“Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." So said Martin Luther in some of his advice to Christians engaged in spiritual warfare in the society of his day in 16th-century Europe.
In our day, we are in the midst of living through a time when this truth has been displayed right in front of us – on social and other media. As many people are finding out, Charlie Kirk was quite the loyal soldier for a biblical worldview. Christians were inspired by his example. He represented Christian truth and morality on a key “front of the battlefield” where the devil is and has been attacking mightily for years – college campuses. And he engaged in the most authentic way possible – open forum question and answer sessions, engaging with anybody who wanted to engage in conversation about issues of faith, ideology, and culture. He engaged where few dare to try.
The first part of Martin Luther’s statement above reads, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest expression every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.” You see, spiritual warfare is war on many fronts, and some fronts of the battlefield are more active than others at different times of history, and in different cultural settings. And Christians are called to address those fronts of the battle where the devil is at that moment in history attacking. In our day, it is the academic settings where young people are being brainwashed in so many ways with perverse, nonsensical, and unbiblical falsehoods – such as gender confusion, along with other false philosophies, including evolution.
Martin Luther saw the revelation of the Bible to be foundational, as well as quite clear about creation. And in his pithy way, he told the skeptics, "When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days. But if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are."
Luther stressed the biblical view that the Word was God's instrument of creation; the Word which spoke things into existence, and the Word which became flesh to win our salvation. In raising the text of Scripture to the level of highest authority in all things … and using reason as a servant captive to Scripture… Luther's view was part of that view which gave birth to modern science, founded in the West by biblical creationists! And the merging of Scripture and reason, with reason captive to Scripture, is the formula for success in life and for eternal life as the Scripture promises! This was Charlie Kirk’s modus operandi. And it should be ours as well.
Martin Luther's guidance here still holds for us today. The “battle rages” on many fronts. As Christians, we should not just want to be on the sidelines, or at a point in the battle lines where our spiritual enemy is not particularly “attacking”. We are indeed “soldiers” defending and proclaiming the truth of God in a world populated by the lies of the devil. And instead of shying away from the points of attack, we are called to proclaim in love and faith the biblical truth of God and Christ precisely at the points of attack. This is what has given Charlie Kirk, his organization, and the millions of students and others inspired by his example, great purpose, joy, and comfort through the Holy Spirit, because it is the call of God to make disciples of all nations.
- Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman of Creation Moments
