By Jim Schneider
Executive Director
VCY America
To a member of the military or one providing security service, “Stay on Guard” is an active reminder to stay vigilant watching for anything that represents danger or anything that would pose an element of surprise. Any deviation from the normal should raise a level of suspicion and serve as a warning that danger is afoot. And even when all seems normal it is a matter of being ready to defend and take action at a moment’s notice.
There are many accounts of individuals who failed to stay dutifully on guard and were lax in their area of responsibility.
In 2022, two guards for Brink’s were transporting millions of dollars in jewelry and gemstones from San Mateo, California to Los Angeles. They were loaded with 73 bags of jewelry ultimately destined for a store in Pasadena. Leaving at midnight one guard slept while the other drove. Needing a rest stop and some food, the driver left the vehicle to go inside while his partner was sleeping in the truck. As the driver returned nearly 30 minutes later, he noticed the rear lock had been cut and the plastic seal around the truck was broken. The sleeping guard inside the truck said he “did not see or hear anything unusual.” Of course, he had been sound asleep and the jewelry was gone.
Earlier this year in Taiwan, a soldier was sentenced for falling asleep at his guard post. According to the Taipei Times, “during his day off the previous day, he stayed up almost all night playing online games, leaving himself mentally fatigued after returning to duty.” A documented report said, “His lapse endangered the security of the military unit.” Indeed, lives were placed at risk.
In 2025, the New York Post reported, “a San Francisco train driver falling asleep, sending screaming passengers falling to the floor as it accelerates to more than 50 miles per hour and almost crashes into a car.”
And in yet another situation, a babysitter entrusted to watch a toddler while the parents were away, helped herself to the liquor found in the home and got so drunk she passed out. Meanwhile the unsupervised toddler wandered out in the neighborhood. Someone who knew the child called emergency services. Police, fire and rescue all responded and found this babysitter was “unconscious and unresponsive.” The babysitter was later charged with 2nd-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
While this concept of staying on guard is true in the above scenarios, it is also true pertaining to Christians to stay on guard when unsound doctrine is presented.
Ezekiel chapter 33 tells of the duties of a watchman. Such a person must stay alert and ready to issue the alert when danger approaches.
Sometimes false teachings slowly creep into the church and other times it is quite blatant.
Recently an UCC female “bishop” indicated she was going to say something dangerous. She stated, “I am of the opinion that we need a third testament because the Bible has become problematic. ‘Slaves obey your masters as you do the Lord’ is the text. ‘Let the women, keep silence in the churches and if they have any questions, let them ask their husbands at home.’ I’m a believer…I trust God with my whole heart. I wake up in the morning talking to God and God talking to me. But I am completely frustrated in the ways in which the text speaks to the kind of vitriolic God that makes those kinds of things, and people will say, ‘it’s in the book’ then I said, ‘then we need to pull that page out.’ They say, ‘well you can’t do that, it’s the Word of God.’ I said, ‘No, it’s words about God.’ Come on now. But is it the Word of God? No! It is not the Word of God.”
This woman is teaching heresy and spews the same deception as the serpent did in the Garden of Eden. She calls into question the authority of the Scripture and its Divine inspiration (II Timothy 3:16.)
She is not alone with her deceit and false teaching. She joins a growing list of other “religious” members of the “clergy” which defy the authority of the Scriptures and advocate for same-sex “marriage,” sanction the killing of preborn babies, and denounce the biblical teaching on hell. Scripture is often twisted and manipulated to rationalize their ungodly views. Tragically, many are following this error and have lost the state of readiness.
More than ever, it is critical for believers to “Stay on Guard.” Just like the soldier who fell asleep at his post because of engrossing himself in video games, so also are many in the church who have fallen prey to the god of entertainment, that their senses have been dulled to protecting biblical truth.
Peter warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (I Peter 5:8)
It is imperative for believers to be alert, to be kept awake and watching for the tactics or “the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)
The admonitions continue, “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” (I Peter 4:7)
And while many are lulled to sleep Paul gives an important truth, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11)
In a world filled with entertainment, leisure, luxury, apathy and false teachers, more than ever it’s imperative for believers in Christ to Stay on Guard!
