5th Gen Warfare

I recently listened to a lecture on 5th generation warfare.  5th gen warfare is a little hard to define.  In fact, there is debate among some academics if it is a real thing or not.  I suppose a short and very inadequate definition is that 5th gen warfare is defined as a war of ideals and narratives.  This style of war is fought primarily in the information space.  The warfare in the information space is not the ultimate objective, but rather a means to control the physical space and the people who live therein.  This is most certainly a woefully inadequate definition, but it is a beginning place to understand 5th gen warfare. If you want to listen to the lecture you may do so by clicking 5th Generation Warfare: History, Modern Context, and (Some) Solutions.

As I was listening to this lecture it helped put into context the craziness we see in our world.  While I do not agree with everything said in the lecture, I did find it fascinating and useful.   I found it interesting that while 5th gen warfare is about struggles within the world in many ways it sounds like the attacks of the world, fallen human nature, and the powers of darkness against Christians and the church. 

What was of special interest to us was the part of the lecture that addressed the best ways to prepare for and engage in 5th gen warfare.    The advice is sound for society as a whole, but for those of us who are engaged in the Cause of Christ we need to hear and apply these principles.  These five actions need to be a part of the spiritual disciplines for all of us to practice consistently.

Five ways to engage in and prepare for a spiritual life in our crazy world.

1.  Take care of your mind.  In a traditional war, soldiers had to take care of their weapons to make sure that they were operational at the time of battle.  In the spiritual battle we fight this is even more important.  In Romans 12, Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”   Taking care of our mind is absolutely critical if we are going to be effective in campaigning for Christ. The world around us and the powers of Darkness near us will constantly attempt to compromise our minds and our mental perspective. The two best ways to make sure that our minds are in fighting form is by the community of faith and the Word of God.

2. Make enemy attacks irrelevant.  The lecturer used the example of protests and riots as a way fifth generation warfare will be staged. As the saying goes, “Never waste a crisis and if necessary manufacture one”. As Disciples of Christ we need to make sure that we are not baited and drawn into unnecessary conflict. Not every hill is worth dying on, especially since you will only get to do that once. Much of Christianity's efforts have been expended fighting secondary battles. Avoiding the enemy’s field of conflict makes their offensive irrelevant and allows us to engage where our efforts are most effective.

3. Raise your Children.   In 5th generation Warfare one of the high grounds that has to be won is the heart, mind and soul of our children. It would be impossible to overstate the amount of effort that the enemy has put into drawing children away from faith, family and God. Oftentimes, the church has been an inadvertent and unknowing accomplice. Fighting the resistance against the powers of Darkness may look more like going on a picnic and having to walk with our children than a heroic last stand in the heat of battle.

4. Grow your community.   There are no Lone Rangers. Lone Rangers are easy to identify and easy to take out. The best resistance to the powers of Darkness will be more effective when it comes from the community. Developing a community is not something that you can do over the internet or that you can order off of a website. A strong community will take time to develop and mature, be supportive and be effective. We will not grow strong communities by seeing each other for an hour on Sunday morning. A cohesive fighting force, regardless of the style of warfare takes time to develop.  Battles will be fought best by a group of people who know, love and will sacrifice for each other. Any believer who is not part of that kind of community is exactly where the enemy wants them to be.  By the way, in times of crisis it will be too late to become a community.

5. Create white space.   White space in military parlance is that open area across which an enemy must cross in order to engage you. It is in traditional military terms an open field that, if crossed, would become a killing zone for an advancing force. For those of us engaged in the conflicts of the Christian faith white space is the spiritual discipline of silence, which is almost entirely lost in American Christianity. For us it needs to be a time where we shut off the internet, social media, online shopping and even beyond that traditional media, music, and conversation so that in silence we can actually hear the Lord speak. If there are a thousand voices and 10,000 distractions it will be extremely difficult for us to hear the prompting of the Spirit. Embrace privacy, turn off the internet and, with nothing but your Bible, enjoy silence.

Much of what we talked about in these five approaches is almost completely foreign to contemporary Christianity. There are very few places in our busy, hectic and hurried faith that we can practice the kinds of things that will make us effective in the Cause of Christ

Crazy Times

 To say the times are crazy might be the understatement of the year.  Pick the subject and you will find reasons to say, “That is weird”.  The decay of American society and culture has a lot of people wondering how much long the nation can last.  Some people are asking if the United States will become the Un-United States, and follow the path of the break up of the Soviet Union.  At the same time many in the Christian community are looking for the signs or markers that The End has come and that Jesus is about to return.  What are the signs of the coming of the ‘Days of the Son of Man’?

When Jesus spoke about end times He was vague, enigmatic and, to our ears, confusing.  This Sunday we are going to study one of the occasions in which Jesus talked about the coming of the Kingdom of God, the Days of the Son of Man, and what many believe will be the end of time. Jesus tells us less than we want to know in one way, but in another He guides us into what really matters. What we find has nothing to do with dates or events, but rather faithful holy living.

Is it time to stop inviting people?

 I grew up in a preacher’s family.  Going to church was a given.  There was never a question of, “Will we go to church?”  At every service it seemed we were the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave.  It seemed like failing to be the first ones at the church building was a mortal sin.  

From my earliest days inviting people to church was understood.  It was a way of life and it was as assumed as breathing.  Inviting people to church was the way we did everything.  When my dad planted a church we did door to door canvassing inviting people to come to our new church.  It was the same for VBS, Sunday School campaigns, Easter to Pentecost attendance contests,  youth rallies, and the bus ministry.  I can vividly remember the ‘fill your pew’ campaign, invitation to concerts, and revivals.  Growing up in the ministry in the 1960’s and 70’s this was the ministry form I lived and learned.

Toward the end of the 70’s and in the 80’s the Seeker Sensitive and Seeker Driven models of Church Growth did much the same thing, but on a grander and more sophisticated scale.  While the methods were more hip and cool, (drama trumps a “Be one of the bunch” paper banana campaign) the principle was the same.  Non-believers were invited to come to a church building to hear the Gospel or at least the advantages of being a Christian.  While this marked a new phase in the American church, the difference was purely stylistic, not substantive.  Church planters no longer went door to door and placed display ads in the local newspaper.  They developed demographically targeted, multi-item, direct mail campaigns.  Outreach is about getting people to come to the building, be it a cool mens’ “Beast Feast” with a speaker, or Mrs. Thundermuffin’s Sunday School class.  Slice it anyway you like, the principle remains the same, invite people to come to a church building.  

While I am not opposed in principle to the invitation, we may need to rethink things.  I am planning some invitations for Christians who are either disconnected from a church or new in town.  I do not doubt the value of the invitation to the church building and service.  However, I think there are several reasons to reconsider this model that has not fundamentally changed in living memory.  

Here are several that hover near the top of my consciousness: 

The internet:  Suppose you make contact with a spiritually-seeking person.  They decide to investigate Christianity.  They can get up, get dressed, go to a strange place, meet strange people and run the risk and anxiety associated with going to church for the first time. Or they can open up their laptop and while sitting in their pajamas choose from tens of thousands of highly polished and entertaining preachers. 

Covid:  Like it or not covid-19 has had a profound impact on the likelihood of non-believers going to church. Perhaps it is a genuine concern over the risk of infection or maybe it's just a convenient excuse. But the fact of the matter is, sitting in a confined space for an hour and a half with strangers in close proximity who may be infected  tends to discourage visiting church for the first time.

It's Not Biblical: Nowhere in the New Testament do we find where unbelievers are directed to go to church. Nor do we find anywhere in the New Testament a command for Christians to invite people to go to a church building or event. While church buildings and invitations are not specifically anti-biblical or anti-christian they are clearly extra-biblical; they might be helpful or they might not be. As with any pragmatic tool the measurement needs to be its end usefulness and effectiveness.

 Effectiveness: That brings us to the final point. How are we doing? It would appear that we are getting a smaller and smaller return on our investment. So much so, that some Churches don't even try to invite people anymore, having given up any hope. Other churches are doing the same old thing and growing more discouraged with such small returns. In a post-Christian, internet-connected, secular mindset culture the invitation to come to an event at a church building is not unlike an invitation to learn how to program your VCR.

What did the early church do?  Perhaps the way forward is the way back.

The Cup We Share

 My most cherished glass

This is my most favorite and most cherished glass, to understand you need to know the story.  A friend of mine was starting a church in Atlanta.  Their meeting place was to be an old strip-club.  He asked me to come and help clean the place up.  Contrary to the glamorous portrayal in the media of strip clubs this place was filthy.  While cleaning I found this glass. It was nasty beyond words.  Why someone would relieve themselves in a cup is beyond me.  

When I found it my first thought was to throw it away. But for some reason I didn’t.  Instead I put it in a bucket and took it home.  I filled the bucket with water and chlorine bleach and after letting it soak for a couple of days I put it in a pan of boiling water.  After another soaking in bleach water I washed, rinsed, and dried it.  Now I use this cup for only one purpose.  I tell the story of the cup and then I pour the wine of the communion service into this same cup.  What once held something that was revolting and disgusting now holds that which is most sacred.  

That, by the way, is our story.  We were once filled with all kinds of evil, at our best we were as ‘filthy rags’.  But Jesus washes us, He cleans us, He removes from us all that is revolting and then He fills us with the Holy Spirit.  We who once held the most disgusting things possible now have dwelling in us the very Spirit of God.  

We may not be able to fully explain how God did what He did, but we invite you to join us as we explore the wonder of God’s kindness and love for us.

M.I.G.A.

 MIGA

They were deeply dedicated to seeing a moral revival among their people.  They believed the Word of God to be authoritative and if studied could bring an immoral people back to the God who founded their nation.  I suppose they even sang with great hope 2 Chronicles 7:14  “If my people who are called by my Name shall humble themselves…”  To say they were zealous would be an understatement.    They believed that if the citizens of the nation would live by the laws God had given then God would bless the nation with new heights of freedom, security, prosperity, peace and blessing. 

They could be a little harsh at times, but if being direct and confrontational could end corrupt behavior that would be a small price to pay.  They had to defeat the immoral influences that came from overseas.  They were constantly at war with liberal theologians and religious compromisers that watered down the Word of God.  The political insiders were not trustworthy, but in a pinch they would work with them.  Who knows, they may have even had hats that were stitched with the letters. M.I.G.A.  Make Israel Great Again.  

I am not talking about the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, the John Birch Society, or the Tea Party.  The above description is of the Pharisee party of Jesus’ day.  The Pharisees were the conservative, Bible believing, repentance preaching people of their day.  They were also the ones who were most frequently opposing the ministry of Jesus.  

I find this concerning because I can more closely identify with the Pharisees than the Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, or any other party in the time and ministry of Jesus.  Where they were wrong I have a strong potential to be wrong.  What they missed I am likely to miss.  What they misunderstood I have the potential to misunderstand.  While a great many scholarly articles and essays have been written about the Pharisees and their failure to accept the Messiah when He arrived, I would like to offer my minor contribution to the discussion.  

The Pharisees, because of their addiction to rule making and rule keeping, were susceptible to two specific failures that can afflict us today.  While there were, and still are, exceptions to my theory, when we come across those who adopt an “improved behavior will be our rescue” mentality these two failures will be present.  

The first of these is a tendency to be fakes.  Let’s face it, no one can or will keep all the rules. In our heart of hearts we know we are not keeping the rules.  But it is very, very important to appear to be keeping the rules, so we fake it.  We may deride the uber rich, but in our hearts we covet the goods of others as much as anyone else.  We may insist that women wear modest clothing, but we would never want anyone to look at our computer’s browsing history.  Pleasant to someone’s face and excoriate them behind their backs. All humans are fakers, but for a Pharisee faking it is critical to their very life because of their belief that the rescue comes from good behaviors.

The second failure of Pharisees is related to the first; Pharisees can be powerfully unkind.   That may be putting it too mild, that could and still can be brutal.  If the problem is the bad behavior or bad people then the cure is to make bad people stop doing bad things. They seemed to believe that if you condemned bad people long enough and loud enough they would decide to stop being bad and start being good.  The fact that anger never accomplished lasting moral reform apparently never occurred to them, so they would double down on their condemnations.

These are both very easy traps for me to fall into.  I want to be admired and respected by people of the highest moral character and standing.  If I want that kind of esteem I have to live that kind of life.  The problem is I often don’t.  So, the easy and pride protecting solution is to fake it.  To redirect attention away from my failures I can, and at times do, point out the failures of bad people.  If I can turn the attention from myself to tax collectors, prostitutes, news reporters or some other ‘evil’ person, I feel safe.  I can even justify my actions by claiming that I want them to repent. 

But Jesus was different.  Jesus was many things but never fake.  At His trial Jesus asked His accusers to name some sin He had committed.  But with His moral perfection came unparalleled compassion. “Does no one condemn you?” He asked the sinful woman. “No one, Sir.”  Jesus tells her, “Go and leave your sinful life.” 

Real and kind, that is a pretty good description of Jesus.  It is also a worthy aspiration for us all.

There are three possible futures and one is correct.

 

We have of late had a lot of conversations about the possibility of the world being on the brink of doom.  That has caused me to look at the three main theories regarding humanities’ future. Those three expectations are mutually exclusive, only one can be correct.  None of these theories are recent developments.  They have all existed in human thought for a very long time. Every so often, they get a twist and are presented as new ideas, but they all have predecessors.  

One theory is expressed in the Kardashev Scale which is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement.  This scale gets its name from Nicholi Kardashev, a Soviet era Russian astrophysicist.  Summaries always fail, but here is an attempt.  Civilizations move from lower to high forms of technological advancement, while they may experience setbacks along the way, the general direction is always upward.  The Kardashev Scale has been modified and used by many theorists and sci-fi writers.  John Borrow expanded it to seven stages.  At the highest levels a civilization would be able to manipulate the most elementary particles of matter and the basic structure of space and time.  In short, civilization over a long, slow process gradually becomes the God of the universe.  Not entirely unlike the plans that prompted the Tower of Babel.

The second theory about humanities’ future is summed up in what is called the Malthusian Catastrophe.  Thomas Malthus was an influential political economist from England.  His theory is also called the population trap.  It works this way, as civilization grows and progresses it produces more and more goods, causing more and faster population growth and progress.  Like a hamster on a wheel the cycle gets faster and faster until the hamster stumbles and falls and the whole process comes to a halt.  In the case of humanity the stumble and fall comes from an exponential growth in population and a slower growth of food, water, energy and other needed services.  The result is worldwide famine, wars, mass die offs, social collapse, and the inability for earth to support life as a result of environmental degradation.  The process is slow and occurs over centuries or even millenia till it reaches a crisis point, then there is a rapid doom. 

If Kardashev’s theory were put on a chart, it would be a line of constant upward progress with only occasional dips.  If Malthus’ theory were charted, it would be a slow decline with intermittent upward ticks.  In both cases, you see the common thread of vast amounts of time and slow progress toward a destination. Both theories have devastating consequences for people.  Thankfully, however, they are both wrong.  The third answer is the right answer.  Rather than slow progress over a very long time toward some unknown and unknowable end, the third is sudden, definitive and hope filled.   

This expected future is summed up well by the Apostle Paul; “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”  What we see here is not a slow gradual progression toward some vague end.  It is a certain sudden ending that will not be missed by anyone and will be very personal for everyone.  Paul does not rule out some future progress nor that there will be hardship in history.  

But while Kardashev talks about something that may happen tens of thousands of years into the future and Malthus only offers a future of gloom and despair, the sudden return of Christ offers us a future so wonderful it is beyond the capacity of mind and speech.  

So, the next time you hear talk about the doom of our world or that the only solution is in our capacity to build that better future just remember that Jesus is coming to our rescue.  It will be sudden, it will be final, it may happen very soon (even today) and it is for us the great hope.    

God bless America, on second thought let's hold off on that.

Over the last weekend I heard the patriotic hymn “God Bless America” several times. Some of the renditions were absolutely amazing.  The vocalist sang with such passion and energy it was hard not to be moved.  On one occasion the camera panned the audience and a number of people appeared to be enraptured by the music.  Others were more interested in their image being on the jumbo-tron.  Personally, I think this would be a better national anthem than the “Star Spangled Banner”.   But this is the opinion of a musical dunce, so take it for what it is worth.  

As I watched the presentations or performances, I couldn’t help but ask; “What do we mean by ‘God Bless’?”  I wonder if it is taking God’s name in vain?  We can sing the song and mean nothing by it.  If we take God’s name as meaningless or mean nothing by it we are taking it in vain.  I wondered if by “bless” we are thinking of the lowest form of blessing; “Give us prosperity, stop inflation, provide for us more and better stuff so that we can indulge our appetites.”  Maybe we mean something a little more noble, but nonetheless still focused on what we want: “Give us peace, safety and security at home and from enemies around the world.”  Nothing wrong with these in and of themselves, but is that all we mean by ‘God Bless America’?

Do we want God’s blessing or do we just want the good stuff He can provide?  Ask anyone who has lived any length of time and they will tell you that growth, maturity and strength are developed not in times of ease, comfort and prosperity.  These best character traits are more likely developed in times of difficulty, suffering and hardship.  If courage, strength, and toughness were developed when times were easy Army boot camp would be a vacation at a seaside resort.  

So, when we say ‘God Bless America” what do we mean?  God’s blessings are always good, His character could give nothing else.  That is not to say all His blessings are always pleasant, pleasing or what we desire.   In fact, the history of God blessing His people is one we might call tough love.  What my children wanted for supper and what was good for them were not always the same thing.  They were blessed with what was good for them, not what they asked for or wanted.  

When God blessed Abram He began by calling Abram away from everything he knew, loved or with which he was familiar.  When God blessed Moses with the role of being the law giver, it began with 40 years in exile.  It also required 40 years of wilderness wandering with a group of people that would try his patience time and again.  When Israel suffered from an addiction to sex, luxury, and comfort (sound like any nation we know) God blessed them with the destruction of their cities and capital, conscription of their best and brightest into emperial service and 70 years of Babylonian captivity.  Before God would bless His people with the incarnation of the Son, the Jews would be politically broken, internally divided and taxed to near starvation. 

Not all of God’s blessings are punitive and severe.  “For You bless the righteous person, Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.” Psalm 5:12  The operative word there is “righteous”.  A person or people who are righteous might have reason to expect the pleasant (from our perspective) blessings of God.  However, I don’t know anyone who would describe contemporary America as righteous.  

So, if God were to bless America what might it look like?  If a spoiled child is consistently  behaving poorly it is unlikely that additional indulgences will rectify the problem.  Rather the spoiled child might be given intentional and carefully directed corrective discipline.  Or as former Alabama governor Fob James put it, “A butt whipping and a prayer”.  There is nothing wrong with peace, comfort, and prosperity.  But if a person or people believe that these things are most important and that for which we ought to live and work, then they might be blessed if those things were removed.    

On the evening of September 11th I was out doing church visitation.  As I drove, I passed a Hooters’ and on the marquette there was posted, “Pray for America''.  I thought that perhaps our nation was waking from its moral slumbers.  For the next 3 weeks or so, church attendance was up and people were talking about spiritual and eternal things. But within a month things had returned to what might be called a secular norm.  What will it take for God to bless America with a deep and lasting turn to Him?   I am almost afraid to ask. 

So then, let us pray, “God bless America”.  But let us also pray, “Give us the strength and wisdom to learn from and endure with grace such a blessing.”  One final thought.  In addition to our praying, “God bless America” we need to admonish our people to say and live, “America Bless God”.  That may take us near the beginning point we need.