Staff Sergeant William A. Glading
Friday, February 21, 2025
“You cannot learn to exercise faith, trust and perseverance merely through knowledge. You cannot learn spiritual warfare by simply knowing it exists. You have to be on the front lines.” – Os Hillman
My dad enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1942 at the tender age of 18. He was honorably discharged three years later after having served his country in the jungles of the South Pacific.
Having seen the horrors of war first-hand, including the invasions of Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines for which he was awarded two Bronze Stars, my dad never wanted to talk about his military experience. While in New Guinea and Saipan, he contracted several tropical diseases including jungle rot and by the time he returned to the United States, he weighed a mere 125 pounds.
Entering the Army as a Private First-Class, my dad emerged as a seasoned and highly decorated Staff Sergeant. I guess you could say he earned his stripes.
The same goes for spiritual warfare. You can study it in the classroom and talk about it in the pew, but until you experience it on the actual battlefield, it’s all just hypotheticals. What translates that head knowledge into proven fact is actual boots-on-the-ground experience. The kind that my dad endured for three years in the South Pacific and the kind that I dealt with first-hand during my 35-year prison ministry career.
Until you enter enemy territory – whether it’s in Indochina or behind barbed wire fences – it is hard to comprehend how vulnerable you are and how much you need God’s protection. I have often said that prisons are one of Satan’s strongholds on earth and you dare not enter one unless you are “prayed up”. It would be like leading a night patrol in New Guinea or landing on the beaches of Luzon without a rifle, a bayonet, and perhaps most importantly, a buddy.
My friend, God wants – and needs – you and me on the front lines. However, before accepting that divine assignment, be sure you are wearing every ounce of your spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-17).
“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
