“Remember who the real enemy is.” This quote is from the second “Hunger Games” book “Catching Fire”. Haymitch says it to Katniss as she is getting ready to go into the arena where she will be forced to fight and kill other people or die herself. His point is: the other competitors–even though many of them will target Katniss to try to kill her–aren’t her real enemies. Her real enemies are the people and the system which are forcing them to fight to the death; her fellow competitors are nothing more than victims as well.
I know things are tough right now.
Tensions are high after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I, myself, felt physically nauseous for an entire week after seeing him get shot. I cringed and choked down my feelings as I saw people I would have considered friends excuse and celebrate his death–inadvertently letting me know that they also (apparently somehow unknowingly) believe it would be acceptable for someone to kill me since I share many of the same beliefs he espoused. And I barely held back my rage as people shamelessly took his words out of context and told blatant lies about him in order to paint him as a monster.
While people like Charlie’s assassin should still have to face the consequences of their actions in this world—and God gave the job of being the “sword of justice” to the government to enact some of these consequences (Romans 13:1-5). The problem for all of us non-governing Christians–and the thing which makes this so hard–is just like the people of Nineveh whom Jonah didn’t want to give the option of repentance to, all of these people who are celebrating the murder of a good man (and even the man who murdered him) are not our enemy (Jonah 3-4).
God loves them in spite of their sins–just like He loves us.
Jesus died for them to pay for their sins–just as He paid for ours.
And, as Christians we are called to preach that message of salvation and redemption to them, in the hopes that they turn to God before they die and accept Christ’s free gift of salvation which He bought for them on the cross (Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 10:14, 2 Corinthians 5:20).
Jonah waiting and hoping for the destruction of Nineveh which doesn’t come because they repented of their sins and asked God to forgive them—which God did because He is a God of forgiveness, love, and grace.
Yes, when it comes to standing up for God’s truth and a Biblical worldview, and the struggle for just and Godly laws, we do have to “battle” many of these people. However, as we face off with them it’s important to remember that they themselves are simply victims, pawns, in a war which has been waged since way before our time, a war which they most likely are unaware of their part in.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” -Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.” -2 Corinthians 10:3 (ESV)
While we are flesh and blood and the attacks which we can physically see and hear are coming from other people who are flesh and blood, we are told by God that the real fight is spiritual. We are fighting for the souls of the lost whom God loves and sacrificed Himself for. We are fighting for people to become reconciled to God, just as we have been reconciled to God through Christ’s payment on the cross. And, as for those people who would be willing to kill us for their cause, our ultimate fight–the real fight–isn’t against them; they (yes, even them) are the “prize” which we are meant to be winning over. Spiritual forces are trying to condemn their souls by turning them away from the truth; God calls us to fight to win over their souls for Him.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, stand firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” -1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV)
I confess, this battle often feels impossible. How do we fight an enemy we cannot see who shoots his attacks out through the very people we are trying to save?
All we can do is trust in God’s instructions to us. And when we read more of the context of those two previous verses, we get some instructions on how to wage this war.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” -2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (ESV)
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” -Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)
God says that the best way to fight the battles we are facing is to stand our ground armed with truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, confidence in our salvation, God’s Word (the Bible), and prayer through the Holy Spirit. What does this look like? It looks like the first Christian martyr–Steven.
Acts 6:8-7:60 tells his story:
“Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, ‘We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.’
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, ‘This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.’
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Then the high priest asked Stephen, ‘Are these charges true?’”
(Steven goes on to tell them God’s entire Gospel story from Abraham on–proving he was armed with the Sword of the Spirit with a thorough knowledge of God’s Word. I suggest you all read this but for the sake of space and the purpose of this article I will skip ahead to his final statements in verse 51.)“‘You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.’
When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
We who have accepted Christ’s payment for our sins and have been adopted into God’s family, have God’s promise of life after death and an eternity with Him. So, in the grand scheme of things, what do we have to lose? What do we have to fear? The worst humans can do is take our lives–but those lives belong to God. Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:31-39), and He has promised to raise us from the grave into eternal life with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Revelation 12:11 (NASB) says the following about how things will turn out in the end for the Christians who have stood firm on God’s truth and followed God’s battle plan, even when it meant becoming a martyr:
"Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”
You see, if we meet our fellow humans—who oppose God’s truth—on their terms, if we “agree” with the people who threaten us and act as if we are enemies, if we kill them as some of them would do to us–we lose the real battle. We lose them. We push them further into the arms of our real enemy.
However, if we stand strong in faith, speaking God’s truth in firmness out of love, we can finish our races strong and play our part in landing some knockout blows in the spiritual war.
“…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” -1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
Even though Steven died, God was able to take the testimony he gave to his murderers and use it to plant the seeds of His Gospel in the crowd who was watching. Then persecution broke out against the church and–while this may have looked like Christians were losing the battle–this persecution ended up spreading the Gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And, eventually, even one of their fiercest haters–Saul–the young man who proudly watched Steven die in Acts 7:58–and who led the way in executing Christians as stated in Acts 8:3–became a fellow hero of the faith—Paul the Apostle.
“He [God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” -Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV)
The reality is you and I, we humans, cannot see the spiritual battle raging around us. We do not know each little detail of the battle plans we are a part of. But God does. He told us the tools we need to wield in order to be useful warriors: truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, confidence in our salvation, God’s Word (the Bible; 2 Timothy 2:15), and prayer through the Holy Spirit. We need to have faith in God; we need to trust He knows what He is doing. Let’s let God handle the big picture while we dutifully follow His instructions for each of our own lives.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” -Romans 12:21 (ESV)
This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”