Vol. 4, No. 26 Sept. 11, 2005

Who’s Side are You on?

In Matt. 12:30 Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth."

Part V

Fight Back!

Written by Christopher Mentzer

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. As a part of this year’s memorial, a movie called The Flight That Fought Back will be aired tonight on the Discovery channel. It tells the story of passengers on Flight 93 who chose to do something in regards to the terrorists rather than sit back and wait their impending doom. They managed to overtake their captors, divert the plane and ended up losing their lives in Pennsylvania. Not exactly a great outcome but of the four planes that were hijacked that fateful day, only one missed its target because the people stood up against their enemy and fought back.

Christians should take this display of courage to heart. It’s not enough for to put on the whole armor of God and stand against the devil (Eph. 6: 13). Sometimes we have to fight back. A person can only be on defense for so long before it is whittled away layer by layer until nothing is left. We have to be willing to go on the offensive and brandish the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6: 17). The writer of Hebrews said, “For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4: 12) That sword is the word of God.

Everything we need to defend against Satan’s attacks and to launch our own attacks will be found in the scriptures. Our encouragement comes from knowing that we do not go into battle alone. Paul wrote, “…If God `is' for us, who `is' against us?” (Rom. 8: 31). Again the writer of Hebrews tells us, “So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me?” (Heb. 13: 6) This is our reason to fight back! Suffering physical harm is minor compared to spiritual harm. Jesus said in Matt. 10: 28, “And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Members of the doctrine “Once Saved, Always Saved” say they don’t have to fight back for they are still saved no matter how difficult the situation or the temptation. Could the passengers on Flight 93 think the same way? Could they say, “Yeah, well the plane has been hijacked but I’m sure we’ll make it safely to the ground anyway.” I don’t think so. Even though they knew they wouldn’t survive the trip whether they did something or not, they made a stand thereby making a difference in history. They lost their lives but so many more could have been lost if the plane reached its objective.

The question you need to ask yourself is, if Jesus didn’t willingly lay down his life for us what kind of future do we have? “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn. 15: 13)