Are We Defending God's Truth? Or Tolerating the Enemy's Lies . . .

"A dog barks when his master is attacked.
I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."

~ John Calvin

. . . It's sorta' the theme of my entire blog. (See the definition of Apologia in scrolling text of the header.) And I have learned over the years that one of the most challenging places to stand firm and defend the truth of God's Word is in the company of other church-goers.

Are you tilting your head wondering, "uHmmm??!"

It doesn't take too many clicks of your television remote, or even a trip through a grocery store checkout aisle, to be convinced that we live in a time of complete spiritual confusion and blind exploration. Satan has indeed conquered the world in terms of winning it over. Which makes one of Satan's most preferred workplaces in our current culture -- the "church." The spiritual confusion is just as readily found inside the church as it is outside the church. Just because you're sitting in a church building does not mean you are surrounded by Bible-believing saints!

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers,
so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel . . . "

~ II Corinthians 4:4

Peer pressure within the Christian world to "match-up" our faith with fellow Christians is great. And the pressure to accept and tolerate ideas and doctrines and theories that are flat-out against God's Word is rampant. Satan has become very proficient at working within this subset of culture known as the Evangelical Church.

Making matters worse in the fact that so few churches really offer expository preaching/teaching from the Bible anymore -- nor do they teach people how to study the Bible. One well-known mainstream Christian pastor has admitted that certain passages of Scripture are offensive to his followers and he will not preach from them. How can Christians defend something they are not familiar with?

The Result: Satan has been given a place of honor in the life of every Christian who is unable to or refuses to defend God's Word.

Take the Harry Potter craze for an example. The Bible is very clear about the sin of witchcraft, abstaining from the appearance of evil, and about casting down imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. End of discussion.

Or is it?

Satan's job is to attack God's Word and to twist it and to confuse its true message and cause Christians to accept or tolerate the untruths and he does not rest in his quest to achieve this goal. Enter: J.K. Rowling. How many Christian kids do you know who are fans of J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series? And how many Christian parents do you know who tolerate it. Whose fault is this?

The parents?
The church?
The pastor?
How about anyone who sees God's Truth attacked and remains silent!?

What about the self-help industry? Consumer psychology and the self-help industry are among the biggest money generators in our society. And the biggest problem in the self-help industry is that many (not all) promoters make false promises. They promise hugely unrealistic results, as if reading a single book or attending a single seminar will produce all the permanent changes you need to make your life absolutely perfect.

Yet Christians still purchase these products as frequently as non-Christians because they really want to believe the marketers are telling the truth. And probably more notably, people are keenly aware that they do indeed need help.

For the most part, secular psychology has attacked if not completely dismissed God's Word. And lamentably, many Christians have accepted it. And if they haven't accepted secular psychology for their own lives, they have learned to accept and tolerate it in the lives of their friends and family .

If every God-fearing Christian (there is no other kind) would stand up for God's Word and God's plan for psychological wholeness, the self-help industry would most certainly go broke! Romans 3:23-24 says more about self-improvement than 10,000 self-help books. But until God's Truth is spoken and defended and accepted and one's attitude is changed, Satan wins the battle and God's Word is not only attacked, but dismissed.

How many Christian friends do you know who are caught up in secular psychology? Whose fault is this?

The psychologist?
The person's friends?
Family?
The church?
How about anyone who sees God's Truth attacked and remains silent!?

Let's talk politics.

Okay. . . second thought, let's not.

But surely you can fill in the blanks here. To try and put GOD and the Truth of HIS Word into the confining and humanistic box of politics makes Him a very,very small God.

Yet . . . it is abundantly clear that our current political climate has made a mockery of God's Truth on everything from the value of human life itself to the work ethic of those who are allowed to live. Whose fault is this?

The politicians?
The President?
The church?
How about anyone who sees God's Truth attacked and remains silent?!

When Christians choose to remain silent when God's Word is attacked, we have effectively learned to accept and tolerate the Enemy's lies and Satan does indeed gain a foothold; and this primes the church for accepting the New Age Movement much more easily.

Sure . . . as "good Christians" we can pick and choose our causes. We can rail against abortion or pre-marital sex or witchcraft or even Mormonism or Catholicism. Some of us even like to take on "false versions" of the Bible in order to gain credibility as a "real Christian." Our individuality does drive us to hand-pick what we will defend from God's Word. But this is NOT what the Gospel calls us to do!

Christians must "bark" when our Master is attacked. On any subject. If we don't, then Satan wins another battle and God's Word is not only attacked, but eventually dismissed altogether. And then . . . what's the point?

"A dog barks when his master is attacked.
I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked
and yet would remain silent."

~ John Calvin

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes,
you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything,
to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. . . "
~Ephesians 6:13-14

~ Esthermay V. Bentley-Goossen
© 2009 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife
[This article also submitted for outside publication]

* * * * * * * * * *

Thank you for joining InOtherWords today! For more information about InOtherWords, please visit Writing Canvas (the home of IOW) or visit InOtherWords on Facebook.