Preface: If you are not suffering some kind of persecution....or personal attack....or depression....then you would have to at least ask why is that. If you are a Christian of any amount of time then you surely have heard it said something similar to.....'if you are sailing along smoothly....then you are off course....because our course takes us right smack through the middle of a tempest.' If you deny this....or utterly refuse to consider the meaning....have fun....you have probably found a teacher that gives you what you want....what else can I say? If that is your course....go for it. For those who may find themselves near shell-shocked....hold on to these words of the Psalmist...."I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."
Every Christian A Green Beret.....from September 25, 2020
When I was in my teens....that would be the 60s....the army's Green Berets were almost mythical to me. Here were men who would deploy in small groups to small villages....where they could speak the language....and they had all kinds of skills to teach these villagers how to defend themselves....and of course they wore that green beret....that President Kennedy approved for Special Forces to wear to distinguish themselves. I would never have made the Green Berets even if I had the courage to try....but then few could....how did the song go....100 men will test today....but only 3 win the Green Beret?
I bring this up....for what else....to apply it to the Christian walk. Every soldier in Christ's army should at least hope to be the equivalent of a United States Army Green Beret. What I mean by this is that we need to learn our skills to survive and to help others.....which in this case are the doctrinal truths in the Bible. We need to know the language of the people....so that we can communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ correctly....on a theological landscape of many strange dialects. We need to know how to carry another brother out of harm's way if necessary....and as for the green beret itself....being a peculiar people is to be our distinguishing uniform.
Maybe you think that I'm being overly dramatic here? Was Paul being overly dramatic when he wrote...."Put on the full armor of God, for you to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."? There is a J. C. Ryle message that I encourage you to Google-up and listen to....for it is on this topic....and if you listen to it you'll know that I'm being anything but overly dramatic. It's not read from one of Ryle's sermons but rather it's a chapter from his well-respected book Holiness. So just type in....J. C. Ryle....Visible Churches Warned. I know that you will be edified.
