Where is the Church Militant

Church Militant

I was sitting at home having just enjoyed a post Christmas turkey snack when I felt a sudden urge to investigate church militancy in the face of current world events. I know it sounds an odd kind of thought yet that was what distilled itself from a ‘starter’ thought which was a simple “Why is the church not militant?” So I first went to that fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia, and looked up “Church Militant”. The result pleasantly surprised me.

“The Church Militant (Ecclesia Militans), comprising Christians on earth who are living; Christian militia, who struggle against sin, devil and "..the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12)”

That’s not a bad place to start actually. Ephesians 6 talks about the full armour of God. To me, this indicates battles and warfare and, well, militancy on our part. Indeed the chapter goes on to say, in the very next verse (v13), “Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

So why isn’t the church more militant? Most will protest that this particular chapter is the definitive scripture on spiritual warfare. You know - "..the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" and all that? We talk about prayer warfare, battling the forces of evil in the heavenlies with prayer. Yet we miss two points, I think.

Firstly, the armour of God is ALL forward facing. There is no room for retreat.

Secondly, we seem to miss the most obvious thing and that is battling the forces of evil wherever we meet them. That is usually on the streets not in the prayer room. When was the last time you heard or even preached a sermon about church militancy – especially in the faces of alternative religions and political correctness (aka worldly thinking)

Surely, it is time to take up the challenge and to wield the sword of the Word of God and fight for our faith? Surely we must not give any more ground to an un-relenting enemy who wants nothing more than to see us all defeated, silenced, and probably dead?

As the hour of Jesus coming for us approaches; as the promised ‘end-time revival’ begins – NOW is the time to take up our weapons against Satan. NOW is the time to spend extra minutes in prayer. NOW is also the time to take the Word of God into every part of our lives so that more and more and more people might be saved. "..the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" are not going to worry whether or not YOU are ready for battle –THEY want nothing more than to defeat you and destroy you. THEY are ready for battle NOW and we have to face them NOW.

We must take up the Church Militant role and take the battle to the enemy – that’s why the armour of God is forward facing – so we can go into battle without fear of retreating. That is why we can “put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”