Holy Ground

Carl von Clausewitz, in his Principles of War, said Terrain offers two advantages in warfare.

·        The first is that it presents obstacles to the enemy's approach.

·        The second is that obstacles in the terrain enable us to place our troops under cover.

The importance of this principle is difficult to overestimate. The ground upon which we stand will either serve our own cause or it will serve our enemy’s cause. This is so universally true that virtually every nation incorporates Terrain into their Principles of War.

 I fear the Body of Christ (in America) has given up the terrain in the most critical battle of our time and we are in danger of losing. That battle is for the very souls of men. We have chosen “Culture” as the terrain upon which we fight rather than “Jesus Christ.”  So…we will lose. After all, if we manage to successfully redeem the culture…will we have successfully seen a single soul redeemed?

So we battle gay marriage…or abortion…or, whatever.

God has not called us to win the culture for Christ. In fact, we are supposed to be “counter-cultural”. The raison d’etre for the church in the world is found in Matthew 28:19-20. ”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We are commissioned to make disciples. Then, we teach these disciples to observe God’s commandments. We seem to want to do it the other way around.

If we don’t focus our energy on Jesus getting into people there is no possibility that the Holy Spirit can get into people. And, what is the possibility that people…without the Holy Spirit…will devote themselves to the things of God? It’s why they look at us funny when we say gay marriage is wrong.

I’m not suggesting we disengage…far from it. In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus tells us “you are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house”. 

I am suggesting we retake the terrain that will assure victory. We get back on the very ground of Christ but we do not employ traditional weapons like politics, law, or public opinion. We adapt a strategy of counterinsurgency. We build relationships of trust that allow us to become beacons of hope. Our very lives should reflect the transforming glory of Christ. This means we have to get up every morning and give the battle to the Lord (1 Samuel 17:47). We then allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead us. I don’t mind suggesting that this is the hard way. A lot of us don’t want to work that hard.

America once stood on Holy ground. The will of God was a dominant thread in our cultural fabric until the 1950’s. We never dreamed of contesting these issues. Somehow, as a nation, we gave up the sacred terrain and are now fighting for our lives on the Devil’s turf. We can’t win…unless we reclaim the Holy ground. How? 2 Chronicles 7:14 says  “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

This is our ground. Don’t stand any place else…
Ever wonder how we tumbled so far…so fast?  The United States use the following nine principles of war: Objective –Offensive –Mass –Economy of Force –Maneuver –Unity of Command –Security –Surprise –Simplicity –

Well, terrain is not one of them. Ironic?

Run to the battle!