people of the cross stop raiding hell and rescuing captives from there. We are the only ones who can constrain him to hell by militantly raiding it. Then he will have enough work just strengthening those gates. Have we forgotten this?

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

That this is our order is inescapable.

And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. (Jude 22, 23)

We forget that and leave our vigil at that gate we have been assigned. Of course the devil will open it wide and release hordes of demons to invade our domain because he is not at any risk. And that is the reason the world is becoming increasingly wicked. Since we allowed him a slack he has even invaded that church that for fear to offend and insult decided to leave the devil alone. What deception!

How can we have pastors who are openly homosexual? Who are those pastors shepherding? Who is their paymaster? Divorcees, even serial divorcees are nowadays ‘successful’ pastors. In fact it appears that the shortest route to becoming a pastor is having a sordid past of sin, abuse and wickedness, not necessarily having forsaken it. It is a liability to have a past that connected to Christ from childhood. The fact that one did not do drugs (smoke, drink, sniff, inject) and sexually abuse his body is a minus when someone must be a minister. The fact that God called you when you were in your teenage before you had defiled yourself with sin and the world is reason enough for some churches to disqualify you from leadership, especially pastoral.

There are churches where a first degree in Theology will disqualify one from getting the position of pastor because they do not have enough worldly experience. One must necessarily have had to be a professional (worldly wise) before hearing the call to ministry to qualify.

Of course Jeremiah 1: 5 can’t be in their Bibles; Or 2 Timothy 3: 15, unless Christ is not the Lord of that church. Of course Samuel and John the Baptist are not in their Bibles from the way they operate. But these are churches, even denominations. Who then do they represent? Tell me.

The other day I was reading about this pastor who is called the most favorite of a nation. He had posted something that demonstrated ignorance of the Bible that would scandalize a Sunday school child. I heard the same pastor emphatically state that though the Bible condemns homosexuality, homosexuals will get to heaven. Is 1 Corinthians 6: 9 in the Bible he reads? And I would be stoned if I called him a heretic. But you see he does even read the Bible or quote it in his preaching. I doubt he reads the Bible even in his free time.

And he is not alone. Many pastors have accommodated sin and abominations in their dealings with the world. I have of late been asking several people this question. When was the last time you heard your pastor preaching about sin? Majority do not have any recollection as to the last time sin or holiness was preached or even mentioned from their pulpits. Yet sin was the sole reason Christ hung on that cross of shame.

We lost out when we softened our militant faith. And now the devil is playing his game right inside the church, even taking charge of some pulpits. Some ‘pastors’ are openly practicing witchcraft from their pulpits. They rename and spiritualize charms and portions to enthrone the wicked one on their pulpits.

I want to state that accommodation is actually a strategy of hell. He it is who stands to gain when we accommodate sin and wickedness in the name of open mindedness or tolerance.

Why do I say this? Righteousness is not accommodated. I got serious with God when salvation was not in vogue. Were we celebrated for taking God seriously? Not by a long shot. We were harassed from all fronts. The church harassed us for taking God too seriously. They endured us because our commitment made things easier for them as they could count on us. Our age mates spurned us and made life miserable for us whenever they could.

When I came to Nairobi, it was at the time hugging (between the sexes) was making its entrance in the church. Of course we refused to join that bandwagon and it was terrible for those of us who took that route. We could not even be accepted in the ‘progressive’ youth groups.

Of course we also studied the Bible and memorized scripture, a thing that made it worse for us. Youth for us meant one battle after another because we had declared war on everything the Bible spoke against.

I remember my salary being stopped for six months because I had refused to accompany the rest of my colleagues to a club to take a soda even as they took their beer. I was later harassed most vehemently for responding to God and going to minister to a remote village in my free time.

That is the price we will have to pay for our militant faith. But we do not have much of an option.

Or do you not remember David being persecuted by Saul because he had the connection Saul had lost?

But I need to state that there are two types of militancy we can pursue, either of which has its own consequences. We can pursue militancy in the flesh or in the spirit. But pursue militancy we must if we will live our lives the way we should. We must pursue it if our children will grow in a way that does not send us to our graves in sorrow.

You see my children are safer when homosexuals are run out of community, however bigoted I may appear to be than when they are tolerated because they will eventually become the teachers of my children, and of course we know where that could lead them. My posterity is safer when all brothels are razed than when harlots are allowed to protest to be accorded respect. My children’s futures are more assured when a church decides to fire the homosexual or divorced pastor than when it is recognized for my open mindedness and accommodation. Society is better off when all the liquor dens are closed than when we lower the legal drinking age. Society will be better off when we shamed fornicators in church than when we taught contraception and ‘safe sex’ to young ones.

I repeat. The devil is extremely militant. He is not ashamed to parade sin as his trade mark. He is not scared to put his people into positions of authority especially with their rotten lifestyles in open view.

And that is why it is easier for a divorcee to become a pastor than a person who has been solidly in the faith since his youth. That is why a convicted felon has better prospects at becoming a pastor in a church than someone who has never had a scandal his whole life.

Emperor Maximus really persecuted the church. But it increased instead of decreased. The more he killed them the more they grew. Then Constantine overthrew him. By then he had realized that the church could not be destroyed by the force of arms. Neither embargo nor death had the capacity to do it. In fact it did the exact opposite.

He then had a ‘revelation’. Why not enjoin them to his reign? Why not make them partners in his empire? Why not make Christianity the official religion?

The church was stunned. They had been so used to being on the trenches that being in the palaces was unfathomable. Yet that had become the new reality. Bishops rubbed shoulders with the nobility because they had themselves been made nobility.

But as co-rulers they had one problem. How do they deal with the idolatry prevalent in the empire without appearing censorious? How do they relate with the open sin rulers are known for?

As the rulers, they had to accommodate diversity. They had to be tolerant of the sins of the empire because it was now their empire. And that is how the church was emasculated.

To avoid offense and enjoy the favor of the populace, they even Christianized many pagan rites so that the church does not look exclusive, among them Christmas and Valentine. Fertility rites and other demonic ceremonies were given a Christian definition. Garb idolatrous priests wore in their demonic ceremonies was also brought to church. At the end one could not tell where Christianity stopped and state or paganism started. And we are going back that way on the express lane nowadays.

A few years ago the church in Kenya was more or less aware of her prophetic mandate. They did not shy at confronting sin, especially the sin of the leadership.

Then a new regime came that recognized the church (due to that past) and even gave them positions of leadership and the church became irrelevant. You see we can’t condemn something we are part of. And the cost of leaving it is not pleasant especially due to the goodies our new positions attract.

But I know someone is shouting that we cannot legislate righteousness or holiness. I will not even attempt to respond.

I will only state that the world is not shy at legislating wickedness. And it is being done with an urgency that dazes. And I will give some examples.

Marriage is the pillar of society. But do you know that the world is unashamedly against the stability of that institution. How? I am sure someone is protesting.

Do you know that in a bank it is easier for a woman to get a loan than a man? A bank will reject the collateral a man is offering to get a loan yet give the man’s wife a loan with the same collateral, even less, even when it is not in her name. I have friends who have gone to banks to look for loans and they were advised to have their wives request those loans, and not as partners.

Even the government behaves the same way. We have a women’s empowerment fund but none for the men.

Even ‘equal opportunity’ is a ploy to deny men employment opportunities. You see that in an advertisement and know that that employer will give a woman a job with half the qualification a man has in the name of equal opportunity. I have written about education in my blog ‘the Genetically Modified Women’. But it goes the same way. And we are wondering why women are not getting husbands!

Even laws against discrimination are heavily weighted against righteousness. It is the homosexual and the adulterous and the prostitute and the abortionist who are empowered by those laws. Tolerance has never been tolerance for righteousness but for wickedness. Of course we do not tolerate what is right, we enjoy it.

There was a case recently in the high court where a kindergartener had taken a whole school to court because they insist that the school code requires that he shaves his dreadlocks. And it is a big school. Where does that come from? Who is funding him?

I was writing about militancy. The diversion was just meant to give us reasons for that militancy.

But before we talk militancy, it is important to lay down some ground rules. This will help us avoid the danger of lawlessness and vindictiveness. Then we will avoid becoming villains and gangsters in the name of our faith.

The first thing we need is an agenda or cause. That is what provides fuel for our militancy. You see even terrorists are not really terrorists. They call themselves jihadists, armies of their god. What therefore kills is not their guns or bombs but their hearts. They will kill you long before they shoot from that gun or detonate that bomb.

And that is why after they are recruited they go through intense religious instruction, more than even the military training. You see it is ideology that fuels the animosity. It is the instruction and focused indoctrination that can make someone so intense that he will kill his own parents should they be outside the boundaries of that ideology.

But that indoctrination does not stop at the readiness to kill and maim for those jihadists and any other terrorists. The nature of their ideology is that it will require a sacrifice. One is so indoctrinated that among the expectations of his militancy is his own death. He is ready to die for that cause, however meaningless it might appear to us. In fact for most of them dying for the cause is better than living under any other cause. Part of their training gives them an expectation of greater eternal rewards for dying for the cause.

And that is where Christians fall short, especially in our time. Our hearts are fixated with the present that eternal life is worse than a mirage. Very few preachers preach about heaven or hell. And that is understandable because it is difficult to preach about heaven or hell without speaking about sin and holiness. And preaching about those topics offends. In fact it is called the offense of the cross. And of course it brings the offerings down, at least initially. That is why many preachers prefer to pamper people to hell than reduce the size of their gifts.

But it is not only the offerings that will suffer when we become serious with our faith. Our reputations, our circles, our popularity will all suffer in a big way. But Christ talked about that long ago.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35)

That is the verse God gave me when I was finding it difficult to take a tricky and messy assignment He was giving me because it was placing my reputation at risk. I was scared that people will think that I had backslidden as opposed to the fact that I was taking the Gospel to a stinky field. And I was ‘lovingly’ confronted for backsliding and many other alleged sins all the same after taking that commission. But the results of that sacrificial act of obedience became evident not long after. My being willing to place my testimony on the line for Christ’s sake was worth the risk.

How well do you know your faith? To what are you pegging your life? How deep does your belief go?

You see we can only be in a position to die for a cause when we not only have adequate information about it but also have complete confidence in its efficacy in dealing with the issues that trouble us. We can’t give our all to a cause unless our situation is unsatisfactory that we desire a solution.

Ever noticed that all causes and religions (until recently) were directed at the poor, disadvantaged and impoverished? And why is that? These are the people who are yearning for a different kind of life. They have suffered ‘enough’.

They are very ready to embrace anything that promises to rectify their situation, if not for them, then for their posterity. As an example my father went to the forest to fight for the land the colonialists had grabbed from its owners, though it was later baptized the struggle for freedom. Incidentally he lost the land he had before going to the forest. Yet he is at peace because that struggle made life better for Kenyans. Though to date, even at 86 years he does not own an inch of land in his name, he is content because he knows that the cause for which he went to the forest ready to lose his life for was a worthy cause. It is worth noting that even when he went to the forest he left a young wife with two children, a wife who was herself detained for being a Mau Mau’s wife.

That is the power of a clear cause. And that is why we fail when we attempt to fight terrorism. We aim at the leaves instead of cutting the trunk. And the trunk is a cause that Islam exploits, and any other organization with leadership that can clarify their cause to the masses.

The zealots were like that in Bible times. In fact any freedom movement (called rebels before taking charge) capitalizes on that cause to recruit their army though for the most part the leaders are fighting for their stomachs. They just know how to capitalize on the ignorance and passion of the masses.

But a Christian has a cause better than any other cause on earth. We represent God the creator against the enemy of creation, the one we through Adam gave authority over our dominion. And he does not like the idea of man regaining what he lost in Eden. And that is why he must fight most ferociously.

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12)

And that is why we are the only ones without a human enemy, even those who are our enemies. This is because we realize who the real enemy is and seek to tackle him instead of his servants who are actually captives crying for the deliverance that they are many times deceived will come from the cause the devil has drawn out.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)

I can only do that if I am fully aware not only of the enemy but the cause I represent. I love them because I know that I could be just like them but for the rescue God effected for me. I love them because I realize that were it not for God’s love I was as alienated from God as they are. I can love them because I know that they are captives, captives who are worse because they do not realize the fact. And I love them because I want to help them out of their captivity.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2Corinthians 4:4)

But there is another thing that is essential to any militancy. There must be a source of the orders we will follow. We do not pursue militancy just because we have a cause and are ready to die for it, otherwise no nation on earth could have been colonized. The success of the colonialists was due to their exploitation of what is popularly known as ‘divide and rule’. We will never succeed unless we have an order structure for our cause. The devil knows that and has really made maximum use of the same.

But who is our boss? Who issues our orders? Which structure do we operate under? I will take us to one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

God seeks to be the boss we operate under. It is worth noting that these radicals I have mentioned had that as the focal point.

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. (1Kings 18:36)

They were militant because they were obedient. Their militancy was therefore subject to orders they had received. Radicalism that is not the result of the obedience of an order from Jesus Christ can be likened to being in a rebel force without a leadership structure. We will then be pricks to the enemy we are fighting. Remember this?

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. (Numbers 33:55)

This was because their spiritual structures had been destroyed by the occupation of Jehovah’s people on the territory they formerly controlled. They therefore could not wage war on enemy territory but just cause discomfort on the disobedient.

Yet we see them taking charge after they had slowly swayed Israel to shift their allegiance from Jehovah to the idols. We see Elijah not confronting pricks but the reigning gods in Israel because like the devil in Eden he had been given authority to reign over God’s people. I believe this is what has happened to the church for the greater part. And that is what we ought to counter with our militancy.

We have become too cozy with the world. Yet what does God’s word say?

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1John 2:15 – 17)

But not only must we be in constant contact with our headquarters; we must have the ethos of our cause. This is because in that militancy situations will come about that may be so sudden that we do not have time to contact the headquarters. Things could come in lightening speed so that I do not have time to think about my response. My body can be so enflamed by desire that I may not be in a condition to think straight. What will keep me focused on the cause in those times?

I must have the manual of the cause. I must know the manual of the cause. I must memorize the manual of the cause. The manual of the cause will be my most prized treasure and I will be meditating on it all the time. I will shun anything or anyone who does not have the same relationship with that manual.

Boko haram in Nigeria is a movement against western education (of course they say civilization though they use western guns and western media in their war). Why western education? As people learn how to read, they cannot be limited to their limited or no literary materials. They will be opened up to seek more knowledge and read more books and such books will expose the narrow nature of their cause, leading to the emancipation of their cream, the youth. Wherever Islamic radicals reign you will see them banning everything we call progressive, from internet to TV to radio to schools so that they shield their adherents from information that may take their eyes from their goal.

Yet what do we do as Christians? Most have the TV as the focal point of their living room. And they will protest if they are told that it is an altar to mammon. Yet the same people do not consult their book for anything. They do not consult headquarter (pray) unless it is an emergency. Yet they are not ashamed to shame their cause. And the sadder part is that even their teachers (pastors and preachers) are not much different. It pains my heart when I hear preachers more versed in current affairs from the media than the release of heaven.

What is our manual? Which is our book? How does it keep me focused on the cause of Christ?

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119: 9 – 11)

Joseph was one such young man. Due to the place he had elevated God’s revelation; he was able to flee what most would call the opportunity of a lifetime. But we also realize that he had put some precautions in place to avoid the temptation. But since that was not enough to deter his boss from forcing herself on his raging hormones, he literally had to run out of the theatre of opportunity, leaving his coat in the process.

The Bible is the clearest we can get to God’s voice this side of eternity. Failure to treasure it will lock us out of God’s clear guidance. Mark you not to treasure it so that we place it on a pedestal to be admired but to constantly absorb it into our whole system. It is not only our text book for reference whenever we get into situations that we need clear answers; it is our map to give us direction into the way we should follow as well as the light to shine on our way.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)

And God gave it as a command.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6: 6 - 9)

Lack of that is the reason we live lives independent of God. We have constrained God to the church on Sundays and left Him out on the other phases of our lives. That is why fornication is as bad in the church as outside. That is why divorce is sometimes worse amongst ‘Christians’ than others. That is why corruption is a vice in the ‘Christian’ nations.

Are we really Christians? Do we meet the standards that the Bible has set for us? Or probably what I need to ask is; is the Bible the book that defines who we are or just another book we elevate yet do not even read? Have we even built expensive viewing glasses to place them because we fear touching them will defile them?

How well do we know our Bibles? Do we even read them? How much does the Bible control our lives?

It is impossible to pursue militancy when the place of the Bible in our lives is not primary. This is because it is the one that not only defines my militancy but also gives direction to the same.

What I eat defines my body. It is the same with social and spiritual spheres. What I feed my mind on determines what will occupy my mind on for its waking and even subconscious times. In other words my worldview is set by what I feed my mind and spirit on. Feeding them on TN and movies and social media will let mammon, who is the god of this age give me a worldview. And that is visible to all.

I read an article whose title I will use to bring this point across. The deadly deception of sexual atheism in the church’. It goes on to describe devout young men who are fully in the church and even actively participating in its programs, yet whose sexual moral is set elsewhere. They simply do not believe that the Bible has the answer for sexual issues. And I believe it is because they do not value it enough to spend time absorbing it.

That is what I will end this post on. I will later write about the application aspects of our militancy. But I will emphasize that our militancy will be pegged on our undivided commitment to Christ and His word.

Just to remind you that I am still on a break but like I told you should I receive a message that has some urgency I will post it. it is important to state that I am not idle or even retreating as I would like. I am focused on making discipleship available to nations (languages) that do not have. I have posted about that recently. I really need concerted prayer especially as I raise a team to oversee the great response I continue getting.