The Ultimate Martial Artist
There have been many great martial artists throughout history. Many of them are made well known today to the masses thanks to the movie industry and other media channels. Several names would come up if asked who the ultimate martial artist might be. Some would be well known and others not so well. If the question was asked who that might be, several would be mentioned several times and others who should qualify would not be mentioned at all.
Several characteristics may be the deciding factor for your choice. Maybe it would be there ferocity in battle or speed of hands. Perhaps it could be there kicking ability and strength. It may even be the standards demanded in class and the contribution they gave to the arts over the years. Other items that may be in the criteria of the ultimate martial artist could include things such as the persons character, discernment, patients, grace, or even there love demonstrated toward others. You may be thinking whoa, wait a minute, love, you’ve got to be kidding! What an unexpected notion that the martial artist and even the ultimate martial artist would be identified by there love rather than by things such as an indefensible kick. Shouldn’t the person deserving of this title be one who could lets say take the perpetrator in need of a good lesson and truly give it to them? My premise is that they are one in the same.
Let’s take a look in the Bible at John chapter 18. This is the account of Jesus and his Disciples in the garden praying together the night of Jesus’ capture. According to the scriptural account, Jesus, while praying about the coming events was so distraught that he not only sweated but sweated blood. Now enter stage left, the mob. The mob which was led by the Jewish spiritual leaders came in the Vail of darkness to take Jesus. To take just one unarmed man. Christ being who he was, God personified, knew exactly what events were to take place. This must have been a terrifying event seeing this mob of people coming for him with torches and weapons and military support.
After the kiss of betrayal from Judas, Christ had to initiate the dialog and asked who they were coming for. A spokesman for the mob replied, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Jesus replied with three simple words, “I am he”. This response was a nice correlation from the meeting between Moses and God the father on Mount Sinai. Moses had asked God who he should tell the Jewish nation gave him the commandments. God said to tell them that “I Am” has done so. After Jesus said “I am he”, the mob fell back on there face. This was not an attempt to mock him but a response caused by the shear power of who Jesus is. Talk about power, all Christ had to do in being God was to identify himself and it caused the mob to fall back on there face. Christ even had to prod them to continue. He had to ask them again who they were looking for. There response again was Jesus of Nazareth. Once again Jesus said I am he and in fact he said I told you already that I am he. He then added that because he was the one they were looking for, they should let the others with him go free.
Another event happened that identified Christ for who he was. Peter used his sword and cut off an ear from one of the servants of the high priest. Jesus rebuked Peter and told him to sheath his sword and then reattached the ear. In seeing this miracle right before there eyes you would think the mob would have run away.
Scripture says that there is no greater love than one man giving his life for another. Christ went willingly with the mob and subjected himself to starvation, humiliation, torture, and a beating which left him unrecognizable. Then he was nailed to a cross to endure a long tortuous death. All he had to do is say the word and God the father would have sent innumerable angels to defend him but Christ new that in order to truly protect us he had to become the sacrificial lamb. Christ also could have turned and ran the other way when he saw the mob approaching but instead he stayed for our benefit.
Jesus had every opportunity to get frustrated with his sheep and give them a swift kick in the pants but instead chose to take all the foreknown punishment.
To finish the scriptural account, Christ died and was buried. He did not stay a dead man but instead defeated eternal death and rose again as our living God. John 14: 30, 31 is a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus said “I don’t have much time to talk to you, because the prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father.” You see the important part of this text is that the prince of this world (Satan) is coming and this would be Satan’s greatest hour, so he thought. However, Jesus knew that Satan had no power over him, but Jesus was committed for all of our sakes’ to do what the Father required.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate martial artist. He had all the power at his disposal to defeat his enemy. He could have called upon legions of angels to obliterate his enemy at his command. In fact he demonstrated that he would not have needed to go that far and just eliminated the threat by his very word. Mankind gave its’ best shot at Jesus but could not defeat him.
In martial arts it is usually the unnatural response that is the correct response. Who would have thought that the unnatural response of love toward man in the wake of such a personal attack would have turned out to be the victorious blow against the evil inflicted upon Jesus and directed toward mankind?
Practice your art diligently. Master the elements of concentration, balance, focus, strength, speed, power, and precision of movement. However as the example of Christ you will not be a complete martial artist if you do not incorporate humility, patients, respect, perseverance, grace, forgiveness, and most of all love. In combining all elements you will then be able to follow the example of the Ultimate Martial Artist.
The Secret Self Defense
The principle of Even Kill is the point of this chapter. Even Kill, is the approach or mental attitude taken into a confrontation. During the futile days of Japan the Samurai would approach the battle with the attitude that one or both of us will die today. This is the concept of even kill. You or I or both of us will die as a result of this conflict.
The previous material has outlined actions or responses that if practiced regularly and executed correctly should provide a good percentage of success in a self defense situation. However one would be misguided to think that because of a given level of mastery of this material that they are now invincible.
For the Christian martial artist the concept of Even Kill is applied however with a twist. The Bible verse Mat 8:28 says not to worry about the one who can kill the body but be concerned about the one who can destroy your very soul. The Christian martial artist may indeed be concerned about physical harm in a conflict but the real concern is to fear the one who can destroy your everlasting soul.
If faced with battle, the Christian martial artist or rather the martial artist who is a Christian needs to be sure that the ultimate question of the destiny of his eternal soul has been settled.
Let’s look at David from 1 Samuel 17 as our example. David was the smallest and last of several brothers, perhaps the most insignificant. Yet, God found favor with David because of his pure, devoted, and steadfast faith and heart.
Goliath was the Philistine warrior sent to torment the Israeli army. All the warrior’s of King Saul and in fact King Saul himself were afraid to face Goliath. Little David however was the only one willing to go toe to toe with this fearsome giant. David was a mere five feet tall facing Goliath who was a nine foot plus giant.
Now David was a shepherd who would have used a long staff, rod, and sling to guide and protect his sheep from predators both human and animal. The rod was a stick approximately eighteen inches in length with a knob on one end which the shepherd would hurl with accuracy at a predator. The sling is self evident. Both of these tools took much practice to develop accuracy.
David of all people, this slight of a young man volunteered to fight Goliath. Now David did not have any armor or weapons so King Saul offered his armor and sword to David. He tried it on but as Saul was much larger than David the armor was way too big and cumbersome. David said that he could not move in the armor.
So instead of using the armor and sword offered to him by King Saul, David chose to face his opponent with just his sling and his faith that his God, the God of the universe would take care of him.
Now we must look at Ephesians 6. This is the section telling us to put on the whole armor of God. The faith that David had when approaching Goliath, demonstrated the whole armor of God. Had David relied on the armor of Saul, David would have been relying on the armor of man. That would have been a tragic mistake leading to the defeat of David and subsequently the army of Israel. Instead he relied on the armor of God and also had the faith in God that regardless of what happened in the conflict God had control of David’s eternal soul and destiny. If David would not have had that issue settled he would have approached Goliath tentatively worrying about possible defeat and therefore likely resulting in his own death.
The martial artist who is a Christian needs to approach the ensuing conflict with the same confidence as David did the confidence and knowledge that his soul and destiny is spoken for regardless of the outcome of the battle. This knowledge and faith alone will make the Christian martial artist invincible. Physical defeat may occur. Possessions may be lost but what matters most, your place in eternity, will be decided beforehand.
David, the shepherd boy, had to practice diligently with the rod and sling to develop accuracy. That concentrated practice gave David the physical and mental ability to enter into this battle. The martial arts practitioner must also practice his art with the same diligence to be effective. Diligent practice alone however will not guarantee invincibility. Invincibility therefore comes through diligent spiritual practice which is developing knowledge of and a relationship with God.
Thankfully, invincibility is an easy thing to obtain. You must first admit your sin and fallen position before God your creator. Secondly you need to devote your heart, mind, soul and body to Jesus Christ. Study scripture and grow in your faith in Jesus Christ.
Congratulations, if you have completed this final stage of your training you have obtained the secret self defense. Be sure to share it with someone else.
That’s Just Not Natural
Everyone has natural instincts that drive us or give direction to us. Our sense of smell is sort of one of them. There are some smells that are just so alluring like fresh baked bread at the bakery. Driving by the bakery when they are baking bread smells so good. It immediately makes me hungry. There are also some smells that equally immediately drive me away from it like a skunk.
Babies are kind of like that as well. They are so cute, cooing, smiling, soft little wonders of life that is until they need a severe diaper change. That is when you desperately look for the mother to give that smelly little bundle back to her.
Most of us will naturally respond, well, naturally to events in our lives. Constantly submitting to the beckoning call of the fresh baked bread may taste good but may not be good for my expanding waist line. The baby, well I may need to man up and go ahead and tackle the diaper change myself even though it causes me to experience sympathetic regurgitation.
Scripture gives some examples of this same concept. All of us tend to shy away from the smelly stinky bum on the street but aren’t we told to feed and clothe him? Pray for your enemies or those who are trying to hurt you. Now that’s just not natural. I generally want to device a way to bring about there demise. What about when Christ was in the garden praying, Father take this cup from me but not my will, your will be done?
I remember a time many years ago now when my wife and I rented an old farm house outside of Buffalo, NY. My mother was with us to help out for a few days as we just had our fourth child. The weather was rather rough at that time and when I got home from work I found my Landlord working on a plumbing issue under the sink. I found him to be rather irate. My mother lashed out with a verbal barrage at the Landlord and I have to say this may be the only time I ever heard her swear. I in turn and especially with my short fuse wanted to respond in kind but something else took me over. Instead of reacting with my own verbal barrage I gave a controlled soft response. Before long my Landlord was diffused and all was good again. I could have reacted in kind and a bad situation would have escalated to something else but a soft answer turns away wrath. Wow, it worked. Now that’s not natural.
If a man tries to take your coat you should beat him to an inch of his life right? No, that is not it. Aren’t we admonished that if a man tries to take your coat to give him your shirt also? That is the premise of this article, to do the unnatural thing. The unnatural response during a self defense situation is typically the correct thing to do rather than what you would think is a normal natural response.
Class members of New Life Tae Kwon Do have experienced this concept regularly in training. Take a look again at the guy trying to take your coat from you or perhaps grabbing you. My natural inclination would be to pull back to keep the perpetrator from taking my coat or me. Perhaps this will work but typically I only create a tug of war and my coat gets all torn up in the process. The perpetrator is all primed and geared for that but wait, remember if a man tries to take your coat, give him your shirt also.
The one steps that are practiced provide the training to handle this situation. Rather than giving into the fear of the attack embrace it and step into or close the distance to your attacker. That will freak him out because hey, that’s not natural. Students learn that closing the distance by simply stepping in or X stepping disrupts the attackers balance taking his power and offensive tools away.
Closing the distance or giving up your coat and your shirt creates many self defense options for you. These would include manipulation of the elbow, wrist locks, arm bars, head throws, tabling the attacker or getting behind the attacker to drop them to the ground and many other options and variations open up for you to take control of the situation.
The unnatural response should become your natural response and it can with proper mental and physical training. God was so cleaver to provide this method to us to combat emotional, spiritual or physical threat.
