Pursuit: How to Win the Whole War

“In the aftermath of the murderous assassination of Charlie
Kirk…there are a number of things that still need to be said.

“This is a sea change moment. People had already noticed a
vibe shift recoil that was starting to develop, resulting in lesser things like
Brexit or the reelection of Donald Trump. But all of that was chump change
compared to what is quite possibly going to be happening now. We have before us
the prospect of making the vibe shift permanent. I believe that history will
show that Tyler Robinson, if he is convicted of firing the shot that killed
Charlie Kirk, will also be revealed as the man who put a bullet in the neck of
progressive leftism.

“But only if . . .

“One of the most important principles of war is pursuit.
General Meade was the capable Union general at Gettysburg, whose leadership
there secured a victory over the Confederate forces. But because he failed to
pursue, the war went on for two more years. He won the battle when he could
have won the war…”  – Doug Wilson

“And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the
three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.” – Judges
8:4

“Only pursuit of the beaten enemy gives the fruits of
victory.” – Carl von Clausewitz, Principles of War

“Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house,
they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the
Christ.” – Acts 5:42

In his biography of Field Marshall Viscount Allenby of
Megiddo and Felixstowe, General Sir Archibald Wavell gives a very clear picture
of the problems of pursuit:

“To the uninitiated, pursuit seems the easiest possible form
of war. To chase a flying, presum­ably demoralized enemy must be a simple mat­ter,
promising much gain at the expense of some exertion and hardship, but little
danger. Yet the successful or sustained pursuits of history have been few, the
escapes from a lost battle many. The reasons are partly material, but mainly
mor­al. A force retreating falls back on its depots and reinforcements; unless
it is overrun, it is growing stronger all the time, and there are many expe­dients
besides fighting by which it can gain time: bridges or roads may be blown up,
defiles blocked, supplies destroyed. The pursuer soon outruns his normal
resources. He may possibly be able to feed himself at the expense of his
enemies or of the countryside; he is not likely to replenish his am­munition
and warlike equipment in the same way.

“But the chief obstacle he has to overcome is psychological.
The pursued has a greater incentive to haste than the pursuer, and, unless he
is de­moralized, a stronger urge to fight. It is only nat­ural that the soldier
who has risked his life and spent his toil in winning a battle should desire relaxation
in safety as his meed of victory, and that the general and staff should feel a
reaction from the strain. So that while coolness in disaster is the supreme
proof of a Commander’s courage, energy in pursuit is the surest test of his
strength of will. Few have carried out pursuits with such relentless
determination as Allenby in 1917 and 1918.”[1]

The spiritual war is not much different. If the prin­ciples
of war were applied by a body of believers in any given locality, I believe
there would be a great spiritual victory. The battle would be won and there
would be many spiritual conversions to Jesus Christ. However, once a
breakthrough for Christ is achieved, we tend to relax, as though the fight were
over.

Consider Gideon’s rout of the Midianites. In Judges 7, we
find that for the battle three hundred men were all that were needed to make
the break­through. But once the battle was won and the Midianites were fleeing,
Gideon called for the men he had previously sent home; three of the four tribes
joined in the pursuit. He also called out the tribe of Ephraim to cut off the
fleeing Midianites by seizing the fords of the Jordan.

“And Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the
three hundred men who were with him, faint yet pursuing” (Judg. 8:4). The fact
that 120,000 of the enemy were already slain, that Gideon had won the battle,
and that he and his men were tired and hungry did not stop his pursuit. By this
time, only fifteen thousand of the enemy remained:

“And Gideon went up by the caravan route east of Nobah and
Jogbehah, and attacked the army; for the army was off its guard. And Zebah and
Zalmunna fled; and he pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and
Zalmunna, and he threw all of the army into a panic. Then Gideon . . . returned
from the battle” (vv. 11–13).

In physical warfare, the fruits of victory are con­served by
pursuing the beaten enemy. The victors cannot relax or just follow up the
prisoners of war. The pursuit will bring many prisoners in a short time, but if
it is delayed, another major battle will ensue, because the defeated enemy will
have time to regroup its forces.

In spiritual warfare we must think beyond the converts made
in the immediate battle. We must pursue the many non-Christians who are
“fleeing” in conviction of sin, but who as yet have not sur­rendered to Jesus
Christ. In other words, we as Christians ought to consider the principle of pur­suit
to be as important as follow-up of the new Christians after a spiritual
breakthrough. The vic­tory has prepared many people almost to receive Jesus
Christ.

It is very important to take care of prisoners of war, but
it takes a minimum of men to tend dis­armed prisoners. In spiritual warfare the
prisoners are the converts to Jesus Christ. They are not only disarmed, they
are now on our side. It should take fewer people to follow through on the new
converts than are needed to pursue the great numbers who have been defeated but who have not yet surren­dered to
Jesus Christ. Sometimes after a major spir­itual victory, follow-up is not even
attempted. Still worse is the failure to press the pursuit of those who are
running away from Jesus Christ.

The most effective way to pursue the beaten en­emy in
physical war is to hit him from his unpro­tected flanks. If a direct pursuit is
carried out, the victors run into the deadly sting of the rear guard and into
many roadblocks and blown bridges, and so the retreating enemy gets away. To
avoid these, the victors should travel a parallel path, outrun, and intercept
the retreating enemy. To continue direct pursuit after the battle is won is to
lose the retreat­ing enemy. In order to effect an interception in the pursuit,
mobility is needed. If immediate pursuit is undertaken, as many more captives
as were taken in the battle can be secured.

Prior to the Megiddo battle in September 1918, Allenby
promised his cavalry thirty thousand pris­oners of war. His staff thought he
was presumptu­ous. In reality he ended with fifty thousand prison­ers, having
reduced the Turkish Seventh and Eighth armies to a few columns.

Let us consider how to carry out spiritual pursuit. First,
we must be convinced that many people are ready to receive Christ and will
receive Him if they are cut off and confronted with their sin and the Savior.
When a man begins to run away, he is ready to be captured. This does not mean
that he will not put up a last desperate struggle or will not continue to run.
Thus it is important to cut off his retreat.

To outrun fleeing, convicted sinners, God-directed mobility
is required. As in Gideon’s case, it might take a small, well-disciplined,
courageous group to make a breakthrough in the spiritual con­flict for souls.
Once the breakthrough has been made and many have received Christ, many others
will be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judg­ment, and will begin to flee.
Then we will need more than our hard core of trained men. We will need, like
Gideon, all of the Christians who were not prepared for the battle but who are
necessary in the pursuit. If we depend only on the core of Christians who seek
to follow hard after Christ, we will win many battles, but there will be no com­plete
rout. There will be successful evangelistic campaigns, but no awakening. If
pursuit is prac­ticed, every successful evangelistic campaign is a possible
prelude to a general awakening.

If we study spiritual awakenings from Pentecost to the Welsh
Revival of 1901 and the Korean revival of 1905, we notice the battle and the
breakthrough centered around one man or a small group of men. This was only the
start. After that, many Christians witnessed and testified of saving grace, and
more people were converted. Christians got right with the Lord and entered the
chase. The whole church was in the awakening. Evan Roberts was not responsible
for the seventy thousand new Christians in Wales; he was only the leader. God’s
revivals may start with God-picked people, but they continue only if every
Christian, weak or strong, joins in the pursuit.

It is the responsibility of the leader not only to make the
breakthrough in the battle with his picked men, but also to call in all of the
reserves for the rout. Our greatest mobility is in the quantity of Christians
who can testify of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. At that time, every
Christian should testify to everyone he or she meets.

Another means of mobility in pursuit is literature
distribution—booklets, tracts, books, and Scripture portions—all of them on the
judgment and love of God. The literature may be offered without charge and
distributed at meetings, through personal con­tact, by direct mail, through the
internet, or via pod­casts and other new media.

A third factor essential to effective pursuit is the manner
and content of our appeal. In preaching Christ to the people just prior to the
breakthrough, it is possible to be somewhat removed from one’s audience. But in
pursuit, we must be clearly iden­tified with the people. Let there be
compassion and understanding in our approach.

Furthermore, an ultimatum should be used in our message,
citing the judgment of God on the un­repentant. This is the only effective
means that will cause a fleeing man to surrender to Christ. Judgment is the
reality he cannot escape if he persists in flee­ing from Christ, and therefore,
it has great force in causing a fugitive to stop in his flight. Yet our warn­ing
should be given in love and joy.

The church in Thessalonica witnessed to their countrymen in
the true sense of pursuit. True, they were not established Christians like
those of Ephesus. They did not have two years of Bible school with Paul as the
teacher. They had heard the gospel only three Sabbath days. Nevertheless, Paul
writes to them a few weeks later, “For from you sounded out the word of the
Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to
God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing” (1 Thess.
1:8).

Will we follow their example? We must if we are to win!

This post in an excerpt from Principles of War: A Handbook on Strategic Evangelism by Jim Wilson.