# A Shot Across the Bow Issues Facing the Church Language: en Author: Edward Martin Glenmont, OH Original issue: The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Fall 2021, Number 3 Source pages: 7–9 Read article: Original PDF: Fall\-2021\-Remnant\(1\)\.pdf [The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Fall 2021]() “A shot across the bow” is a secular term that originated with the British Navy in the 1700’s\. Ships are identified by their ‘colors’ \(flags\) which represent a vessel’s purpose and nationality\. In the days before radio, if a ship wasn’t flying its colors, other ships, especially in times of war, would fire *a ‘warning’ shot across the bow* in order to prompt the offending ship to confirm their identity by raising their flag\. Sending *a shot across the bow* was introduced at a time when the British navy ruled the seas and wars were fought, not just on land, but also from the decks of ships\. The idea of *the shot across the bow* was not to actually hit the ship, but to send a cannon ball near enough to get their attention and let them know that a further escalation of force was imminent if they did not respond satisfactorily\. The Anabaptist church1 of America has lived in relative peace, suffering no real persecution for its faith since WWI\. During the first world war, about 150 American Mennonite young men were court\-martialed and imprisoned for refusing military orders\. Also, two Mennonite church leaders, Samuel H\. Miller of Ohio, and Lewis J\. Heatwole of Virginia were tried and convicted under the Sedition Act\. Facing this type of pressure, many young Mennonite men gave up their faith and joined the army, including around 2,000 Mennonites in Germany\.2 Sure, there have been instances since then when individuals or even whole congregations were put to the test for their faith\. These situations have been rare and localized, yet even during these times of testing those believers were able to continue living in reasonable comfort\. The church of America and specifically the congregations of the plain people \(Amish, Mennonites, etc\.\) have been able to go about their daily life, while living in ease and prosperity\. They have been able to freely go to church on Sunday, decide what standard of life they would maintain, and where they would build their communities and raise their families\. The Anabaptist churches of America have been in control of their lifestyles\. This all changed for some families and some churches in October of 2021, when God allowed Satan to fire *a shot across the bow* of the church\. Satan seemingly has signaled that going forward he is ready for more serious battle\. It is almost as though he is demanding that the Anabaptist church show its real colors\. On October 16, 2021, missionaries in Haiti, sixteen American and one Canadian, were taken hostage by a criminal gang, who then demanded a ransom for their release\. Shockwaves reverberated throughout the Anabaptist community\. For decades, this kind of activity has been experienced by churches in other parts of the world such as Africa, Asia, and in various Communist countries—“but not in America”\. Now, however, the churches are facing a new reality—their loved ones no longer possess “guaranteed” safety in foreign countries simply because they are American citizens\. Dear church, the battle line is being drawn\. The devil knows his time is short \(see Revelation 12:12\)\. Satan and his minions are in full battle array, but the church… not so much\. It appears the church hardly remembers its purpose here on earth\. The armor of God gets in the way when one wants to strive for prosperity and ease of living\. Nonetheless, the battle line is drawn whether the church is prepared or not\. Although the most recent, this kidnapping is not the only warning sign around us that should awaken the church out of its slumber\. Let’s look at some other situations that demand our attention\. The following list is provided in summary form only\. Each point could be made into its own lengthy article, but for the sake of time and space we will simply list them to stimulate each believer to consider and research for themselves\. ### 1\. The authoritarian approach of containing Covid\-19 During the initial surges of Covid\-19 infections in the spring and summer of 2020, many countries shut down most public interactions for a time\. Many governments also shut down places of worship and in extreme cases some have even forbidden believers from singing together\. Many churches tried to find their way on a fine line between the separation of church and state and submitting themselves to the civil authorities out of respect\. However, basically everything about the various mandates had an undermining effect on that which is essential for the health of the believer—fellowship with other believers, corporate worship, corporate prayer, and corporate singing\. Not to mention all the one\-anothering commands in God’s Word—pray for one another, exhort one another, confess your faults one to another, bear ye one another’s burdens, and the list goes on\. The foundation of this all is that God designed us to “need” one another, and to interact “face\-to\-face” and “in\-person”\. Virtual worship and trying to fellowship behind a mask will eventually lead to spiritual death\. In the past, mask\-wearing was usually associated with hiding one’s identity when committing a crime, such as robbing a bank\. If we look back through history using this thinking, we see it again and again, a mask was primarily used “to hide” one’s face or identity from those who they met\. How would God have His people respond to these types of mandates? Perhaps, for a very brief time \(several weeks\) it could be beneficial to wear a mask during worship; but long\-term, I don’t think so\. When we are interacting with the public our witness for God might shine more brightly if we would be sensitive regarding others when it comes to mask wearing and social distancing\. If we are trying to be a witness for Christ, yet the whole time we are interacting, the other person is extremely offended that we are not being more careful, then they probably will not receive a thing we have said about our faith\. ### 2\. The transgender movement The transgender movement is destroying the fabric of morality in America\. For years there has been a push by some to influence the society in America to accept immorality and equality between men and women\. To counteract this push, in the late 1840s and the 1850s, numerous laws were passed forbidding the public act of cross\-dressing\. How far has society been influenced? In 2016, Target, the second largest retailer in America, created a new company policy that now allows transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice in its stores\. Are we, the people of God, going to take our children into a Target bathroom, full well knowing they may see someone of the opposite gender perhaps partially undressed in what normally would be a private place? ### 3\. The advent of social media Social media allows people to communicate instantly across large communities or networks of people, digitally\. This has caught the church completely unprepared\. Social media has changed the fabric of America and the world\. It has been the main force causing the divisiveness and hatred we are seeing all around us in the public\. In a moment of anger, a person can send a forceful message to thousands of people saying things they never would say in person\. In the same manner, using social media, an erring young person can plant a seed of discord in the hearts of many people at once\. This may be by bitter words, a suggestive picture, or an edgy song\. The destruction of social media is greater than we can imagine\. According to some on\-line accounts, the founders of the largest social media corporations will not allow their own children to use social media\. This should raise concern and caution, yet the church carelessly turns its head the other way\. ### 4\. Degradation of law and order There has been a big push in the recent years by some liberal politicians and organizations to defund the police and even to decriminalize crime\. Some cities are no longer requiring monetary bail for lawbreakers to bail out of jail\. Others are not arresting shoplifters\. The results are coming in; many major cities have the highest crime rates in decades, looting and rioting is commonplace in some areas, and several cities have precincts that have depreciated into complete anarchy\. This may seem like it’s not affecting us directly, but the spirit of lawlessness is creeping into our churches\. Members are openly questioning the ongoing value of long\-held practices\. From the most conservative to the most progressive, individuals and families alike are fleeing to less\-restricting churches, while some are leaving the faith completely\. *This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come –2 Timothy 3:1\.* ### 5\. Pornography Pornography used to be found in magazines, in brown paper wrappers, hidden behind the counters of certain stores\. Today it is easily accessible on any digital device, from the simple flip phone, to the smart phone, to the work computer, and even some word processors\. Many churches are dull to this fact\. Many church leaders have no idea what their young people are doing in the area of digital technology\. These are only five of the warning signs of a spiritual war looming on our horizon\. There are more that could be added to this list\. The strength of these attacks by the enemy of our souls are such that the church has not experienced in decades\. But for many local congregations the outlook for the church is dim—she is completely unprepared, her guards are down, the armor is off, and the sword is dull and unsharpened\. Her young people know how to make and spend money, how to have a good time, and how to live for the moment\. They are inexperienced in battle and have little to no experience in the area of suffering\. If it takes the lengthy captivity of seventeen men, women, and children to wake the church up, to God be the glory\! So where does this take us? The church needs to join the New Testament Jews who after Peter’s Pentecostal sermon asked, *…Men and brethren, what shall we do? –Acts 2:37\.* We need to… ### …Turn to biblical repentance\. Throughout the ages when the people of God turned in genuine repentance God moved\. *If my people, which are called by my name \[this includes the Anabaptist church\], shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways \[covetousness, worldliness, immorality, idolatry, pride, etc\.\]; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land –2 Chronicles 7:14\.* ### …Become preachers of righteousness\. *For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved\. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent… –Romans 10:13\-15\.* Preaching the gospel was the hallmark of the early church\. It was the reason for their existence; the purpose to which they were commissioned in the first place\. Likewise, the early Anabaptists were fiery preachers in the public marketplace even though they knew it would likely cost them dearly, possibly even their very lives\. Yet that did not stop them\. The spiritual war is real\. We know which army will be triumphant\. Why would we not recruit soldiers for the winning side? The rest will burn in hell\. ### …Make disciples of all people\. The present\-day Anabaptist churches are good at making disciples from their own\. They focus on their young people to keep them within the church\. That is not wrong, in fact it is a necessary function of the church\. But in His commission in Matthew 28:19\-20 Jesus said to make disciples of ***all*** nations\. This kind of discipleship is not commonplace in the Anabaptist church today\. Proof of this can be found by looking through our church directories\. Most surnames are of Mennonite and Amish familiarity and have been for centuries\. Where is our burden? What is our passion? We need to give credit to those who are reaching out to their neighbors and going to far\-away lands\. Obviously, this is happening or there would not have been seventeen missionaries to kidnap\. Yet in most places only a few serve in these capacities while most of the church goes about business as normal\. The church needs to honestly evaluate if they are doing all that God would have them do, whether at home or abroad, whether through giving or going, whether by praying or by serving, whether by discipling or by evangelizing—each member has Spirit\-given gifting to persevere in God\-ordained responsibilities\. Let us each be faithful in these, the last times\. ### …Make a clear separation from the world\. The early Anabaptists, as well as the early Christians, strongly eschewed worldliness\. Irenaeus, a church leader around the year 180 A\.D\. wrote, “Christ has not merely related to us a story about a poor man and a rich one\. Rather, He has taught us some things: In the first place, He taught that no one should lead a luxurious life\. No one should live in worldly pleasure and perpetual feasting\. No one should be a slave of his lusts and forget God\.”3 ### Conclusion So, my dear brothers and sisters, the shot has been fired across the bow\. The battle line is drawn\. Which flag are you going to raise? Will it be the white flag of surrender acknowledging defeat? Or will it be the banner of Jesus Christ, the Captain of the armies of the Lord? To each person who claims to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ, you have been bought with a price, the end is near, and the enemy of our souls is as determined as ever to cause you to lose out\. Let us each be honest with ourselves and God\. Which side are we on? What decisions are we needing to make to get on the winning side? What decisions are we needing to make to stay on the winning side? May God help each of us; *…he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved –Matthew 24:13\.* --- ### Endnotes: 1. The term “Anabaptist church in America” is used throughout the article to denote the various congregations, conferences, and denominations who adhere to the teachings of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament and were reaffirmed in faith and practice by the Anabaptist reformers of the 1500’s\. 2. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online/World War \(1914\-1918\) 3. Ante Nicene Fathers 1\.464