Our Enemy's Subtle Tool: Righteousness

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When we looked at Acts 13, we saw the false prophet Elymas oppose the gospel message being preached. It's not clear how Elymas opposed Paul and Barnabas. He could have pointed Sergius Paulus to Judaism (since Elymas was Jewish), or to the occult (since he was a magician), or to the Roman pantheon (since they were a Roman territory). Or something else entirely.

But here’s the thing: Our enemy doesn't care which. He doesn't care if he can distract you to false religion, or no religion; or to the secular religions of career and politics; or to the altar of endless entertainment. He is just as happy for you to go to hell on the highway of the American Dream as the occult. Just as happy.

For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matt 7:13–14

That narrow way is repentance and faith in the crucified, risen Son of God. And it is the only way to God.

From what we know of him, Elymas could have argued against the gospel in terms of Judaism, in terms of the occult, in terms of Roman society… and more. The wide path has many ruts in it.

How does our day and time oppose Christianity? Sometimes directly…

Saying, “Christianity is not good.”

  • Today, Christians are becoming the bad guys

  • Backwards, antiquated, retrograde

  • Misogynistic & every-king-of-phobic

  • Anti-science

Or saying, “Think of what you’ll lose.”

  • Your autonomy

  • Pleasure

  • Respectability

  • Time

  • Privacy - Christians are commanded to confess their sins to one another. That’s invasive.

  • Safety - Think of the refugees fleeing to Antioch. And Open Doors estimates that globally, 8 Christians are martyred for their faith each day in 2021.

  • Money

So Christianity is often opposed directly. But even more, the opposition is often indirect.

The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy's own ground. He can argue too... By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient's reason; and once it is awake, who can fore see the result? Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favour, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it "real life" and don't let him ask what he means by "real."
C.S. Lewis - The Screwtape Letters

Lewis never knew about social media feeds, but I’m sure that would have been included in the list of “the stream of immediate sense experiences” that distract us away from contemplating the “universal issues” like our souls, and where the universal human instinct towards morality and worship come from.

And I’m also convinced that another of the great weapons of our enemy, in indirectly opposing the gospel, is righteousness. In two ways:

First is self-righteousness. When people engage in righteous pursuits - being an advocate, and ally to a cause - they feel righteous, in no need of salvation. Doing good can keep us from feeling our need for a Savior. We think we are.

And second is the distraction of righteousness. People can devote their lives to noble causes - stemming human trafficking, building children’s hospitals, relieving desperate poverty in nations around the world. These are excellent, righteous, wonderful things. And they can be consuming things. They can fill up our whole attention, not with self righteousness, but with the unending stream of the next steps in that fight. So full, that every thought of Christ is driven out with doing. And on their own, apart from Christ, all those paths lead to eternal death.

Wherever the gospel goes, opposition stands to meet it.

This is true for those apart from Christ - the enemy will use anything to keep you distracted from Christ.

And it’s true for those in Christ. If he can’t have you, he’ll try to make sure the Church can’t have you either. Investing in the life of the church - discipleship, encouragement, prayer, mission, and service together - the enemy hates it. It’s spiritual warfare.

It doesn't matter to our enemy one bit which path of destruction you follow. Just so long as you don't follow Christ.