The Battle Begins

Then I turned and saw the army of the Lord standing behind me. There were thousands of soldiers, but they were still greatly outnumbered. I was shocked and disheartened, for it seemed there were actually many more Christians being used by the evil one than there were in the army of the Lord. I also knew that the battle about to begin was going to be viewed as The Great Christian Civil War, because very few would understand the dark powers that were behind the impending conflict.

As I looked more closely at the army of the Lord, the situation seemed even more discouraging. Only a small umber were fully dressed in their armor. Many only had only or two pieces of their armor on; some did not have any all. A large number were already wounded. Most of those who had all their armor still had very small shields, which I knew would not protect them from the onslaught that was coming. Very few of those who were fully armed were adequately trained to use their weapons. To my further surprise, the great majority of these soldiers were women and children.

Behind this army was a trailing mob, which seemed very different in nature from the prisoners who followed the evil horde. Those in the mob seemed overly happy, as if intoxicated. They were playing games, singing songs, feasting and roaming about from one little camp to the next. This

reminded me of Woodstock.

I ran toward the army of the Lord to escape the onslaught I knew would be coming at me from the evil horde.

In every way, it seemed we were in for a most one-sided slaughter. I was especially concerned for the mob that was trailing the Lord's army, so I tried to raise my voice above the clamor to warn them that a battle was about to begin.

Only a few could even hear me. Those who heard gave me the "peace sign" and said they did not believe in war.

When those in the mob assured me that the Lord would not let anything bad happen to them, I tried to explain that He had given us armor because we needed it for what was about to take place. To this they retorted that they had come to a place of peace and joy where nothing like that could happen to them. I began praying earnestly for the Lord to increase the shields of those with the armor, to help protect those who were not ready for the battle.

Then a messenger came up to me, gave me a trump and told me to blow it quickly. When I did, those who had at least some of their armor on immediately respond snapping to attention. More armor was brought to them which they quickly put on.

I noticed that those who were wounded did not put armor over their wounds. But before I could say anything about this, enemy arrows began raining down on us. Everyone one who did not have all of his armor on was wounded. Those who had not covered their wounds were struck in the same area they had been wounded in before.

Those who were hit by arrows of slander immediately began to slander those who were not wounded. Those were hit with gossip began to gossip, and soon division had been created within our own camp. I felt we were on the verge of destroying ourselves, just as the heathen armies in Scripture had done by rising up to kill each other. The feeling of helplessness was terrible.