Tactical Reformation: The Lost Battle Plans of the Victorious Saints

By Damon Albert

“The wounds of compromise and idolatry were deep, and they had affected layers upon layers of life. The disease of “passionless, routine only service to God” had spread throughout the land and lethally infected their homes, their governments, and their places of worship. Countless numbers had died because of no remedy. A band aid was not going to stop the bleeding. An aspirin would not cure this disease nor even lessen the severity of the side effects. Drastic measures call for drastic changes.”
“Just focusing on one single area or issue was not going to bring about the needed reformation. There must be a complete and total all-encompassing shake to the system. There must be all out revival or riot. There must be a return to Righteousness not just some good deeds or Right-ish-ness. There must be a move of God and a line of action that would restore the presence of God to their midst, drive the enemy out of the land, tear down the strongholds and idols. A movement to heal and gather the people and bring about complete and total change. There must be as it were a fire brought from heaven resulting in cries of “The Lord He is God; the Lord He is God.”
There must a clear and direct course of action pursued. There must be a strategic plan laid in place that will eliminate the sin within the camp, produce a radical separation from the culture, and expose and provide a solution for the broken religious system.
There must be a Tactical Reformation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716304385

Book preview

Chapters

Tactical Reformation.

The Lost Battle Plans of the Victorious Saints

By

Damon Albert

Chapter 1

Fighting for a Panoptic Change

They helped David against raiding bands, for all of them were brave warriors, and they were commanders in his

army. ²² Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God. ²³ These are the

numbers of the men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, as the LORD had said: 1 Chronicles 12: 21-23.

The situation was desperate.  God’s chosen people were weak, scattered and defeated.  They had just encountered a brutal loss at the hands of the Philistines.  They were in retreat mode.  They were no longer pressing forward to win the war for the side of holiness but were broken and in disarray.  Their leadership was also compromised.  Those who were suppose to be leading the charge for righteousness had fallen into sin, fear and worldliness and they even began to take their advice and direction from the conference rooms of hell.

Saul then said to his attendants, Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her. 1 Samuel 28:7.

This course of action would end in Saul’s life being taken.

¹ Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and MalkiShua. ³ The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him.⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me. But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together. 1 Chronicles 10:1-6.

The enemy was having a field day.  There was much rejoicing in the camp of the Philistines after all, they had just handed an embarrassing beating to their biggest rival.  They were rejoicing in the victory, giving all their praises and worship to their false gods and satanically inspired idols.  Yet there was a much bigger problem; the presence of God was not in the midst of His children.  The ark had been captured and was no longer dwelling with God’s people.  The presence of the Lord was missing from among them.  Chances are, many in their company may not have even noticed the departure of God’s presence; being so easily distracted with the normal routines of life, and the battles at hand.  Working the fields, raising the children, going through the expected acts of religious sacrifice and ritual had drawn their attention away from the genuine presence of God, allowing them to replace the authentic with just a routine of Godliness.  There may have been many who were questioning their recent defeat.  How could God allow such a thing?  Where was God when we needed Him?  I thought we were His children? 

Not realizing or recognizing His withdrawal from their company was a direct result of their compromised and carnal lives.  Much like the response to the Lord’s repeated and gracious warnings throughout time, they had failed to recognize that you can’t replace God with just a system or routine with His name on it. 

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug

their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."  Jeremiah 2:13

treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Timothy 3:4-5.

The wounds of compromise and idolatry were deep and they had affected layers upon layers of life.  The disease of passionless, routine-only service to God had spread throughout the land and lethally infected their homes, their governments, and their places of worship.  Countless numbers had died as a result of no antisinotic. A band-aid was not going to stop the bleeding.  Aspirin would not cure this disease nor even lessen the severity of the side effects.  Drastic measures would call for drastic changes.  Addressing just the need of a New King would not eliminate the issue of the Philistines.  Focusing on just the ongoing war with the Philistines would not address the issue of missing The Presence of

God.  What was needed in this hour was A Panoptic

Reformation.  Webster defines the word panoptic as: 

-permitting the viewing of all parts or elements:  a panoptic aerial photograph of an enemy missile base. 2. Considering all parts or elements; all inclusive:

Simply focusing on one single area or issue was not going to bring about the needed reformation.  There must be a complete and total all encompassing shake to their system. There must be all out revival or riot.  There must be a return to Righteousness, not just some good deeds or Right-ish-ness. There must be a move of God and a line of action that would restore the presence of God to their midst, drive the enemy out of the land, tear down the strongholds and idols, heal and gather the people, and bring about complete and total change.  There must be as it were, a fire brought from heaven resulting in cries of The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God! There must be a complete change of course and direction.

The word turn in I Chronicles 12:23 is the word cabab in the Hebrew. It means: to bring about a change, to transform, or reverse, to alter direction completely. 

Now we are getting to the heart of the matter.  Now we begin to see a bit of divine intervention.  How encouraging a thought that in the midst of sin and chaos God began to do a supernatural work of revival that would bring about a change to an entire nation.  God began building an army; not just any group of soldiers, but an army that would help restore the presence of God to their midst.  An army that would heal and gather the scattered multitudes; an army that would drive the enemy out of the land and tear down the idols and strongholds that had been established by Satan.  An army that decided, "We can’t keep things like they are today. We have to reverse this trend and pattern. Our families our suffering, our nation is in confusion, and the presence of God is no longer in our midst. We need a reformation and we are willing to fight for it."

As we consider the severity of the situation they faced, it is almost impossible to keep our thoughts upon the story and not begin to make obvious connections between then and now.  It will come as no surprise to anyone for me to describe the condition we face today to be of the same makeup and desperation that we read in this section of scripture. 

Many Christian families are scattered, broken and divided.  They are in retreat mode, just trying to make it through the day-to-day cares and wrestling of life.  Many are just trying to keep it together as they juggle jobs, finances, ministry, families, health, and living.  Many are in a place of perpetual crisis management never gaining victory in any particular area of sin but just continually dealing with the current crisis at hand.

And what can we say about our church leadership?  Much of our leadership within the body has also succumbed to compromise and unfaithfulness.  Pastors are leaving the ministry at overwhelmingly high rates.  There has never been so much scandal and sin exposed in the lives of those we call Christian leadership.  Many, like Saul, have bought into the witchcraft and are now ministering a gospel of demons.  They are telling their people to repeat a prayer and guaranteeing them salvation; or instructing them to give a certain amount of money for promised health and wealth.  Many, lacking sound doctrine, have fallen into preaching and teaching a relativistic and humanistic presentation of the gospel; a gospel that is centered on whatever works for you, or the benefits of a life in Christ and not the person of Christ. 

And what can we say about the enemy?  As with the Philistines, I would suppose there is much rejoicing in his camp as Satan continues to set up idols across our land, in our homes, and in our churches.  I’m sure there is laughter in the board room of hell as they watch Christians spend more time on Face Book or Instagram than they do in prayer or in scripture.  I’m sure there is rejoicing when Christians can discuss with passion and insight the ins and outs of the latest High Definition Television yet lack any bit of spiritual revelation in regards to God’s vision for their church.

As for the presence of God, there is such a lack of the manifest presence that we have resorted to bribing people to come to church by offering them games, laser shows, dramas, and of course, non-confrontational messages.  A church I observed in the south advertised "your kids will love the 20 foot slide, tithing not required, short messages that won’t make you feel bad, and free stuffed animal to every child."  Entertainment is truly the devil’s substitute to the anointing.  Can you imagine what the apostle Paul or Peter would have thought if they would have seen churches giving away toys and not the truth?  Or churches advertising that you will love the Gospel we preach because it won’t offend or upset you?

As a result of all this compromise, literally thousand are dying and going to hell right within the walls of our churches; not to mention the lost souls on our streets.  I am constantly reminded of the depravity of our modern day presentation of the Gospel when encountering our nation’s poor and under privileged.  For many years now I have had regular contact feeding and clothing some of the most hurting people in our cities.  The following interaction is far too common:

They will usually make their way in off the street into our Care Center and ask for one of two things either food or clothes.  One of our staff members will instruct them to sit and view a short presentation video of the gospel and the real reason we are helping them.  Upon completion of the video there is a short application and then a time of questioning.  One of the first questions is always about their faith.  More than 80% of the time they will say they are born again Christian. 

Born again Christian?  Really?!  Many who come in are addicted to a substance, abusive, foul-mouthed and lying, but they are; born again Christian.  Well, at least that is what they have been led to believe.  They have prayed the prayer of salvation at least 25 times between the mission, the shelter, and the soup kitchen preachers. 

Not to mention all the churches throughout town who have assisted them in return for praying the prayer one more time.  No one has ever spoken to them about holiness, repentance, or working out your salvation with fear and trembling.  So we have given them a false hope of salvation and they are fully convinced that they are indeed guaranteed a spot in glory despite the way they live on earth.  But it’s not just the homeless and broken that are in this place of false rest and assurance.  The situation has originated in the very pews and rows of church attendees and leadership councils. 

I use to imagine how awesome it would be to have the privilege to preach the gospel in a third world nation, a land that had never heard the true Gospel message.  Maybe I could preach in a back tribal area of Africa or maybe in a small isolated village in India.  How awesome would it be to be the declarer of truth to ears that had never heard the scriptures?  But through the more recent years of my ministry I have come to a brutal and devastating realization.  I don’t have to get on a plane to reach the unreached; I can preach the Gospel to those who have never heard the truth right here in America within the walls of many of our churches. 

I recently had a couple who were part of a church leadership team for over 28 years come to a series of meetings where I was speaking.  I preached on the Blood of Christ.  At the end of the meeting they approached me broken and downcast.  They said that in the entire 28 years of service at their church they had never heard a message about the blood of Christ.  Another woman, a pastor’s wife who had been serving in the ministry for over 35 years, came to another meeting and heard me preach a message on Gethsemane.  She came quickly to the altar at the end of the message and wept as she shared she had not really been born again and did not understand the sacrifice in the Garden until that moment.  These church leaders and pastors are not alone.  Our churches are full of those who have never heard the true Gospel.  Sure they have heard some bits of truth sandwiched between a skit, a dance, and the latest contemporary Christian music selections.  They have possibly even memorized some scripture and been actively involved in some sort of religious exercise, but have never heard or come to embrace the cross on a personal level.  And why would they?  Many have never heard the truth. And much of the blame for that can be found in the pulpit, which can be traced back to the seminaries. 

I recently asked a group of local seminary graduates to list the books of the bible.  Not one could name them all.  I asked them to explain the process of sanctification and regeneration; again not one could break it down.  As we began to dialogue about prayer and bible study I soon discovered not one of them had ever spent more than an hour in private prayer or bible study.  And these are the preachers of tomorrow?  These are the students of the word that will carry the message forward?  How can they?  They do not know it, they do not know Him. 

Much like the days of David in the cave, there is a need for sweeping change.  What is needed in this hour of darkness is a complete and total switch in practice and thinking.  A true wave of revival and restoration is needed.  Not just to impact those in our nation’s bars, strip clubs and casinos; but also in our churches, seminaries, bible schools, and our very homes. Unless we see reformation in our hearts first we will never see reformation in our families.  And if we don’t see reformation in our churches we will never see it in our streets.  We need to have a 180 degree return to God’s path.  A supernatural gathering of those who are willing to fight and die to see a Panoptic Reformation flood across our land, a move of God that will not excuse and justify sin but instead destroy it.  What is needed is a clean sweep that will remove the dirt of cultural compromise and a broken religious system that is damning thousands to hell.  It is time to gather, it is time to fight, and it is time to prepare for a coming King.

Chapter 2

Special Forces

If we are truly considering the battle that is at hand then we must take an honest, serious look at the type of forces and soldiers that are required to forcefully advance the Kingdom, an internal battle to set in our Lord at His rightful position as king of our lives, families and churches. To clarify what I mean by forcefully advance:  There does seem to be a bit of confusion in the body of Christ when we speak of warfare, advancing and establishing a kingdom.  Please don’t misunderstand me.  I am not speaking of Christian militia forming and taking over physical territory, nor am I speaking of the political Dominionist movement that would hope salvation would come to the country by electing certain people to political office.  Although scripturally we need to pray for our leaders, and also pray for Godly leadership to be raised up around our nation. To think that redemption or revival of our nation will come through anything other than the pure conviction and the manifest presence and power of God is idolatry.  I am however, referring to the forceful advancement of this heavenly kingdom through prayer, prophetic utterance, proclamation of the Word of God, repentance, evangelism, signs and wonders, and