The “noblest deed ever accomplished for Christianity.”[1]
By R.J. Godlewski
© May 27, 2012, All Rights Reserved.
“This knight of Christ is permanently on crusade, waging a twofold battle: against flesh and blood, and against spiritual powers in high places. He fearlessly advances, this knight on guard against both right and left. He has clothed his breast in a coat of mail and his soul in the armor of faith. Equipped with this double defense, he fears neither man nor devil. Go forward then in confidence, knights, with intrepid hearts and scatter before you the enemies of the Cross of Christ: you are assured of his love, from which neither life nor death can divide you…How glorious your return as victors from battle, how happy your death as martyrs in the battle!”[2]
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The title of this article comes from the words of Saint Joan of Arc, a proud if reluctant soldier in the Army of God, a warrior in the true faith of Christ. The quotation immediately above comes from the words of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the humble monastic reformer and mystical theologian who helped spread the Cistercian monks throughout Europe. Both the words of Saint Joan and Saint Bernard dealt with the honor accorded to the participants of the Crusades against the Turks; Saint Bernard specifically addressing the Knights Templar. These noble knights, far from the slander often imposed by modern academics and theorists, arose to safeguard the passage of pilgrims on the journey to Jerusalem. Furthering the words of Bernard, they sought not riches or families, luxuries or recognition and they honored “the bravest, not the most nobly born.”[3]
The Knights Templar represented the Guardian Angels of a past gone era, whose armor bore more strength and courage than those bearing red berets in the streets of American cities today. The Knights of old sought faith in God, trust in Christ, and good will in all men. As with all creeds, all ideologies, and all religions, we can only judge them by the intent of the founders. The Templar knights sought to protect the poor pilgrims who sought worship within the Holy Land, long since invaded by Turks who more recently decided to attack Byzantium Christianity. Sacrilege thought today, perhaps, but was it not for the aggression of Muslims; the Crusades would not have materialized. The truest essence of Christianity is “the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ.”[4]The Crusades entered the Holy Land simply to take back for God what Muhammad had confiscated for personal glory and profit, fighting unholy fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Reza Aslan writes, “Islam, it must be remembered, was born in an era of grand empires and global conquests, a time in which the Byzantines and Sasanians – both theocratic kingdoms – were locked in a permanent state of religious war for territorial expansion. The Muslim armies that spread out of the Arabian Peninsula simply joined in the fracas; they neither created it nor defined it, thought they quickly dominated it. Despite the common perception in the West, the Muslim conquerors did not force conversion upon the conquered peoples.”[5] Yet, why, then, did Muslim armies sack the Church of the Holy Sepulcher? Why was Arab toleration of Christians “wildly unpredictable”?[6]Why did Muhammad massacre entire towns and order the assassination of dozens of unbelievers? In the words of French Historian Louis Bréhier, “the popes alone understood the menace of Islam’s progress for Christian civilization.”[7]First, came the threat of Islam, and then came the response from Christendom – several centuries after the atrocities began.
It remains quite fitting that in the two greatest wars of human history; decidedly Christian America[8] chose to fight against emperors (World War I) and fascists (World War II). During both conflicts, the Muslim world largely chose to side with the tyrannies. During the earliest years of our nation, Muslim pirates along the Mediterranean chose to kidnap American sailors and hold our otherwise free commerce for ransom. Of the many Muslim adherents who served our great nation, no organized Muslim nation sided with the United States outside those anchored on the Western shores of Africa. If Islam were comparable to Christianity, then Muslims would stand united behind the United States within all of its endeavors. Instead, the Muslim ummah often stands silent at best and conspiratorial at worst. God seeks mercy, not vengeance.
Christian America has always stood within the greatest traditions of the original Templars. Christian soldiers have freed people of all faiths wherever they have lived. No nation on earth has escaped the debt freely paid by American blood. Were it not for the great sacrifices of our soldiers, the great contributions of our citizens, and the great commerce offered by our nation, few Muslims would be able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Because of the first two blessings, America remains the most tolerant nation on earth. To accept all others and to literally sacrifice our bodies and our livelihoods so that others may live remains the essence of Christianity, a faith infinitely superior to any other system of thought within the universe. Our soldiers do not die in order to profit from sullying virgins in heaven. Our soldiers often die because Christ died for us. Christians – true Christians – never place limitations upon either the power of God or the Love He has charged us with dispensing as if through a fire hose.
This weekend is, quite appropriately, Memorial Day weekend where we honor our fallen soldiers from whatever faith they hail. They shed their own blood so that the rest of us can express our faith, our thoughts, and our lives freely. Nowhere else in recorded history is there a nation as great and as compassionate as America. Our modern knights have ensured that no other nation can survive unless it emulates the success of thirteen little colonies who decided that God, Freedom, and Family were the greatest gifts any mortal soul could realized. From these tiny outposts within a brutal New World, arose a nation whose sons and daughters believed in this God to the point where our very first president declared it impossible to rightly govern any nation without an armed population, without allegiance to God, and without the Bible in hand. Knights Templar? No, American citizens. Let us keep the Crusades alive and American heroes honored. Such remains the “noblest deed ever accomplished for Christianity.”
God Bless America!
R.J. Godlewski (GOD LESS KEY) is an independent counterterrorism consultant, the director of the private International Nuclear Emergency Response Team [INERT], and the author of several novels, commentaries, and professional articles. He is also the author and architect of the Web-based Independent Counterterrorist training program. He is a graduate student of Asymmetrical Warfare and Security Management at, and holds a B.A. in Intelligence Studies (and minor degree in Area Studies – Middle East) with honors from, American Military University. He further holds an undergraduate certificate in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and is a veteran of both the United States Navy and Navy Reserve. His most recent article is “Financial Counterintelligence: Fractioning the Lifeblood of Asymmetrical Warfare” in American Intelligence Journal 29 no. 2 (2011): 24-33.
[1] John Beevers, St. Joan of Arc (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1974), 55
[2] Régine Pernoud¸ The Templars: Knights of Christ trans. Henry Taylor (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009), 16.
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church¸ Paragraph #2105.
[5] Reza Aslan, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (New York: Random House, 2006), 79-80.
[6] Diane Moczar, Seven Lies About Catholic History: Infamous Myths about the Church’s Past and How to Answer Them (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2010), 58.
[8] http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions
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