The name of Robert Gould Shaw may not be familiar to most of those reading this article, but Robert Gould Shaw was a Civil War hero. Shaw was the commander of Company C of the 54^th Massachusetts regiment in the Civil War. Company C was unique in that all its 122 members were black, while their commander Robert Gould Shaw was a white man. Regardless of one’s views regarding this atrocious conflict, there still is no question but that this company performed some heroic military exploits in fierce battles.

One of the battles in which Company C fought was the attack upon Fort Wagner. In this confrontation, Company C led the charge for the 54^th Regiment. In the fierce contest that ensued, a large portion of those 122 black soldiers lost their lives. Now every "Company" had a "color bearer" whose task it was to take the standard of the American [Union] flag into the battle and hold it high above the volley of the cannon, muskets and guns, regardless of the cost. When the flag went down, it either meant that the standard bearer had been killed or that the company had surrendered to the enemy.

The bearer of the flag for Company C was a black sergeant by the name of William H. Carney of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Notwithstanding the fact that a large proportion of the Company was slain, Sergeant Carney survived the ferocious assault in what could be considered a near miraculous manner. After the battle was over, Sergeant exclaimed in fervent ardor, "The flag never touched the ground."

When Booker T. Washington made his historic address in 1897 at the dedication of the monument for Robert Gould Shaw, Sergeant Carney was present along with a small remnant of the 54^th Regiment. Seated on the front row, he held in his hand the same flag to which he had so intensely clung during the Fort Wagner battle.

There is a great spiritual lesson in this historic incident. Isaiah 59:19 states that when "the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a banner against him." God has raised up the flag of historic Biblical Fundamentalism as a standard against the apostasy and compromise of the 20^th-21^st religious world. Today, the enemy is coming in like a flood. There is not only a deluge of apostate perils from without, there is also a flood of pressures from within the Fundamentalist camp to make compromises with the spirit of this ungodly age and to conform to the shifting carnal culture of the day.

The ranks of Biblical Fundamentalists are being thinned by defections, disasters (family, financial, fleshly) and decease. Well-meaning brethren, who are growing weary in the battle, are urging valiant soldiers of the cross to quietly lower the flag, as well as decrease the spiritual gun power in their fighting shells. Militant Fundamentalists are being tempted, at an accelerating rate, to make slight concessions, and gradual accommodations in the name of influencing more people and winning more friends in the religious world.

It is in this context that the F.D. editor issues a plea for the continued militant defense of the faith, particularly in the field of Christian education and literature. Since it has been historically proven that "the pen is more powerful than the sword," it is imperative that the flag not be lower in these vital areas.

This writer believes that God has brought historic Biblical Fundamentalists to the battle forefront for such a time as this. This pressures to compromise, conform and capitulate are great. The question that faces Fundamentalists is simply this:

Will our spiritual trumpets be muted, the gun power decreased and the Biblical flag be lowered for the sake of accommodating, conforming to weaker brethren who stand on the fringes of the conflict in vacillating indecision? Or will we respond by lifting our Biblical colors high and give these fainthearted and vacillating soldiers a clear strong standard around which they can rally without embarrassment or shame to the cause?

There never has been a greater need to lift high the uncompromising Biblicist banner than the hour in which we are now living. The higher the flag is lifted, the clearer our signal will be for weak and weary soldiers in the conflict. Historic Biblical Fundamentalists need to send out a beaming transparent signal for those combatants in the foggy waters who are seeking to determine the direction they should travel.

It is this editor’ hope that at the judgment seat of Christ, it will be reported of those who read these words that your "flag never touched the ground." This writer earnestly pleads with all professing Bible-believing Christians: Don’t ever let the flag touch the ground." The choice is ours─what will we do?