Stand Firm

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Chad Hutson

Puritan Board Freshman
“and having done all, to stand firm.” (Eph 6:13b, ESV)

This past week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests, which gave me reason to reflect upon this passage of Scripture. I remember vividly those days of watching the promise of freedom begin to take hold in Communist China and was shocked at how quickly and violently that promise was snuffed out when the government flexed its muscle and slaughtered so many people. But most vivid to me was the recollection of the “Tank Man”, a simple, unassuming citizen who, after witnessing so much carnage and bloodshed, bravely stood in front of a column of tanks, forcing them to stop. He stood defiantly, armed only with what appeared to be shopping bags and, obviously, his convictions. It is certain that he desired to make a stand, yielding no more ground to the murderous military who had already taken so much. He stood firm until the Communist secret police forcibly removed him from the street. His stance came at great cost: his freedom and eventually, according to some reports, his life. It remains to this day the bravest act I have ever witnessed and continues to testify all these years later to the power of one man’s convictions.

Oh, that we all would be so convicted in terms of our faith. Oh, that we all would be so driven to simply stand in the evil day. Oh, that we all would refuse to yield any more ground in our churches or personal lives to the influences of secular humanism, liberalism, postmodernism, or sin. While the world burns around us, with the stench of dead and dying denominations and congregations in our nostrils, and with the battle’s bombardments ringing in our ears, may God grant us the strength so we may simply stand in the face of the enemy’s onslaught and refuse to move, come what may.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." (Eph 6:10–11).
 
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