Background
•God has given me a special talent for making people want to fight. I want you to leave here ready to fight - not to beat me up, but to fight the spiritual battle Christians are currently engaged in.
•I also want to share a model for our fight with you
The OPFOR.
•I served four years with the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.
•They serve as the Joint Readiness Training Center Opposing Force, also known as the Red Force
•Every Month, they deploy to the imaginary island of Aragon, where they fight against a brigade from the US Army, the Blue Force, that “invades” their home country of Cortina.
•The Geronimos, the soldiers of the RED FORCE, are all PARATROOPERS , elite soldiers who have volunteered for the hazardous duty of parachuting into enemy held territory to take key terrain and defeat key enemy units.
•Paratroopers are typically tougher, faster, stronger, more motivated, and more lethal than other soldiers.
•The Red Force Geronimos live up to that reputation. They love to fight the Blue Force and have absolutely no fear of the Blue Force.
•The Red Force are usually outnumbered ten to one, face a technologically superior enemy, and are encumbered with several other unique constraints, but they use their tenets of Field Craft, Decentralized Operations, Marksmanship, and Battle Drills to achieve decisive victories every month.
•Each Red Force soldier knows his commander’s intent and is able to achieve that without any additional information.
•They are a highly motivated force that does not tolerate soldiers who are not. They are, in my opinion, the Army’s best.
The BLUFOR.
•There is a different brigade every month that fight against the Red Force as the Blue force.
•The Blue Force hates coming to JRTC and facing the Red Force.
•They know what is going to happen – they are doomed to be miserable and unsuccessful.
•The only time they achieve any victory is when the Red Force allows them to.
•The Blufor have some problems with their motivation.
The Difference.
•All of the soldiers from the Blue Force and the Red Force are from the same Army, but there is a tremendous difference between the two.
•The Red Force are confident they can achieve victory if they have one surviving soldier on the battlefield – as long as that soldier can still communicate with his higher headquarters.
•Observers and Blue Force alike constantly remark on the Red Force’s tendency to march to the guns and kill their enemy.
•If they hear a comrade under fire, they rush to his aid and overwhelm their foe.
•They depend on this to achieve victory because they are outnumbered.
•The Blue Force, generally measures success by simply surviving the exercise - failing to realize that their best chance to survive is to defeat the Red Force.
Our War.
Fellow Christians, we are at war and have been long before September 11. Here is an update.
Enemy Situation.
•The enemy has invaded the traditional Christian stronghold of America and is waging an all out assault. His agents are using direct action and subversion to fight this war.
•The enemy knows our every move, and will not be surprised.
•He is capable of anything if left unchallenged.
•From some captured documents, here is the enemy course of action in his own words -
I want to gain control of the most powerful nation in the world and delude the people’s minds into thinking that their prosperity came from man's effort, instead of divine blessing;
I will subvert the churches first beginning with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: "Do as you please."
To the youth I would whisper, "The Bible is a myth."
I will dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional.
I will attack the traditional family and make divorce acceptable, easy, and even fashionable.
I will promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the other way around.
I will persuade people that God is irrelevant and out of date, and that morals are for the naïve.
I would convince them that man made God instead of the other way around and convince people that government can take the place of the church.
I will teach all to look to government instead of God for answers.
I will dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue.
I will convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership.
And then I will organize; I will come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I will get sports heroes to advertise them.
I will peddle narcotics to whom I can; sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction; I will tranquilize the rest with pills.
I will have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn is consumed.
With promises of higher ratings I will have media fanning the flames.
I will take God and His ethics out of the schools, where even the mention of them is grounds for a lawsuit.
I will encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions: let those run wild. Within a decade prisons will be overflowing.
I'd designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts and I'd get the preachers to say, "She's right." Thus, I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the Houses of Congress.
And in His own churches I will substitute psychology for religion and deify science.
I will make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.
I will take from those who have earned and give it to those who want it, until I kill the incentive of the ambitious.
I will warn against extremes: in hard work, in patriotism, and in moral conduct. (I remember that this country, this Christian stronghold, was founded by extremists, who risked everything to secure freedom for future generations.)
I will make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent machines to make it convenient.
I will cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals are valued more that human beings.
I will get control of the media, so that every night I can numb the minds of millions. People will read my words in newspapers every day but hardly ever read God’s word in the Bible.
I will compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and movie screens, and I will call it art.
I will convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few of my agents calling themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as "politically correct,” just as I did in Nazi Germany where the term was “socially correct”.
Friendly Situation.
•There are a lot of friendly forces that refuse to continue the fight or are no longer capable of continuing.
Towns and states that choose to display the Ten Commandments are being hauled to court.
The Boy Scouts are under assault because their traditional view of moral conduct is not “tolerant” enough for the politically correct.
Those who choose to display our national motto of, “In God We Trust” are being threatened by those who twist the words of our Constitution.
Christians are being denied the right to pray at school, at football games, at graduation ceremonies, or on public property. We are losing Christian strongholds across the country.
The situation is critical - it is time to march to the sound of the guns.
•Technically, Christians are outnumbered, but as Ovid said, “We two form a multitude.” Ovid did not know Jesus, so he did not know the full truth of that statement.
•Some Christians are still scared to join the fight, but God tells us in the Bible 365 times, one time for each day of the year, Do not be afraid.
•Higher Headquarters has directed First United Methodist Church of Leesville recommit to this fight immediately.
Mission
Defeat the enemy on the spiritual front and maintain the United States of America as a Christian stronghold.
Concept
We are called to form our own Red Force
Red for the Red Royal Blood of Jesus
•During a tactical airborne operation, paratroopers fill a C130 airplane as they prepare to go into battle
•This morning, our church is the C-130 – a “JC-130” and all of you who are willing to perform hazardous duty are “prayer – a – troopers” for Jesus Christ
•The Red Force is outnumbered, so at every opportunity we must train our force to use our primary Field Manual and like the JRTC Red Force use our tenets to achieve victory –
-Field Craft – how to survive in the world without becoming worldly
-Decentralized Operations – so you know what to do when you are the only Prayer-a-trooper in your area of operations
-Marksmanship –witness effectively and bring others onto the team
-Battle Drills – learn what the Devil is trying to do and how you can maneuver to defeat him.
-We must have our mission essential equipment
-Instead of a parachute, we will have faith
-Instead of a physical weapon, God has armed us with his strength.
-Just like an actual tactical mission, we have troopers of all different experience on board this aircraft this morning.
--Novice troopers who are new in their faith and maybe a little nervous about what this duty requires of them
--Senior rated troopers who have done this before and know how to prepare themselves for a successful mission.
--There are a few master rated prayer a troopers who have been on many missions before, they’ve seen it all, and know exactly how to use their equipment to defeat the evil one.
-The Army has paratroopers wear badges that identify what level of expertise we possess.
-Jesus does not have us wear badges, but he expects us to carry ourselves in a way that others can tell that we are advanced Prayer-a-troopers.
-Senior and master rated troopers are responsible to look out for the novice troopers. Make sure they are ready for the mission.
-During any airborne operation, there is an airborne commander and a jumpmaster team who are responsible for ensuring that all jumpers leave the aircraft safely and ready to accomplish their mission.
-That team is composed of one primary jumpmaster, sometimes an assistant jumpmaster, and at least one safety.
-Jesus is the Prayer-borne commander.
-This morning I am your primary jumpmaster
-Church Leaders, you will be the safeties.
-During an actual mission, any jumper who needs assistance waves his hand in the air to get the safety’s attention. The same rule applies today.
-I have been talking with the Airborne Commander – the mission is a go
•There are seven jump commands. Take all of your jump commands from the primary jumpmaster.
•Your first jump command
-GET READY –
--During a tactical operation, troopers free themselves of their seat belts when given this command.
--Today, we all need to free ourselves of anything that may restrain us in service to Jesus.
-STAND UP
--Paratroopers are free of their restraints at this point. They stand up and prepare to follow their leaders out of the aircraft. It is at this point troopers get their blood pumping for the mission.
--We as Prayer-a-troopers need to be bold and stand up for Jesus. We need to follow our Christian Leaders. Let us show the same kind of courage spiritually that many of our fellow Americans have already shown physically in the course of our conflict with the Evil one.
--If a trooper won’t stand up, obviously he will not accomplish his mission - he is a jump refusal and is of no value to the cause.
-HOOK UP
--Upon this command, PARA-troopers secure themselves to the “anchor-line” cable by their static lines – this is what deploys their main parachute and delivers them to the field of battle.
--We need to secure ourselves in our faith so that we are ready to leave this church – our JC-130 – safely and ready to do battle. We can secure ourselves in the knowledge that Jesus died for us and is ready for us to join his red force.
--John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
--That is a pretty firm anchor.
-CHECK STATIC LINES
--Upon this command, each PARA-trooper traces his static line from point of attachment all the way to their parachute and they assume a tight grip of the static line
--Then every jumper checks the jumper in front of him
--Then the safeties check every jumper the same way and hook up any jumper who did not initially hook up correctly –every jumper is checked three times. This is necessary because the cost of improper hook up is extremely high.
--Before you leave our JC-130 today, ensure that you are secure in your faith - the price of not being secure in your faith is even higher.
--Troopers, if you know that one of your fellow Prayer-a-troopers is not secure, let him know before he exits and help him hook up properly.
--Safeties, Church Leaders, check these troopers and ensure they are ready to leave the aircraft.
--CHECK EQUIPMENT
--At this command, each paratrooper checks his rig to ensure that each piece of equipment he needs to accomplish his mission is secured to him for a safe ride to the ground and will be available to him when he hits the ground.
--Each trooper is responsible for this check individually.
--Fellow Christians, are you leaving this JC-130 today with all the equipment you need to accomplish the mission Jesus has for you. This is your responsibility – perform the check.
--SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK
--At this point, all of the PARA – troopers acknowledge that they are ready to exit. In a C-130, the last jumper would initiate the response by slapping the jumper in front of him on the fourth point of contact and sounding off with a thunderous “OK!”
--When the first jumper receives the tap, he looks his jumpmaster in the eye and says, “All OK, JUMPMASTER!”
--On the JC-130, if you are ready to exit and start doing battle, just say AMEN!
-GO
--When the green jump light turns on, PARA-troopers receive the last jump command, “GO.”
--At this point, all checks are complete and the troopers are leaving, ready or not. Staying on board the aircraft is not an option.
--As they exit the aircraft, the world outside greets them with a tremendous amount of turbulence. The most dangerous part of most airborne operations is when a jumper first exits the aircraft.
--As you leave the quiet confines of our JC-130 today, you will encounter turbulence. If things start to go wrong, fall back on your training as a “Prayer-a-trooper” to see you through.
--Mark 16:15
-Jesus said to his eleven disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”- He had only eleven, because, Judas had already been a jump refusal.
Coordinating Instructions
•The most important part of your mission begins when you leave this aircraft.
•If you see fellow troopers on the drop zone, give them encouragement. RO 1:11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.
•If you are injured on the drop zone and unable to continue, there will be no medics, but if you call on Jesus, he can restore you to duty instantly.
•Maintain constant communications with higher.
•Report back here for sustained, Prayer-a-trooper training, at least once a week.
•As you leave the aircraft today, make eye to eye contact with the safety, Brother Chris, when you leave the door.
Scripture
Psalms 18
32: It is God Who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
33: He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
34: He trains my hands for battle: my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35: You give me your shield of victory and your right hand sustains me:
36: you broaden the path beneath me; so that my ankles do not turn.
37: I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38: I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
39: You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
40: You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.
41: They cried for help, but there was no one to save them - to the Lord, but he did not answer.
42: I beat them as fine dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets.
Ephesians 6
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor 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.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
2 Timothy
1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
