Book Review: The Wartime Sermons of Dr. Peter Marshall

How could sermons preached during World War 2 possibly be relevant to us? A dozen messages selected by Dr. Peter J. Marshall published in 2005 may have seemed relevant to the post-September 11, 2001 milieu. However, they more perceptively pierce U.S. international leadership in a context of an era without overt large scale military conflict. 

The sermon “Why does God permit war?” turns the question on its head. Why does man choose war? Why does man ignore evil until war is the only defense against it? Why do men choose the sins of self-centeredness and preoccupation with the world’s stuff that lead to war?

The sermon “Are We Good Enough?”  contrasts the self-discipline, sacrifice, and moral virtue of the soon-to-return soldiers and the crass worldliness of civilians who they are returning to. Dr. Marshall quickly turns to the question of our spiritual state. Have we turned to God to be transformed into a people who are morally improved, who God has empowered to be better people? After militarily defeating the Axis powers, will we lead the way for international order that goes beyond the absence of armed conflict to the building of a just, ethical, and righteous world? 

The common thread in all of the sermons is Rev. Marshall’s belief that American values, political structure, and our entire ethos is based on Christianity, and that in order to establish something better than more of the same, Christianity must be lived out by our people and nation. Otherwise there would simply be another world war in 20 or thirty years, and our own nation would decay from moral rot. Viewed from 70 years after the fact, the fear of another world war has not yet materialized, but our nation is seriously divided by a spectrum of moral value systems. 

My perspective: The challenge is that the presence of God in our lives forces us to confront His nature and character. God’s perfect holiness and uncompromising love cannot rest on fallen humans. His remedy was to reconcile us to Himself through the propitiatory death of Jesus on the cross. Any human effort to experience His presence only results in death. Human efforts to be righteous, to be just, to do the right thing, will fail in the end, even on a worldly level. The 70+ years since the end of World War 2 show that practicing values based on Christian principles, but without the power of God, brings at best a temporary improvement in world conditions. 

Satan was defeated by Christ on the cross. Victory over the axis powers forestalled one of the devil’s attempts to rule the earth overtly, but most of the world remains lost in darkness and sin. We who have heard the gospel must respond or face the consequences, both eternally and in this present world. That is Peter Marshall’s message to us in an era of international terrorism, cybercrime, and resurgent superpower competition. 

Christmas and sexual predators

On the eighth day after the birth of Christ, Simeon came into the temple and announced the arrival of the promised Messiah. The next passage is intriguing.

Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed — and a sword will pierce even your own soul — to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (NASB)

Four statements. Their application could be profound.

• The Child (Jesus) is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel.
• Jesus is appointed for a sign to be opposed.
• A sword will pierce your soul.
• Thoughts from many hearts will be revealed.

The fall and rise of many points to the priests, scribes, and Pharisees, whose influence and power would ultimately wane under the revealed truth of God incarnate, and the rise of the downtrodden whom the gospel would bring into God’s kingdom. That was the immediate  fulfillment. But perhaps Simeon is also describing the defeat of Satan’s kingdom. In the battle between good and evil, as an adult Jesus would give authority over demons to His disciples, and send them to build the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:1-2) 

Naturally the religious establishment opposed the One who proclaimed God’s nearness, as they would lose their status when every believer has direct access to God. Deeper spiritual opposition comes from the kingdom of the devil (Luke 4:6), which will one day be cast down (Rev 20:1-3,10).  He is not going down without a fight. (Rev. 19:19)

The sword would pierce Mary’s soul when she stood by the cross 33 years later. But the convicting power of the Holy Spirit pierces the soul of every believer when Christ becomes real to us, and we become aware of our condition before Him. Simeon was acquainted with the Holy Spirit (Luke 2:25-27), and gave us a brief summary of how to expect Him to work.

Simeon’s final point was that the thoughts and reasonings of many hearts would be revealed. This goes beyond mere confession of unspoken sins of the heart, as difficult as that is. The spear to our soul results in death to self. We recognize that our condition is terminal. The new life that God brings when we are born again will be manifest when our life to self is crucified (Galatians 2:20). When the sword pierces our soul, may the involuntary statement we utter reveal that our heart trusts God.

Simeon’s statements about spiritual reality impact all life. How might they apply to sexual predation? Powerful men have abused vulnerable females throughout recorded history. (Genesis 34:2; 2 Samuel 13:14) The sexual revolution of the 1960’s & 70’s essentially eliminated all traditional mores in society, but these mores had never prevented predation anyway. If we want to fight it, will setting a standard work? If so, what should be the standard?

• Sex between consenting adults is usually proposed as the standard, but is harder in practice than theory. Men may think a woman is playing hard-to-get as a game, or misinterpret a woman’s signals, or claim to. He-said/she-said is a difficult case to judge.
• A higher standard might be that sex should be engaged only in the context of a stable, loving relationship. But what would be the mechanism for establishing this? Perhaps a public declaration of the relationship? That would provide some evidence that the relationship was consensual. Sounds a lot like marriage. 
• The divorce rate suggests that even this cannot stand the test of time. The ultimate standard would go back to Adam and Eve, a relationship established and blessed by God. It is not that God sanctions the relationship so that the parties cannot deny it or break it, but that God empowers them to fulfill it. 

God created marriage as a picture of the fulfillment of a relationship with Him. (Ephesians 5:25-33) Few of us achieve this level of marital bliss all the time. But the point of the Biblical metaphor is that just as God is with us through thick and thin (Hebrews 13:5), so the marriage commitment is fulfilled by loving in real and practical ways when times are tough, and not just when hormones flow. Love is a decision, a choice. This provides the basis for sex that is not predatory, but is shared by two people who cherish and love each other, and accept each other for who God made them. 

We can and should make every legal remedy against evil that predators wreak. But we must recognize that evil cannot be defeated by human effort alone, because we live in a spiritual universe. It is futile to invest in the world’s ways and expect to overcome Satan, its prince (Ephesians 2:2), because Satan cannot be defeated with his own tools. (Matthew 12:25-28)  How can Satan be defeated?  Only a spiritual war born of faith in Christ can overcome Satan’s kingdom. (Ephesians 6:11-12) The weapons of our warfare (Ephesians 6:13-18) are not of the flesh, but are mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4) Simeon would challenge us to use God’s spiritual armory, to bring the authority of Christ, to overcome satanic sexual predation.