A United States senator recently started a book tour that was titled, “It’s Okay To Be Angry at Capitalism.” That is fine. Everyone can have their own political views. The first amendment of the United States allows for such beliefs. It even allows such a senator to sell tickets to the aforementioned tickets for $35 to $95 each. It should be evident that there is a great deal of hypocrisy with Marxism.
Inconsistency is to be expected with broken systems in a broken world. However, when one acts like a system is so bad and writes a book about how the system is so evil, you would expect that individual to avoid the great evils of that system that he alleges anger with. Can you imagine a brother in Christ writing about how evil Satan is and then using Satan’s tools to further his own name and personal riches?
It’s okay to be angry with Satan! I, for one, am very angry with Satan, very vocally as you can attest to. We, the body of Christ, are angry with Satan. Preachers of the Gospel proclaim this without saying it just like that. We state that when we proclaim the words of the Spirit, “Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Christians in the pew agree with this matter when they say Amen to God’s Word. This Holy Word declares, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.” We all who are in Christ have agreed to this sentiment when we chose to obey the Gospel and were added to the body of Christ (Acts 2:41;47). If we preach, teach, agree, and believe all of this, we are angry at the lies of sectarianism that have an origin in the father of lies, Satan.
Now suppose you are angry at Satan. What would you certainly not do? Advocate false doctrine and false teachers. I find it mind-boggling that some preachers will preach the Gospel of Christ and then post-religious quotes from men that teach what we can all agree is another Gospel (cf. Gal 1:8-9). These quoted individuals teach that there are multiple churches that are right with God and that there are alternate ways to salvation (prayers, dreams, involuntary conversion).
Dear brethren, this is the height of inconsistency. The adage I have heard applied is that a broken clock is right twice a day. That may be true about clocks and even politicians. That is not the standard for the New Testament Christian. Is there a huge market for broken clocks in our world, or are they in most cases sold at a discount because they cannot provide the basic function for which they are made? Nothing broken can be the standard for the Christian. God’s perfect Word (cf. 1 Cor 13:10; Jude 3) is the standard. We will only be judged by this standard (cf. John 12:48). Certainly, broken clocks can be repaired but they must change to become fully functioning clocks. It is only then that we should consult them for their given purpose.
It is okay to be angry at Satan. The Lord says even more than that, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9). If our love is authentic, we will not be hypocrites that would approve, support, and give a platform to lies. The devil knows that many would rather just go along to get along. We must not do so. “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We no longer walk in a way of dualists who will claim to serve Christ but serve a pantheon of false gods. We agreed to leave the darkness, and we cannot subscribe to the ideals of those who walk in darkness.
We do not hate the false teachers, quite the opposite. We want them to come to the truth. I have spent time trying to reason from the Scriptures with a fair share of false teachers. Those end with a rejection of Biblical authority. If a man does not hold to the Biblical pattern of salvation what can he teach a Christian on church leadership, Christian virtue, or living by faith? Would you go to a mechanic to overhaul your engine that could not execute a proper oil change? We cannot hope for the best in these scenarios. We can be kind to those imprisoned in the darkness, teach them, pray for them, and try to bring them into the light, but we cannot put them on display in our assemblies or our social media.
We must strive to show why there is one way and do so with the Bible alone. We must be able to know the Word well enough also to know what is error and how to avoid it. If we are truly angry at the fact that Satan has used denominationalism to lead many nice, astute, kind individuals to eternity in Hell, we cannot be an accessory to his work. If we truly love the lost, we will not be hypocrites by suggesting there is one faith and promote a man who teaches there are many (or at least that there is one faith with many adherents that all contradict each other but somehow keep their consistency). Remember, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good”
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
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