In this post, I am writing an analogy that I use sometimes when I teach about the the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 Just like all analogies, it is imperfect.\u00a0 But it seems to help people understand how some spiritual principles come together, and it also seems to get people fired up.\u00a0 It is inspired by a post I read several years ago on a blog that no longer seems to be active.\u00a0 This army analogy is basically my remake of a portion of that post.<\/p>\n
Imagine that you are a soldier in the midst of a war that began before you were born.\u00a0 You heard about the war as a teenager, and you decided to enlist.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You were provided with a training manual and you were told to read it.\u00a0 You were also instructed to attend training once a week for 90 minutes on Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n
In the manual, you read that your army has weaponry that is capable of overwhelming the soldiers in the enemy army.\u00a0 The more you read it, the more excited you become.<\/p>\n
However, in your training session each week, you are never taught about your weapons, or about how to fight your enemy.\u00a0 Instead, you are taught how to be nice to people, so that the general in your army won’t become angry with you.\u00a0 Your general, it seems, is very angry with just about everyone.<\/p>\n
You are also taught that sometimes the general wants you to win, and sometimes he wants you to lose.\u00a0 Sometimes he wants you to die in an accident, or get sick, or maybe he wants your children to get sick.\u00a0 You are taught that your general somehow becomes famous when his soldiers get defeated, or run out of supplies, or run into misfortune.<\/p>\n
This doesn’t seem to make sense to you.\u00a0 It seems very odd that a general engaged in a war would want to bring harm to his own soldiers.\u00a0 However, you quickly learn that it is viewed as inappropriate, or possibly even treasonous, to question the validity of the things you are hearing.<\/p>\n
Any time that you start asking questions about the manual, everyone around you tells you that the amazing weapons you read about in there are no longer available because they are no longer needed.\u00a0 The way that the battles are fought now is that you allow the enemy to attack you, and then you attempt to send messages to the general.\u00a0 If he wants you to win, then he will come and fight the enemy for you.\u00a0 And if he wants you to lose, then your job is to just take a beating for the glory of your general and his mysterious strategies.\u00a0 But He won’t tell you which one…you are left to figure that out on your own.<\/p>\n
You are taught that you should never expect any communication from the general, outside of reading the manual.\u00a0 This is because during the early days of your time in army, you were also taught that the general stopped communicating a long time ago when the manual was written.<\/p>\n
In spite of this fact, you were also told to always send letters to the general every day.\u00a0 In your letters, you need to tell him about all of your mistakes, and how helpless you are, how you can’t do anything.\u00a0 You are also allow to ask for patience and endurance so that you can possibly survive somehow.\u00a0 But you should never expect to receive a personal response.\u00a0 You can just hope that he is in a good mood when he reads your letters, and that he doesn’t send any harm your way.<\/p>\n
From the people you talk to, it seems that the main goal of a soldier is to study and acquire knowledge.\u00a0 It is especially important that you study all of the instructions in the manual.\u00a0 You need to memorize them and study them and talk about them with other soldiers…and so on.\u00a0 But you find this puzzling, because according to everyone around you, a lot of the stuff in the manual is no longer available or applicable.<\/p>\n
You continue on like this for some time, but something is always bothering you about all of it.\u00a0 Something just doesn’t seem right.\u00a0 This is not what you were expecting when you enlisted.\u00a0 Your time in the army basically consists of listening to people talk and give lectures, and reading books about different ways to stay on the good side of the general.<\/p>\n
But then one day you hear about some other soldiers.\u00a0 There are actually soldiers out there that train more than 90 minutes per week on Sundays.\u00a0 They train every day!\u00a0 And not only that, but they also seem to be having some success in their battles, which is very unusual based on everything you have been learning.<\/p>\n
You become very curious.\u00a0 The excitement that you felt long ago at the time of your enlistment begins to bubble up inside of you.<\/p>\n
You begin researching these soldiers.\u00a0 It seems that they are frowned upon by most of the people around you…especially the really smart people that give the lectures and write the books.\u00a0 But you keep on digging anyway.<\/p>\n
You begin to learn some interesting things about these soldiers.\u00a0 First of all, they claim to receive communication and instruction from the general on a daily basis.\u00a0 Actually, it seems like they depend on it. The communications and instructions are very instrumental in winning their battles.<\/p>\n
Secondly, they have found some of the weapons mentioned in the manual and have started learning to use them.\u00a0 Since there is hardly anyone around that has experience with the weapons, the soldiers make a lot of mistakes, and sometimes there are accidents and people are harmed.<\/p>\n
But these soldiers don’t give up.\u00a0 They keep learning, practicing, and training.\u00a0 They begin to see some victories in their battles, in spite of all of the obstacles and mistakes and setbacks.<\/p>\n
The people around you keep telling you to stop your research.\u00a0 They have many bad things to say about these soldiers you are researching.\u00a0 They call them ignorant or reckless, or even accuse them of working for the enemy (even though they are winning more battles than anyone around you ever has).<\/p>\n
You finally get the nerve to contact these “rogue” soldiers and attend one of their training sessions.\u00a0 They explain to you that all of the weapons and equipment from the manual are still just as effective as ever, and they help you lots of ways.\u00a0 So you ask them where you can find some of these weapons.\u00a0 To your surprise, they show you that they are right there in your backpack that you received shortly after you enlisted.<\/p>\n
The soldiers show you enough to help you get started, but they say the best training is on the battlefield, not in the classroom.\u00a0 They don’t know how to use all of the stuff in the backpack, but they are learning more and more every day.<\/p>\n
They show you how to use your walkie talkie that allows two-way communication with headquarters, rather than just sending letters and leaving voicemails with no response.\u00a0 You also learn that you don’t have to go through a commanding officer…you have a direct line.\u00a0\u00a0 And in fact, you don’t even have a commanding officer among these soldiers.\u00a0 Instead, other soldiers provide you with training in areas of their expertise, with the goal of showing you how to win.<\/p>\n
Then the soldiers tell you something that makes you extremely happy and extremely sad at the same time.\u00a0 They tell you that the general is not the way that you were taught.\u00a0 The general always wants his soldiers to win every battle.\u00a0 He provides plenty of supplies for everyone, but almost nobody takes advantage of it.<\/p>\n
You learn that the enemy has been sending in spies to bring deception and tell lies about the general.\u00a0 The spies are the ones that bring injuries and diseases and steal your food and your supplies, and then they blame it on “the general’s mysterious strategy.”\u00a0 In this way, they have been able to continually attack without any resistance.\u00a0 But you decide that is not going to happen any more.<\/p>\n
You go back to your training manual that you have been reading and studying all these years, and it seems like it is brand new all over again.\u00a0 Now, it really does read more like an instruction manual than a history book.\u00a0 You begin training in a new way.\u00a0 You still read and study, but now you go out and use the tools and weapons according to the manual, and you take the battle to the enemy rather than waiting on him to attack you.<\/p>\n
You begin to experience some victories, and also some defeats.\u00a0 You learn more each day, and become more and more effective.\u00a0 You find out about new pieces of equipment, and you also start recruiting others to come and join you.\u00a0 Your days become less about listening to lectures and reading books, and more about learning to communicate with the general, putting your manual and your weapons to good use, and defeating the enemy.<\/p>\n
This is where the analogy ends, and real life begins.\u00a0 I hope this inspires you to seek the truth, even if it means letting go of some long-held traditions.\u00a0 God, our “general” is not distant and irritable.\u00a0 He is present, loving, gracious, kind, and generous.\u00a0 He has already given you all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and He is ready and willing to work with you to continue the mission of Jesus…namely healing and rescuing all that are oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38).\u00a0 The battle is already won, but we get to enforce the victory.\u00a0 Learn how to cooperate with God and use the tools and power<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that He has given you.\u00a0 If this is new information to you, would suggest taking a look at any of these posts next:<\/p>\n How Jesus Did Miracles<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Introduction to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Understanding God\u2019s Will<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Healing is in God\u2019s Character and Nature<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n