Tennessee Ernie, ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’

Okay, you powerless minority–let’s start our day with a little marching music: Onward, Christian Soldiers, sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Sorry: that characterization of American Christians as a small, powerless minority–it still rankles with me.

You know the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), in which the great lord, before embarking on a long journey, gives his servants sums of money and commands them, “Occupy until I come.”

If American Christianity truly is powerless against the onslaught of filth and apostasy, it’s because our churches, like the slothful and unfaithful servant who buried his lord’s money in a hole in the ground instead of putting it to work to earn more money, have failed to occupy. We have not used the talents that Our Lord has given us.