The church militant is all the believers currently on earth. “Militant” does not refer to aggressive or hard-line people. It does not refer to some extreme kind of Christian in the same way the media uses the term “Islamic militants.” Rather, you and I are still engaged in battle. We still fight the good fight. But we struggle, not against flesh and blood, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” We are indeed engaged in battle, but it is a spiritual war.

Ephesians 6:12 says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. I think this is where the church has gone so horribly wrong in events like the Crusades. It is complex I know, but at least this much we can say, Christianity does not spread by sword. The old proverb is still true, “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Christianity comes by way of the mind. Repentance means change of mind. Expansion of territory in the kingdom of God come not in physical territory with physical weapons, but when the hearts and mind of people are captured by Christ and he becomes their all consuming passion. Coercion of any kind – whether physical threats, empty promises or the glitz of entertainment – will not make a man a Christian. Only the pure preaching of the gospel can give new life to a man.