Training for Plunder
Training for Plunder
"Won't it be stealing to use the money?" asked Shasta.
"Oh," said the Horse, looking up with its mouth full of grass. "I never thought of that. A free horse and a talking horse mustn't steal, of course. But I think it's all right. We're prisoners and captives in enemy country . That money is booty, spoil..." (from The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis)
We are sojourners; soldier-pilgrims looking for a heavenly city in the midst of enemy territory. In this pilgrimage-war plundering the Egyptians is inescapable. Just as God promised Abraham's children would leave Egypt with great possessions (Gen. 15:13,14) He promises us that: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 9:32 NASB). The truth is that a great deal of "all things" are currently in the possession of those outside the Kingdom. As God fulfills His promises He works through secondary and tertiary means. Those means often are pagans blessing us with their stuff, and all to the glory of God the Father. The fact is those in Christ will be prospered by God via modern day "Egyptians." Prosperity by plunder is undeniable and as a blessing from God we should praise and thank Him.
Like Shasta we shouldn't be quick to assume that plunder is "OK." At first glance some might think that we, and the Bible, are speaking out of both sides of our mouths. This is not the case. Yes, literal "plundering" is a sin, but this is not what the Bible speaks of when it talks of "plundering the Egyptians.” God's people's despoiling of conquered nations is not by extortion or theft, but the plundered actually give us their stuff by consent. We're not stealing if God's giving through the heathen. Christian spoils of war consist of those things given to us as gifts, as objects abandoned by the enemy, or surrendered after defeat on the battlefield. For example, the Hebrew children in the Exodus, after they asked, were happily given the riches of Egypt (Ex. 12:36). Similarly, the Israelites entered the Land to take possession of whole villages and farms that had been abandoned or gained by combat. Today, the Church battles against the World. Our enemies, knowingly or unknowingly, willingly pay God's people tribute, abandon territory, and are driven from contested land. Whether the tribute is financial, the territory an academic one, or the contested land cultural, currently the Body of Christ is plundering the World and will be plundering till Jesus returns. We are at war, against the World, and to the winner goes the spoils.
Waging a war is a difficult thing. It takes training, discipline, and fortitude, among other things, to make a good soldier. Until I came to the Highlands Study Center I often asked where one could go to be discipled further in faithful Christian Soldiery? These days good spiritual Drill Sergeants are hard to find, but nestled in the corner of Southwest Virginia is one "Boot Camp" for the Church Militant. Scripture shows that successful soldiers not only conquer for the glory of God, but plunder for the glory of God. Soon after arriving, I found out that Highlands has a passion for teaching young soldiers in tearing down spiritual strongholds and plundering those strongholds after they have been dismantled.
How does the Highlands Study Center teach the fine art and science of plundering? The short answer is: in a simple, separate, and deliberate way. Plundering is taught to the one simple end of glorifying and enjoying God in Christ now and forever. It is taught from the vantage point of separateness, in a covenant community directly at odds with the World. This allows for discernment in determining, by God's Word, what actually is redeemable in the plunder from the subjugated World. Finally, teaching folks how to plunder is deliberate, unashamed, and to the point; this is our Father's world, and He's told us to take back what belongs to Him.
What is plundered at the Highlands Study Center? Another short answer: everything we can get our hands or minds on. The whole of pagan thought and life is open to plunder. For example: this past fall I studied logic with RC. Now on the surface that seems normal. Yet it wasn't just learning logical fallacies; it was the plundering of pagan thought. The same is applied not only to high culture disciplines like music, art, philosophy, and literature, but also to everyday things like baking home-made bread and brewing home made beer. The study center is a home, a place where real people really live. It is a place where plundering is not done in the abstract but done in practice every time we read plundered books, eat plundered food, drink plundered wine, listen to plundered music ... ad infinitum (I heard that all the smart people have Latin phrases in their articles.)
Now I know what you're thinking, this plundering thing is sounding really
easy. Well, you're right, it is. You don't even have to come to the Highlands
Study Center to pillage the pagans; you can do it anywhere, but maybe you should
consider studying with us to increase your pagan plundering skills. War is
a serious endeavor, even more serious is following Jesus Christ. If we are
to serve the cause of our Lord it behooves us all to seek out those willing
and able to teach us to fight and despoil well. Maybe God has blessed you with
such persons, but if not the Highlands Study Center is such a place with such
people for the task. Our plundering of the World is inescapable as breathing,
and to refuse to do so well is to look down upon the gifts and calling of God
Himself. To pillage without zeal for the Lord and His glory is cowardice and
a denial of His blessing towards those in Christ. So as faithful soldiers of
Jesus Christ let us press on; seeing all of creation and culture transformed
into His likeness, to the glory of God the Father.