I’ve always been fascinated by stories of men who not only lived well, but also died long before their time. One of my earliest blog posts was about Commander Ernest Evans, a WW2 Navy Captain whose heroic self-sacrifice saved thousands of American lives and earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor. More recently, I’ve been studying men such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and many other noble men who all died fighting for a cause which they believed in their hearts was right. The most important martyr of all, however, is of course our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose humble and utterly willful sacrifice of his life led to the freedom that we all now enjoy to boldly approach the throne of Grace. Sometimes you can live your life one hundred percent correctly, and still be killed.
I have previously postulated that our demise as Christians will be a matter of course as our global society begins its natural decline towards the end. While I concede that we are probably not, at this moment in history, facing extinction, I do believe that that time is quickly approaching. When it does come, whether that be in a few years or a few decades, it will be critically important for everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ to know exactly where they stand on the issue of either embracing the tide of society or standing against it. More importantly, as the global backlash against religion in any form begins to gather strength, it will become increasingly important for us as people of faith to put aside our bigoted, hateful opinions and start relying increasingly on those who may differ from us for support as the world attempts to strip us of our collective religious freedoms. When physical persecution does finally start to happen, you will have to choose to either politely cooperate, and hide your faith from the outside world, or else resist, and continue to live in the freedom of your conviction that what you are doing is right and true. Again, while I’m not suggesting there is any immediate need to be prepared for drastic action, the fact is that such actions could very likely become necessary at some point in our future.
If you have the time and money, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans (it’s also available as a Youtube rental for $3). In it, you can hear the stories of real life holocaust survivors, although these people were not among the unfortunate masses herded off to death camps. These Jewish survivors made a decision early on in the days of Nazi persecution that they would not be part of the silent majority. They spent the bulk of the war hiding in forests, launching guerilla attacks against Nazi forces and infrastructure. One particular group of survivors, The Bielski Brigade, had their exploits turned into the major motion picture Defiance.
If your first inclination upon reading this is that I’ve become obsessed with death, you’re sorely mistaken. I have recently become obsessed with life. Not an ordinary, “successful” life in the sense that I’ve worked, married, and retired by the time I’m 65, but rather a life that burned brightly and purposefully, for however long it may have lasted, and influenced hundreds or even thousands of people in the process. Life should not be lived with the pitiful goal of retirement.
I’m writing today about conviction, not death. Although the one can very often lead to the other, they are not necessarily synonymous. That being said, you will rarely, if ever, find someone who is truly convicted of the rightness of their cause who is unwilling to die in its defense. Take for example the Shawnee warrior by the name of Tecumseh, who fought against the American expansion into the Ohio territory following the end of the Revolution. To the fledgling U.S. government, he was a wanton savage bent on the slaying of innocent white men, women and children. To his native people, he was the last, best hope for uniting the disparate tribes in defense of their homeland, which was constantly being bartered away or flat-out stolen by people who claimed to be men of their word, yet violated each and every treaty they ever penned. Tecumseh died at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, and with his death the coalition of Native Americans allied with British forces in the War of 1812 collapsed. Before that battle, he immortalized the following words:
If you have the time and money, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans (it’s also available as a Youtube rental for $3). In it, you can hear the stories of real life holocaust survivors, although these people were not among the unfortunate masses herded off to death camps. These Jewish survivors made a decision early on in the days of Nazi persecution that they would not be part of the silent majority. They spent the bulk of the war hiding in forests, launching guerilla attacks against Nazi forces and infrastructure. One particular group of survivors, The Bielski Brigade, had their exploits turned into the major motion picture Defiance.
If your first inclination upon reading this is that I’ve become obsessed with death, you’re sorely mistaken. I have recently become obsessed with life. Not an ordinary, “successful” life in the sense that I’ve worked, married, and retired by the time I’m 65, but rather a life that burned brightly and purposefully, for however long it may have lasted, and influenced hundreds or even thousands of people in the process. Life should not be lived with the pitiful goal of retirement.
I’m writing today about conviction, not death. Although the one can very often lead to the other, they are not necessarily synonymous. That being said, you will rarely, if ever, find someone who is truly convicted of the rightness of their cause who is unwilling to die in its defense. Take for example the Shawnee warrior by the name of Tecumseh, who fought against the American expansion into the Ohio territory following the end of the Revolution. To the fledgling U.S. government, he was a wanton savage bent on the slaying of innocent white men, women and children. To his native people, he was the last, best hope for uniting the disparate tribes in defense of their homeland, which was constantly being bartered away or flat-out stolen by people who claimed to be men of their word, yet violated each and every treaty they ever penned. Tecumseh died at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, and with his death the coalition of Native Americans allied with British forces in the War of 1812 collapsed. Before that battle, he immortalized the following words:
"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and
Demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life,
Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and
Its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
Even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and
Bow to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and
For the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks,
The fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing,
For abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts
Are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes
They weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again
In a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."
Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and
Demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life,
Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and
Its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
Even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and
Bow to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and
For the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks,
The fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing,
For abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts
Are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes
They weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again
In a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."
As Christians, we believe that death is not the end. Those who live their lives fearfully are, in some sense, losing sight of the fact that it truly does not matter when you leave this earth, because afterwards you will travel to a place where you will see and experience God in all of his glory. That doesn’t mean you should be suicidal, of course. It simply means, as Tecumseh said, that you should embrace your death when that time comes. To be fair, he did also say above, “seek to make your life long, and its purpose the service of your people.” It is for that purpose which I choose to write to you today.
Life is too short to be lived in fear. If the need ever arose for you to stand and fight for what you believe in, even if it cost you your life, would you shy away from it? If someone put a gun to your head and said, “renounce Christ and live,” would you renounce him to save your own life? If you had a chance to rescue some of your fellow believers from a potential holocaust, would you stand idly by? I certainly don't believe I would.
Life is too short to be lived in fear. If the need ever arose for you to stand and fight for what you believe in, even if it cost you your life, would you shy away from it? If someone put a gun to your head and said, “renounce Christ and live,” would you renounce him to save your own life? If you had a chance to rescue some of your fellow believers from a potential holocaust, would you stand idly by? I certainly don't believe I would.
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