“22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.” (Acts 17:22-34 ESV)

They say a certain breed of Warhorse is produced out of the Malleable, Teachable, Formative Experiences of the college of Spirit, of War, of Theology. They say each of us sins not just in the childhood of a Church of Sin (to be contrasted with a Church of Satan as in Revelation; maybe they are kin, though) but also in our Upward Calling in Christ Jesus: we both long for Victory, inwardly delight at the frustrated spinning in place and losses of an enemy, yet truth be told we also need Leaders who are gregarious and Welcoming of All, who willingly Take Up the Mantle, not fear to plead Submission in all circumstances.  We need those who will Bend Down to the aped and greedy, childlike hatreds, and naked Ambitions of a Child Encountering a Better Spirit: that child will call the superior, the elder brother, a Devil and unshriven. The aim, therefore, is rightly to balance Nodding to Dutiful Good Deeds and Morality, whilst never denying that the Key Takeaway is not to “Catch” someone in sin, but rather to divulge all Sins so we may celebrate Forgiveness.

That breed of Warhorse has a societal component, a love for ma and pa, a love for the brethren and the sistren. That warhorse is well aware of the “Attention!”, the “All hands!” of a radical race and species of Personage appearing in the scene. Both a race and species we innately subsume and patronize, and a Race and Species that holds the Key to Christ-like Awareness and Arrival Announced.

That breed of Warhorse rightly seeks that tandem, flight in formation, wingman and woman, flanking Prayer wearing all of us start to see the Land fought over, the Econometrics fought over, the Bad Actor on World Stage fought over, as a Fight for personal matters as well: cleanliness, holiness, spacious Indwelling of the expansive Spirit, Room and Time to brood over our frustrations with said Enemy but also with Inspired Prayer for them, Praise God! As I ceased to Hate, I first began to know Inner Peace.

The masters of industry and of culture, of witchcraft and hypnotic arts, of Christian variants on the same (did you know it is a religion evolving out of Pagan arts?) seek somehow to Don the Attire of Frontline Soldiers, even though also they can bevy in place and see their outer Experience turn from a world of peace to one of war and yet still, the existential Framework of life remains the Same, nine to five labors and heady sadness, a sigh, for what is happening on the Frontline. Would that each of us could make Holy Sacrifice and Frontline Service, that we would Understand: plead the Blood, all you who fear you were working for Satan all these years! Do you not know, that your Contrition will earn back human lives and stock in Spades? Have Faith! That your contrition will Imprint the frontline newspapers and headlines with Gladsome Victory, not over land or money alone but over Cleanness of Message, over a Christ no longer associated with Sin but with Victory. And then the Stage Two of War, the immediate Hatred for our composure and for our Peace.