Onward Christian Soldiers

"Onward Christian Soldiers" is a song I seldom hear sung in the church these days.  When I was growing up it was a song that we sang often, but today it's not even found in many of the modern hymnals.  Some believe it is not a politically correct song or that it presents the church as a military organization.  I don't know how many Christians read the news these days, but if they don't know it we are in a battle to preserve our beliefs and our nation, and it is past time that we begin to stand up for what we believe and stop wanting to hold hands around a campfire singing Kumbaya.

For the record, I am not advocating that we form a Christian paramilitary organization or a terrorist group.  What I am challenging Christians to do is to become informed about what is happening and be willing to stand for what we profess to believe.  Just this week I've read that one organization is challenging a high school sports team's right to wear T-shirts they have bought with their own money that has a Bible verse printed on it.  This morning the news contained a story of a school teacher who took a Bible away from a second grader who was reading it during personal reading time.  The teacher claimed it was not appropriate reading material even though the school has Bibles in its library.  Every year at this time various schools will forbid their student valedictorians from mentioning their faith.  Communities are restricting the right of homeowners to use their homes for small group Bible studies through zoning laws and restricting the rights of churches to build new facilities.  This week I read another story of an atheist group challenging the use of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance repeated in one school's classrooms.  The list goes on and on, and the really interesting thing is that we never read of any other religious faiths having their practices or beliefs attacked.  It is only the Christians who are having their religious freedoms taken away.

I believe there are two reasons for this.  The first is spiritual in nature.  The devil knows that there is no other religious belief system that can do him and his work any harm but Christianity.  For centuries he managed to keep the Bible out of the hands of the people, but once Christian people were able to read it for themselves he found his kingdom weakened greatly.  He then began to challenge the integrity of the Bible, and people became convinced that is was nothing more than fables and myths rather than the Word of God.  Even in the Garden of Eden he revealed this strategy by asking Eve, "Has God said...?" causing her to doubt the things God had clearly revealed to her and Adam.  It is a strategy that has remained effective even today.  Today he has managed to convince many people that there is no such thing as absolute truth, so nothing the Bible says or the Christian church teaches has any validity.  People are free to believe it or not, but we are not free to try to pass our beliefs on to others as true.  In many countries of the world if Christians attempt to convert someone to the Christian faith they are at risk of severe punishment and even death.  Could such laws be enacted here?  While many are convinced that could never happen, I am no longer so sure given the direction our nation has been going.

The second reason we are losing our religious freedoms is because we refuse to fight for those freedoms.  Very few Christians voted in the last election, and it is the politicians who have made it possible for our freedoms to come under attack.  If you did not vote for persons who hold to the Christian beliefs you claim to believe in, then you are allowing others to determine who will rule over you in the political arena.  If you will not remove School board members who buckle under to every threat that comes from atheist groups then you deserve schools that take Bibles away from second graders.  If you are not willing to publicly support decency and Christian values in your community then you deserve to live in a community in which those values are slowly being taken from you.

Those opposed to the Christian faith want it removed from the public square, and we must demand our right to be there.  It is time that Christians be recognized as people who are informed voters, that we will not sell our vote for free cell phones, and that we will not accept people to serve in public office who will oppose our values and our beliefs.  But, even more important than this, we must become people who are on our knees praying for revival for our nation.  2 Chronicles 7: 14 is still true.  If God's people will humble themselves and pray and seek God, He will hear those prayers and come and heal our land.  Voting addresses the political aspect of the battle we are in, and prayer addresses the spiritual battle.  Both are critical to the future direction of our nation.  I believe our nation is worth preserving for all the future generations who will come after us.  "Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war...."  We are in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of our nation.  God has given us the weapons to win this battle, but we must choose to do so.  Rise up church!