Heroes
My eldest brother was a Major in the Vietnam War. I shared with him about Roy Williams, the last WWII veteran who is part of the Covenant Church family. Roy was in intelligence during the war. He worked beyond the front lines in partnership with the French underground.
Roy's Jeep was hit by an artillery shell. Both of Roy's knees were injured. The army wanted to send Roy home. He refused. For three weeks he bounced around in the back of an army ambulance as American forces sought to dodge the bombing. The ambulance riding was so bad Roy asked that they send him back to his unit. Back in his unit and with his knees still healing, Roy sat in a jeep and guarded while others went out on intelligence work.
My brother said: "Heroes do not get up in the morning planning on being a hero. They are ordinary people who in a moment of time do what is necessary because it is who they are."
Jim then shared about experiences in Vietnam. He remembered a time when he set a helicopter down on a pad. It was the same place he rested the helicopter every week as they came for supplies. For some reason he looked at his co-pilot and said: "Why don't we go over....and come back later to get supplies."
They lifted off. Traffic control said "Major, look behind you to where you were sitting." They had only gone about 150 yards when Viet Cong bombed the pad where his plane had been sitting. Though not a Christian at that time Jim insists only God could have told him to move the plane. He was blessed to have the power of a praying family.
Jim also shared about how he and others would crawl under enemy gunfire into the battlefield to retrieve dead and wounded soldiers. "If we had stopped to think about it there was no logic to what we did. We just did what we had to do at the moment," he said.
I have been preaching for years that God is preparing spiritual heroes for this time and season. These are days leading to the Coming of Jesus. Battles against inter-galactic demonic forces will be more gigantic than Hollywood has ever imagined. Hell will pull out its most powerful artillery. Hell was flying over dropping bombs before man ever imagined an airplane could fly.
One of the troubling signs is the instability of many who say they follow Christ. The roots of prosperity doctrine are deep and powerful. The idea that the gospel and prosperity are synonymous has been sold by self-called prophets. The abuse of the word "prophet" has been so egregious that damage will not be contained until Jesus comes and cleans up the earth.
Folks are strangely wandering in the wilderness. I recently met a couple who attend a church which practices infant baptism (salvation de facto). When questioned they insisted they did not believe in infant baptism. When their children were old enough to understand, they took them to another church for immersion baptism. Yet they are rearing their children in a church that practices infant baptism. It makes no sense.
Our young generation will only know Watergate by a history book.
Those who experienced Watergate recognize it as an event when Americans conspicuously lost trust in government. Individualism became a religious motif. Folks rejected authority insisting on their right to personal behavior regardless of offense to others.
Offense became a one-way street. Offense is when others do things to ME. ME in a humanistic, individualized, and narcissistic world has no responsibility to accommodate others. Others who are offended by ME are just less intelligent and immature.
God is calling for heroes. Individualism must be submitted to taking up a cross and following Jesus. May God give to us more folks who will refuse to be bounced around in an ambulance in an effort to dodge the bombs of hell. May God give to us powerful men and women filled with the Holy Spirit, men and women who will say: "I am willing to go to the front lines. I am willing to take my pain and allow it to be used for Jesus. I am willing to risk all that I am and have for the cause and Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus."
I plead with you, Dear Friend, awaken to this hour of urgency. God needs warriors. God needs men and women who will prepare and perform. God needs heroes of faith. God needs heroes who in time of need will respond to the needs of others. God needs heroes who instead of wanting more are thinking about how to give more.
Pastor Bare
Hebrews 11