As of Thursday evening, more than 100,000 Russian troops are lurking along the eastern and northern borders of Ukraine, while U.S. officials worry of a possible invasion.
This week the Pentagon even ordered thousands of troops to Poland, Germany and Romania to assure the United States’ NATO allies, but according to the Associate Press, President Joe Biden said those troops will not fight in Ukraine.
But Christians should.
They shouldn’t fight with the sword, as Paul says in Romans, chapters 12 and 13; they should fight with the Sword of the Spirit — a “weapon” they don’t wield with their hands, but on their knees, “praying always and with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end and with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,” Paul says in Ephesians 6:18.
Yet if Christians today lack the skill and expertise to battle against the principalities and powers behind all of man’s evil, as Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, they can learn from Christians in Korea from about 100 years ago.
In 1903, a Christian ignited a revival as he traveled to 10 mission centers to preach on prayer, and by 1906, 10,000 Koreans turned to God, Jonathan Goforth writes in his book, “When the Spirit’s Fire Swept Korea.”
However, in September of that year, a group of missionaries in Ping Yang heard about revivals in India, and humbled by the God’s power there, they decided to pray at noon for about an hour until the “greater blessing came,” Goforth wrote.
And a month later — nothing had happened.
Sobered and uncertain, one missionary recommended his colleagues resume their normal schedules, but the majority decided to pray even more.
During the next four months, Christians from different denominations united more in spirit, but the Spirit didn’t seemingly spark any more large revivals. In fact, when about 1,500 Christians assembled during the first week of 1907, “the heavens over them seemed as brass,” Goforth writes.
Suddenly, though, a church elder confessed that he had stolen $100 from a man’s estate after the man had died, but, he said, he would now return the money.
“Instantly,” Goforth states, “it was realized that the barriers had fallen.”
First, the church elder’s confession inspired a string of confessions “day after day.” A cook confessed he had cheated his employer, and then he said he would sell his home to reimburse the man ignorant to the theft.
A boy who cheated another person out of $4 walked 80 miles to ensure a missionary could send the person the amount.
One woman publicly confessed to adultery, which alarmed the missionary, who knew the husband could legally kill her now.
However, her husband, now in tears, only knelt beside his wife and forgave her.
Eventually, unbelievers came to the services out of curiosity, and some of them repented, including the chief of a gang of robbers, who then turned himself in.
Within months, about 30,000 people in Ping Yang converted.
“It paid well to have spent the several months in prayer, for when God the Holy Spirit came He accomplished more in half a day than all of us missionaries could have accomplished in half a year,” one missionary said.
Meanwhile the Spirit was moving mightily elsewhere. In Seoul, a missionary said he baptized 500 in a six-week period. West of the country’s capital, another church baptized about 2,100 people.
Goforth recognized that God doesn’t necessarily celebrate raw numbers alone. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit,” Jesus said, but Goforth heard of much fruit as he spoke with missionaries in 1907. One even said he had stopped mentioning money to local Christians because they were giving “too much now.” Another said Christians gave part of their land to help build a bigger church and wept because they couldn’t give more.
During one baptism ceremony, a missionary asked the first person to be baptized if he had memorized any Scripture. “Yes,” the man replied, and he then recited about 100 verses. The missionary actually stopped him, only to learn each of the 25 could repeat more than 100 verses.
These Christians even withstood persecution through the Spirit’s power, and that same Spirit will also overpower the spirits churning worldwide today to create unrest and war and hatred everywhere.
Yes, Christians should fight in Ukraine; they should fight everywhere. God calls them to engage in a worldwide war, one He will certainly win.
But until the day He returns to forever and finally claim the victory, He tells His soldiers to pray, repent, and sacrifice for the Kingdom — just like they once did in Korea.
baumofchet@gmail.com
