Soldiers Forced To Buy Their Own Ammunition! Are you outraged? How can this be? How can the American people allow such a thing to happen in a rich country such as the United States?
Relax, our government is not doing this, but the Church of Jesus Christ is!
Do you remember the beginning of the Iraq wars? Many soldiers were injured or killed due to lack of proper protection for themselves and their vehicles. The American people were outraged and the government began to make immediate improvements to better supply our soldiers in harm’s way. So what am I talking about? I am talking about American Christian Soldiers: Missionaries to other countries!
So many missionaries today are being forced to buy their own supplies and buy their own way to the mission field. However, this is nothing new, sadly it is the norm! I have read the history of such missionaries as Hudson Taylor, missionary to China in late 1800 and George Muller, German missionary to England in the late 1800’s. They were both forced to live in extreme hardship due to the lack of support for their missions.
Can you imagine seeing our brave American soldiers coming home and delivering pizzas or doing odd jobs to go and purchase their own weapons to go back and fight for our American freedom and liberties? The American people would never stand for such atrocities as this. But Christianity has allowed this to continue for centuries. Why is this acceptable to the Church of Jesus Christ, where the greatest example of giving is ultimately shown by our God and Lord Jesus Christ when he was sent to die for us on the cross?
John 3;16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
If you never thought of this, Jesus was a missionary to our world. He came from Heaven to a very hostile and violent world. It is the same today as missionaries go to front lines in this world, where there are very violent and hostile people around them. Many are being sent not only to hostile environments, but they are also inadequately supplied to do what God has called them to do.
The “spiritual Christian” at this point might say: “God shall supply all your needs.” While this is true in a general sense, I feel that this is not God’s intent nor desire. I have seen missionaries having to take sabbaticals just to go home in order to earn enough money to spend in their mission field. I have also witnessed other missionaries using their life savings or their retirement checks to offset their lack of support. Then there is the worst: many Christian missionaries give up after just ONE tour of duty! How sad is that, but it is a reality being played over and over on the mission field, even though they come from the richest Christian nation in the world! I do not believe this is God’s desire or intent!
I want to confess before I go any further, I was the same as most Christians are today. Unaware of this horrible condition, or worse yet, I found that I was just not paying attention to the Christian world around me.
I was a youth pastor for over 18 years in 2 small independent churches. Every year our churches would be visited by missionaries and tell us of their work in foreign fields. My heart would go out to them and I would always give in the offering basket. But after they were gone, I simply went back to my work and soon forgot them in my thoughts, prayers and my WALLET!
I was no different! As I rationalized, I wasn’t rich and I was barely making it just taking care of my own family and my own bills. This did not stop me from buying coffee every morning at the local convenient store, or buying lunches, renting movies, taking my family out or ordering pizza every Friday. But, when you add this normal lifestyle (luxury) up, how much did I spend a month not even considering how I could help keep a family on the mission field.
Adding up this expense, I calculated that I was spending $31.25 a month. That was for $1.25 coffee, what does a cup of coffee cost today? Now add up the movie rentals and other weekly habits we just take for granted. I realize now that I was simply not paying enough attention to our Lord’s call to each and every one of us. I was no different than many Christians today that also attend church every Sunday. Then God got my attention!
How did God get My Attention?
God called me to be a foreign missionary. After years in the field and living in a different culture, when I came back to the United States my eyes were opened to my own sins of the past.
I have now come to see how many in our churches and even our pastors do not show concern for the American Christian Soldiers Missionary. Why do I call us “soldiers?” Some of us are sent to the front lines of very violent and dark countries, where the work of the devil is fierce. Risking our lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In these countries, I have seen poverty at levels not known in America. I’ve seen families sell their daughters into prostitution just to feed the rest of the family. Then I come back to America and people tell me how hard the economy is as they buy their new cars and upgrade their homes. We are a consumer nation. We are actually deceived money that we make is really ares as Christians. I write more on that in the upcoming blogs.
Do you also know most Christian today spend more on their pets than on missions? We also spend more money on Christian seminars, books and several different translations of the Bible. Christians in America are no different than Christians elsewhere in the world when it comes to our entertainment, in fact, we may be worse as we have more opportunity. We spend millions and millions of dollars on Christian music and concerts. I was reading that one famous Christian Artist is worth around 10 million dollars. That is just one artist and not counting his record label.
We are spending more money on Television Evangelists and TV ministries who are grossing hundreds of millions of dollars a year. We are giving more money to them than our own local churches and missionaries.
On the day when we face the Lord what will we say as He opens up our checkbook of life and shows that we spent more of His money on our pets than we did for reaching a lost world for Jesus Christ.
I have come to believe that every Christian in America not only should support their local church (currently only 2-3 percent actually tithe) but we should adopt a missionary too. But unfortunately, we think this is the responsibility only of our Pastors and a local church. (Where do you think the local church gets its money)? How wrong I believe we will be when we face the Lord.
I have nothing against Television Evangelists, but do they come and pray for your family, marry and bury you, visit you in the hospital? Our hard working Pastors do this! Do these TV Evangelists go to foreign mission fields and sell everything they have accumulated in their life? Do they risk their lives to spread the Gospel where no one wants to go? Do they live in deplorable, dangerous conditions? No, of course not – they are too busy raking in millions of dollars!
But American Christians are just like like the rest of the secular world, we pay sports stars and rock stars more than we pay our soldiers, police, firefighters and teachers. We want our entertainment and we gladly shell out millions of dollars to be entertained.
I admit I would have died, unaware of this condition if the Lord did not call me to the mission field, and one real reason is…. We as missionaries are trained not to talk about this and we are simply to trust in the Lord for his provision. To a degree, I agree but why are so many missionaries coming home dejected, depressed and defeated. They are unable to make a real and lasting impact in the area where God called them.
This is an area where the body of Christ is dropping the ball. Christians have lost their fervor and we are losing the war to such religions and sects as Islam, Mormonism, and others. Do you know one of the best missionary forces for their sect is Mormonism? They have the best trained and best facilities on the mission field. They are organized and well supported in their efforts. Islam is also in every European country, and now in America. They are taking over due to their well thought out plan to convert the world to Islam. We Christians in America are the richest and most influential people in the world and 97 percent of all of the Lord’s money is spent on us! This leads me to my upcoming blogs: “Living in the Laodicean Church in America in the End Times”
I pray that this article not only upset you but also convicted you to look at your life and how you are spending the Lord’s money. Are you being a faithful steward or are you just another American consumer? So please ask the Lord today to open your heart and your finances to see if you are obedient to Him. It is better to ask now and repent than at the judgment seat of Christ. He will look to you and ask this question? What did you do with what I have given you in your Christian life? Will you be prepared and have a good answer?
Written by Dennis Stauffer
Edited by Gary Green (Omega House)
