Women in Combat

In this hard-hitting piece Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley urges Christian men to “gird up, gear up, and stand up.”  Why?  “Because some women in combat are wounded, battle fatigued, and in need of some R&R.”  She writes:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Over the last few months, there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of future U.S. military drafts including young women in addition to young men. I’ve admired godly male friends who have spoken out vehemently against this and expressed concern about the government trying to press their daughters or wives into service. Some even vowed to lay their lives down protecting their women from having to face the horrors and dangers of war.

But I wonder if these men – husbands, fathers, pastors, elders – know that many of their wives, daughters, and sisters in Christ are already in the trenches fighting off the enemy with every ounce of our strength and every weapon at our disposal.

It’s not a war for territory or political control or freedom from dictatorial tyranny.

It’s a battle for the purity of the Bride. And the souls of our sisters.

Daily. Weekly. At church. On line. In our families. We strap on our Swords, march out to the front and engage in hand to hand combat with the Enemy.

His troops: false teachers.

His weapon of mass destruction: false doctrine.

Sometimes we stand as a shield between grenade-lobbing grunts and weak sisters who don’t know how to fight, or even that they’re in a war. Who want nothing more than to knock us down into the mud as they desert our King and join our foes.

Sometimes we infiltrate the enemy camp to bring back intelligence on his troops to our commanders and generals, only to be ignored, reprimanded, or dishonorably discharged from the unit.

Sometimes we stand as guards at the walls of our churches, watching the adversary advance, sounding the alarm, and standing in stunned disbelief as our commanding officers smilingly welcome the enemy troops through the gate.

Why? Why, in a field of pink, are there so few Green Berets? Why is it that so many women are out on the front lines battling this insidious rival while most of our brothers in arms seem to be AWOL?

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As Steve Lawson famously said a few years ago, “Give us some men who know the truth!”

And to that I respond with a hearty amen. But with much love and respect to Brother Steve, I would add:

Give us some men who will DEFEND the truth.

And the weak women the enemy seeks to capture.

And the strong women who should be protected, working safely away from the line of fire to support the troops and nurse the casualties back to health.

Give us men who will…  Continue reading

Related:

Are you armed for battle? By Marsha West

See our White Paper on Spiritual Warfare

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7 Responses to Women in Combat

  1. Maggie March 19, 2016 at 7:06 pm #

    Oh, yes. I did “bring back intelligence on his troops to our commanders and generals, only to be ignored, reprimanded [and] dishonorably discharged from the unit.”

    The facts I brought, backed by Scripture, would surely speak for themselves, I thought. But not so. I left that church wondering if there had been just ONE man present who understood and stood by me at that time, perhaps the information would have been received and acted upon. As a sole woman sounding the alarm, I was easily dismissed.

    Thanks for the validation. It still hurts.

  2. A J Metcalf March 19, 2016 at 8:27 pm #

    I’m a man.
    I have regularly brought toy “pastors” attention info about Beth Moore, Roman Catholicism etc ad infinitum- all to no avail.
    Ignored just like Maggie.
    Tell people smooth and easy things and they will love you.
    Tell them the truth and they will either ignore you or hate you.

  3. A J Metcalf March 19, 2016 at 8:31 pm #

    “To my ” not toy – auto text is aggravating

  4. Edwitness March 20, 2016 at 2:05 am #

    Pretty much anyone who speaks up with a word on doctrine that is different from what is commonly taught in mainline churchianity is treated with ridicule at first, and if they insist, they are treated with contempt.
    I even had a so called Bible study leader pray at the end of our time saying that he wanted God to forgive us for studying too much. I did not go back.
    We are not alone in our trials. There are many brothers and sisters who have received the same treatment. I call them the true church. The others are the church of Laodicea.
    “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” — Jesus

    Blessings:-]

  5. Darrel March 20, 2016 at 2:06 pm #

    With you ladies 110%. Perhaps God will be merciful to His Bride and send such a man or men to do as you have asked. Ever wonder what he might look like, what he might say, what the extent of his popularity would be? The Word of God is all we have to go by to help us recognize such a man or men, so what does it tell us?

    The OT prophets were men of God called by Him to deliver His message to Israel and the Gentiles (on occasion). No one won any popularity contests, many were despised, jailed, beaten, and killed, but they were God’s men. Their message was NEVER one that appealed to the masses and few, if any, gave heed to their word and repented (remember David?). But they stayed “on message” and were faithful to deliver ALL of God’s word. John the Baptist was such a man. Unafraid to expose Herod and his sin, but it cost him his head. He was obedient to his God (Matt. 11:11). Then came THE Prophet: Christ Jesus and we all know what His end was, but He, too, was faithful to end to complete His Father’s will in all respects. He was kind and gentle to those who listened to Him, He healed them, fed them, raised some from the dead, and ALWAYS preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to them. Yet He was seldom, if ever, kind, gentle, or understanding of the religious elites of His day. With only three recorded exceptions He was always abrasive, unrelenting in exposing the sins of the Pharisees and others, His language would today be considered “abusive”, and yet He did this over and over again. Read the four Gospels again and you will find that there were at least 40 times in Matt., 24 in Mark, 31 in Luke and 19 in John where Jesus was anything but “kind” to those that opposed Him. The three exceptions are recorded in John 3 (Nicodemus); Jarius in Luke 8; and a scribe in Mark 12.

    Perhaps you expect this man you seek to protect you, to guide you, to speak only the truth to you will be ‘meek and mild’ and perhaps he will be, but only to those who heed his words and repent and turn to God. But the vast majority will despise and reject him, they will curse him, lie about him, employ ‘character assassination’ techniques on him, call him ‘divisive’ or mean-spirited, unloving, cruel, heartless, a lair, and so on. He will be hated by all the religious folks because he exposes their sins, calls for their repentance, and for them to turn to God for salvation—–all of which will be rejected. He will be quite unpopular. Will you stand by such a one as this? He will be unpopular because he refuses to coddle unrepentant sinners, refuses to pass by someone’s sins because of their social standing, refuses to abstain from pointing out the favorite sins of the rich, the well liked, those held in high esteem by their “brethren” in the church. He will be unrelenting just like the God he serves is unrelenting when it comes to the proud who refuse to acknowledge their sins. He will point out false doctrine and the false prophets that speak their lies. More often than not these false prophets will be high up in the “church”, seen by many as infallible, revered for their years of service in the “church”, above reproach and suspicion, and never should they suffer the inquiring, probing, (mean-spirited) Bereans that dare to expose their sins.

    This is but a small part of what this man you seek will be like, do you still want someone like this who speaks only the truth, in ALL instances, and to EVERYONE, yourself included? Perhaps you know someone like this “man” now. If you do, what is your response to him? Do you want to hear more or for him to shut up and go away? Yes, your prayer and request is a valid one, but be careful what ask for, because you’re likely to get it x100. When such a man as this IS called by God (no one will be able to take this task upon themselves, of be “self-called)may his answer be: Here am I! Send me. Isaiah 6:8-10

  6. Maggie March 20, 2016 at 9:51 pm #

    In response to Darrel–It certainly puts things in perspective being reminded what OT prophets, Jesus, the apostles and all the persecuted believers through the ages have been through.

    In this age, we have the Bible to instruct us in all we need. The job of the pastor is to teach and defend the Word, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Someone who is not above correction. A shepherd looks out for the sheep under his care. The current popular models for church and pastor are corporation and CEO. That doesn’t work biblically. We don’t need an extraordinary man, but one who is God fearing and takes his job seriously to feed Christ’s sheep.

  7. lyn March 21, 2016 at 4:23 pm #

    Maggie,

    You rightly say “The current popular models for church and pastor are corporation and CEO. That doesn’t work biblically. We don’t need an extraordinary man, but one who is God fearing and takes his job seriously to feed Christ’s sheep.” Which is why so many of the sheep are hurting, or have left the ‘church’ they attended.

    We need men who are called by God to preach, empowered by the Spirit, truly born from above {and do NOT adhere to the heresy of ‘free will’}, tremble at God’s word and truly care for the souls of men. May God be merciful and raise up such a man.

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