It’s not easy to live in today’s toxic and chaotic climate – is it? Sometimes I think it has been easier to be in a fight for my life with a bad actor determined to kill me, than it is to just get through the daily grind. I think a lot of us who have seen the dark side and some who have lived there and later found freedom, eventually come to realize that there is something much bigger going on behind the scenes. “We are not alone” seems to be cliché in many ways, but don’t you feel something nagging at you all of the time that there must be something better – something bigger? Don’t you feel like your life must have some larger purpose?
Why do we shoot our wounded in the Church? It’s difficult to work and live in a warrior culture, whether that is military, law enforcement, para-military, or some other tactical type of career, then go to church on Sunday, or whenever, and listen to someone who has not been where you’ve been talk about or attempt to relate to combat, war or conflict. Certainly good intentions and in some cases, I have been super blessed by pastors preaching God’s word who were no doubt anointed and laying down the truth.
But still… there’s that nagging inside of us. How does it make you feel when you see violent protests going on and you are stuck at home unable to do anything about it? How about injustice that literally makes no sense because you know the facts of a matter while some reporter drones on with misinformation or inaccurate perspectives? You know you have something to add, but you have no idea how to contribute and church just doesn’t seem to cut it. The intensity of brotherhood and fellowship is talked about more than lived and you know on any given day that those people in the small group won’t be there for you like your brothers were in the unit or on your team.
I get it! That’s what Battle Fronts is going to deal with… those issues that pull our strings and leave our communities broken and in turmoil, with no end in sight. When one of us goes down in the field, we know that everyone on the team is going to make every effort to rescue and protect us. We all say that “going home” is the most important thing in the mission, the shift or the assignment.
But, making it home, be that our family home or our eternal home is not necessarily a priority when things get ugly. One of us falls to any one or several of the many sins that haunt us, and wham! Here comes the spiritual patrol and they beat us down even further. Or, better… there is nothing… We are left to figure it out ourselves and to try to find our way out on our own. When we fall, it’s not always sin though… Life is tough and sometimes it just literally kicks our ass. We’re down. we look around, and no one is there. Some of us turn to vices at that point. Some of us just give up and take our lives.
The book series, Born Into War is designed to engage the current culture and to lay the ground work for men, leaders, pastors and warriors to begin and eventually become fully competent at spiritual battle, as well as providing tools for life and the challenges we face in dealing with day to day engagements.
Battle Fronts will be a little different. It is going to become a companion work that comes along side of Born Into War and provides knowledge, insight and direction as to how we as men, shepherds and sheepdogs should deal with issues of justice and morality. I know, this isn’t a popular topic, but it really needs to be addressed in our time and in our culture. There’s already a series of articles and information here on this sight that will contribute to the first book of the Battle Fronts series called Elusive Freedom. Racism and culture clashes have taken American society back many steps as Marxism, socialism and chaos make their way into the modern culture streams. These articles are meant to be helpful and to stimulate dialogue and engagement among the Christian community. We have a responsibility, but you’ll find that everything isn’t as it seems and in many cases regarding racial inequality, the matter is a lot more complex than contemporary news media has reflected.
We are at war and the Bible makes clear that we have an enemy. That enemy combined with the terrain (the World) is lethal and it is taking our lives literally every day. We have to do something different than what has been done and what we are currently doing – or not doing.
CenturionXL 