THE NOISE WON'T DO IT: WARTIME QUOTES AND YOUR STRUGGLE TODAY

    During what is known as "The Battle of the Bulge" in December 1944 an entire U.S. armored division was retreating from the Germans in the Ardennes forest when a sergeant in a tank destroyer spotted an American digging a foxhole.   That in itself was no easy job with the ground frozen in the coldest winter Europe had seen a century.  The G.I. digging the foxhole was PFC Martin of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment.  He looked up at the sergeant and said, "Are you looking for a safe place?"  "Yep", answered the tanker.  "Well, buddy," he drawled, "just pull your vehicle behind me.  I'm the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as the b _ _ _ _ _ _ s are going."
   Normally, only small minded people call others humans names like that.  I say "normally".  The word, of course, means "an illegitimate child" or "a contemptible person".   Followers of Adolph Hitler were quite literally both.
That quote is one of my favorites and hangs framed on a wall here because it has a marvelous application to our day by day struggles.  Sooner or later a child of God will feel as threatened and desperate in spirit as those young men felt 72 years ago before the Nazi onslaught.  That quote represents all the courage and resourcefulness of the young Americans who won the largest war in human history.   Looking at marriages ruined, families destroyed, churches split and militant atheism advancing, the believer looks satan in the face and says, "you were defeated on the cross by the shed blood and the risen life of the Lord Jesus; I am His child; He indwells me; all authority in heaven and on earth is His; and THIS IS AS FAR AS YOU ARE GOING!!!
   The Battle of the Bulge produced another memorable quote.  This one was just one word.  The German plan was to push through to the Port of Antwerp, cutting the Allied forces in half and forcing a cease-fire or a truce.
On the major highway of their advance was the town of Bastogne.  At first the town was defended by the 28th Infantry, who were subsequently relieved by the 101st Airborne under Gen. Anthony McAuliffe.  They were totally surrounded and Patton's Third Army was racing from the south to rescue them.  The German commander sent an ultimatum demanding the surrender of the American forces at Bastogne or they would be utterly destroyed.  Gen. McAuliffe read the ultimatum and directed that a one word reply be sent to the German commander:  "NUTS!!!"   Don't you just love it?  And the Germans did not understand American slang.  "Nuts!  Was ist das?"
   I would not trivialize our struggles with satan and demonic spirits but when pressed hard to quit and give up maybe we should just to him, "Nuts", and keep right on walking with the Lord.  And we have infinitely more resources than Patton's Third Army to rescue us!
   Our next one comes from Viet Nam and it is not an actually quote.  Through the years I have read many articles by the man who was assigned by the U.S. Army to train South Vietnamese forces to defend themselves after the French were defeated in 1954 and withdrew from Viet Nam.  This man wrote about how small of stature the typical Vietnamese soldier was.  So, what did some genius at the Pentagon decide to arm them with?  Big, heavy, bulky U.S. M-1 Garand rifles left over from WW2 and Korea and weighing around 10 pounds fully loaded.   They were heavy even for many U.S. soldiers who were larger and stronger.  If that wasn't bad enough the Vietnamese were convinced that what killed the enemy was, not the bullet coming out of the rifle barrel, but the NOISE of the rifle.  Seriously!  And no amount of explanation could convince them otherwise.
   This is where we got our title for this blog.  There seems to be a widely held belief among American Christians that our "noise" will defeat demonic strongholds and win people to Christ.  Preaching, music, Bible studies, taking stands on moral issues, arguments and reasoning all have their place.  But unless "real bullets" are hitting the enemy we are as self deceived as the Vietnamese soldiers.  Hear the words of Paul to his beloved Thessalonian believers:  "Because our gospel came to you not simply with words ("noise") but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction."  (I Thess. 1:5)   The Lord Jesus used 'real bullets' against satan.  They came right out of the 'ammo depot' of Deuteronomy and Jesus 'fired' them with great accuracy and effectiveness at the Enemy.  God helping me, I will do no less.