The Analogy of the Gate Breaker: Dealing with the Preliminaries, Part I

"...upon this rock I will build My church; 
and the gates of Hades will not overpower it" 
(Matt 16.18; NASB).

INTRODUCTION:

Admittedly a few things have caught my interest of late forcing my fingers to the keyboard. The matter that I want to begin to introduce today will be developed over a few posts. I could simply state my concern, offer what I believe to be a erudite conclusion, but that would leave too many open ends in my mind. Too many areas where questions and internal objections could arise in the mind of you, the reader. So, I’m going to take it purposely slow and layout my thoughts on the matter at hand bit by successive bit.

Let’s get started…

We are in the midst of a culture war here in the United States. It sounds so cliché, doesn’t it? How long has that phrase been repeated over the years? And yet, the reality is, regardless of how often it has been repeated, we are in the midst of a culture war. Period.

Perhaps, others will notice the same going on in their part of the world. I would grant that a far larger majority is blissfully ignorant about the true struggle we face. Whether it is purposeful or accidental ignorance, however, is inconsequential. Pretending to find neutral ground where we might interact with the culture needs to be dismissed as illogical, untenable, and a clear recipe for disaster. Besides, cries of “peace, peace” will be ignored by our enemies until they have squashed all resistance.

We may be called to live quiet and peaceful lives unto the Lord, but that calling does not mitigate against our interaction with the unbelieving society where we find ourselves; regardless of what the pietist or pacifist will claim. Peace for the believer is experienced with God through Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, it is not a peace with those things that stand in opposition to Him. To faithfully serve the Triune God of Scripture means to be pitted against the forces of darkness that seek to subvert Him.

This means the Christian faith is a counter-cultural movement. Necessarily so. For only two options exist: Either Christ or chaos. The war is between Christ’s representatives and Satan’s. A point made by the late Dr. Gary North in his book Liberating Planet Earth, stating,

“We are in a war. This war is a war for the hearts, minds, and souls of men. The issues governing this war are ethical: right vs. wrong. The rival commanders are personal: God vs. Satan. The armies are made up of loyal followers who covenant themselves (chain themselves) to one fo the two commanders. Every army has a chain of command. There cannot be an army without a chain of command. Each army has a set of rules. Each commander calls his followers to live and die in terms of their assignments. Each commander promises his followers rewards. But only God can promise rewards after physical death. He promises eternal judgment for His enemies.

“God promises liberation. So does Satan. One of them is lying.”¹

A mixed response…

People will do one of two things when confronted with the truth. They will embrace it and build their life upon it. Or, they will reject it and kick against it at every turn. It is for this reason that the observant notice a struggle with the person who hears something for the first time, something that is foreign to their way of thinking; acting in opposition to their presuppositions, assumptions, or biases.

We live in the midst of a Christian culture today—here, I speak of the Church universal (or catholic)—that is torn between two opinions. The more popularly held opinion believes the world is evil following the ways of the devil towards hell in a hand-basket; therefore, nothing can be done but to pray for deliverance at any moment from this cesspool that we are living in. Whereas, the other opinion held by a smaller portion of the Christian faith states that the world is not evil. Rather, it is good, but it is evil men of this world who act as agents of Satan rather than agents of God. Sinners who have been allowed to gain power and are expressing their dominion in such a way that the children of God are encroached upon with suffering and trials. However, as biblical history has taught, such things are merely seasonal until the sons of God wake up from their slumber and choose to act. God blesses obedience, not disobedience. Therefore, such plotting and planning by sinful men will not last.

Beliefs have consequences. And these beliefs touched on above are no different. When I hear the claim made that Christians shouldn’t be concerned about the transformation of the society in which we live; or, the argument is made that God’s Law-Word has no real or specific application beyond, perhaps, the individual, or, possibly the Church, I have a mixed response. It’s a mixture of irritation and confusion.

I will grant that my reaction stems from my own commitments to Christ and His Word. Being a Christian, I see no other recourse than to start my thinking and acting from the position that sees Christ and His Word as the necessary starting point for all of life (see Rom 6-8). Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I am biblically presuppositional, theonomically committed, and a stout supporter of Christian Reconstruction (being a reformer at heart).²

And so, I find it baffling and troublesome when other Christians… do not think that (1) they need to start their thinking with Christ, the storehouse of all wisdom and knowledge (Col 2.3; cf. Prov 1.7; 9.10 comp. Prov 2.6), (2) do not believe that His Law is something necessary in day-to-day life, and (3) refuse to admit that our duty as believers is to reform the world in which we live after the fashion by which we are being internally reformed by the Holy Spirit.

Consider this at this sessions’ closing…

Is Christ Jesus Lord? Is He the Lord over all other Lords? Is He the Lord over life and death? Is He the Lord of every area of life? If you answer “yes” to these questions, then you will be in a tough position to deny His Law-Word as authoritative in every sphere of human thought.

We’ll return to this matter in the next post where I’ll continue to elaborate on a matter vitally important for Christian consideration and action.

To be continued…

ENDNOTES:

1Gary North, Liberating Planet Earth: An Introduction to Biblical Blueprints ( Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987), 27, PDF E-book.

2Those three terms are a mouthful to be sure: presuppositional, theonomic, and a “Christian” Reconstructionist. To think presuppositionally is to start with Christ and His Holy Word (aka, the Bible); whereas a theonomic outlook is focused on the ethical reality that the image bearers of God are under; leaving the task of Reconstruction (Dominion/ruling mandate) to be performed in terms of the faith and ethics of the believer.