People cannot be told. They must be shown. But how long will they shown? How much must be destroyed before it is enough? What are the conditions that will trigger the order to advance? I must confess I don’t know.

I do have a concern that reason might miss the time. Reason can easily take the plans of God to manage them. Reason says, “I’ve got this now. I can see what needs to happen.” But it is always a mistake to think that what began in the spirit can be finished up by the flesh. If the plan comes from God, then human reason must be subjected to the will and wisdom of God right to the end, and all counsel must be weighed against the counsel of heaven. If it is not, the plan will fail from a human standpoint. God will still get what He ultimately wants, but the price for us will be much greater in terms of time and blood.

Socialist NAZI Germany was a classic example of what happens when good men let reason stop their feet. The whole world was shown evil on an ever-increasing scale, and the nations did nothing to intervene, reasoning that the price of intervention was too high when in fact they were still at the bargain table. By the time anyone woke up to the need to stop it, millions had already perished under horrible circumstances, and it would take the deaths of millions more to bring it to an end.

Evil lays compound interest on time. That interest never goes away or becomes less but always accumulates. When is it reasonable to take action? It depends on the price you are willing to pay, but people lose sight of how great that price can become when they drag their feet, trying to avoid paying a lesser one.

Good men are fighting a war I cannot see, and to this point many of my hopes have been delayed by their patience. I’m okay with that, and I understand that things I do not know affect what they can do and when they can move. I would not presume to counsel them on how to conduct their battles from my armchair, but I would encourage them not to stumble at the end.