Article 2018-09 Spiritual Warfare Against the Missionary Church
Chapter 48: Spiritual Warfare Against the Missionary Church
Introduction
After successful missions, satanic counter-attacks can be expected. Often church unity and doctrinal issues are subject to such attacks. Sadly, these are often launched via Christian brothers. The goals are to cripple the church and stop the Kingdom’s extension. Only determined leadership can deal with such crises. Finally we see that the ‘other gospel’ can have many different faces.
Scripture reference
On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples (Acts 14:27,28)
The story
Paul and Barnabas told the church in Antioch about their experiences, since they had left. The stories from Cyprus and the South-Galatian cities were told with colorful élan. After the church had marveled at the things the Lord had done through them, life for these workers did not exactly go back to quiet church pastorate.
The devil launched an attack at the church, meant to destroy its unity and the core of its teaching in one big blow. He did that, disguised as an angel of light, using some brothers to sow discord among believers of several churches simultaneously. How did he do that?
In Jerusalem, the believers that had opposed Peter’s outreach to Cornelius, never got over their anger. They refrained from comments in public, but talked to people who thought like them. They thought that the church was falling in doctrinal error. They could not believe that salvation came by faith in Christ only. That was too easy. How could one belong to the holy people, if not through circumcision? Where would righteousness come from, if not by obeying the law of Moses? Some Pharisees joined their discussions. All of them believed in Jesus, but believing in Him only at the cost of the ancestral beliefs and traditions? Wasn’t He just a Rabbi, a man, like so many others?
Secretly, without the apostles in Jerusalem knowing, they decided to send a delegation to that new church in Antioch. They felt those brothers must be made to understand that one cannot be saved unless he is circumcised and keeps the law. They knew Peter was in Antioch and decided to watch his behavior and criticize him, so that they could discredit his position in Jerusalem. Fortunately Paul would eventually set Peter free from the manipulative stranglehold of these Judaists.
Around that same time, Paul learned that the same problem occurred in the newly planted churches of Galatia. This inspired him to write to them and explain the whole matter regarding law and grace again.
Scripture reference
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group … even Barnabas was led astray (Gal. 2:11-13)
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said (Acts 15:24)
The story, continued
Peter met the circumcision group from Jerusalem in the Antioch church. Barnabas was also present. The meeting would end with a communal meal. As usual, the guests that had just arrived received the honor to address the church. They wasted no time. In a smooth, civilized manner they dished out their legalistic poison. The church was confused. The leadership dumbfounded. When the meal was dished up, the Jerusalem Jews refused to eat, because of the presence of Gentile believers. Peter and Barnabas, not sure how to react, thought it would be safe to just eat food that would not be offensive to the Jews from Jerusalem. Some Antioch believers tried to clarify the issues with the circumcision-party, but got entangled in a ‘yes it is’ and ‘no it’s not’ discussion that only increased the awkward atmosphere and the confusion. In a meeting after the meal, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, Barnabas and Peter decided to discuss the issues the next day. One of them wanted to include Paul. Peter and Barnabas knew that there was some storm ahead…
The next morning, an of Antiochian brother went to see Paul and explained what happened the evening before. He told about the meeting with the speakers from Jerusalem, what they said, how Peter and Barnabas had reacted and finally, how they agreed to meet to sort matters out. Paul reddened bit by bit. He was furious. How could Peter give in to that? Barnabas should have known better too, than to be intimidated by false teachers. He decided to deal with the matter immediately.
The meeting was stormy, as Peter had anticipated. After hearing the story in detail, Paul was as furious as when he heard it the first time. He asked Peter why he had acted that way, especially after his experiences with Cornelius. He remarked that Peter correctly had felt free to behave like the Gentile Christians do, but now that those brothers from Jerusalem came, Peter behaved as if he were the most law-abiding Jew in town. He also questioned Barnabas, why he had played the same game. He should have known better than that, after they had been beaten for their convictions, less than a year before.
He then addressed the assembly, telling them that he would have none of this, and that they should stick to the message of salvation by faith in Jesus alone. Nothing added. He decided that he and Barnabas would address the Antioch church to clarify things; and that he would write to the Galatians to do the same thing. He asked Peter to go back to Jerusalem and organize a council with all apostles, to discuss the issues so that the outcome could be sent to all churches. Not only would otherwise unity between them be destroyed, the doctrinal core would be poisoned as well, and in a few years there might be no more Christian church. The saints might fall back to a Judaist-legalistic gospel at best, or to total paganism at worst. Paul would not allow that to happen. With firm words he terminated the meeting and dismissed his colleagues.
Next morning, Paul locked himself up in his room. For days he prayed. He fasted. He cried. He prayed some more, and then wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia:
Scripture reference
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! (Gal. 1:6-8)
And so he went on, page after page, explaining in written form what he had explained orally before. Finally he sent the letter off, praying that it would arrive in Galatia soon and be obeyed to the letter. The epistle would be a good exercise for the meeting in Jerusalem, to be convened soon.
Comment
Churches that send missionaries to unreached people groups will be attacked by the devil, one way or another. Such attacks, if not discerned and dealt with, result in the destruction of such a church’s unity, so that it will no longer continue its world missions program. Often, doctrinal differences have the same effect. When the devil can cause fighting, never mind about what, he knows that cross-cultural missions will be the first activity to vanish. It is often Christians whom the devil finds usable to execute his schemes. Only a church leadership that discerns these spiritual realities and fights them, is able to sort the problems out. Here are some examples of ‘other gospels’ you may find in our century:
Some gospel truths are so over-emphasized that other important ones suffer, or are made subject to fit a special emphasis. For instance, the goodness of God is so over-emphasized that His judgments are seen as initiated by the devil.
Other truths are hardly mentioned, to the detriment of preaching a full gospel. E.g., the need for a deliverance ministry is often not seen because of an ‘enlightened’ theology that no longer believes in demons.
Some verses are described as no longer applicable for today, for instance about the functioning of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and the fivefold ministry.
Occurrence of biblical miracles, including the resurrection, is denied by those who make an effort to ‘demythologize’ God’s Word.
Some syncretistic beliefs state that God cannot be approached directly, so that mediators are needed, e.g. in the forms of ancestral spirits.
Very prevalent is the ‘health-and-wealth-gospel’ that preaches prosperity as God’s will for people. In doing so, the necessity of suffering in the believer’s life is denied. People are blamed for a lack faith when God doesn’t grant them physical healing or material abundance. These are just some examples of how the biblical message can be perverted, to the detriment of spiritual maturity of the believers.
Discussion & dialogue
- Explain how the devil attacked the churches at Jerusalem, Antioch and Galatia in a similar way
- Discuss what attacks the devil has tried, to stop your church from executing world missions, and what you have done to counter such attacks
- Explain how themes 1, 2, 6 and 7 feature in this story
