NEITHER!
Propaganda is producing dangerous sympathies in the church.
David Andrew
warns against trying to enlist the Almighty..
'Neither’—a
single word with the power to humble anyone who gets on its wrong side.
It’s the rock in the path of the river that forces it to find a new
course. It’s a word that can mean: ‘you asked the wrong question, my
friend. Your thinking started at the wrong place. Come down to your proper
size, and learn a lesson.’ It once made a proud leader fall flat on his
face...
 It
was just before the battle of Jericho, and Joshua suddenly found a warrior
with drawn sword right in his path. Something distinctive about this
soldier made it difficult for Joshua to put him in the right box. It was
not immediately clear whether this man was an Israelite or a Canaanite.
Joshua said: ‘Are you for us, or for our enemies?’1 It was a
natural enough question, but God’s leader was not prepared for the
nuclear reply: ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the
LORD I have now come.’ Joshua had asked the wrong question, and neither he
nor his presuppositions could stand upright in the presence of this new
light: ‘Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked
him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?”2
Collision
It’s a
dangerous thing to try to pigeonhole the Lord. The fundamental
mistake of those who worship other gods is to imagine that their ‘god’ is
at their disposal. The very illusion of control that draws people into
witchcraft is its greatest deception. By contrast, the Son of God gave up
his right and power of control when he was born in a Bethlehem stable, and
became a man ‘under authority’—against whose word the demons were
powerless!3
Joshua’s mistake
is being repeated many times over in our day. In this edition of
Prophecy Today, we have highlighted two great dangers of our times:
the destructive influence of godless social ideology on our nation, and
the Satanic insanity of anti-Semitism—and every other kind of racism.
These evils are rooted in the dangerous assumption that right (and
therefore God) is on ‘our side’. That twisted social thinking and
anti-Semitism should be in the world is bad enough, but these views are
widespread in today’s church. Manipulation of the media through
propaganda and political correctness have produced confused emotions and
misplaced sympathies— which have no support in God’s word—in the lives of
many otherwise faithful churchgoing people. Little wonder that the Lord
said to Hosea: ‘Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless’4.
Many current ethical and moral choices (euthanasia, abortion,
infertility, genetic engineering etc.) are decided today from an emotional
base, rather than on the basis of God’s character and wisdom revealed in
Scripture.
Subtle censorship
An example
of sympathy manipulation is the common reference to ‘sexual orientation’
as though homosexuality is a built-in (some claim ‘God-given’) inclination
towards same-sex partners, but this unbiblical idea is a subtle form of
censorship, intended to silence any suggestion that homosexual practice is
wrong. After all, it is argued, if this lifestyle is ‘natural’, then it is
as wrong to condemn a person for being homosexual as it is to criticise
someone for being born with a physical or mental disability. Propaganda
plays to sentiment and emotion, and those who are convinced do not even
realise that their sympathies have positioned them against God himself.5
Ironically,
militant homosexuals condemn the dishonesty of those who refuse to ‘come
out’ and admit their true sexual ‘identity’. One of the worst lies is
concealed in that challenge to be ‘truthful’. Once believed, it’s a lie
that blinds the practising homosexual from ever seeking escape— how can
anyone escape from his identity?
God is love.6
If he condemns homosexuality—and he does—it is because it is an
offence against the welfare of his children. In this case, condemnation is
protection, in the same way that loving parents condemn their child’s
playing with matches. There is no such thing as a ‘homosexual’. It is not
a matter of identity—some kind of genetic prison—but of sinful choice. God
would not condemn it otherwise! There is a way out for those who want to
give it up. If Jesus brings guilt, it is in order to remove it—to reveal
sin and offer forgiveness through repentance. His purpose is to restore,
not to condemn.7
Less than human
Likewise,
anti-Semitism conceals a monstrous lie. According to Scripture, those who
believe in Jesus are being ‘made like him’ (not in the sense of divinity,
but of perfected humanity). He is the perfect human being. He is humanity
taken to its highest, not by evolution, nor by self-effort, but through
unswerving trust in his Father in the midst of suffering.8
Since he is the perfect human being, we are all ‘less than human’ until
his likeness is brought to completeness in us through the grace of God.9
This is God’s gracious plan for men and women of all races. Not the
hellish imposition of a ‘master race’, but—through repentance and faith—
inclusion in the ‘Master’s race’—with Jesus as the ‘first-born of many
brothers’.10
In Israel right
now, there is a ‘peace process’ the architects of Oslo and Camp David
don’t begin to see or understand. It’s the miracle of Jews, and Arabs
(some of whom are Palestinians) worshipping and serving the One True God
together. The Prince of Peace is the reason why thousands of followers of
Jesus stood side by side with Britain’s Jewish community in the recent
support for Israel in London, and why Christians are risking their lives
to help Muslims persecuted by Hindus in India .11
 God’s
intention in making the Jewish people holy and distinct from the nations
was so that they could be a ‘light to the nations’—that they might reveal
their God to the whole world. It still is. Anti-Semitism is hell’s hatred
of holiness12, an antichrist spirit that detests God’s plan to
restore to humanity even more than Adam lost in the Fall.13
That Jesus, (or Yeshua as he was known then) was brought up by devout
Jewish parents, circumcised on the eighth day of life, taken to the great
Feasts of Israel, spoke Hebrew and was taught the Law of Moses by his
father Joseph is a matter of record. He was not only the perfect human
being, he was also the perfect Jewish man! This does not mean that we who
believe are becoming more Jewish, but that Jewishness is defined and
understood only through God’s Messiah, not by religion or ritual. This is
why ‘salvation is of the Jews’.14 True Jewishness is about
holiness, not race,15 and holiness is about belonging to God.
It’s the chief characteristic of a new race: the people of God,16
from all the nations of the world.
Anti-Semitism is
increasing rapidly around the globe. All too many Christians have taken
their views ‘off the peg’ from propaganda and heavily biased media
reporting. I believe the word to many western Christians is ‘WAKE
UP—unless you intend to apologise to Hitler and the Third Reich!’ God’s
word leads us to a position that reflects his faithfulness to his covenant
with Abraham, not because the Almighty agrees with Sharon or is anti-Arab,
but because he has one plan for the ultimate restoration of mankind—a plan
he set in motion and will bring to fulfilment through his Son, the Messiah
of Israel and of all the world. To the racially prejudiced who demand of
God:
‘Are you for us or
for our enemies?’ the reply is ‘Neither! Are you with ME?’
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