The importance of being certain you’re on the right side of a fight is obvious in any conflict, but that importance is raised to the highest possible degree when it comes to the war between God’s truth and Satan’s lies.
In Acts chapter 5, even the presumably unbelieving Pharisee Gamaliel saw the futility of standing against Almighty God. When Peter and the other apostles were brought before the religious counsel for preaching about Jesus, the gathered leaders discussed putting the apostles to death. Gamaliel warned the counsel to choose their steps carefully. He finished his short speech with these words: “And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” (Acts 5:38-39). Whether his motives were right or not, his words were true enough. It was good advice, which went mostly unheeded then (beating the apostles and forbidding their preaching is hardly “letting them alone”), as it often does today.
I would only caution that Gamaliel’s words might seem to infer that there is a neutral position somewhere in between actively supporting the work of the Lord and actively opposing it. It seems to me to promote a “stand back/wait and see” approach that isn’t actually a valid option at all. I realize that a great many people would claim to be holding that exact position, but believing something to be true does not make it so. Jesus Himself said to the Pharisees, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23). So, what about the atheist/agnostic/humanist/average-non-religious-person who claims that his disbelief in the God of the Bible is no different than his disbelief in Zeus or other mythological deities? In short, I would point out that 1) unlike Zeus or any other false god, the existence of the God of the Bible is made manifest through what He has created (see Romans 1:18-21, 28) and in our own otherwise inexplicable natural sense of right and wrong, or conscience (see Romans 2:14-15); and 2) in the Bible, God demands our belief, obedience, praise, and thankfulness (see Deuteronomy 6). Failure to give the glory to God when it is due (and thereby encouraging others to follow suit) is nothing less than active opposition to Him. Take note of the severity of Herod’s punishment when he failed to give God His due (Acts 12:20-23). God killed him. God is a jealous God. It is only out of infinite mercy that He doesn’t do the same to each one of us when we fail to acknowledge Him as the All-Powerful Lord that He is.
Jesus said it. We’re either for Him or against Him. As I wrote in the last post, if you’re not already for Him, I plead with you to look to the Bible and consider where that leaves you. For a quick but thorough rundown, read the gospel of John. Find out just Who Jesus is, and what He’s done. See to it that your commander-in-chief is the Lord, who loves his soldiers, cares for them, and guarantees them victory. The defeat and destruction of the “kingdom of darkness,” whose leader literally hates those serving him, is only interested in using them for his own wicked ends, and wants them dead after he’s done with them, has been has been determined before the fight began. Your eternity is at stake and there’s no second go at it, so make sure you’ve properly identified who is friend and who is foe in this struggle.
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