Let's Fight the Main War
As members of the Lord’s church we are to “suffer hardship—as a good soldier of Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). We are to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). We are always to be ready “to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). There can be no doubt in the mind of the serious, careful student of the New Testament that Christ expects His church to be militant. Every member of the church should view himself as a soldier (a warrior in the great battle between Christ and Satan, between the church and all forces of error and evil, Ephesians 6).
It is also clear that when error arises within the church, the error must be refuted (Galatians 2:11; Acts 15). But while we all, I trust, recognize this truth, wouldn’t we also consider an army a very poor one if it spent most of its time, its men, and its possessions in dividing into little factions and fighting itself? Although we would grant, perhaps, that any army is likely to have some going astray, some rebellion and battle within its own ranks, there would be something grievously wrong with any army that spent a very large percentage of its time, men, and possessions in such intramural battles while it left a great enemy to run unopposed over what should be the battlefield.
The U. S. Army
Let me in all urgency ask you to answer this question: What would you think of the American military forces if suddenly they turned their attention away from their battle with the enemy, so that we then had the situation of the U. S. Air Force fighting the U. S. Marines, the U. S. Navy fighting both of the others—or all the branches simply dividing into opposing forces and fighting one another? I think I know what your answer would be. Not one of us would have the least trouble with that question!
And, further, what would be your attitude toward a member of the U. S. Army who spent a good part of his time in trying to divide that army into various factions so they could fight one another, instead of their common enemy? I think you, as well as I, would recognize him as a traitor.
The Lord’s Army
Now, my plea in this article is this: since we have no trouble in answering correctly the question posed in the preceding two paragraphs, why can’t we use the same wisdom as regards the Lord’s army? (Please read Luke 16:8). We are wise, no doubt, in our views of the U. S. Army, but how wise have we been (and are we) as regards the Lord’s army, the church?
The Lord gave to His church the task of preaching the gospel to every person, in every town, hamlet, city, and nation in the whole wide world (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16)! There are currently billions of people on Earth, with millions being added to that total with every passing week. All but a pitiable handful of those billions are lost in their sins, they have never heard the gospel of Christ!
And what has the Lord’s army been doing for the past forty or fifty years? While much good has been done by way of preaching, I am convinced that what has actually been done is hardly a “drop in the buck” in comparison to what could have been done if we (God’s people) had been listening to and following Him instead of a few celebrated personalities among preachers.
With all the many, many kinds of brands of error by which human minds are blinded, and with all of the billions of people to listen to that error, what have we (God’s people) been doing for the past thirty to fifty years?
These issues have precipitated quite a battle within the church, in the course of which many churches divided, friends became enemies, members of families became outcasts, and one or more factions in the church began from each controversy. While no truth or error is unimportant, I ask, “Shouldn’t we hang our heads in shame that some matters have been such great issues among us—to such an extent we apparently saw little issue in matters as: (1) atheism and agnosticism which today dominate much of the world’s population; (2) the apostate doctrines of Catholicism, Protestantism, and cults of all stripes and brands; (3) the theory of evolution which denies the creation of God; (4) the many false philosophies which frankly challenge Christianity to defend itself?”
Brethren, if the Russians landed on our east coast and the Red Chinese on our west coast, would we expect our military forces to spend most of their time in fighting one another? Of course not! We would expect them to fight the main war—that they meet the Chinese and Russian forces head on!
And isn’t that in principle, what Christ demands of us? I plead with each and every one of you to recognize that, while here and there we may have small “skirmishes” among ourselves on some Bible question, shouldn’t we really be trying to “fight the main war,” that is, to meet the forces of error in the world head on? Shouldn’t there be a great confrontation between the church (with the truth, God’s word) and the world (with all of its various brands of error)?
In short, my brethren, can’t we fight the main war—and quit spending so much of our time in fighting among ourselves? Fighting a common enemy inspires an army to unity. Forgetting the main battle usually leads to “intramural” fighting. Brethren, let us defend the truth whenever and wherever it needs defending, but let us earnestly and sincerely strive to direct at least the biggest part of our defending against the awesome forces of error in the world—and not allow ourselves to be drawn into another ten to twenty year battle over some issue within the church (John 17:21; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:4-6)! Isn’t it among the more urgent duties of the elders of the various churches to see that such doesn’t happen?