If we are going to be effective in defending the faith and in evangelizing our culture as Christ commanded us (Matthew 28:19) then we must be as the sons of Issachar, who understood the times with knowledge of what Israel should do. We must have a solid knowledge of the revealed will of God in Holy Scripture with the wisdom to apply it to our times; and we must have a correct understanding of the nature of the time and culture in which we live. Both - an understanding of the Bible and an understanding of our particular place in history - are essential to our mission of making the world's nations Christ's disciples.

What is the nature of our times? What are we to speak from God to our culture that specifically addresses their point of controversy with the Christian Faith? As Martin Luther said:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefields besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.