Principles Of War - "Strategy for Group and Individual Evangelism" continued.....

VII. Cooperation

"Fellowship is the keynote of this belief; such a deep fellowship with God through Christ as shall inevitably lead to a deep fellowship with others of His children. The revival of the Christian Church will surely come only through the disciplined and creative fellowship of surrendered Christians; for such a fellowship in Christ is God's supreme weapon for the evangelization of the world (I John 1:5-7 and John 17:22-23). The isolated Christian is an anomaly."
Howard Guinness in Total Christian War.

In World War II the United States narrowly escaped a crushing defeat because of neglect of a principle of war: the principle of cooperation.

Until the invasion of the Philippines, 20-23 October 1944, we had fought two separate wars in the Pacific: the advance through the Central Pacific, Gilberts, Marshall, and Marianas, and the war in the Southwest Pacific via the Solomons and New Guinea. The forces of the former were commanded by Admiral Chester Nimitz in Hawaii and the latter by General Douglas McArthur in Australia. When these advances met in the Philippines, the two leaders had no superior short of the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States.

The invasion was the responsibility of General McArthur with Central Pacific Forces filling a supporting role. The Seventh Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Kincaid was given to General McArthur for the invasion and included units of escort carriers and old battleships, some of which had been raised from Pearl Harbor. The ammunition of these units was non-armor-piercing, high explosive, as they were for support of the troops ashore and not for an engagement at sea.

Protecting the invasion from attack by sea was the Third Fleet commanded by Admiral [Bull] Halsey under Admiral Nimitz. The main striking force consisted of four carrier air groups of four fast attack carriers each, and a surface striking force of new fast battleships.

The Japanese sent a two-pronged surface attack against the invasion fleet in Leyte Gulf and a decoy carrier group from Japan into the Philippine Sea. The old battleships under Rear Admiral Oldendorf sank all but one cruiser in Surigao Strait, which took care of the south prong. The fast attack carriers turned back the northern prong in the Sibuyan Sea and then proceeded after the decoy group away from the invasion fleet.

The Japanese northern arm returned to the attack, coming through San Bernadino Straits with four battleships and ten heavy cruisers. No one was there to meet them. They caught our escort carriers in Leyte Gulf. After sinking the Gambier Bay, for some unknown reason the Japanese admiral retreated. His only opposition consisted of torpedo attacks and smoke from destroyers and destroyer escorts (the DE's do not carry torpedoes). [The movie In Harm's Way, staring John Wayne is based on this engagement.]

Our forces had intelligence of the enemy. We had an overpowering superiority in surface and air power. But we did not obtain a decisive victory because of poor communication between cooperating forces. If it had not been for the decision of the Japanese admiral to retire, we might have suffered a decisive defeat.

When we fail to uphold the principle of cooperation, we cannot count on the enemy making mistakes or poor decisions. Nor can we bank on scaring him with smoke and mock torpedo runs.

We must determine to have an overwhelming superiority to meet the enemy in a decisive battle at the right time, which cannot be achieved without cooperation.

Cooperation is dependent upon two prerequisites:

1. Cooperating forces are allies, not belligerents. [The cooperating forces in these end-times should--and have to be--the differing parts of the body of Christ in the arena of national and international evangelism.]
2. The cooperating forces come under one commander. [One commander running a non-denominational evangelistic organization to promote national and international evangelism of the Gospel wouldn't be a bad idea. Bill Bright's Campus Crusade for Christ International and its' JESUS Film Project are one stunning example of this principle currently being used today as you read this. Be sure to CLICK ON "Evangelism: national and international" in this section titled "What is Evangelism?" Many differing Christian denominations support this fine organization and many more use it's prime resource, the JESUS film.]

Cooperation with an enemy is not cooperation; it is treason. Failure to cooperate with an ally is a violation of an essential principle of war and a gross error.

Unity of command is necessary for cooperation. The closer the commander is to the cooperating forces, the closer the cooperation. The farther removed the unity of command, the weaker the cooperation. [This principle holds true at all levels of command. Local pastors should be close to the good works work parties that act as one prong of a two-pronged offensive of the gospel. Just as essential, differing parts of the body of Christ, denominational leaders, should be close to each other in the projects of gospel evangelism they're combining forces on.]

In the invasion of the Philippines the supreme commander was very distant, the President of the United States. Admiral Nimitz had a unified command. So did General McArthur. But this was a meeting of two distinct commands. [And the differing parts of the body of Christ, the differing denominations, are very distinct and separate commands as well. They face a similar problem.] They had no common superior close enough to the situation to provide good cooperation. The principle of cooperation is very important in the spiritual war.

First, it applies to each one of us individually. Most Christians are used to fighting (win or lose) their own spiritual battles. We are so used to fighting the spiritual war alone that when we come into contact with a fellow Christian in the same war at the same time or place, we find it difficult to cooperate and communicate. Cooperation is a prelude to concentration [of forces] and concentration [of forces] is one of the keys to victory.

It should be immediately apparent that the Christians [do] have the advantage of a unified command. Furthermore, their Commander is not too far removed from the situation to provide effective cooperation. [But under this High Supreme Allied Commander, we must strive for unified command and cooperation between our "allied forces--the denominations!] Jesus Christ himself experienced the temptations and difficulties in this world, so He is close to our situation in the sense of personal experience.

More important, He presently occupies a position close to all Christians from which to direct their cooperative efforts--that is, He dwells in their hearts. From there He can guide us as individuals or as part of a group: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20).

If there is any breakdown in the principle of cooperation, it is not on the part of the spiritual Commander; rather it must be traced to the individual combatants [and denomitions].

The greatest deterrent to cooperation is pride. Pride says 'I can handle my problems alone; I don't need any help.' [whether this is a denominational attitude of pride, such as found between armed services, like pride between the Navy and Army, or an individual attitude of pride.] Or perhaps it will allow me to accept help, but not from him!

Sometimes pride keeps us from admitting our needs even to ourselves, let alone to anyone else.

Other Christians could help us in our weakness, but we will not let them know what it is. A proud man wishes to win the struggle alone so he may take all the glory. When he loses no one else knows about it, or so he believes. James 5:16 says: "Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another." This cooperation in the spiritual war is essential if we do not wish to be continually defeated at the point where pride hides the fault. [And the power to soundly defeat personal sin, especially addictions--alcohol, drugs--mental depression, comes from combined prayer resulting from our "confessing" to our Christian friends when we're having "problems", waging spiritual war, against such things. And this confessing should be a part of our Christian fellowshipping when we come together. And when a Christian friend lets you know about the problems he or she is having, you must without fail write them down and put these things on your daily prayer list. Many Christians have walked away from all sorts of addictions and mental depressions as a direct result of such intercessory prayers from other Christians. This should become an essential part of our service to each other in our respective church services. Encourage this in your congregation.]

God's attitude toward pride is explicit in the Scripture. Proverbs 6:16 says, "These six things doth the Lord hate...a proud look..." I John 2:16 states, "Love not the world...For all that is in the world...the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world."

The Bible also describes the results of pride. Daniel 5:20 explains the downfall of Nebuchadnezzar in these words: "But when hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him." King Uzziah suffered leprosy until the day of his death, because "when he was strong his heart was lifted up" (II Chronicles 26:16).

Proverbs 16:18 states the principle in this way: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

In the military services pride is deliberately generated in order to encourage obedience and high quality in performance of duties. Rivalry and competition in training bring the units to the peak of readiness.

Yet platoons should cease to compete when they act as a company. They are held together by the company commander. Companies should cease to compete when acting as a battalion and so on up the line until the Commander-in-Chief unites the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

But a problem exists. Whereas the highest sense of loyalty should be to the highest commander, the greatest pride somehow frequently is generated in the smaller units and the greatest loyalty is given to the subordinate commanders. There may be fierce loyalty to the skipper and indifference, antagonism, or at best a lesser loyalty to the squadron commander. (This is no great difficulty as long as the skipper insures no deviation from orders given by the squadron commander.)

Another way that pride is fostered is through the function of the unit. The method of warfare used in the particular unit becomes, so far as the men involved are concerned, the primary means of winning wars. For instance, the armor historian will tell the heroic part that that unit played in winning World War II. In turn, we can find out how destroyers, submarines, the Navy, the Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and the Army each won the last war.

The pride and loyalty that is encouraged, rivalry and competition that keeps units sharp and on their toes, can and does backfire. After a few years in the service, the naval officer has been indoctrinated to such an extent that it is difficult to cooperate with the Army, even though aims are in agreement. We then find that the individual thinks his loyalty to the Navy is synonymous with loyalty to the U.S. Unfortunately the Army feels the same way. Strained cooperation results. Thus the function of one's branch can become more important to an officer than the over-all objective of the Armed Forces. This is a result of instilling pride in subordinate units to the neglect of emphasizing higher loyalties. [Object lesson here: WE ARE CHRISTIANS FIRST AND FOREMOST, AND MEMBERS OF OUR RESPECTIVE DENOMINATIONS SECOND! If being a good Baptist detracts from you're being a good cooperative member of the body of Christ, then you are going against a major principle of spiritual warfare, and getting in the way of your Commander-in-Chief's overall prime objective (Matthew 28:18-20). I'm not trying to pick on Baptists, by the way, just making an example. As the saying goes, "If the shoe fits, where it."]

In the Army of the Lord the same error occurs. The different units (denominations, mission societies, and non-denominational groups) may develop a pride in the distinctives of their church or fellowship. The doctrines, liturgy or methods that make a group distinctive are the points which are emphasized.

Many denominations and other groups are primarily the result of the ministry of individual men raised up by God: John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Hudson Taylor, as well as living leaders [Pastor Chuck Smith or Dr. Billy Graham for example]. These are the "subordinate commanders" who may get fierce loyalty and obedience which belong only to the Supreme Commander, Jesus Christ.

This would be strongly denied by most of us. Yet we betray our loyalties when our conversations frequently begin with ourselves or our group and its leader. Is Jesus Christ as often the subject of our opening sentences? If anyone draws this matter to our attention, we explain that our group and Christianity are synonymous, or that our leader is the most devoted follower of Jesus Christ, or that we meant Christianity, even if we did not say so. Thus each group feels it is most representative of Jesus Christ.

Strangely enough, if we were to apply the mathematical axiom "Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other," we would conclude that all the groups were nearly identical to each other and would enjoy great freedom in cooperation. This is not true. It is true that people who have a genuinely close fellowship and contact with the Supreme Commander have no trouble with each other, regardless of the groups with which they are associated.

We must guard our loyalty and keep it for the Lord Jesus Christ. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39).

The Officer's Christian Union has been raised up by God to serve Him in the spiritual war on a specific battlefield, the Armed Forces of the United States, particularly the Officers Corps. On the whole, we are operating as a separate unit with our assigned objective set before us. We have been operating this way so long is it easy to think in terms of the ministry of the OCU instead of the ministry of the whole church of Jesus Christ. We may think in terms of "every officer" instead of "every creature."

Sometimes we will encounter another Christian or Christian group on the same battlefield. Will we oppose his presence, tolerate his presence, ignore it, or unite with him to win the battle?

The question never really centers around the method of the OCU versus the method of the other group. The question is loyalty to the OCU versus loyalty to Jesus Christ. He commands both groups. For infantrymen not to accept the cooperation of tanks is not only stupid; it is disobedient to the one commander of both tanks and infantry. Our controversy is not with the other group--it is with Jesus Christ:

"John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do no forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us.'" (Mark 9:38-40).

Our determining factor is the person of Jesus Christ. The man may not be with the OCU and we may disapprove of his methods. But if we agree with his loyalty to Jesus Christ and with his message, we should cooperate.

Paul saw this very clearly when he wrote:

"Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice" (Philippeans 1:15-18).

The other fellow's motives should not be our concern. This is easy to say and to quote, but how to enter into an openhearted willingness to work with someone from another group is not easy. The problem is that we, as allied groups, are not close enough to the Supreme Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ. The solution, then, is to spend more time with Jesus Christ individually, in our group, and with other groups. This time alone or together should not be spent in thinking or talking about distinctives or differences. Nor should it be spent in accusation or introspection.

We should spend our time with Him in prayer, praise, worship, reading, studying and meditation. When we listen to Him, talk to Him, sing praise to Him and talk about Him, we will come to know Him better. We will begin to realize more of His love and power, and to follow more closely His commandments and purpose.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

[This chapter highlights the central theme of this web site, and its name, Unity in the body of Christ. It is almost as if Mr. Wilson wrote this chapter for this site, in advance. Who knows. The Lord knows all in advance, including that he would inspire me to put together this site to try to unite the body of Christ in its common purpose and objective the Lord has given us all, expressed in Matthew 28:18-20, which Jesus prophecied we Christians would successfully accomplish in Matthew 24:14. Be sure to read the following articles in this section titled "What is Evangelism?" to learn more of our assignment, on the individual, local church, national and international level. The editor.]

VIII. Communication

"An Army marches on its stomach."
Napoleon

Napoleon expressed the principle of communication very well. He knew that a front line army without food and ammunition cannot fight or move, and invites defeat. Napoleon himself lost two armies, one because he neglected this principle, and the other because the English severed his line of communication.

The official definition of "lines of communication" is "All the routes, land, water and air, which connect an operating military force with its base of operations, along which supplies must continue to move." Adequate supplies must continue to move along these routes until a campaign is over. If an army is in pursuit, its supplies must move all the faster and farther. The principles of communication is violated whenever an enemy is allowed to cut off supplies or when an army advances too far and too fast for adequate supplies to keep up.

Napoleon was defeated on both counts. In the closing years of the eighteenth century he invaded Egypt. The French fleet in the Mediterranean provided the lines of communication. Militarily speaking, Egypt was an easy conquest. But the English got word of this movement and Lord Nelson went after the French fleet. He found and sunk it near the mouth of the Nile, stranding Napoleon's army in Egypt.

Years later, having conquered most of Europe, Napoleon invaded Russia. In the middle of winter he found he had disastrously overextended his line of supply. Another army was lost through violation of the principle of communication. It is no victory to defeat the enemy tactically and then freeze and starve to death.

In the fall and winter of 1950 the United Nations forces pursued their defeated enemy up the Korean peninsula faster than adequate food, winter clothing, ammunition or engineers could follow. The victorious army arrived at the Yula River thinned out in supplies and unprepared for winter. In this state they were caught by the Chinese Communist Army, which crossed the Yula River supplied and winterized. The hitherto victorious army retreated to the 38^th parallel. Great numbers were overrun, surrounded and captured. Only the amphibious evacuation at Hungnam saved most of the surrounded army. This principle of war may not be the most important, but it still must be practiced. Without it victory is temporary, defeat ultimate.

So it is in the war with Satan. Spiritual defeat is the only reward for those who overextend their lines of communication or allow them to be severed. We in the Army of the Lord must maintain communication with our Commander-in-Chief. He is our source of supply for spiritual food, ammunition, information and orders. We have two-way communication with God: Prayer and the Word of God. Prayer is our means of communication to Him. Via prayer we make our needs known; through intercession we ask help for cooperating forces. By prayer we praise Him for victories won and confess our defeats.

I Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to "pray constantly." Spiritual communication must not be broken. The enemy endeavors to cut our supply line by the simple device of temptation. If we yield, sin results, and sin severs. The presence of sin suppresses the desire to confess defeat. We do not praise God, thank Him, or intercede for others. Confession is the only means of restoring communications.

God's means of communication with us is the Word of God. Any other spiritual communication is subject to test by this authoritative standard. He first spoke to men through the prophets and later through His Son and then through the apostles. We have these communications in the Bible, comprising all our orders for the war with Satan.

But the Bible is more than that. It is our complete source of supply. It is our spiritual food. [The connective expository sermons within this web site are there to demonstrate one of the most effective ways of feeding this spiritual food to your congregation, making them spiritually strong and healthy troops in the Army of God, so they can effectively wage the battle of evangelism locally under your immediate command. Strongly consider learning this method of teaching. John Wesley used it and started a major revival. George Muller used it, and had thousands in his local congregations. Pastor Chuck Smith and the Christian revival he started uses it, and this revival continues to spread across the United States like wildfire.] Job said, "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12). Jeremiah said, "Thy words were found and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name O Lord God of hosts" (Jeremiah 15:16).

The Word of God is our weapon, "for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

The Word of God is much more. By this means God causes faith, love, hope and strength in us. [This is in direct conjunction with the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. He is stirred up by our reading of the Word. ] In His Book He sets the standard of conduct. Through it He communicates His requirements of humility and absolute obedience, as well as many details and principles of the conduct of an army at war. He sets the bounds of fellowship among those within the camp and those without. [Be sure to read the section on 1 Corinthians for the Lord's instructions through the apostle Paul and how a local congregation is to be run and what is and isn't permitted within the congregation. God set the standard through Paul here for all of us to follow as pastors.] As a weapon it is the most telling and effective in setting captives free from the power of Satan. "You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God" (I Peter 1:23). [Jesus is the Living Word of God, whereas the Bible is the Word of God in print. Jesus within us through the indwelling Holy Spirit enables and feeds us spiritually as we read the written Word of God. Our mere physical act of reading God's Word is meaningless without the enabling of the Holy Spirit within us (I Cor. 2:9-12).]

Even this portion of our two-way line of communication can be cut and again it is sin that severs. With unconfessed sin in his life, the Christian has no desire to read, hear, study or meditate upon the Word of God. He now neither communicates with God nor receives from Him. It may have been a minor sin that severed the lines of communication; but once severed and not immediately restored, he is set up for a decisive defeat by Satan.

It is mandatory in the war with Satan that we have daily communication with our source of supply. We must receive daily from the Lord via the Word enough for all of the day's needs, and we must store up provisions of the Word of God in our hearts and heads for any future time when we have a prolonged engagement with Satan.

Daily time with the Lord is far more than our line of communication for the battle. Fellowship with Him is really our objective. We were created and redeemed to walk with God. In fact, this is the reason why we are engaged in war, so that others may be brought into fellowship with Him. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you [proclaim also to you], that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (I John 1:3).

In Korea is seemed more important to implement the principle of war called pursuit than to keep in touch with supplies. This would have been right if the Chinese Communists had not entered the war. Our lines of communication can be overextended as well as cut. It may seem more important to be out witnessing or attending meetings than it is to spend time with our source of supply, the Lord Jesus Christ. Both witnessing and attending meetings are legitimate means of combating the enemy, but they cease to be effective when we run out of spiritual power. Scripture and sound military principle warn us that decisive defeat may be the end result. If we are fortunate, friends may be standing by to evacuate and keep us from defeat.

In Luke 10:38-42 is a story that illustrates this principle. "But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her'."

Notice this: Martha was not far from the Lord nor was He far from her. The line of communication was short. Even though it was short she had still overextended. She had received nothing. She was too busy serving to receive. If we are too busy to spend time with the Lord, then we are too busy.

We are never far from Him. The Second World War extended lines halfway around the world. We have not such a problem in distance for He said, "I am with you alway" (Matthew 28:20). We can pray to Him at any time and place. We can receive from Him through His Word all the supplies, strength, and wisdom needed for daily combat.

It is not the length of our lines of communication that is important. Just the use of them!

[This web site's two main resources are in the area of prayer and Bible study (and the latter demonstrating the preaching style of connective expository sermons for the effective feeding of your respective flocks under your care). The section "What is Prayer?" deals with teaching about the many important aspects of prayer and how to pray and make it effective. The connective expository Bible studies are scattered throughout this site as an example of that incredibly powerful style of preaching. Utilizing these two main resources found on this site will help you keep the supply lines open for both you and your congregation. As a pastor, it is your primary responsibility to meet these needs of your spiritual troops under you. And the section on "What is Prayer?" also shows you how to concentrate your forces, spiritual troops, in joint cooperative prayer groups, and Pastor Cymbala in his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire shows what will be accomplished as a result of this concentration of prayer force.]

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