To Battle We Go: The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. For nearly a year, beginning with the Battle of the Wilderness in April of 1864, the two armies had been engaged in a vicious and bloody war of attrition, a literal fight to the death. In just the first two months of fighting, April and May of 1864, there were 88,000 men killed, wounded, or missing, and thousands more became casualties over the remaining months of the war.
Yet, on the day of the surrender, General Grant gave General Lee and his army some of the most generous terms of surrender in the history of warfare. After stacking their weapons, soldiers were allowed to return to their homes without fear of prosecution if they didn’t again take up arms against the United States. Officers were allowed to keep their horses and sidearms, and artillerymen and cavalrymen were allowed to keep their horses so that they could plant their fields upon returning home.
There was no formal surrendering of officer swords as there had been at the end of the Revolutionary War at Yorktown, and General Grant would allow no Union Army celebrations that would humiliate the defeated Confederate troops. In fact, Grant immediately ordered his army to share rations with the starving Confederate Army.
How did soldiers so trained and experienced in the art of war, and who had witnessed the death and wounding of thousands of their comrades at the hands of a bitter enemy, suddenly turn on a dime and offer such kindness to that enemy? It would seem impossible, but it has been a common occurrence in the history of the U.S. military ever since, in Germany and Japan after World War II for example. The military calls it “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior,” having both a warrior spirit and a peaceful heart.
Although not involved in a shooting war, we Salvationists are fighting an even more important war against the forces of Satan, and we must have a warrior spirit to carry on the fight. We can allow no slipping of our standards of conduct or hedging of biblical truth, even if the world calls us stiff or old-fashioned, or even hateful and bigoted, because of our stand. At the same time, we must offer the hand of fellowship to all that we meet, even those who ridicule and attack us and appear to be our enemies.
It’s a difficult balancing act, but one Salvationists have been doing since our founding. Too often we see bold warriors for biblical truth who lack compassion for those who oppose them. And too often we see compassionate people who have abandoned the historical truth of God’s Word. But Salvationists must do both, insisting on the truth of God’s Word and offering friendship to everyone, even those who oppose us. It’s the way of the peaceful warrior — named Jesus.