War!

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on April 18, 2008 | Comments

The last two days have been burdensome for Warren. He even blogged about it yesterday while he was feeling downtrodden. I stood beside him trying to give him comfort and assured him that he is doing the right thing, but for a man who looked up to his family as his lifeline for 29 years, my words of comfort – no matter how Scripture-based- are just not enough.

He may be in pain but I am so proud of Warren because he continues to stand his ground even up to this minute, by God’s grace. He repeatedly declined the offer for him to be godfather to his nephew who is scheduled for baptism, under Catholic rites, in two weeks. We both thought that after making that clear to everyone, life will go on as usual. Well, we were wrong.

This morning, I woke up to a text message from my mother in law. She was asking me to convince Warren to concede and be Andrew’s godfather, I would not have reacted and would have just ignored her message (as I am ALWAYS compelled to do when she is being unreasonable, which happens ALWAYS) if not for the last part of the message that said, “I am sure your family would not decline such honor. I am counting on you…”

It felt like my mother-in-law suddenly grew horns and tails, really. I was just utterly flabbergasted at her request. To many, non-believers and professing Christians who are not really Christians especially, this would seem like such a very simple request. Many would even probably say, “she’s old, her times are short, it wouldn’t hurt to indulge her once in a while…” well yeah, but please, not in this way where I will be used to pull my husband down to the pits of hell!

Infant baptism is not being advocated in the Scriptures. Andrew is still very young to even know what baptism is! He doesn’t have the capability to understand what baptism signifies in the life of a man who is making a covenant with God because simply put, he is not yet able. He needs to grow first, to start to understand, to mature in spirit and to be found.

For me to adhere to my mother-in-law’s request would make me be like Eve, who listened to the serpent and enticed Adam to follow her lead, thus resulting to the fall of man (Gen 3). Worst, I will be disobeying what God has designed for me as a wife because I will contradict my husband’s decision, which is tantamount to refusal to submit (Eph 5:22).

Really, today has been very taxing for both of us, but more so for Warren, who is now obviously under attack, left and right. Satan is using the very people to whom he has dedicated more than two decades of his life to because he knows they are Warren’s Achilles’ heel, well, not anymore.

It breaks my heart to see my husband walk such thin line, but it makes me proud of him for not giving in to pressure, for not surrendering his convictions and for not succumbing to the dictates of the world in the name of “ethics”. It is in his endurance and unfathomable faith that I get to draw more strength from to stand beside him and be his loyal ally in this war waged against his Christianity. We both know this is just the start and that there are bigger and bolder attacks to come.

So tonight, I pray for God’s grace to give Warren an enduring heart and an unbreakable spirit as he starts to march toward the battleground where the enemies are fiercer and the war, bloodier. May God be merciful to him, but most of all, to the enemy… For they know not what they do.