As we approach Memorial Day indeed it is a time to honor our fallen soldiers in the many wars since the birth of this country, to help maintain peace at home. Well today, I would like to honor the Christian soldiers who have fought long and hard against the real enemy of our souls. They don’t carry machine guns or drive tanks, but they don the armor from heaven to stand firm against the wiles of the devil. They don’t seek glory of this world, but wage a secret war against the strongest adversary known to humanity. As the enemy roars like a lion he seeks to tear the Christian soldier apart by casting his flaming arrows of doubt, confusion, anxiety, depression, fear, and temptation to sin along with a multitude of other emotional and psychological problems. We salute the Christian soldier who has fought the good fight and has not buckled under the tremendous pressure from the enemy, but has stood his ground suited in the full armor of God. We pay special tribute to the Christian soldier who has not fallen prey to the many wiles of the devil, but has come off victoriously by responding to every wile with the knowledge that comes from God’s Holy Word. We salute the Christian soldier who has entered enemy territory to rescue the perishing by giving light to those who are in darkness, breaking their chains, and releasing them from captivity by proclaiming the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. We salute those who have stood toe to toe with those who would malign the Gospel by wielding the sword of the Spirit in all of its glorious truth.

Finally, we salute those Christian soldiers who have suffered at the hands of evil men who have been taken captive by the enemy to do his will. I think of those who have been separated from their families and cast into prison, many of them tormented, and awaiting execution, but have stood firm in their faith not denying the One who called them from darkness to light. For two millennia Christian soldiers of the Cross have been tortured, shot, hung, sawed into, drowned, burned at the stake, fed to lions, and hung on a cross, but through all of it most have remained resolute in their faith determined to emulate their Savior who also suffered greatly at the hands of cruel men. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). There are many stories of old where those in prison continued in their prayers, reading their Bibles or quoting it from memory or writing treasured testimonies, theological treatise, highly acclaimed devotionals or letters to their fledging flocks. Many accounts have passed down about their continued love for their captors and their undying love and praise for their Lord. The saintly Madame Guyon, after spending ten years in the dungeon lying far below the surface of the ground, which was lit only by a candle at meal times, possessed this wisdom from God when she wrote: “A little bird I am, shut from the fields of air; yet in my cage I sit and sing to Him who placed me there; well pleased a prisoner to be, because, my God, it pleases thee. Nought have I else to do I sing the whole day long; and He whom most I love to please, doth listen to my song; He caught and bound my wandering wing but still He bends to hear me sing. My cage confines me round; abroad I cannot fly; but though my wing is closely bound, my heart’s at liberty. My prison walls cannot control the flight, the freedom of the soul. Ah! It is good to soar these bolts and bars above, to Him whose purpose I adore, whose providence I love; and in Thy mighty will to find the joy the freedom of the mind.”

In a special tribute to all Christian soldiers who have fought so gallantly throughout the centuries let us read the 91^st Psalm: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the Lord, who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the serpent. ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him and show him my salvation.’”

On this Memorial Day 2013 let us pay a special tribute to all Christian soldiers for taking shelter in the Most High, resting in the shadow of the Almighty, and standing resolute in their faith. Let me now encourage you to reach out to your brethren and show them how they too can join the fight by putting on the full armor of God. Set them an example on how to wage war against the real enemy that seeks to destroy every Christian prior to the glorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You know full well as we fast approach the end of days the enemy will only become more vicious capturing even more heathens to fight against God’s children. You have also seen the increase in demonic activity leading many to simply explain it away by affixing labels of psychological trauma on those who are in the process of being soundly defeated by the enemy. Remember my friends, “The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (II Corinthians 10:4) and send the enemy to flight. We need your help, oh Lord, in keeping our armor on at all times and using each piece effectively as we engage the real enemy.

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Also published (in part) in my new book: “Revelation Truth” available in our secure online bookstore or at a bookstore near you.