And there was war in heaven. Rev 12:7 (NASV)
May 5, 2022 was the National Day of Prayer in the USA. Organizers in Corona, California invited me to speak at their annual Prayer Breakfast. They asked for a title for the message. I asked them to give me a title and I would make it work.
The promo piece was sent out and said I would be speaking on “Winning the War on Families in Today’s Culture”. I was not entirely happy about this title. So, rather than make something up, I just announced up-front that if anyone came to the event hoping to get tips on winning that war, they would be disappointed. In fact, I told the crowd that the cultural war in the USA had been lost.
But the word “war” was a good starting point for truth. The truth that every human has a war raging within. Both good and evil seem to live in everyone. Even evil men can often love their children and a good man can fail to lead his family. Who wins this internal daily war often decides who will win the ‘war on families’.
I started with the reality that the world has always been at war, even in 2022. I mean, if there was a ‘war in heaven’ (Rev 12:7), why would it not be true on the earth today?
Russia and Ukraine finally put war back on the front pages in February, but truthfully it had never gone away. It reminded me of my standard CBMC talk from 1996-2003 which outlined all the “wars and rumors of wars” going on around the world. Of course, the Middle East was a hotbed. But it also included the Congo, where 3 million died in a war that no one ever even heard about. China and Taiwan are always on the edge of war. North Korea is still a menace to the world. India and Pakistan are still threatening each other daily. The most dangerous country in the world is actually Columbia, thanks to drug wars.
And don’t forget good ol’ fashioned religious wars. I will never forget my first golf trip to Northern Ireland in 1993. We were greeted at the border by soldiers with machine guns checking for car bombs. The war between Protestants and Catholics was quite real.
My recitation of wars around the world usually ended with the 1999 murders at Columbine. Thirteen high school students were gunned down in middle-class USA by two deranged teenagers. But then September 11, 2001 provided the sad exclamation point on the list of “wars and rumors of wars”. And the beat goes on.
Sue and I left Corona on May 5th and headed for India for an eighteen-day mission. We missed all the ‘news’ during that time. I turned on the TV when we got home. The news of May 24 meant that the world was still at war.
Another deranged eighteen-year old had killed innocent children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
So, to state the obvious, the USA is at war with itself. There have reportedly (I say reportedly because I frankly don’t what to believe anymore) been over 230 mass shootings so far in 2022 (defined as four or more injured or killed).
The numbers seem to be rising. In 2014, the mass shooting number was 91 for the same time period. Gas prices are not the only thing going through the roof.
So………… a war is raging.
Do I have any answers? I have more questions than answers, but for today, let me just leave you with one thought of hope.
For over thirty years now I often sign my name “T. Philpot, Rev. 12:11.” That verse has been my ‘theme verse” for winning the war and overcoming Satan.
They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony.
And they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. (Rev 12’11)
A simple three-piece gospel sermon.
The blood of the Lamb is our Message. Jesus.
Our testimony is our Method. Telling our story.
Our willingness to die for this gospel is our Madness (old English word that means a little bit crazy). We have to know we are in a battle.
In this war-torn world of 2022, we need The Message, the Method, and the Madness. Most modern questions have no answers, but we do have The Answer.