“Our first task is therefore to try to grasp what the concept of the enemy really means. The enemy is someone who is willing to die in order to kill you. And while it is true that the enemy always hates us for a reason, it is his reason, and not ours.” These are the opening words from Lee Harris’ book, Civilization and Its Enemies. This notion should be deeply pondered and applied not only to the current war between the civilized world and the terrorists who want to take over, but also to the battle raging against the fundamental doctrines and values of Christianity.
Harris stresses the realities of our present political and moral situation. His book published a couple of years ago is still worth reading. I gifted it to several friends on its release, and they agreed that Harris drives home the reality stated in his opening paragraph, “The enemy has a cause, he hates us for his own reasons. His cause, and objective is not ours.” Jesus warned us that “[t]he thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (Jn. 10:10). Unfathomable, you may think. Why? you may ask. But the thief is of another way (Jn.10:1). He has another agenda. Harris is teaching along these same lines, in essence. Come on America, wake up! Figure it out. Face reality.
Humanity’s most unspeakable crime is genocide. Recent modern history, not ancient history, reeks with this unspeakable horror. We have experienced it in our lifetimes: the Nazi genocide against the Jews, Armenian genocide, Cambodian genocide, Liberian genocide, the Sudan, the Congo and Bosnia. These and others represent millions of people. Millions! It is mind-boggling. Interestingly, and instructively, this is the reason I reference these horrors; it is a widely held belief that the kind of hatred that evolves into genocide is not a spontaneous reaction but flows out of one mind. A Hitler, for example, or a Pol Pot (Cambodia). It is intentionally conceived, precisely planned and deliberately executed.
Haris Silajdzic, former President of Bosnia, in a recent accounting on the subject of the genocide (in general, and specifically about the Bosnia killings, over 100,000), stated that “genocide is a design as any genocide must be because it is not possible to kill a big number of people without prior preparation, mental preparation, military preparation. Mass sophisticated methods are needed . . . but the will, not the way — that’s the critical part.”
Jesus, in speaking of those who rejected Him, had to tell his disciples something before he could tell them something. In other words, in certain cases, one must know something about one thing before he can understand what is following. For example, Jesus said, My sheep hear me, but those who do not accept me as the “door” or the way do not hear me. And, furthermore, when they come to you they come to destroy. They are not shepherds of truth. They are not shepherds of the way. They come to kill. They are the enemy. The sheep and the shepherd have the same objective: life. Jesus tells us, “I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:14). A moment later, He speaks a great truth, “I and my Father are one” (Jn.10.30). And, at this revelation, the Jews took up stones again to kill him (Jn. 10:31).
Christ herein defines the motives of the Antichrist. There is no wiggle room. He clarifies what the enemy intends to do.
I see it this way, those who lead our children away from the clear message of the Upper Room, who use their various talents to deceive and deconstruct the Apostle’s doctrine and moral standards — they intend to kill, to steal and to destroy them. What the Apostles preached on that Pentecostal morning was Christ-given. They had “all” just received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Upper Room was without contrary opinion. The historical record is clear; they baptized in Jesus name because it was the single name given. They knew they had seen the Father manifested in the flesh. It was revealed to them, by the very God who stood before them as a man. They had no concept of a trinity. “O sweet wonder,” to quote G.T. Haywood.
It is imperative that the church see the enemy of the church for who he is, “the son of perdition” and of what spirit are those who follow him. “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Th. 2:9). “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Th. 2:10).
As President Silajdzic pointed out, the evil of all evils is genocide (a deliberate extermination of a particular group). Historically, it has come out of one mind and that mind “taps into the beliefs that are already there” (in the minds of the people). It boils it down to saying what people desire to hear, ignoring the necessity of truth, spirit and revelation. And the passion that dominates men to live by our own will and opinion leads them to killing what they once loved.
I assume we see the bold process and methods being employed to devalue the Bible and synchronize Christianity with other spiritual disciplines. Conservative views are being crushed throughout the mainstream Christian denominations. The genocide of doctrine has long been in vogue. And the false teachers know how to count numbers. “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jer. 5:31).