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 A
wealthy church—member once asked me if he had heard correctly
about a local “church trouble.” these the men involved?”
he asked, naming four or five hot-heads. When I answered in the
affirmative he said, “Go home and forget it! I have mortgages
on the homes and businesses of those men, and I can shut them up
with a phone call.” (Or, words to that effect.)
I
don’t suppose those men will ever believe that I prevailed
upon my friend to cease and desist— insisting that this was
not the way Christians conduct their affairs. The battle for men’s
souls is not fought with financial pressure, court-order,
name-calling, or any other carnal weapons. No one was ever
converted to the Lord with the tools of the Devil.
For
many years I used that story as my best example, outside of the
Bible, of “carnal weapons” (2 Cor. 10:3-5) and their misuse.
But now I may retire my story in favor of a new one, recently
heard, but dating back to World War, II. It seems some woman
asked a preacher to assist her in her marital problem; being, in
essence, that she felt she could no longer tolerate her husband.
The Lord’s servant, counselor of the distressed,
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assured the
woman that he could help. He then went to the local draft board and
managed to have the husband called for active duty. That’s
what I call putting real “punch” into marriage counseling.
We sincerely hope he did not have a Bible precedent in mind —
that of David and Uriah.
Even
the Lord’s disciples. James and John, thought to wreck a
fleshly vengeance on behalf of the Lord, by calling down fire to
“burn up” the opposition (Lu. 9: 53-56): but Jesus said, “Ye
know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” (I take this to
mean they had the spirit of the Devil in this matter.)
No
doubt well-meaning persons today think they can further the Lord’s
cause by “whipping” the opposition, or “beat them at their
own game.” The result is that both parties join with Satan,
and the Lord is forgotten. If we can not capture the heart “to
the obedience of Christ” all else is vain.
The
reason many of us use carnal means for seeking our goals, we are
trying to satisfy our pride, build up human parties, improve a
worldly image, instead of serving the Lord.
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