Christian Living

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“Friendly Fire?”
By: Marcus H. Jackson
(note: the following is ment to be thought provoking, it is in no way ment to reflect the feelings of this writer. In writing this it is not my intent to offend any one person or any group of people; I write it only as a demonstration of what happens when we cease to remember that we are all the children of the most high God. There are no perfect Church’s and there are NO PERFECT PEOPLE)
2 Corinthians 10: 3-7
Friendly fire is a term we hear during war. Friendly fire means that an individual has been wounded or killed by members on his or her own side…allies, people who are supposed to have your back…but in order for it to be called “friendly fire”, there is the element of intent that must not be present…in other words it has to be considered an accident. If there is intent to harm ones allies, it’s called murder! Or Fratricide, the act of killing ones brother.
In the time of war there are two sides, your enemies and your allies. You can recognize your allies by the uniform they wear. Your allies are those who are your side, they’ve got your back. But there have been occasions where there have been traitors found amongst the ranks...
Several years ago there were several traitors found in the government, people who had jobs, and access to information that made them of use to our enemies. They had been entrusted with these positions because it was assumed that they had our best interest at heart. That they would never betray their county… the place they called home. That they would never betray their neighbors, their families, or their friends…. But instead of using their position to protect us, they chose rather to sell their acquired information to the enemy (for a price) information about our countries secrets, information that put us all in physical…information that jeopardized our well being and the security we thought we had.
The sad thing is, that today there are those within the Church who have been killed or wounded by “friendly fire”. They have had their hearts ripped opened by other ‘Christians’. They have had their spirits and their dreams killed. They have had their faith damaged, and their trust in the things of God shattered. There are some who have been damaged beyond repair, killed and left on the battle ground, to be buried in an unmarked grave…known only as an “unknown soldier”.
In the times of war if it often easy to identify your enemy, you can often recognize them by the uniform they wear, sometimes, you are able to identify them by the language they speak.
In the Church it isn’t always easy to identify your enemy…they dress like Christians, they talk like Christians, they walk like Christians, and some even preach and pray like Christians…
This form of treachery isn’t new to us…we read about it in the Bible…even Jesus had a traitor amongst his closest friends…we know him as Judas.
We have been tricked by the enemy into believing that everyone in our camp is on our side…but we have been infiltrated by the enemy. They came in through the gate. In most cases we invited them in. We let our guard down and told ourselves, we thought they were alright, that they were on our side, we had no way of knowing that once on the inside they would cause the damage they have caused. We had no way of knowing that they would try to kill us. No, they aren’t using M-16’s or Claymores, and they haven’t started using poisoning gasses, or land mines, and they haven’t tried to poison our food or water (yet). But they have tried to kill you none the less.
We know that the bible says that we should put on the whole armor of God (see, Ephesians 6:11-17 KJV), and in most cases we are ready when the enemy attacks ( from outside the body of Christ) but on the inside, in my camp, in my house, in my Church family, in my Sunday school...? This takes warfare to a whole new level, one I’m not prepared for.
Cane killed his brother Abel, and when question about his brother’s absence, his response was “am I my brother’s keeper?”
In the world we expect to be treated a certain kind of way, we expect to be lied to, lied about, used, abused, mis-treated, and reminded that we don’t fit…that we don’t fit…that we have no place in their midst. But we don’t expect to be treated this way in the Church…In the Bible, the Divinely inspired Word of God, we find Jesus saying ‘come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest upon your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (see, Matthew 11: 28-30 KJV)
Am I missing something, or is Jesus saying that if our souls are tired, if we are tired in the spirit, if we are suffering from low self esteem, if our house is a mess, if our spouses are missing in action, if our children are driving us crazy, that if we are just all messed up…that if we only come to Him, that He would make it alright? Well, I know that I can’t find Jesus at the Club, I mean, He wasn’t there the last time I was there, and I didn’t find him at the bottom of that last drink I had, all that did was make me ill, and the next day I couldn’t find my wallet to pay the rent man. Nor was I able to find God in that last blunt I smoked, or the last crack-pipe I held….I didn’t even find him when I was selling my body to get high, nor was I able to see him when my man came home and jumped on me when I didn’t have his dinner ready.
Somebody downtown gave me a pamphlet that said, all had to do was admit that I was a sinner and confess to God, and asked Jesus to come in and take over my life and I would be saved…I did that, then they told me that all I needed to do was to attend Church, because it would be there that I would receive the tools I needed to live a life of abundance, that there would be others there like me, who would lift me up, and pray for me…but what I’ve found is that there are those who would prey on me. I am discouraged; I don’t know whom to trust. They said they were my friends, they told me that we were family, that they understood my struggles, and would be there for me…but that isn’t the case….I have been damaged by friendly fire…I have no faith in God or His Church, I have no faith in the ‘people of God’ , the one thing I do know…is I don’t want nothing to do with nobodies Church…I was better off in the world, at least then I knew that the only reason I had friends was because I could throw a hell of a party.
Nawh I aint gonna die and be buried in no un-marked grave, I aint gonna another casualty of this war, instead I imma go where somebody knows my name.

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