The Military’s New “Game-Changer”

The U.S. military calls it a literal “game-changer” as far as its counterinsurgency operations are concerned in Afghanistan. They are referring to the new smart weapon now about to be placed into the hands of the soldiers in combat in the Middle East. It is called the XM25 system. And beginning shortly, Special Forces will be outfitted with some 12,500 of the $30,000 smart weapons.

The XM25 will be the first-ever programmable "smart" grenade launcher. The shoulder-fired weapon uses micro-chipped ammunition to target and kill the enemy, even when the enemy is hidden behind walls or under other forms of protective cover. It is also the first time that smart weapon technology will be placed into the hands of individual soldiers. It will reportedly give American soldiers a huge edge in warfare, as the enemy will no longer be guaranteed safety by holding up behind some solid structure. For unsuspecting Islamist extremists, the new ‘game-changer’ may rock their confidence and current strategy of warfare. Hopefully it will help save the lives of many U.S. troops who may no longer need to come face to face in close quarters combat to defeat the enemy.

Throughout human history there have been many events that could be labeled ‘game-changers’. They have come about in nearly every imaginable sphere of life. And those who have been around a good number of years now have seen incredible and staggering technologies that have changed the lives of millions, if not billions, around the world.

When biblically minded Christians hear or read certain terms, there should often come something spiritual in nature to the forefront of their minds. For example, when I first read the term “game-changer” in the article about this new weapon, I was immediately taken back to a hot August night many years ago when the greatest imaginable ‘game-changer’ affected my personal life – forever. It was the night my life changed because Jesus Christ entered in as my Savior. In an instant my life was altered drastically and eternally. There was not immediate perfection, but there were obvious changes in my life’s direction, priorities, interests, and even the altering of my final destination after this life someday ends.

The Bible speaks clearly about the effects of a new life through Christ and what should occur if the game has truly been changed from within. Paul described the event and some of the obvious results of the change when one being held hostage in Satan’s grip ends and he or she enters the glorious and secure hands of God’s faith family through faith.

Colossians 1:10-14 shows some of what a truly changed believer is and looks like. “That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” This is, with question, the ultimate life game-changer for everyone ever born. And it is not for a select few, but for all who are willing to change. (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10, 13)

Then in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the Apostle reveals what should be the bold and outward changes that are the evidence of a internally altered heart and life. Verse 17 begins, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

But then the next verse reveals that this game-changing spiritual alteration should bring an instant desire to help others to see their need of an internal change of heart through Christ as well. Verse 18 reads, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” Verse 20 continues, “ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Hopefully the military’s new XM25 smart weapon system will ultimately save many lives of America’s service men and women. But the larger issue, whether one is the hunter or the hunted, is that there eventually comes to each that great spiritual life-changing experience by trusting not in weapons and technology, but in Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. (Psalm 20:7)

Some twenty centuries ago, God came to earth and took on the form on a man. (John 1:14, Colossians 1:15). His birth is celebrated each December. And His miraculous incarnation was for the express purpose of later dying on a cross and being resurrected three days later. This would be the proof of His deity and proof of His ability to forgive sin. This was, and still is, the greatest ‘game changing’ act in all of human history and eternity. And the irreversible and stunning results of that greatest of all changes is described throughout the New Testament including in John’s profound words in 1 John 5:1-13.

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."

Bill Breckenridge