Forward, Christian Soldier
(on an ordinary day)
I'm proud to be a Christian
Walkin' down the street
Today I'm going to share the Gospel
With everyone I meet
It's my first month in the city
And I've been a little lonely
My fiancé's still back home at school
He's my one and only
So I'm saving up my pennies
Waiting for the day
When my promise ring will turn to gold
And he'll carry me away
We're going to have a lot of babies
The way the Bible says
I'll be a stay-at-home mom
The way that God intends
I think I'm going to homeschool
It's really best that way
The public schools just teach bad morals
And the kids can't even pray
I won't let my kids be lied to
The way they lied to me
They taught we came from monkeys
And homosexuality
Thank the Lord for our pastor
He always taught me true
Even in the city
I know just what to do
There are some people standing on the corner
Just about my age!
I think that I'll go try them first
And spread the Good News that way.
There's a redhead with some fliers
She smiles when she sees me
"Do you have a minute?
You can help us feed the hungry."
She starts talking about Africa
And starving babies in Iraq
Something about sanctions
And kids falling through the cracks
"Are, you, like, a Christian mission?"
I ask with some surprise
She looks a little startled
The boy behind her rolls his eyes
"Well, I wouldn't call it that," she said.
"Although many of us pray,
but with all these children dying
I think there's more to do today."
"How many have you saved?" I asked.
"But what about their souls?"
She starts telling me some numbers
Like a liberal at the polls
About how a single little heifer
Can make a family strong
Make them independent
Help them get along
"But that really doesn't matter."
She stares at me in shock,
"Look, it's nice to feed the hungry,
but that's not what life's about."
I think I see my chance now!
I hurry to make her see
"Only belief in Jesus saves!
It's about eternity!"
The boy stepped up and said to me
"Look, I've heard this all before
If eternity's what counts,
Pain on earth should be ignored?
We should sit here feeling lucky
We were born in the right place
And thank the Lord above
That we were also the right race?"
"That isn't what I said," I snapped
"But the truth is plain to see
Those people are condemned to Hell,
Because they don't believe."
"I don't really think that matters,"
that redhead girl puts forth,
"Under these conditions,
they're living hell on Earth.
They die of malnutrition,
The babies waste away
From simple dysentery
It's happening today."
"You can't even imagine Hell,"
I snapped at her, irked.
"It's all darkness, pain and fire,
Much worse than pain on Earth."
"Why should they suffer for no reason?
Either here or there
If we could help to change that-
Don't you think that God cares?"
"Of course He cares," I said to her,
"He cares about their souls.
And you're so busy doing 'good deeds'
You should be worried about your own."
"Excuse me," the boy says
as the redhead turns away,
"Look, sweetheart, just let her go,
There's nothing more to say."
"We all deserve to go to Hell,"
I explained again.
"I just meant good deeds won't save you
and that their pain won't save them."
"Your God's a selfish bastard," he says
as the redhead frowns and sighs
I'm so hurt, I want to scream
Save Jesus from his lies.
"Love, you should know better,"
the redhead girl is saying.
"You'll only make her think the worst;
let her get back to her praying."
She turns to me and briefly nods,
"Well, thank you for your time,"
But there's no way I'm leaving now
Letting Satan win and tell more lies!
"Jesus died to save you
How can you not believe?"
"I never said I didn't," she says sharply
"Sorry, but could you leave?"
"I have a right to be here!" I tell her
She rolls her eyes and says, "You do.
But since you think we're Hell-bound
I don't see why you'd want to.
And there are an awful lot of people here
Who might even want to help
To me this is important
And to my friend as well.
See, I believe in Jesus,
And the stories that he tells,
To help each other out of love
And not just fear of hell.
My friend isn't a Christian
And I love him just the same
He loves his neighbors more than
Do most who make that claim.
I'm sorry if children dying
Doesn't matter much to you
To have wasted both our time in telling
How much more that we could do."
"You've got it wrong," I told her.
"If you did, the truth you'd tell,
It'll be on your conscience
When your friend there goes to Hell."
She smiles sadly, shakes her head
And I sadly walked away
They didn't want to hear the truth
There was nothing more to say.
I saw them still there later
When I was walked back that night
With two other boys, their arms entwined
Right under the streetlight.
They looked tired and contented,
And I could only shake my head
"I let her get away with Satan's lies
I won't do that again."
I'm sure that she would tell those boys
That their love is a-okay
Just like she doesn't care enough
To make the hungry pray
And she says that she's a Christian,
And that's the worst lie of all
Well, someday she'll learn the truth
Pride goes before a fall.
