LIFE IS A BATTLEFIELD
The title may remind
Pat Benatar fans of her Top Five hit in the fall of
1983: “Love Is a Battlefield.” Actu-ally, over the years there have
been many “Love Is…” songs. Just a few
of them include Love Is: “A Golden Ring,” “A Hurtin’
Thing,” “A Many-Splendored Thing,” “A Rose,” “A
Stranger,” “Blue” (the wonderful instrumental by Paul Mauriat),
“Like A Baseball Game,” “Like a Rock,” “Like Oxygen,” “Strange,” “The Answer,”
“The Tender Trap,” and “Thicker Than Water.”
Although love has
been compared to numerous objects musically, songs explaining what life is like
are considerably fewer. In fact, there
is only one—a novelty song from 1974—“Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled
Me).” Although no one has done it yet,
perhaps the day will come when someone composes, “Life Is a Battlefield.” Why would we set forth life in those terms? We do so because the doctrine comes from the
Scriptures.
The Christian
armor is described in Ephesians 6:10-17, where we are told that we “wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness
in the heavenly places” (v. 12). What
exactly is Paul saying?
Although people
in the world may not realize it, conflicts have always characterized life upon
this earth. When Satan tempted Eve to
sin, he did not thereafter retire. He
sought and successfully won over Cain, whose jealousy led him to murder his
brother (Gen. 4: 1-8). The devil was
scarcely satisfied with these first two victories. He next enlisted Lamech
into his legion of evildoers. On and on
it went until “every intent of the thoughts of his [man’s] heart was only evil
continually” (Gen. 6:5). Was Satan’s
lust for destruction sated by all of those lost in the Flood? Not even a little bit! He started in immediately on Noah’s son Ham
and grand-son
What more
proof do we need to understand that the devil’s goal is to make sure that as
many souls as possible are condemned to eternal torment? Therefore, life—every individual’s life—is a
battlefield. How does Satan fight
against us? He uses every weapon he can:
he fights dirty with no holds barred.
He tries to keep
people away from the Truth, since it is the means of freedom (John
Another technique
Satan uses, upon those who have read and studied carefully for themselves, is to try to make Christianity as confusing as
possible. The establishment of religious
denominations from the 1500s to the present day is enough to stymie anyone
seeking true religion. Many of these (and
older religious groups) say the Bible is not sufficient. The Jews, for example, talk about the “Oral
Law” that God gave to Moses at
If God was going
to continue to inspire men to reveal His Word, then there was no need for the
Bible.
Jude wrote that
the faith had been once for all revealed (v. 3). Peter agreed that God had granted to us “all
things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). Why did the Holy Spirit inspire the apostles
to record New Testament doctrine in the first place? If He planned to do it again in every
century, then no compelling reason for writing it down was needed. If He intended to keep inspiring His holy
Word in every country in every generation, then why bother to re-veal His Word
through only eight men in units varying widely—in length—and preserve this
Bible down through the ages? Why go to
the trouble of revealing it, confirming it, and preserving it for two thousand
years—if He is just going to re-reveal it continually?
Furthermore, if
the Holy Spirit is speaking to all those who claim to be hearing Him, then all
of us are faced with a predicament that has no solution. How are we to determine who is telling the
Truth? The Catholics, the Mormons, and
the Pentecostals all claim miracles to prove their messages are valid, but they
all contradict one another. The pope
will not acknowledge that Joseph Smith possessed any authority and vice
versa. Pentecostals deny any obligation
to listen to either one of them. The
Oneness Pentecostals reject the teaching of the Trinitarian Pentecostals and
vice versa—but they both purport to do miracles from God that prove they are right.
It is precisely
for this reason that God revealed ALL of His Word in the first century and
confirmed it with signs and wonders (Mark 16:20; Heb. 2:1-4). Today, therefore, we need not participate in
all of the confusion, because God has given us the Bible as our sole authority
and as the means by which to measure anyone’s claim “to speak for God.” God has not given anyone a new
revelation. The Holy Spirit does not
speak outright to individuals today or give them “nudges” as to what to
do. The voices that people think that
they hear from God are their own internal thoughts. Some folks speak to themselves out loud; the
rest of us carry on silent conversations with-in our minds. Some think, if they have a bad thought, that
the devil spoke to them; or if it is something positive, they imagine that
“God” spoke to them. Neither case is
true. God has spoken to all of us through His Word (2 Tim.
No Response?
Even among those
who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, however, problems
exist. The reason for the disharmony
lies with man’s propensity to formulate creeds and develop traditions. Calvinism has influenced most modern
religious denominations, but each one of its tenets is false—and therefore
deadly. Its adherents are quite evangelistic
(as we noted from David in last week’s article). They want to convince everyone that salvation
is by “faith only” and that no act of obedience on our part (such as repentance
and baptism) can avail anything. True
Calvinists do not even believe that we can have faith on our own—unless God
gives it to us (as set forth by Michael Horton in his book, Putting the Amazing Back Into
Grace).
We will, until
the Lord returns, be fighting this doc-trine, which affects everyone’s eternal
destiny. Calvinists seek to convince
people that God does it all and that they can do nothing. While it is true that God did everything in
making salvation available; it is also true that we must respond to that
salvation in order to obtain it—we must access what He has provided for
us. For that reason Jesus invites
people, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt.
What are
Christians to do—simply allow this false “gospel” to permeate the entire world,
thereby ensuring the eternal condemnation of millions—or do we fight against
this fatal error? Life is a battlefield.
Brethren
Ah! but once we begin to discuss the church, the body of Christ,
at last we have harmony and peace, right?
Lamentably, it is not so. Nor has
it been since about ten years after the establishment of the church. Galatians is considered to be one of the
earliest books of the New Testament written, and its purpose is to deal with a
huge problem—the Judaizing teachers who insisted that
the Law of Moses also be kept—in addition to New Testament teachings. Paul taught some very “hard” doctrine (cf.
John 6:60) concerning this heresy. Among
other things he told these brethren that they had turned away to a different
“gospel” (Gal. 1:6-9). He claimed they
had been bewitched (3:1) and that those attempting to be justified by the Law
of Moses had fallen from grace (5:4).
The fact is that
this false teaching had disrupted the unity which had existed in the body of
Christ. What are brethren supposed to do
when someone injects false doctrine into the church? They can do nothing and just wish that it
would all go away (of course, it won’t), or they can take issue with it by
presenting the Truth, which is what the inspired apostle did. Frequently, members become disillusioned
because it seems to them that the body of Christ ought to be united, since
Christ shed His blood for all of us.
Many become discouraged by strife—whether brotherhood-wide or within
their own congregation. But it will
occur!
Why? The overriding reason is that Satan is still
fighting God. He has fought Him from the
beginning of the creation of the world.
He did everything in his pow-er
to keep Christ from coming into the world in order to redeem mankind. He was defeated in that endeavor, but he is
still committed to the destruction of the church and of individual Christians.
He works through ungodly men who, though
Chris-tians, vie for control and influence in one or
over several congregations. Sometimes,
they even speak perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves (Acts
♦ The use of instrumental music into worship
♦ The advocacy of the false premillennial
doctrine
♦ The binding upon others things God had not bound
♦
Neo-Pentecostalism
♦ Max
King’s doctrine of “realized eschatology”
♦
Marriage and divorce heresies of all stripes
♦ Max
Lucado/Rubel Shelly liberalism (characterized by
fellowshipping as
Christians those not in the body of
Christ
♦
Performance-oriented worship
♦
Grace minus our obedience
♦
“All of life is worship”
♦ The
Holy Spirit operating directly on the Christian’s
heart
There are many
other errors held by various brethren, such as theistic evolution, annihilation
(in place of the Biblical doctrine of eternal punishment), acceptance of
Calvinism, etc. What can the church
expect in the next hundred years, at the rate we are going?
Besides these
doctrinal difficulties, there have been many personal problems; unfortunately,
many congregations are trying to live down the stigma of a preacher who has not
paid his bills or run off with the secretary (or someone else’s wife). Some congregations have been plagued by
ungodly elders who refuse to resign (one had propositioned several young
ladies).
Who else is there
for Satan to target besides Christians?
How much time does he need to spend on those already committed to
sin? How much energy must be expended on
those who, although well-intentioned, are nevertheless outside the body of
Christ, having never obeyed the one Gospel?
Those en-trenched in the world or committed to false religions are of no
vital importance. The devil concerns himself with those thinking about becoming a Christian and
with those who already have done so. We
may not see a bull’s-eye painted on us, but we are all candidates for his personal
reclamation project. Jesus told Peter:
“Sa-tan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke
Personal Strife
As already
suggested, we may not even be at peace with ourselves. Satan uses the same techniques on us as he
did on Adam and Eve—because they work. For
example, we have already noted how that many have succumbed to adultery or
fornication. Why do we listen to Satan
when he seduces us into thinking that there is another woman or another man
with whom we would be happier? And why
are we so dissatisfied to begin with?
Very likely, the problem involves too much
The lust of the
eyes also entices us to place value on the things that are essentially
worthless. If our Lord could turn down
all the kingdoms of the world—which is much more than we will ever be offered—we
ought to be able to refuse “small change” items. Yet, apparently, the extent of the problems
is such that two of the Ten Commandments dealt with the issue: God charged
At least these
first two can be seen for what they are.
Even as men pursue them, they know they are wrong in doing so. Pride is the tricky one; it is much easier to
see in another. When someone refuses to
acknowledge wrongdoing and seeks to rationalize his behavior, he may not see
what he is doing, but others will.
Pride keeps
people out of the kingdom of heaven, because they cannot bring themselves to
admit that they have been wrong or that their loved ones were wrong in their
beliefs. Rather than embrace the Truth
and welcome it to their lives, they reject it because they fear their family
more than God. Some refuse to repent
because they are convinced they have never behaved all that badly. Oh, how pride blinds!
Among Christians we cannot help wonder how
many will ultimately be lost because they have never admitted, “I was
wrong.” Not only do they refuse to see
it in the heat of passion, they cannot even do so ten or twenty years
later. Pride causes people to defend bad
decisions and to refuse to apologize for hurtful things they have done (even though
they may have been unintentional). Sometimes,
when people respond to the invitation, they say, “If I have offended
anyone….” Was sin involved or not? If an action constituted sin, then God was
offended whether or not any of us were.
Pride keeps people from genuine repentance.
Life is a battlefield. Whether the conflict is internal, between
brethren, with false religion, or with the world, Christ has equipped us with
the appropriate armor for the fight.
“But I don’t like antagonism, and I choose not to participate,” someone
might protest. Then Satan has already won.
“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength
is small” (Pr. 24:10). “…be
strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph.
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