We all laughed at Dana Carvey on SNL and his portrayal of the Church Lady, at least I did. I have no delusion that he was trying to warn people of the ever-present threat from the enemy of God, rather it was meant to mock and make fun of a concept (Satan) that the Christian church holds to. That’s ok. We shouldn’t have such thin skin that we can’t laugh at ourselves and how some of our beliefs make for some pretty funny caricatures. That said, the subject of Satan is no laughing matter in reality. Yet, we hear nothing of him anymore.
There was a time when “hell, fire, and brimstone” were the main characters in the Gospel message, at least it was perceived as such. Sermons such as “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” were the norm. Circuit riding preachers as well as the local pastor always had this element when they preached. Having been raised in the church, I well remember these sermons, though the modern version of the Gospel message was definitely on the horizon.
While the primary message of Christendom, for centuries, was the need for salvation from an eternity in hell as a result of man’s fallen nature, the modern version began being influenced by professional marketers and publicists. While I don’t doubt the intention, it would be ultimately be the slow distortion, if not death of the message. The focus became, how do we make the message more palatable, rather than how do we effectively communicate the orthodox Christian message to our generation, our culture. Leadership in individual fellowships began looking at other fellowships wondered why they were so successful in the area of church growth.
Pastors and leaders began to see some of their flocks beginning to dwindle and wondered why. It didn’t take long for them to discover that some of their congregants, most noticeably the younger ones, were going to the new church across town. Why, they wondered.
As they investigated this new trend, they discovered that the new church was much less formal. They weren’t using the King James bible. They were singing more choruses than hymns. The dress was casual. Even the pastor had abandoned the suit and tie. They also had musical instruments that were less commonly found in churches, especially right up there on the stage. These were the obvious differences.
What was less obvious was the change in message. Of course, these investigating pastors had their own congregations to attend to, so they weren’t able to be there, at these other churches, for the sermons.
Hang in there, we’ll get to Satan. 🙂
This change was across the board. Not only was the message changing from the pulpit, but in every corner of Christian ministry. We saw it in tracts. We saw it in para-church organizations. And, with the popularizing of the TV preacher, it was full speed ahead.
Back in 1952, Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, authored the tract titled, “The Four Spiritual Laws”. A huge hit at the time and very effective in communicating the Gospel in a simple concise manner, however, it was the first step in the in the diluting of the Gospel message. This was certainly not his intent. I believe it is very important to find a way to communicate the message of the Gospel to the specific community and culture that we live in. My broader point is that being successful at this is not the same as being successful at communicating other messages. An article that speaks to this specifically is The Perils of Persuasive Preaching by A.D. Litfin from a Christianity Today, circ. 1977. (Download PDF Document)
There are two things that I believe have brought us to this place. First of all, incrementalism. Second, the death of Satan, which in and of itself happened incrementally.
While the two are connected, I will deal with them separately. Both of them, of course, are the result of the main culprit in the life of man, from the garden to the present, sin. Sin has caused aberrations of every subject known to man, from the weeds in our gardens to physical death and pain as well as our focus and intellect.
Incrementalism
If we pay attention to both history and the present, we can see that incrementalism is the enemy of truth as well as a favorite tool of the enemy of God. Francis Schaeffer points out in his book, The Christian Manifesto, that much of the change in our moral vision happens over a period of time. He also shows that these changes, if uninterrupted by an inattentive society, will pick up in pace. Less and less time is required to make these changes, until somewhere down the road we suddenly ask ourselves, “What happened to so drastically and suddenly change our society”, from one with a “Christian memory” to one that has accepted en masse the secular humanist outline of life?
One time when I was speaking in chapel at my kids’ school, I used an example to illustrate incrementalism. I brought in a 2-litre bottle of Pepsi and asked if there was anyone there who would be able to recognize the taste in a sort of taste test. The volunteer came up and I began the illustration. I set out 7 Solo cups and then opened the yet unopened bottle of Pepsi. I poured half of a glass of Pepsi in each cup. I then asked the volunteer to taste the first glass. “What do you taste?”. He said, “Pepsi”. I then had him taste from the next glass and so on down the line stopping before the 7th glass. Each time when asked “what do you taste”, the answer was the same, “Pepsi”. I then asked him to taste the beverage in the 7th glass. “What do you taste?”, I asked. He said, “I don’t know what that is but it isn’t Pepsi”.
What I then revealed to the audience was that, in preparation for the chapel that day, I had added 1 drop of water to the second cup, 2 drops to the third, 3 drops to the fourth, 4 to the fifth, and 5 to the sixth. To the seventh cup, I filled a fourth of the cup with water. I changed the pattern for the sake of time.
What if I had continued to add just one more drop of water to each cup until I had diluted the Pepsi to half strength? Given that our volunteer noticed no difference in the first 6 cups, I would suggest that after sipping from probably a couple thousand cups, which had undergone such minute, incremental changes, he would not have noticed the difference in taste of the #7 cup, had it actually been the 2007th cup. He had adjusted to the small changes, and they all seemed the same. Incrementalism.
Incrementalism is an interesting concept. It is the most effective tool of the long-term thinker/planner who wishes to change things to their liking. Those who are vulnerable are those who have no foundation. Those who go from situation to situation, judging each not by a transcendent standard, rather by the emotion of the moment. Ethics are judged situationally, rather than from an immovable, unchanging set of values. This is (should be) the difference between the Christian mind and the secular mind. This practice, incrementalism, is most evident in society at large.
If one could, in some way, create a picture that accurately portrayed the current year and then was able to transport back to, say, 1952. If then you could gather people of that time into a movie theatre and display this picture on the screen for all to see, they would likely run screaming out of the theatre, aghast at the images they have just seen. Yet, if you take a picture of 1952, and make subtle changes to it, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, people would have little to no recollection of the original. All would seem normal. Unfortunately, as one songwriter put it, “The trouble with normal is, it always gets worse” (in a fallen world).
Another example can be seen in the usual movies and series that come out on TV regarding the life of Jesus, usually around Easter time. I was watching a trailer for one of those a while back and noticed one of the spoken lines. “Behold the lamb of God who shines light on everyone”. The closest thing in Scripture would be the declaration of John the Baptist, who said, “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
I understand creative license. However, this is indicative of our times on the subject of Jesus. It is far less offensive to the masses to say He “shines a light” than to say He “takes away sin”. The latter suggests that there is sin to be taken away. The TV version is so much more sterile, and, quite frankly, misrepresentative of the Gospel.
There are more and more examples of incrementalism if we are paying close attention. The warning from Scripture is; “Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.” II Timothy 4:2-4
Satan
So how does Satan fit into this. Well, when was last time you heard your pastor talk about or even mention Satan? You just never seem to hear about him anymore. Is it simply a matter of believing our modern society, Christian or not, is too sophisticated to mention something so, unsophisticated, corny, old fashion? And when did this “ignoring the enemy of God and all mankind” come about. Well, it came about incrementally. This subject didn’t just disappear overnight. In fact, there was a sort of resurgence of interest regarding Satan back in the 1980s when Mike Warnke came on the scene. Mike Warnke was an American Christian evangelist and comedian who was exposed in 1992 for inventing stories of his past as a Satanist. Before being debunked by the Christian magazine Cornerstone, he was viewed as an “expert” on Satanism. However, turns out, he was simply a sleight of hand by Satan himself. Shine the spotlight on someone who appears to have been one of mine, then pull the old switcheroo and show him to be a fraud, showing once again that you can’t believe anything a “Christian” says.
The Bible has a lot to say about him (Satan), yet we seem to have come to the place where it’s all about us and the “world”, the “secular”, the “humanist”. While it’s true that those are valid identifiers, what are they identifying? These, and all things contrary to what we know from Scripture have to do with THE enemy, that is Satan. The Bible tells us, with great clarity, that our struggle, our battle, our fight, is NOT against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). Rather it is “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” And just who is the responsible for this darkness? Que the Church Lady. Could it be SATAN!!! Why, yes it could.
The Bible says that Satan is active. I looked long and hard for the passage that says he ceased his activities sometime after the 1950s or so. Nope. Didn’t find any. Instead, I found this.
I Peter 5:8 “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
I also was unable to find a qualifier on this verse suggesting that this “roaring lion” has had his teeth pulled and is no longer a threat. Quite the contrary. The full passage of Ephesians 6:10-17 says that we are to be prepared for battle, again with no expiration of that war until sometime after Jesus comes again. Revelation 20:10 says; “And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone – where the beast and the false prophet are – and shall be tormented, day and night …” Note that phrase, “who deceived them”. Obviously, Satan doesn’t literally, physically devour people. If he did, he would certainly be headline news everyday and I wouldn’t be writing this piece.
No, Satan is about deception. “…… for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” II Cor. 11:14
Satan is the father of lies. Even when he quotes Scripture, his purpose is to mislead. Since the first humans walked the Garden, the enemy of God has been seeking their destruction. He fights a battle that, ultimately, he cannot win. Yet, “he never sleeps, but constantly is planning some ‘new’ angle” (Petra). Here are a few of his methods.
In the garden: (Gen. 3:1-6) “You surely will not die!” (The first lie)
In the desert: Matt 4: “If you are the son of God…….” (Prove it)
The inner circle, Matt 16:22-24 “God forbid it Lord. This shall never happen to you.” (Man’s interest, not God’s)
17th century: “The primary weapon aimed at the church was “truth.” “We think that the greatest service to be done to men,” said Diderot, “is to teach them to use their reason, only to hold for truth what they have verified and proved.” But the standards of truth ruled out Christian doctrine from the start. (Sleight of hand, distraction)
Present day: “Empiricism is subservient to philosophy. Facts are subservient to a priori presuppositions. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.” Richard Lewontin: American evolutionary biologist, geneticist (Deny evidence, stack the deck)
Present day: “Americans since the 1980s have chosen churches not so much to meet God and surrender to his revealed ways as to satisfy some personal need. Unlike the rich young ruler in the Gospels, church attendees seldom asked, “What must I do?” They were far more likely to ask, “What do I get out of this?” (Self-centeredness)
It is not seeing a demon behind every rock that will save us. It is to be aware of who our real enemy is and where the source of our salvation is found. Neither our enemy nor our salvation is to be found in a political party or a particular denomination or those who are hostile to our faith. Neither is it found in the halls of science nor the halls of the seminary. It is in the recognition of the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Son who came to save. As we become more intimately aware of Him, it will be easier to recognize the one who would counterfeit the truth. There is one enemy, Satan. There is one savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord.
To be continued…