By Theodore Shoebat
Muslims in Nigeria attacked the village of Azaya Kura and slaughtered 47 people. Numerous of them were killed by bullet, but many others were taken, tied up and their throats were slit. According to a local Nigerian, Bakura Moh’d,
They tied peoples’ hands behind their backs and slit their throats like animals
I did a whole video on it here:
Within the New Testament, we find both evil war and Holy War illustrated through the actions of numerous soldiers, and what a beautiful image of the prophetic, foreseeing the sacred armies of Christendom, their bent for justice and their aspirations for the destruction of evil and wicked people!
The first shows the pagan army that dominated the empire, while the second foreshadowed the Christian armies of Christendom that were to come. The first exposes an army under the rule of the devil, and the second shows what type of army was to form under Christ. In the first, you have the soldiers who persecute the Church, not having any consideration for the things of holiness, neither thinking upon God, but always fixated on the flesh, always mocking and tyrannizing. These are the soldiers who “took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.
And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:27-31) These are the heathen soldiers, who do not fight for justice nor law, but for their own belly, for the devil; they are the soldiers who plunder the churches, and persecute them. These are the soldiers, after crucifying Christ, were so filled with the lust of gain, that they “divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.” (Mark 15:24)
These are the soldiers who “mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”” (Luke 23:36) These are the soldiers who accepted briberies from the chief priests of the Jews to lie about our Lord’s resurrection, and say not that He arose from the dead, but that His body was stolen, as the Scriptures witness:
“When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed” (Matthew 28:12-15)
All of these are the soldiers of the devil, and they foreshadow the ones who persecute the Church and slaughter innocent Christians.
But, there is something to be wondered at, and that is how there is a shift within some soldiers who behold Christ, and these are the ones who, being born in darkness, absorb themselves into “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9) These are the beginning of the knights of Christ, the pioneers of the sacred leagues; these are the lights that are the first to break through the night, compelling one to foresee that the whole sun of Christendom’s armies are about to abrupt in their fullest image. It is holy Longinus who, being blinded in pagan war, beheld the Crucified General and, thinking Him dead, pierced His divine rib to have his infirm eyes touched by holy blood and water, and his sight healed, and realizing that he stood in the presence, not of a man Who lied perished, but victorious, he declared, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39)
When “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:33) it had eternal and prophetic significance: His blood, which is administered through His Church, uniting with the nations of the world. With the coming together of the nations with Christ, this would include the warriors of gentile lands entering the fold of the Church, and thus becoming no longer the soldiers of idols, but knights of Christ.
The story of Longinus beautifully prophesied the the formation of Christendom’s armies, and it was illustrated, quite profoundly, through this simple moment of a noble warrior’s life. As soon as he beheld the water and the blood flowing forth from the divine body of Christ, did he join His Church, being in the seas of the gentiles merging with the sacred flock. It is the centurion who, after “the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two” and Christ cried out, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit”, declared, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Luke 23:45-47)
Amongst these earliest warriors of Christ, was the noble centurion in Capernaum who asked Christ to heal his servant. His heart was not hardened like those of the pagans, who saw their servants as mere slaves to be used and disposed, but he cared for him with compassion, urging Jesus to heal him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And when Christ said, “I will come and heal him”, the centurion expressed fully his faith in Him, and his humility, saying, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.” (Matthew 8:5-8)
By declaring himself unworthy, he made himself worthy, and thus is the spirit of the Christian warrior, humble before God, yet ferocious before the devil. Notice what the centurion says afterwards: he compares Christ to a military commander, saying, “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Matthew 8:9) The authority of Christ is paralleled to that of a centurion, and to this did Christ exclaim, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8:10)
The centurion placed his life under the will of Christ, as a soldier commits himself to the guidance of his general. And this beautiful moment has a mystical and prophetic meaning: the soldiers of the gentile nations, no longer fighting for pagan gods and pagan tyrants, but combating evil countries under their Holy General Jesus Christ. So when we read the story of the centurion, it is but a sight to marvel at! For it foreshadows the armies of Holy Christendom, partaking in the spiritual war against the devil, by vanquishing nations ruled by demonic religions and diabolical despots.
There is then the soldiers who, wanting to “bear fruits worthy of repentance,” (Luke 3:8) approached St. John the Baptist and said, “And what shall we do?” and the Baptist told them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Luke 3:14) They received the river of knowledge as a seed absorbs water and grows with strength. Here in this one moment we see the soldiers and the rule they are to follow, and we witness a prophetic moment that foresees the armies of Christendom and by what precept they order themselves.
Here the soldiers bear their armour without repute, and maintain their position without leaving it, and here the sacred monastic instructs them on how to conduct themselves. What an image to behold! For here the Church teaches the army, and this is but a microcosm of what was to come: Christendom, in which the Church, with its priests and monks, guides the warriors on noble action, and the warriors in turn, following Christ, protect the Church from her diabolical enemies.
It is here in Christendom where the soldier does not keep his office to instill fear in innocent people, but strengthen them; here the soldier does not falsely accuse to the sake of gain or the shedding of innocent people; here the soldier is content with his wages, neither pillaging to steal extra money, nor robbing others for their property; here the soldiers humble approaches the Church, to receive her wisdom and learn of works worthy of salvation. These are the Christian armies, and their formation is foreshadowed by this body of soldiers who came to St. John the Baptist, desiring the knowledge of God.
There is the blessed Cornelius, “a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,” (Acts 10:1), who was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” (Acts 10:2) This warrior brought all of his household to St. Peter, the head of the Church, and with a humble spirit, said, “we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.” (Acts 10:33) What a glorious image that strikes us with awe, for its simplicity covers the profundity of what it foreshadows: The commander of many men humbly heeds to the words of the Church, and this only foretells of Christendom, in which the military received the holy teachings of the Church, and not only this, but fought for the protection of those very teachings.