HOW TO AVOID CIVIL WAR
The United States has had its share of difficulties and controversies in its nearly 250-year history. None of them have been as costly in terms of blood and treasure as the catastrophic convulsion that lasted from 1861 to 1865 known as the Civil War. According to official records, over 618,000 military deaths occurred. However, recent scholarship based on demographic trends suggests that as many as 750,000 military deaths occurred. This does not include the civilian casualties that inevitably happened due to the war. Regardless of which figure is accurate, the Civil War is by far the deadliest of US wars by an order of magnitude.
The number of deaths alone does not take into consideration the devastation that happened to major cities, entire regions, and in the South as a whole. Wounds remained long after the guns fell silent.
Observers who have studied the war from a distance have nearly always asked the question, “Why couldn’t this devastation have been avoided?” The answer or answers to that dilemma cannot be reduced to a simple statement. In broad terms, two geographic regions, North and South, could not or would not agree about fundamental issues. They both came to the point where they would rather fight and die than change. And fight and die they did—by the hundreds of thousands.
The reason this concerns me now is that perhaps at no point in my lifetime have I seen such division and dissension among entire cohorts of American citizens. Keep in mind that I have lived through the turbulent 1960s and 70s, involving the Cold War, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, assassinations, Watergate, a burgeoning drug culture, and other upheavals that made it seem as though the country was coming apart with no hope of restoration. One of the factors that I believe preserved us as a nation was a mighty revival that started predominantly among young people, colloquially known as the Jesus movement.
Many thousands of lives were transformed by the gospel being preached, heard, received, and lived out in the everyday activities of ordinary people. They may not have all been eloquent in their explanation of what had happened to them, but they were sincere in their beliefs and in the practice of their faith. They went throughout the country with the message of God’s love and mercy. They invaded every stratum of society. They brought transformational change with them everywhere they went.
Today, even though the battle lines are different than they were in the nineteenth century, or even in the 60s and 70s, the hazards are just as acute. If you ask people to identify the problem, you will hear a multitude of responses, but I believe all of them fall short. The issue is not natives or newcomers, right or left, the haves or the have nots, socialism or capitalism, the rich or poor, or any other such distinction that can be named.
As always, when looking for concerns and their causes, we must be willing to probe deeper and go beyond the immediate issues that make up most of the headlines. The heart of the human problem, now as it has ever been, is the problem of the human heart. Unless and until individuals created in God’s image will be reconciled to the One who made them and gave them purpose, no amount of human effort, regardless of how well-intentioned, will cause peace to prevail among men.
However, being born again, saved, acknowledging Jesus as Savior, having a new life, or however people may characterize it is not the end of anything. Rather, it is the beginning of an amazing opportunity to influence their world as an ambassador of the kingdom of God. Many believers think that having their ticket punched for heaven is all God wants or expects of them. There can be no doubt that going to heaven far exceeds the alternative, but God did not save anyone just so they could go to church.
We all have a commission to fulfill, and it is found in Mark 16:15-18: “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The central tenet of this commission is to preach the gospel. That does not mean that you must quit your job and stand on a street corner preaching. It means that you are authorized, empowered, and expected to use every opportunity God affords you to proclaim the good news of the gospel to those around you.
Regarding the gospel, Paul said this in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Only God can reach into the cavern of a person’s soul and fill it with His love and mercy. The way He has chosen to accomplish that is by them hearing the good news proclaimed by someone who believes it and has experienced it themselves.
Here it is, in five simple statements:
Here is why this transformative truth is so important—because if people’s hearts are not changed, their minds will not be changed, either. They will continue to believe what they have always believed, and they will behave the way they have always behaved. As a result, the fault lines between family members, people groups, and nations will become more and more pronounced and dangerous. The only way to avoid civil war is to proclaim the gospel from a heart of faith and a life of devotion to God.
I recommend three strategies to help those you know and with whom you interact to receive the life and light of God and to renounce the darkness that threatens to overwhelm them.
The first of these three points involves not just the commission we have been given, but the command we must obey. That command is encapsulated in the words of Jesus from John 15:17: “This I command you: that you love one another.”
We must love people enough to tell them the truth. If we believe, as Jesus plainly stated in John 8:32, that the truth a person knows will set them free, the opposite of that is also true—the lies that people believe will keep them in bondage. Regardless of how attractively the lie may be packaged and presented, the final result of that lie is not life, but death.
Jesus died so that everyone could be set free. He loves everyone, and He proved it by dying on the cross. However, the gospel is not an inclusive message. It is an exclusive message by design. Jesus did not say there were many ways to the Father—He said there was only one way, and it is through Him (see John 14:6). This is the truth of the gospel message. People can accept it or reject it, but they cannot avoid making that choice. If they say they don’t have to make such a choice, they are declaring that they are making their choice—the wrong one, which will have devastating eternal consequences. This is not hate speech or unloving rhetoric—it is the truth.
Second, pray for those who do not receive the message of life and hope through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. In the parable of the sower in Mark 4, Jesus said there were four kinds of ground, which represents people’s hearts. However, just because someone’s heart may be stony ground or thorny ground in one encounter doesn’t mean their heart will remain that way. The next time you see them their heart may have been prepared to receive what you have to share with them. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the effect of believing prayer on their behalf.
Third, forgive those who not only do not receive you, but who use your efforts to reach them with the gospel to lie about you, slander you, falsely accuse you, mistreat you, reject you, or ridicule you. Forgive them—release them from the penalty of the maltreatment to which they may be subjecting you. Ask God to open their eyes to the truth, that they might see clearly that the path they are on leads to disaster and death. God’s mercy has been extended to us in infinite measure—surely as His representatives we can extend His mercy to those who oppose us.
I plan to share more with you about this and related subjects in the months to come. Until then, my prayer for you is that you experience the most victorious resurrection season of your life!
Yours for the Harvest,
Dr. Rod Parsley
Founder & General Overseer
The number of deaths alone does not take into consideration the devastation that happened to major cities, entire regions, and in the South as a whole. Wounds remained long after the guns fell silent.
Observers who have studied the war from a distance have nearly always asked the question, “Why couldn’t this devastation have been avoided?” The answer or answers to that dilemma cannot be reduced to a simple statement. In broad terms, two geographic regions, North and South, could not or would not agree about fundamental issues. They both came to the point where they would rather fight and die than change. And fight and die they did—by the hundreds of thousands.
The reason this concerns me now is that perhaps at no point in my lifetime have I seen such division and dissension among entire cohorts of American citizens. Keep in mind that I have lived through the turbulent 1960s and 70s, involving the Cold War, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, assassinations, Watergate, a burgeoning drug culture, and other upheavals that made it seem as though the country was coming apart with no hope of restoration. One of the factors that I believe preserved us as a nation was a mighty revival that started predominantly among young people, colloquially known as the Jesus movement.
Many thousands of lives were transformed by the gospel being preached, heard, received, and lived out in the everyday activities of ordinary people. They may not have all been eloquent in their explanation of what had happened to them, but they were sincere in their beliefs and in the practice of their faith. They went throughout the country with the message of God’s love and mercy. They invaded every stratum of society. They brought transformational change with them everywhere they went.
Today, even though the battle lines are different than they were in the nineteenth century, or even in the 60s and 70s, the hazards are just as acute. If you ask people to identify the problem, you will hear a multitude of responses, but I believe all of them fall short. The issue is not natives or newcomers, right or left, the haves or the have nots, socialism or capitalism, the rich or poor, or any other such distinction that can be named.
As always, when looking for concerns and their causes, we must be willing to probe deeper and go beyond the immediate issues that make up most of the headlines. The heart of the human problem, now as it has ever been, is the problem of the human heart. Unless and until individuals created in God’s image will be reconciled to the One who made them and gave them purpose, no amount of human effort, regardless of how well-intentioned, will cause peace to prevail among men.
However, being born again, saved, acknowledging Jesus as Savior, having a new life, or however people may characterize it is not the end of anything. Rather, it is the beginning of an amazing opportunity to influence their world as an ambassador of the kingdom of God. Many believers think that having their ticket punched for heaven is all God wants or expects of them. There can be no doubt that going to heaven far exceeds the alternative, but God did not save anyone just so they could go to church.
We all have a commission to fulfill, and it is found in Mark 16:15-18: “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The central tenet of this commission is to preach the gospel. That does not mean that you must quit your job and stand on a street corner preaching. It means that you are authorized, empowered, and expected to use every opportunity God affords you to proclaim the good news of the gospel to those around you.
Regarding the gospel, Paul said this in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Only God can reach into the cavern of a person’s soul and fill it with His love and mercy. The way He has chosen to accomplish that is by them hearing the good news proclaimed by someone who believes it and has experienced it themselves.
Here it is, in five simple statements:
- Jesus loves you
- Jesus died for you
- Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus can change your life (I know He can, because He changed mine!)
- Eternity is real, and Jesus purchased a home for you in heaven
Here is why this transformative truth is so important—because if people’s hearts are not changed, their minds will not be changed, either. They will continue to believe what they have always believed, and they will behave the way they have always behaved. As a result, the fault lines between family members, people groups, and nations will become more and more pronounced and dangerous. The only way to avoid civil war is to proclaim the gospel from a heart of faith and a life of devotion to God.
I recommend three strategies to help those you know and with whom you interact to receive the life and light of God and to renounce the darkness that threatens to overwhelm them.
The first of these three points involves not just the commission we have been given, but the command we must obey. That command is encapsulated in the words of Jesus from John 15:17: “This I command you: that you love one another.”
We must love people enough to tell them the truth. If we believe, as Jesus plainly stated in John 8:32, that the truth a person knows will set them free, the opposite of that is also true—the lies that people believe will keep them in bondage. Regardless of how attractively the lie may be packaged and presented, the final result of that lie is not life, but death.
Jesus died so that everyone could be set free. He loves everyone, and He proved it by dying on the cross. However, the gospel is not an inclusive message. It is an exclusive message by design. Jesus did not say there were many ways to the Father—He said there was only one way, and it is through Him (see John 14:6). This is the truth of the gospel message. People can accept it or reject it, but they cannot avoid making that choice. If they say they don’t have to make such a choice, they are declaring that they are making their choice—the wrong one, which will have devastating eternal consequences. This is not hate speech or unloving rhetoric—it is the truth.
Second, pray for those who do not receive the message of life and hope through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. In the parable of the sower in Mark 4, Jesus said there were four kinds of ground, which represents people’s hearts. However, just because someone’s heart may be stony ground or thorny ground in one encounter doesn’t mean their heart will remain that way. The next time you see them their heart may have been prepared to receive what you have to share with them. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the effect of believing prayer on their behalf.
Third, forgive those who not only do not receive you, but who use your efforts to reach them with the gospel to lie about you, slander you, falsely accuse you, mistreat you, reject you, or ridicule you. Forgive them—release them from the penalty of the maltreatment to which they may be subjecting you. Ask God to open their eyes to the truth, that they might see clearly that the path they are on leads to disaster and death. God’s mercy has been extended to us in infinite measure—surely as His representatives we can extend His mercy to those who oppose us.
I plan to share more with you about this and related subjects in the months to come. Until then, my prayer for you is that you experience the most victorious resurrection season of your life!
Yours for the Harvest,
Dr. Rod Parsley
Founder & General Overseer