wfn.org | LCMS Essayist Calls Convention to do Battle as Christian Soldiers

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services
1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122-7295

61st Regular Convention St. Louis, Mo. July 14-20, 2001

July 19, 2001 #37

Contact Bruce Kueck (314) 342-5715

Essayist calls convention delegates to do battle as Christian soldiers

ST. LOUIS Delegates and guests of the 61st Regular Convention of The 
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod received a call to "battle" from the Rev. 
Dr. David Mulder, director of evangelism for the denomination s Board for 
District and Congregational Services, in his address to the assembly 
Thursday, July 19.

The convention, meeting here in the America s Center, continues through 
Friday, July 20.

Beginning his address, "Tell the Good News About Jesus to Those Around 
You," Mulder read the assembly the re-versed lyrics of the Christian hymn. 
"Onward, Christian Soldiers," re-titled "Retreat, Christian Soldiers." A 
portion of the re-versed version reads:

Inward, then, ye people!

Draws our weary throng.

Gone our joyful voices

Raised in triumph song.

Where s the laud and honor

Unto Christ the King,

That through countless ages

Other men did sing?

Mulder said that, although some would say that the verses describe The 
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, "I would not agree."

Drawing upon his experiences in Vietnam in 1967, Mulder told a story, 
pausing often as emotion overtook him:

"I was assigned to an Army construction battalion, and we were to help 300 
families living in Da Minh. & Our engineer soldiers provided the equipment, 
and villagers joined them in providing labor. Our battalion commander 
ordered all equipment and personnel back to our base camp by dark every 
day" for reasons of safety.

But before dark one day, Mulder realized that he didn t have a large enough 
vehicle to transport a very large generator back to the base camp.

"As team leader for the project, I signed for the equipment & [and] to sign 
for something in the Army is to own it until returned. & I sent the team 
back to camp and then hunkered down underneath the generator for the night.

"As I lay there with my three weapons one rifle and two handguns it became 
very dark and I became very scared. & My fear took on new depth when I 
remembered that one of the Roman Catholic priests had refused to work with 
the communists. They simply cut off his head and displayed it on a post in 
the middle of the village for a week. &

"About an hour after dark, I heard the sound of an Army jeep approach the 
village. It came in slowly, drove along the edge of the construction site, 
and stopped in front of the generator."

Mulder said the jeep contained a driver and the battalion commander. The 
commander looked down at Mulder and said, "I do appreciate your sense of 
responsibility, but there is something else you should know, soldier. I 
signed for you and you are more important than all the equipment in the 
Army. Get in the jeep, son; we re going home."

Mulder said that much like the soldier who is willing to go to war to stop 
the dying and who works within a team of soldiers he can trust, Christian 
soldiers have similar motivations for telling the Good News about Jesus. 
Mulder said these were to stop people from dying without faith in Christ; 
to preach the Gospel to all nations because God has entrusted and empowered 
His Christian soldiers to do so; and finally, "our Commander in Chief, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us that we might live and share 
this new life with others."

"We are motivated to tell the Good News about Jesus to those around us & 
because we have been saved by grace through faith," Mulder said. "Christian 
outreach or Christian soldiering is part of our sanctified life good works 
flowing from faith."

"It is time to go to war," Mulder said. "The war is not with each other; 
the devil is the enemy. & If we remain in our base camps, how will those 
who are dying hear the Good News about Jesus? & Are you ready to go to war?"

After concluding with the singing of "Onward, Christian Soldiers," Mulder 
was greeted with a standing ovation. Mulder said he chose this particular 
topic because the Rev. Dr. Alvin Barry, then LCMS president, had heard him 
reference it in a devotion and "really liked" it. Dr. Barry died in March.

*****************************************************
LCMSNews is published by the News and Information Division, Board for 
Communication Services, of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  Free 
subscriptions to this service are available by sending an electronic mail 
message to mailserv@crf.cuis.edu, containing only the words SUBSCRIBE 
LCMSNEWS in the body of the message.  To unsubscribe, send only 
the  message UNSUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS to the same mailserv address.  For more 
information, contact Joe Isenhower Jr. via e-mail at 
joe.isenhower@lcms.org, or by phone at (314) 996-1231.
*****************************************************