What Can the British Commando "Mad Jack" Churchill Teach Us About Spiritual Combat?

Alan DiDio
2022-09-09T23:02:14-04:00

The year was 1943, and World War II was well underway. This was a time of extraordinary technological advancement in conventional warfare. As generals and military strategists scurried to find new ways to counter these innovative weapons, there was one man who took a different approach. His name was Jack Churchill.
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“Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.”

—Colonel “Mad Jack” Churchill

It was becoming increasingly difficult to defeat them

The year was 1943, and World War II was well underway. This was a time of extraordinary technological advancement in conventional warfare. Germany had invested heavily in the development of new and improved weaponry like long-range missiles and guided weapons. With ordnance like these, it was becoming increasingly difficult to defeat them in battle and to keep up the morale of the allies.

As generals and military strategists scurried to find new ways to counter these innovative weapons, there was one man who took a different approach. His name was Jack Churchill. “Mad Jack,” as he would later be called, was a British commando who preferred a more classic approach to warfare. When the ramps of the landing craft fell, he would be the first to leap out and run toward the enemy with a sword and a longbow. He sounds like a fictitious character out of a comic book, but his real-life story is stranger than fiction.

British commando who hunted Nazis at night

There were times when “Mad Jack” was seen charging toward the enemy, playing bagpipes, and tossing grenades. He was a legend in his day, and nearly every enemy soldier on the front lines had nightmares about the British commando who hunted Nazis at night with the silent and artful precision of a longbow.

It is reported that Mad Jack once captured 42 armed soldiers at one time with nothing but his basket-hilted Scottish long sword. Think about that for a moment. The enemy, despite all the advances in warfare technology, feared—and lost to—one man with one weapon: a single sword!

Light and dark - Good and evil

The same thing holds true today. Although we have made great advancements in our understanding of spiritual warfare, there is truly nothing new under the sun (see Eccles. 1:9). When it comes to the battle between light and dark, good and evil, there is nothing more powerful and effective than the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (see Eph. 6:17).

There are also some additional weapons in the arsenal of God that have not been seen for generations. I believe that the Holy Spirit is about to place these weapons into our hands. Though they may appear to be new, do not be mistaken. They are tried and tested instruments for attack and defense in spiritual combat.

At Encounter Today, we want to help you become trained in the art of doing battle in a spiritual war. There are strategies that the enemy has long hidden from the church because, if ever mastered, they mean the end of his demonic occupation in your life.