By Col. David Giammona and Troy Anderson
We are persuaded that things on this planet are about to change drastically, and that we need to prepare for coming earth-shattering events. In fact, I had a life-changing spiritual encounter (which I will describe in chapter 5) that convinced me that God has called us all to go out and wake up the Church and the world to what is about to happen.
We are about to face the most difficult days in the history of mankind. If we are not prepared, we could be swept away by all the propaganda and politics of the world that Satan is using against us. Unless we are ready—awakened from our sleep and prepared to encounter God—we will not be able to engage fully in the ministry and spiritual warfare God has for us.
The Church in her current state is not ready for the end times or the return of Jesus Christ. We have been paralyzed with fear of what human beings may do to us. But if we are not prepared, we are going to falter or, worse, reject our faith and succumb to the world system and the worship of the Antichrist.
Whether you know it or not, we are at war. The forces of light and darkness are lined up in battle array. You are either on one side or the other; there is no neutral ground.
I learned this in a profound way during 32 years of military service, including tours of combat and other duties in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Honduras. I have witnessed war firsthand and can tell you this: Most young soldiers came back from combat very different from when they went in. Many young soldiers (and older ones too, even chaplains) lose their faith in a God they believed would protect them and their buddies from harm.
I am not saying God does not protect, care for and love us—just not in a way most of our troops expected or had previously experienced. They were not prepared for what they encountered. When you are young, idealistic and impressionable, you have an immature worldview. After these soldiers witnessed the true horrors of war—the inhumanity, bloodshed, anxiety, stress and fog of war—they would never be the same.
I have dealt with many of them and their families. Even chaplains returning with the 101st Airborne Division from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) were in shambles on returning home. One chaplain, when I asked him how he was doing, broke into uncontrollable tears from remembering picking up body parts after seventeen of his own soldiers died in a midair Black Hawk helicopter collision.
I include myself in that number. I had all the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. So did my son, who was deployed with a Long-Range Surveillance detachment in OIF. Some things will never leave me, and maybe I don’t want them to. I still love God and serve Him, but my worldview has changed because of what I experienced.
Given what I went through, I believe God has called us to prepare people for what is surely to come and help Jesus’ followers become end-times warriors for God. Whether or not you believe that the Church will go through the Tribulation (a seven-year period of the greatest trouble, war, persecution and devastation the world has ever witnessed), many believers are not prepared.
Our hope is that this book will open the eyes of your heart. We don’t want any of us to be unprepared. Get ready.
Read the rest of the excerpt of U.S. Army Chaplain and Colonel David Giammona and Troy Anderson’s new book The Military Guide to Armageddon at http://cdn.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Excerpt_9780800761943.pdf?1604345662.
