The Anglican baptism service includes the key words 'he/she shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his/her life's end.'
The phrasing is idiomatic and I often wonder what people make of it when we say 'Amen' - fighting under a banner, being a faithful soldier... but also: sin, the world, and the devil.
Sin...
We all learnt that sin is when 'I' is in the middle, and its a good guide, it's about me and the things I do. It's relatively straightforward to know what it means.
Paul the apostle also refers to this as 'the flesh' and he gives some contextual details: 'sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these... those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.'
It's not just being unkind, breaking a rule - it's actually about offending the ways of the Kingdom, and its King, that we need to be aware of.
The Holy Spirit also does this as we grow daily in the Christian life, so 'the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.'
It's the lack of these that the Holy Spirit gently shows us as 'those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.'
The World
So what of the World? Paul says that that Law is our schoolteacher - it informs our conscience, and our conscience does need informing! Morality today says it doesn't matter so long as you don't hurt anyone. Social norms have a very powerful effect - and we feel more guilt from offending that than from offending God and His Law.
There is nothing wrong with the way we are affected by peer pressure, its the way God made us, as human beings that are to live together. But it is also why he puts a strong responsibility on teachers/preachers who articulate these norms.
It is the State's job to reward good and punish evil (as God defines them) and God holds our influencers to account, whether they acknowledge Him or not. These include politicians, talk-show hosts, news media and not least entertainment - they create the plausible scenarios on screen that make certain social situations seem acceptable and others not (within the limits of keeping the paying audience!). One thing to look out for is the number of happy families depicted or the status of church leaders. If Christians are shown it's usually in the context of 'salvation by works', moralism, and this is because moralism is OK - so long as its based on The World's own precepts and divorced from God's Law.
In Canada a recent law criminalises as 'Hate speech' any writing/speaking against some of the activities listed above. Penalties include seizure of church property. Dr Joe Boot says 'And there's no question in my mind that what is happening is the preparation of a detailed legal framework for the persecution of Christianity in Canada.'
If we concede to this 'The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.'
We know that neo-Marxism (wokeness) has taken over most of our key influencing institutions in the West and it is killing the Christian ethos that enabled us to flourish in the past. They know only of cancelling, promoting division, creating privilege, suppressing genuine skill and enterprise, being 'post-truth' so normalising lies and hypocrisy, creating false-guilt, false-virtue and actual hate. In this there is no 'love, joy , peace, patience...'
Where does it come from?
The Devil
In many ways we've not had to worry about the World and the Devil as we've been so well served by a Christian-influenced social structure. This is the result of God's work over the last 2000 years in our lands, waking up people to His Word and hence His ways - with reforms gradually changing the customs and prosperity resulting. These have happened through great upheavals like Alfred's nation-building, the Reformation, the Puritan (Evangelical) Revolution in the 1600s, the Great Awakening, the Victorian reforms as well as the faithful witness and work of people like us - working things out - applying 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven'
It's fashionable to say that we should just preach-the-gospel and not worry about things in the news - but 'There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!' (Abraham Kuyper). God does love everything He's made and cares for how well the Health Service works, or if Woke teaching stops the Police operating without 'fear or favour', or holes in the road, or excessive taxation. He knows how this all works and called us to be 'salt' because there would be meat or fish that need it.
Milton paints a picture of the motivation of the Devil who says:
… to be weak is miserable,
Doing or suffering: but of this be sure -
To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being contrary to his high will,
Whom we resist
Paradise Lost (Book I, 157-162)
As mentioned in Fools Frauds and Firebrands of the woke Dworkin: 'Briefly, if conservatives were against it, he was for it'
Jesus speaks of the Devil more than anyone else in the Bible. He saw the Devil and his damaging effects with complete clarity. For the rest of us: 'The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.' says Baudelaire.
Confronting the key influencers of the time Jesus said: You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Peter says Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The Holy Spirit surely does open our eyes to this. We see it so clearly in modern times, the same aggression, hate, actual lies from our leaders, leading to false hopes, addictions, broken relationships, poverty and ruin.
But Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Bob Dylan sees some of it:
Precious angel, under the sun
How was I to know you'd be the one
To show me I was blinded, to show me I was gone
How weak was the foundation I was standing upon?
Now there's spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground
The enemy is subtle, how be it we are so deceived
When the truth's in our hearts and we still don't believe?
The banner
Bob Dylan uses the warfare imagery as in the Baptism service 'faithful soldier and servant unto his/her life's end.'
We need to wake up to this - the fight is not 'nice' and we're all enrolled, called up, and we have the best Leader. There are no pacifists no conscientious objectors, you are either for Him or against Him.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
And O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of his saints;
he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Thankfully we can see part of this army, some who we might not have suspected. The work of Christian Concern, Christian Institute, CARE, echo the long but willing struggles of Wilberforce and friends. The Ezra Institute also seeks 'Cultural Reformation', and many in the US like Founders Ministries do great work. Individuals like Meghan Basham, Aaron Edwards, Jamie Bambrick fight and bear the wounds.
For many mainstream Churches however it's nothing but a phoney war made up by the 'right'. They even seem to be on the other side!
Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing…since they have led my people astray saying ‘peace,’ when there is no peace.
Counterfeit philosophies have polluted all of your thoughts
Karl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger’s got you tied up in knots
When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?
What will it take for them to wake up and strengthen what remains?
