When I picked up the phone that Monday afternoon, I was surprised to hear the voice of Robin Martin, an old friend in the Lord I have known for many decades. When his family first came to Faith Tabernacle Church in Baltimore, nearly 50 years ago, we were kids growing up in the Lord. Since he lives several hours away, after his mother’s passing, he only visits occasionally. I braced myself for bad news, as we never talk on the phone. He quickly explained all was well with the family, but he had an urgent spiritual mandate from the Lord to share with me.
I should tell you, Rob is not a preacher or teacher, but he does work with troubled people in his secular job, and has much wisdom and understanding about the various problems of the soul that lead people to poor decisions and unfortunate consequences. He is from a staunch military family; his parents met in the military, and he has tremendous respect for those who serve.
He related how he had recently been surfing the channel guide looking for something to watch on TV when he came across the movie Hacksaw Ridge. He could tell by the cover design that it was an army theme, which he enjoys, so he clicked on it.
It is the true story of Private Desmond Doss who was a conscientious objector on religious grounds in World War II. When he saw all his friends going off to war, he felt that he too needed to support the war effort. But he would not pick up a weapon. His strong conviction against killing for any reason was paramount. He could have obtained a deferment, because he worked as a ship joiner at a shipyard, but he wanted to serve his country. His parents tried to dissuade him, but he made up his mind to enlist as a medic. He was told by recruiters he could become a medic and would never have to use a weapon.
During the induction process and early boot camp, things went well, until it came time to learn how to use a rifle. When he refused, he became the brunt of a fierce investigation in which his superiors tried to have him discharged on psychiatric grounds. His fellow soldiers mocked him, taunted him, and physically assaulted him. He would not rat on them, but pressed onward. At a military hearing, he eventually won the right to serve as a medic without a weapon.
He was sent to Okinawa in the bloodiest battle of World War II’s Pacific theater with nothing to protect him but his Bible, which he carried everywhere, and his faith in God. The battlefield was located on top of a sheer 400-foot cliff and was fortified with a network of underground tunnels, machine gun nests, and booby traps. The Japanese were entrenched, and the American casualties were horrendous as they were picked off like sitting ducks. The mission was thought to be near-impossible, and orders were given for Doss’s battalion to retreat, but he would not leave his wounded comrades, strewn across the smoldering earth, behind.
Under heavy machine gun and artillery fire, Doss repeatedly ran alone deep into the kill zone, carrying wounded soldiers to the edge of the cliff, then singlehandedly lowering them down by ropes to safety. Each time he rescued another soldier, he prayed out loud, “Lord, please help me get one more.” Exhausted, hands bleeding from the ropes, dodging bullets, he continued to rescue the wounded far into the night, and each time he staggered back for another, he prayed, “Lord, please help me get one more.”
By the end of the night he had rescued an estimated 75 men. (A modest man, Doss reckoned he saved about 50, but his fellow soldiers claimed it was 100, so they split the difference.) Private Doss is the only conscientious objector to ever receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
“Lord, please help me get one more!”
These words resonated deeply in Rob Martin’s spirit as he began weeping, trembling, and speaking in his heavenly language. The next day at work he found himself thinking about it intensely and incessantly. All he kept hearing in his spirit was, “Lord, just one more soul!” He was surprised at how greatly this was affecting him, and as the week went on, it only got stronger. He began to pray about it, asking the Lord what He wanted him to do about it. What did it mean?
Three weeks went by, and he was flipping through the channels again when he saw Hacksaw Ridge. When he tuned to it, it was at the very scene when Private Doss prayed, “Lord, please help me get one more.” Rob knew it was not coincidental. Again, he cried out, “Just one more soul, Lord!”
He called a mutual minister friend and shared it all with him. The minister told him he believed it was a message for the Church and suggested that he call me. As I listened to Rob relate the story on the phone, I began to weep. I knew he was onto something, and I knew the spiritual significance was not just for him. It is a message for me—for you, if you are a member of the Body of Christ. I invited him to tell his story at Faith Tabernacle, which he did. This is a synopsis of what the Lord gave to me as a follow-up:
Parable of the Banquet
Luke 14 records a parable of Jesus in which a rich man held a great feast and invited many to attend. When all was prepared, he sent his servant to go to those who had been pre-invited to come as the food was ready. But the servant was given excuses by some who backed out of coming: One said that he had just bought a piece of property, and needed to go and see it. Another said he had just purchased five yoke of oxen, and he had to go and test them. Another said that he had just got married, and therefore he could not come. These excuses were rude and unacceptable.
The invitations were actually two-part: There was no US Postal Service, email, or Facebook. The guests would have been invited in advance of the event by personal messenger. At that time, they would have responded whether they would come. This was their formal RSVP, and this headcount determined how much food was needed—how many chickens, ducks, lambs, sheep, cows, etc. would need to be slaughtered. They had no refrigeration, so the animals would have been prepared and eaten the day of the supper. Guests were obligated to attend once they RSVP’d unless there were extreme circumstances prohibiting them. On the day of the banquet, the messenger would return to the guests’ homes, saying, “Come, for all is ready.”
Today, invitations have become three parts: As much as a year in advance, guests receive a “Save the Date” notice of an upcoming wedding, etc. The venue and times are not given, but it serves to alert the guests not to schedule another event on that day if they want to attend. A few months out from the event, the actual invitation is sent, with the RSVP return card enclosed. Guests are given a final date in which their RSVP will be received. Based on these responses, the headcount is given to the venue, and the cost of the food is determined—$30 per person, etc. If some guests do not show up, there is no refund. The host must pay the full amount that was set by the RSVP responses. Therefore, to back out at the last minute for flimsy excuses is extremely rude.
Their Flimsy Excuses:
In the Middle East, no one would buy a field without first it examining thoroughly to check if there were springs of water, wells, stone walls, trees, even anticipated rainfall, depending what its use would be. These facts are well known before discussion of buying it is begun. Really, who buys real estate sight unseen?
In the Middle East, teams of oxen were sold in one of two ways: They were taken from the marketplace to a nearby field, where they plowed to see if they worked together as a team. Or the seller announced publicly what day teams of oxen would be working in the field, so prospective buyers could come and observe them. Only after a team was thoroughly examined, was a price discussed. It would be like purchasing a car today sight unseen and then test driving it.
In the Middle East, weddings were a big deal, calling for huge celebrations (even lasting seven days), and requiring lots of food and preparations beforehand. The whole community would know about it, and would be invited. Another important event would not have been scheduled on the same day a wedding was to take place. His excuse was dishonest.
When the servant returned to his master with such unacceptable excuses, he was furious. His guests had rudely rejected his generous invitation, and now all the food would spoil if not eaten that day. What could he do?
He sent his servant out into the streets of the city: “Go quickly, and bring in the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.” The servant obeyed and reported: “Master, what you have commanded has been done—And yet there is room!”
There is always room at the Father’s table! There is always room for one more!
Sinner, Backslider, there’s still room for you today—And right now, there’s still time!
The master replied: “Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in that my house may be filled!” God wants His house filled with souls. There is room!
The Greek term for compel is aggressive and means to constrain by persuasion or force. Either way it is aggressive—not passive. In our case, it would be by persuasion, not to physically lay hands on people. We must ask ourselves, “How persuasive is my witness for Christ?”
Power to Witness
We have been given the Baptism of the Holy Spirit who gives us power to be witnesses of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8). There are places, such as on the job, where we cannot vocally testify, but we can still compel people and preach the Gospel without saying a word—by our lifestyles, demeanor, speech, how we live morally in an immoral world and remain clean amongst filthiness. When our very faces shine with the Spirit and anointing of God, we compel them to inquire of us. And Peter said: “Be ready always to give an answer to everyone that asks you the reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1Peter 3:15). There is no greater platform than a personal testimony of what God has done for you. Many can say like Paul: “I was the chief of all sinners, and God saved me.”
The door of salvation is open, and the command in this parable has not been finalized. Nothing is said that it has been fulfilled, because redemption is still ongoing, and the invitation “Come” is still in effect: Come and keep on coming is the Greek verb tense. “Whosoever will, let him come,” Jesus said.
This command to the Church is also still in effect: “Go, and compel them to come, that my house may be filled.” God wants His altars filled with souls—the broken, bruised, addicted, abandoned. He wants Heaven filled with born-again believers. When some reject the invitation, we must move on to others. Go to the poor in spirit, the spiritually blind, those whose lives have been crippled by sin and its tragic consequences, and bring them in—For yet there is room!
There is more to the Gospel than having church with the saints, especially when many don’t bother to come and eat at the banquet table the Lord has prepared. They are like spoiled children who have received so much, they feel entitled and indifferent to the move of the Spirit.: “The full soul loathes the honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter word is sweet” (Proverbs 27:7).
Jesus once went out of His way on His evangelistic tour to seek the soul of one sinner, the infamous publican Zacchaeus, who had climbed up in a tree to see Him. Jesus could have made a mental note to return when He was not busy to talk to him, but He didn’t. He said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry, and come down, for I must come to your house today!” At the house, Jesus declared to His critics: “Today salvation is come to this house…. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
What about the one we run into at Walmart, at the mall, the grocery store? Do we ponder in our heads whether we should testify or offer to pray for them? Do we hesitate until the opportunity passes, and then kick ourselves later, knowing we missed a ministry moment that may never present itself again?
In another parable, Jesus said that if a man has a hundred sheep, and loses one of them, will he not leave the 99 and go after that one that is lost until he finds it? (Luke 15:4).
May our prayer be, “Just one more soul, Lord!”
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