The most tragic war in American History was the Civil war, sometimes referred to as the War Between the States. As you know it began in 1861 and lasted until 1865. More American’s lost their lives during the Civil War than in all of the other wars we have fought put together.
And one of the real tragedies of the Civil War is that it lasted much longer than it had to. The Union Army was much larger and better equipped than the Confederate army. In the last year of the war the North had more than one million men in uniform. While the South probably had no more than 200,000. But the Union had a big problem. Several of their top Generals were simply not aggressive enough. But, after President Lincoln turned the Union Army over to the Ulysses S. Grant the balance of the war quickly swung to the North and the Confederate forces were eventually forced to surrender.
On one occasion, as President Lincoln was inspecting the Union troops, he made the following comment to one of his aids, He said, "Look at that, Bro. Washburn, as far as the eye can see, do you know what that is?" Washburn replied, "The army of the Potomac." Lincoln replied, "No, Bro. Washburn, it is General McClellan’s bodyguard." Lincoln then commented on General McClellan himself, He said, "He is a superb organizer. He has good points but he can’t fight."
On another occasion Lincoln said to William Seward, his Secretary of State, "We have you know, Mr. Seward, a sad progression of generals, McCellen, Burnside, Hooker, and Mead. They all wait to be attacked. It is not their nature to attack first."
As the Army of the Living God, we need to ask ourselves some questions this morning. "Are we like McClellan’s army, a bodyguard for the status quo? Is it our nature to attack? Or do we wait to be attacked first?
Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War I, said, "No army can march on a retreating mind." The church today needs to realize that it is at war. We must understand that we are in a spiritual battle for the souls of men, women, boys and girls. We have been on the defensive for too long, it’s time we take the battle to the Devil.