Where’s The Fight?

Two little points of interest (to me, anyway 😉 ) before I get started. I am planning to change my blog template. 😯 I mention this for the benefit of long-time readers. I don’t want you to think you’ve inadvertently come to the wrong site when your browser opens to a page with a different look.

Second, I’m trying to get used to the capitalization rule change for titles listed in the Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition. I only glanced at it, but if I understood it right, all words in a title are now capitalized (which is what Word does already). Feels wrong to me, looks wrong, but I’ll get used to it.

Now to the subject at hand. As I see it, false teaching among Christians is on the rise, and at the same time opposition to Christianity is on the rise. Unfortunately, some believers react to these circumstances the same way a person without Christ would react: either by hiding away or by going on the attack (and some manage to do both.)

The interesting thing is, the “attack Christians” don’t seem to have a clear idea who the enemy is, possibly because these brothers and sisters have become enamored with Egypt and don’t really want to leave for the Promised Land. They believe Egypt was once upon a time that idyllic place, and their job is to restore it to its lost glory.

As you may have surmised, I’m specifically talking about Christians who recently responded to a call for renewal of honor by Fox News commentator and Mormon, Glenn Beck. Yes, he was joined by a host of evangelical spokesmen, but apparently he was the catalyst and the leader of the recent rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

I’ve read two articles that take strong positions, quite different from each other, and both make me think we are missing the fight.

On one hand, believers who joined with Glenn Beck in this call for renewal of honor in America are missing the fight because, for all intents and purposes, they want to see America become the land of promise.

Please don’t misunderstand. I believe strongly that a Christian has the responsibility to be a good citizen. Because we live in a democracy in America, regular citizens have more put on our shoulders as far as being informed and making decisions about our elected officials. We should do all we can to choose wisely and well. We should want to see godly leaders in power. We should want our leaders to pass godly laws.

But fighting those of opposing views is not the fight we should be focused on.

On the other hand are the Christians who see a Mormon leading the way, and they fire shots off the bow against that false religion.

Please don’t misunderstand. Mormonism is a false religion—one I plan to talk about more in the next few days.

But fighting Mormonism or Glenn Beck is still not where the fight is.

Ephesians tells us what we need to know:

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
– Eph 6:11-12 (emphasis mine)

Clearly, our struggle is not against liberals, specifically liberal politicians. And it is not against the Mormon Glenn Beck.

Our struggle is against the enemy of our souls, the devil. We’re supposed to wise up and ferret out his schemes. We’re supposed to be on the alert. We’re supposed to stand against him.

So here’s my alert. To the one side, America is not our home, it’s our place of sojourn. We’re passing through. We mustn’t fight so hard for America that we stop fighting against Satan. And a second caution—we need to know what our bedfellows believe.

To the other side, the Glenn Becks who would like to “normalize” Mormonism and get it accepted as part of Christendom are lost sinners, to be loved like any lost sinner, not bashed or mocked or ignored. That they have high moral standards should not fool us into thinking they are saved, but neither should their beliefs cause us to rant against them or treat them with disrespect.

In short, we must not be fooled by Mormonism or about Mormons. Happily, I’ve read a number of blog posts today that seem to understand this. May their tribe increase.