In previous Special Bulletins I felt that it was important to biblically establish how there are different mandates given to the civil government and the church. This is crucial for us to understand if we are to know our own specific purpose in the times ahead.

As stated, the civil government is an authority established as "... a minister of God... it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil" (Romans 13:4). Because of this mandate the civil government...

America is now mobilizing for war. We are gathering the necessary resources, positioning them, and making what we believe will be effective plans against our enemy÷terrorism. As we have discussed, the civil government has a different mandate than the church. The church is also now mobilizing for war, but our war is different. Because it is quite obvious that this attack on America was diabolical in nature, this is a spiritual war as well. We must mobilize for the spiritual war. How do we do that? How do we train and prepare? What are our weapons, and how do we...

As covered in a previous bulletin, there is a different mandate given to the government than to the church. The mandate given to the civil government states that it is "a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil" (Romans 13:4). If I were speaking to our civil government about what they should do to those responsible for the WTC and Pentagon attacks, I would exhort them that they have not been given the sword for nothing, and they must use it decisively until this enemy of civilization has been...

The United States Army has a doctrine that has been called "The Three Critical Questions," which should be asked in any situation that requires action, and certainly in this present crisis. These questions are:

1) What is happening?
2) What is not happening?
3) What can we do about it?

Though some of the principles I am about to address can be applied on a wider basis, I am directing them to Christians as a spiritual perspective in relation to how the church should respond to them.

1) What Is Happening?
To answer this first question it is...

There are events in history that are defining moments by which we can judge the true nature of many people, organizations, and governments. The terrorists attacks last Tuesday were one of those events in which the true nature of many will be revealed.

It has been very encouraging to see the way our nation immediately pulled together and stood almost in one accord in response to this attack. Almost everyone became a New Yorker, and New Yorkers were seen as great Americans. Also, around the world we were quickly able to discern who are our true friends, and who are...