Oliver’s Advice is a poem written by William Blacker in 1834, memorializing the words of Oliver Cromwell to his men before he led them into battle in the English Civil War (1642-1651).

Cromwell’s admonition was succinct: “Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry.” It’s a simple maxim to remember and encourage us as the vileness of the world weighs on us.

Too many people are weak and cowardly and turn a blind eye to the objective evils in our midst and fail to speak out boldly against them for fear of being “cancelled,” or shunned, or mocked. We should not fear from standing up for those things that are good, beautiful, and true. Cromwell echoed the message of Proverbs 21:31 (“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord”), in that God will ultimately prevail, but we are to actively fight and oppose those things that are vile and corrupt. From abortion to the trans movement; from sex-trafficking to porn; from the racist BLM campaign, to ineffective government shutdowns. There is so much evil in this world and as the saying by Edmund Burke goes, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

I encourage you to read Blacker’s poem linked above. It opens thusly:

The night is gathering gloomily, the day is closing fast—
The tempest flaps his raven wings in loud and angry blast;
The thunder clouds are driving athwart the lurid sky—
But, “put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.”