| |
Are You a Victim of Spiritual
Sabotage?
MP3
In the early months of World War Two, Germany conquered and occupied
France. Soon thereafter, the French Underground or resistance movement
was founded. Their ranks consisted mostly of non-military civilians
with very limited resources or weapons. From their inception they knew
they had no real power to defeat or destroy the massive and well-armed
troops of the German war machine. They therefore initiated a long-term
program of sabotage, which according to Wikipedia, is, “a deliberate action
aimed at weakening an enemy through subversion, obstruction, disruption,
and/or destruction.”
The Wikipedia goes on to say, “The name derives from the early
industrial age, when powered looms could be damaged by displaced weavers
(proto-saboteurs) throwing their wooden shoes (known in French as
sabots) into the machinery. Literally it means, 'clattering in sabots.'”
In another dictionary I read:
sab·o·tage
Treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor;
deliberate subversion. The objective of sabotage is to halt all
production, rather than to destroy or imperil human life.
As God’s called-out firstfruits, we are in spiritual warfare with Satan
and his resistance movement. In this case, he is the saboteur. He uses
treachery in hopes of hindering both the Work of God and the individual
member in his or her pursuit of salvation. Satan even attempts to
influence us into spiritually sabotaging our own salvation.
What is "spiritual sabotage"? How does it happen? What does the
Bible say? How can this enemy be overcome?
TWO KINDS OF SABOTAGE
There are two kinds of spiritual sabotage:
1] Sabotage against the Church
2] Self-inflicted Sabotage
1] Sabotage against the Church
The Bible does not use the word “sabotage” but there are two key words
which match its meaning, “seditions” and “varience”. Notice Galatians
5…
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:19-21
Notice “seditions” from Strong’s:
NT:139 - seditions
hairesis (hah'-ee-res-is); from NT:138; properly, a choice, i.e.
(specially) a party or (abstractly) disunion:
KJV - heresy [which is the Greek word itself], sect.
Now the word “variance” from the dictionary:
The condition or fact of varying: difference, variation. A state of
disagreement and disharmony: clash, conflict, confrontation, contention,
difference, difficulty, disaccord, discord, discordance, dissension,
dissent, dissentience, dissidence, dissonance, faction, friction,
inharmony, schism, strife, war, warfare.
Spiritual sabotage against the church comes in the form
of sedition and variance or disunion, discord and dissent.
The Number One Tactic of Sabotage in the
Church
Notice the root word and primary rendering for seditions. It’s
“heresy.” The bringing of heresies to the church is the number one
method of causing disunion and discord in the church. The definition of
church is, “a group of called out individuals bound together by
common doctrine." The bringing in of heresies is a direct attack on
this common bond. Ironically these heresies and resultant discord come
from within. Notice the words of Peter to the church…
But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring
in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring
upon themselves swift destruction. –2 Peter 2:1
The difficulty with heresies and the way they are brought in is that
they come bathed in light and sincerity. Sometimes those bringing the
heresies, because of their passion for truth and a desire to please God
have no idea that they are the ones bringing in the seeds of discord.
Others are driven by secret greed for position or their
self-righteousness. The motivations are often envy, jealousy and even
hate. This type of sabotage will increase as we come closer to the
Great Tribulation.
In Titus 1 we see what God commands the church to do in these cases…
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who
subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy
lucre's sake. –Titus 1:10-11.
Be wary of any member of the church who approaches you with some claim
of error in doctrine. If a member feels there is truly some error, he
or she should contact their local minister, area coordinator and/or
headquarters immediately. The question that goes begging is, if a
member thinks there was an error in doctrine, why would they take it to
other members of the church rather than to the ministry or
headquarters? This person should do all he or she can to protect the
flock until the ministry is contacted. False teachers will almost
always use the claim of error to gather a following of some kind or to
instigate discord in the congregation. The best method of not falling
for false doctrine is to remain
fully immersed in the Word of God. See my Notebook piece, “How
Does God Correct the Church?”
2] Self-inflicted Sabotage
Self-inflicted spiritual
sabotage is usually far different from the kind visiting the church.
The
saboteur in this case is the church member him or herself.
In doing some research on this subject, I found the following table of
elements describing how members disrupt and harm their own Salvation
Process.
Betrayal: Isn't (something
else) better -- more important?
Delay: I'll do it next; I want
to do (something else) first.
Denial: I didn't know; Are you
sure you told me?
Excuse: I had other things to
do; not enough time.
Fogging: What was that request
again? Again? Again?
Forgetting: It must have
slipped my mind; I must have forgotten.
Procrastinating: If it needs to
be done, someone else will do it.
Rebelling: I don't want to do
it; It isn't my style/way/desire.
Sabotaging: I'll do it (but I
won't); You can (not) count on me.
Stalling: Can it wait until
...; I don't think I can do it until ....
Subversion: Do you think it
necessary? What about (something else)?
These elements result in one being a foolish virgin as we see in Matthew 25, a prophecy for the end
time. These are all elements of
backsliding that if not repented of will surely result in one
falling away from the faith.
In Lamentations 3:36 it says, “To subvert a man in his cause, the
Lord approveth not.” A few verses later the admonition is clear
[speaking to the one engaged in sabotage], “Let us search and try our
ways, and turn again to the LORD.” See also: Isaiah 55:7; Hosea 6:1,
12:6, 14:1-3 and Joel 2:12-13)
Don’t allow spiritual sabotage in your life!!
|
|