A battalion of paratroopers land in hostile territory. The perimeter is secured with urgent haste. “Don’t let them break through the lines!” Mel Gibson yelled.
Every segment of the perimeter is extremely important. If one part of the perimeter is under fierce attack, immediate attention must be concentrated on that part without compromising the rest of the perimeter, even if it means redistributing the strength of the lines. What’s most important is this: The enemy must never break through the lines!
Why is this of utmost importance? Once the enemy breaks through the lines, there is no longer a line to separate enemy territory from friendly territory. Friendly helicopters can no longer land to bring in more paratroopers. The use of artillery and machine guns must be abandoned, because you can no longer tell if your guns are shooting at enemies or friendlies. You can no longer differentiate between enemy fire and friendly fire. Bayonets must be fixed, hand-to-hand combat will ensue. Battle tactics are reduced to “whoever stabs first, wins.”
The American troops are getting overwhelmed by the Viet Kong. Mel Gibson assesses the battlefield situation, and grabs the radio receiver. “Broken arrow!” He yells. “I repeat, broken arrow!”
Broken Arrow means an American platoon is being overrun. An air strike will come and napalm the whole area. It is a final attempt to inflict maximum damage on the enemy upon conceding defeat. Enemies will die. Friendlies will die. We can only hope that more enemies will die than the remaining friendlies. After Broken Arrow, nothing is left, except dead bodies. All perish.
This scene depicted from “We Were Soldiers” poignantly paints the picture of what will happen if the church of Christ flinches at precisely that little point where the battle rages. That little point is the battle against the post-modernist age.
Truth is no longer accepted on the basis of antithesis, i.e. A is A, and A is not non-A. The lines of right and wrong are blurred to “everything is relative-ism.” Truth is perceived as cultural and subjective, instead of divine and objective. God is no longer our prime reality. Instead, what we perceive within our personal palate becomes what’s really real.
The post-modernist man asks, “How do we know?” And worse, “How do we know that we know?” The post-modernist society replies, “We don’t know how we know. Therefore, we don’t really know, do we?”
When post-modernism infiltrates through our lines, the church of Christ will be in big trouble. If we flinch at the very area where the battle is raging, and instead, turn our attention to strengthen the areas that are already strong, it is mere flight. It is cowardice. If the enemy has already permeated the church until we can no longer use biblical, absolute truth as our attack or defense, we are a disgrace. We are a failure. If we can no longer differentiate between enemy fire and friendly fire, then the very purpose of church’s existence has ceased – for there is no more difference.
Grievous will be the day when we concede defeat and call Broken Arrow. For all will perish.
2 comments:
Good post. True post. Necessary post.
Thanks for this entry Joshua.
Some extension to your thoughts:
The only problem is that enemies disguise themselves as comrades, friendly undercover plants. They infiltrate without the general public's awareness but arouse suspicion to those who are alert enough to detect their disguise. Until someone is brave enough to expose the fraudster, he will go about stealing info, spreading dissension and breaking down the camp's defenses. I say.. Let's ring the emergency bell and fight for the sanctity of His Word!!
Let us therefore be sober and vigilant for our enemy seeks to devour and destroy us when we are not on our guard and defense!!
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