Updates | Tactical Christianity

Warriors of the Way

by Staff | Jun 28, 2015 | Updates, Warriors of the Way

Warriors of the Way: Christian Training, Combat and Victory –
by R. Herbert. A new FREE eBook!

Does a “warrior” themed book about Christian living surprise you? Perhaps it should not – not only is God shown as a warrior figure more often than he is portrayed in any other way in the Bible, but also the New Testament frequently uses the image of the Christian as a warrior. In fact, the warrior metaphor is probably used of the believer more than that of any other role or occupation.

Our new eBook looks at the biblical imagery of the Christian warrior and shows how we can better understand it to successfully prepare, fight, and triumph in the good fight to which we are called.

You can see a sample excerpt from Warriors of the Way in the blog post directly below this one, and you can download a free copy of the book for yourself (no registration or email needed) in PDF, Kindle, or ePub format – just click your choice on our Downloads page here.

Smuggled Pearls

by R. Herbert | Jun 25, 2015 | Great Commission, Updates

This post is extracted from our eBook, Warriors of the Way: Christian Training, Combat and Victory. You can download a free copy from the E-Books page on this site.

Victories of biblical proportions did not end with the completion of the Bible.

In one night in June, 1981, a clandestine Christian operation successfully smuggled a staggering one million Bibles into China, where they were distributed and gratefully accepted as great treasures by those who longed for Bibles, but had no way to obtain them.

The mission, code named “Project Pearl,” was primarily organized by a former Marine and carried out by Christians during a time when the Communist Party was actively trying to destroy Christianity in China; the level of success achieved by Project Pearl was nothing short of astounding. Reporting the incident later, Time magazine called it “the largest operation of its kind in the history of China.”

The story is a fascinating one. On the night of June 18, an innocuous-seeming tugboat churned its way across the sea near Shantou, China. The twenty crew members on board were all taking a great risk. They were not Chinese. They were from Australia, Canada, Holland, New Zealand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States. And this was no ordinary tug. It pulled a specially built barge loaded with 232 one-ton waterproof packages of Bibles.

Interception of the cargo would have led not only to the destruction of the Bibles by the Communist authorities, but also to serious repercussions for the crew members. But the tug continued, undetected, past the ships of a Chinese naval base to a position just off a secluded beach where a group of Chinese Christians were waiting. The specially built barge was then partially submerged so that the packages of Bibles floated off its deck and were carried by the waves to the beach.

There, the assembled Christian team hurriedly opened the packages and carried the Bibles off to distribution points in cars, on motorcycles and bicycles, and by foot in backpacks and other containers. From each distribution center the Bibles were carefully released to avoid the suspicion of the authorities. To help in this process, the Bibles had been bound with red covers and made to the same size as Chairman Mao’s famous “Red Book,” so that they were easily mistaken for that.

Some containers of the Bibles not moved from the beach in time were found by Chinese guards who threw the Bibles into the sea, but even these copies were retrieved by fishermen who dried them on the roofs of their houses, and they were then passed on to others. Several hundred copies that were found by the authorities were thrown into a cesspool only to be later carefully retrieved by Christians who thoroughly washed them and sprayed them with perfume. Even these so-called “wet” and “perfumed” Bibles were accepted just as gratefully by Christians who had no other access to the word of God.

Although conditions have changed in the years since this daring mission was accomplished, and printed Bibles are no longer the most effective manner of getting the Scriptures into China, Project Pearl remains a wonderful story of what was accomplished by the dedication of Christian warriors who, with the help of God, were able to accomplish a truly astounding victory. We cannot even begin to calculate the total effect of this project, which placed Bibles in the hands of one million people who did not have access to them. But one thing is sure, Project Pearl played no small part in the revival and spread of Christianity in China – where there are now more Christians than in any other country in the world.

“Do Not Betray the Refugees”

by R. Herbert | Jun 19, 2015 | Persecution, Updates

Camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan, (Photo: Reuters–Pool)

“…. Make your shadow like night — at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. Let the … fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.”
(Isaiah 16:3-4)

Saturday, June 20th is World Refugee Day, and the problems highlighted by this day have seldom been greater than they are this year. Every minute in the world in which we live eight people leave everything they have and flee in order to escape the terrors of persecution or war. Although this may not sound like a lot of people, you just have to do the multiplication to see that millions of people are affected in the course of a year. It is estimated that some 60 million people (roughly equivalent to the entire population of Italy or the United Kingdom) have had to leave their homes, 14 million of them in the past year alone – and half of them children.

People are fleeing persecution and war in many areas, especially in Africa and the Middle East. Groups such as ISIS and Boko Haram are daily terrorizing, torturing and killing people of every age in many areas. Christians are one of the most persecuted groups; as a result, thousands are being forced to flee their homes and livelihoods each day.

Overall, relatively little is being done to help these people in desperate need, though there are some bright spots. In the Middle East, for example, where thousands of Christians are struggling to flee Iraq and Syria to avoid death at the hands of the Islamic State, huge tent cities have been set up in neighboring countries as staging areas for people who can get to them. Turkey is helping with this, and the Polish Government has recently stated that Poland will accept Christians fleeing from ISIS. A number of Christian aid groups are doing tremendous work – with limited resources – in helping move refugees such as the Syrian Christians to areas of safety, but so much more needs to be done to save hundreds of thousands.

What can we do about such a widespread problem? Everyone can do something! This year, celebrities from around the world have released a series of 30-second videos supporting refugees as part of a coordinated campaign for World Refugee Day. If we are able we can support missions such as Barnabas Aid’s “Operation Safe Havens” which is evacuating Syrian Christians in danger. The fund is rescuing Syrians and flying them to Poland and other areas where churches are organizing to welcome them and to find accommodation and jobs for them. Anything you can donate to this cause – however small – can help save lives immediately. Go here if you would like to donate to this particular operation.

Financial support is not the only way we can help rescue those threatened by ISIS and similar groups. Local churches can arrange to receive and settle Syrian or other Christian families, and individually we can contact our government representatives to urge them to involve our government in doing something – or doing more – to restrain the threats and to help those in this great need. And, of course, whatever our situation, we can all pray fervently for those in need of deliverance from danger.

The current refugee crises around the world demand more action and humanitarian involvement than is happening. As Christians we have a special responsibility to those we can help, and especially to our brothers and sisters who are being singled out and slaughtered for their faith. We might well remember the words of the prophet Isaiah, quoted above, in this regard. Not to help the refugees, if it is in our power to help them, is to betray them.

Fly like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee!

by R. Herbert | Jun 14, 2015 | Updates, Women of Strength

Most people have heard the expression “fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee!” – but ancient Israel’s most famous woman warrior, Deborah, whose name in Hebrew means “bee,” can be said to have “flown” like a bee and “stung” like one, too!

Deborah led Israel for 40 years (Judges 5:31) as the fourth “Judge” of the pre-monarchial era around the 12th Century BC (a century or so after Israel’s settlement in the Promised Land), when Israel was ruled primarily by warrior leaders. She was, in fact, the only recorded female Judge, and it is easy to see why she qualified for the position. Deborah was not only a prophet used by God to foretell things such as the outcome of battles, but also she was clearly a strong, competent and inspiring military leader who acted quickly and decicively.

Judges chapters 4 and 5 tell us that Deborah lived in the hill country of Ephraim, which was in an area controlled by the Canaanite king Jabin of Hazor (perhaps a descendent of the Jabin Joshua fought), who had oppressed the Israelites for 20 years. The Book of Judges states that Deborah received instruction from God and summoned one of Israel’s great warriors, named Barak, telling him to deploy 10,000 Israelite fighting men on Mount Tabor to confront King Jabin’s general, Sisera, who led an army including 900 iron chariots. We do not know how many foot soldiers Sisera commanded, but the chariot was the tank of ancient warfare, and Sisera’s force was vastly superior by that fact.

Nevertheless, Deborah did not hesitate: “Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?’” (Judges 4:14). Despite the apparent odds, on Deborah’s unflinching command the Israelites met and completely defeated the Canaanite force, and the victory is celebrated in Judges 5, often known as the “Song of Deborah.” The Bible itself gives few details of the battle, though Jewish tradition has it that torrential rains bogged down the heavy Canaanite chariots in mud, rendering them useless against the attacking Israelites. This providential help may be implied in Judges 5:4, and the Bible does mention another detail of the battle. The defeated Sisera fled his army on foot and came to the tent of the woman Jael and her husband. Jael was able to trick Sisera into letting down his guard, then struck him through the temple with a sharpened tent peg (Judges 4:17-21).

What is clear from the biblical record is the reluctance of many of the Israelites to fight when the time was long overdue to fight and the hesitancy of even the leading warrior Barak who would not fight unless Deborah accompanied the troops (Judges 4: 8). These details contrast starkly with the bravery and willingness to fight of both Deborah as military leader and Jael as front-line fighter. Both women are portrayed as true warriors who led and fought without hesitation. If there is a lesson to be learned from the story of Deborah, it is exactly that willingness to act.

Battles of any type, physical or spiritual, are lost by hesitation. Had Deborah not been close enough to God to receive his guidance and then willing to go to war immediately she knew what had to be done, she would not have been able to seize the opportunity to route her enemy when the enemy could be defeated. It is a spiritual principle as true as the physical principle of battle – delaying what we know we must do only allows our enemy to become stronger. Deborah knew and fought by that rule and, as a result, with God’s help she was victorious and gave Israel forty years of peace, security and freedom – some of the very qualities that spiritual victories bring as well.

The “IF” Mentality

by R. Herbert | May 31, 2015 | The Life of Jesus, Updates

Have you ever tried to make a deal with God? I don’t mean in a blatant way, such as “If you give me what I want, I will obey you,” as most of us understand this would be wrong. But there are more subtle ways in which we can sometimes unknowingly stumble because of what might be called the “If” mentality.

“If” is a small word with a great potential for misuse. In fact, according to the four Gospels, many of the spiritual attacks against Jesus were based on this diminutive word. Satan’s temptations of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry show us one of the ways in which we can be lured by an “If” mentality. Notice the wording: “If you are the Son of God command that these stones be made bread … if you are the son of God throw yourself down … if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:3-8).

When we study these temptations in detail we see Satan repeatedly used the word “if” with the implication that if some action would be for a good purpose, then it is justified. This is the underlying attitude that we too may have in suggesting that God do something for what we feel is a good and necessary goal. We should always remember that even if it is for a good purpose, the ends do not justify the means unless they conform to God’s will.

Later in the ministry of Jesus we see the word “if” used in response to him in numerous other settings. We see it, for example, in the demands of the Jewish leaders: “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10: 24), and we should be careful not to fall into this particular “If” trap, also. Jesus had performed many miracles and signs throughout Judea, yet the Jewish leaders wanted him to confirm the signs for them – to see them with their own eyes. We need to be careful to be attuned to what God is doing in our lives and the things he is wanting us to be aware of. We should not tell God how to get a point across to us any more than we should suggest that we will only hear if the message is conveyed in a manner we think is “proof” to us.

The Gospels record the “If”mentality manifesting itself all the way down to the end of Jesus’s life. Some of those present at his crucifixion, including some of the rulers and chief priests, said: “If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42 NKJV). Here, we see the attitude of “if” in its most raw and rebellious form – “If God does what I think is necessary, I’ll respond as I should.” This is not far from the attempts to make a deal with God that we mentioned as we began this discussion. There may seem to be “nothing in it for us” in some of these circumstances – but we still try to make God conform to our will, our conditions for obedience.

In every one of these cases and many more in the ministry of Jesus, the word “if” was used in a manner which sought to impose another will, another viewpoint, on that of God. We see it in the attitude of the self-righteous Pharisee who said “if he were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman … touched him” (Luke 7:39) and in dozens of other places. We must always remember that God’s way is not one of a number of options for which we can negotiate. There is truly only one kind of “If” mentality that is right and proper in our relationship with God: the attitude that Jesus himself exhibited throughout his earthly life – the attitude of “If it is your will…” (Matthew 26:42).

The Growth We Don’t See

by R. Herbert | May 25, 2015 | Growth, Updates

An excerpt from our free eBook on Christian encouragement: Some Days We Soar. You can download the book without cost here.

Have you ever had a friend thank you for something that you perhaps were not even aware you did? Sometimes I think spiritual life can be like that, too. It’s easy to be aware of our failures and the many areas in which we want to grow and to miss the fact that growth is taking place. God does work changes in those who desire and ask for transformation (Psalms 51:10, Ephesians 4:22-24), and perhaps if we walked with Him much more closely, growth would be more obvious, but that doesn’t mean growth is not taking place because we do not always see it.

Think about the disciples for a minute. By the time of the last evening of Christ’s life, probably every one of the disciples had exhibited enough human faults, failures, fumbles and foibles to indicate to them all that perhaps they hadn’t learned that much from their teacher. We might think of Peter’s many mistakes, but others even wanted to bring down fire from heaven (Luke 9:54), and it looks like they were all arguing about who was the “greatest” among them on that last evening (Luke 22:24). Additionally, Jesus probably knew that they would soon sleep as he agonized in Gethsemane, that they would all soon desert him, and that even the most dedicated among them would deny knowing him.

Yet despite their track record of failures and little apparent growth, Luke records Jesus as making an amazing statement regarding the disciples at that last Passover meal: “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials” (Luke 22:28). It seems that Christ did not judge the disciples on their failures to date – or even those he knew were coming up soon – but on the right things they had done, on the areas where growth had taken place. He saw it in them even if they perhaps did not see it themselves.

It’s like the Parable of the Growing Seed that Jesus had given earlier in his ministry:

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4: 26-29).

This is a time-lapse parable like the time-lapse videos that speed up time to show plants growing and other slow-changing things happening before our eyes. But the good news is that just as the farmer in the parable does not see or comprehend it, the slow-growing plant is growing nonetheless; and that, Jesus said, is how the kingdom of God grows.

Once we come to understand this we can be encouraged that growth is growth no matter how small it may seem right now. And that helps us to focus on the value of every small – even seemingly insignificant – advance we make. Each right decision, each right choice, adds up, no matter how small it may be. As C.S. Lewis wisely wrote years ago in Mere Christianity:

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.”

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