The Lord's Army

As a child growing up in Festac, we used to sing this song:

Are you in the Lord's Army? Yes, sir. (2ce)

I will never steal from my momma's pot

Beat up my younger ones

Lie to my daddy

I will never upset the neighborhood

'Cos I'm in the Lord's Army. Yes, sir.

As a grown man, I wish the gamut of my problems found restrictive definition in the above list: stealing from my momma's pot; beating up my younger ones; lying to my daddy, and upsetting the neighborhood. I mean, I don't even have a mother, let alone a mother's pot from which to steal. And don't even get me started on the possibility of lying to "my daddy." Hello! And upsetting the neighborhood? Come on, people! 

But you can understand a child's simplicity and naivete. Except for maybe the children forced into concentration camps at Auschwitz and Cambodia, and the gutters of Kigali, most children pretty much busy themselves with such trivial stuff as the song contains. Grown ups like us - we know better. Being in the Lord's Army for us means much more. It means struggling to survive in spite of difficulties that are so great that they simply squelch the weak. Life is a struggle. And in this struggle called life, only the bravest succeed. Everyone knows that. There is no room for weakness; there is no room for mistakes. We've got to keep moving, hacking down the obstacles along the way. The songwriter says: "They compassed me about like bees; they blazed like a fire among thorns, but in the Lord's name I hacked them down" (Psalm 118:12).

Who are "they," though? Who or what compassed us about like bees and blazed like a thorn fire? Who did, or should, we continually hack down? The enemies of the Lord. That's what soldiers in the army do - any army. They hack down the enemies of the master. Especially when the enemies compass them about like bees and blaze like thorn fires. The enemies of the Lord in any case are not physical, not actual persons. So no, sorry to burst your bubble - this is not a post about going out there to upset people. I mean, even children know never to "upset the neighborhood," when in the Lord's Army. St Paul says in this regard: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the high places" (Eph. 6:12). Our enemies are the evil spirits that tempt us with every negative emotion there is: insecurity, depression, loneliness, boredom, dissipation, anger, envy, greed, licentiousness, biliousness, hate - every negative emotion. These are the enemies that compass us about like bees and blaze like a fire among thorns; these are the principalities and powers in the high places. These evil spirits, and the negative emotions they occasion - these are the enemies of the Lord. But how do we know this? You see, the Lord says: "I know the plans I have in mind for you; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope." The evil spirits and the negative emotions they bring, in any case, want us to have sorrow, and disaster, and despair - the exact opposite of the things that God wants for us. And so they are inimical to the will of God. Ergo, they are the enemies of the Lord. And as members of the Lord's Army, we have to fight them. 

Human beings are never the enemy. Even when it seems that someone is upsetting you, it is actually the evil spirit operating in the person that is doing the upsetting. You must learn to separate the evil spirit operating in the person from the actual person. Fight the evil spirit. Fight the good fight. But how? You have to apply Descartes' three-step method for dealing with negative emotions. Oh, how I dream of someday giving a three-hour workshop on this method. I long to demonstrate in person to people attending a one-on-one event like a workshop how to effectively apply the method. Anyway. Another thing to do is sacrifice. This is another powerful method for getting rid of negative emotions, especially loss. I promise myself this: If God keeps me alive and makes me a priest, I will write a comprehensive book - probably 450 pages long - on sacrifice. I hope I will get a publisher. I will also write a workshop to go with it, and then take the book on the road in order to give the workshop to people. We all need to be people of sacrifice. The bible says in this regard: "You have made us (O God) a population of priests" (Rev. 5:10). And what do priests do? They sacrifice. The technique of sacrifice will help you to get rid of those pesky negative emotions. Please pray for me so that I can become a priest and start my spiritual writing and workshop ministry. Ask yourself: If you heard I was giving a spiritual workshop on sacrifice in say, Toronto - would you attend? If your answer was yes, then pray each day for God to make me succeed in the seminary. I long to begin to help people with the spiritual techniques I hold within myself, techniques that  have helped me to cope with a relatively difficult life.

So, to wrap up, what have we discussed today? We have said that we all are in the Lord's Army. It is an army of people that are poised to wrestle against evil spirits and the negative emotions they bring. These negative emotions can be overcome by applying Descartes' three-step method, and by sacrificing. And that reminds me - and by prayer too. Don't forget prayer. MC Hammer says: "We need to pray just to make it today." I couldn't have said it better myself. God bless MC Hammer.