Last week, I had several people ask me how I was doing and feeling after the threat to my kids. (See previous post for the exact quote.) And I had to immediately think of one of my favorite historical figures of all time.
Stonewall Jackson was a brilliant tactician during the civil war. His childhood as an orphan and the events of his life lead him to a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ.
One of the first battles of the Civil War was the battle of Bull Run. There as the Union began to over run the Confederate line, Jackson was seen at the front of the battle line inspite of the heavy fire all around him. His name “Stonewall” comes from this moment. During this battle, Jackson’s horse was wounded he had several bullet hole through his clothing and a bullet had broken the finger of his hand.
Someone asked him how he could be so vulnerable in the face of such danger. Jackson replied:
Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in the field of battle as in bed. He has fixed the hour of my death. I do not concern myself about that but to be always ready no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, then all would be equally brave.”
That is the way we should all live. That is the way I am walking this through with my children. Their destinies were not complete on Sunday. Our destinies are not complete today. In this spiritual battle, God has appointed my hour of death. Until that moment comes, I am as safe in my own home as I am anywhere in the world.
Last night we went to see the movie Defiance. It is rated R for violence and language, but it is a movie I totally recommend to anyone. We took our teenagers to see it and they were deeply impacted.
Defiance is a true story of a band of Belorussian Jews during WWII. Courageously, in the face of great loss, they hid and survived the holocaust unleashed by Nazi Germany.
Everyone came away with the deep sense that once again, believers will be called upon to protect and defend God’s chosen people from those who are demonically inspired to exterminate them. We talked about our responsibility to the Jewish people and talked about Romans 11 which tells us that a day is coming when ALL of Israel will be saved.
There is a fabulous LIFE message within the movie too. Funny…pro-life in the face of a culture of death. satan tries to wipe out the innocent and God’s chosen over and over. I’d have to agree with Solomon, “there is nothing new under the sun”.
God bless and protect all the Children of Israel. Lost and found.
With all my heart, I believe the old adage that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. American history is full of of moments of divine intervention, of godly men and women who made courageous decisions, and moral characters that can teach us much about how to respond to the battles of our day and age.
So here’s the book I am reading right now. Shaara is one of my favorite authors of all time. As a historian, he has a commitmment to write about these familiar characters through the lenses of their own times and their own words. So often today, there is a need to make these figures “human” through our 21st century mindsets. Titillating situations and ways to blacken characters of the past whose moral standards were a product of their day and time are invented or enlarged to denegrate those who have been heros for centuries. Our need to make them more like us reflects so dramatically on the moral decay that is our normal lens on life and the world around us. I’m not saying that these men were flawless, because they did make colossal mistakes in many areas particularly in the area of natives and slaves. BUT for the most part their integrity and character shine a spotlight on the putrid decay of our society today.
Scripture emphasizes our need for purity in thought, word and deed by showing how far the world will fall in the last days.
II Timothy 4:3-4 talks about the way that truth will be supressed in doctrine, but I think this will apply to anything that would inspire us to take up a cause that is counter to the mindset of the last days.
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
For example, the world wants to hear that abortion is a remarkable alternative to life, so they find authoritative people who can’t decide when life begins. Is it when the cord is clamped? Or even when, as Barak Obama says, “when it is welcomed into the human family”/”loved”.
Who are your teachers, and what are they teaching you about the glorious cause of Christ?
Stonewall Jackson was a brilliant tactician during the civil war. His childhood as an orphan and the events of his life lead him to a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. 
