Versus Goliath, part 3 (of 3)

And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

Good things can come in small packages. God can do much with little. There is hope for each of us! Goliath took the sword and was slain by his own sword. The philistines were routed. The human champion failed. The simple trust of a young man in God, prevailed.

Looming Questions

Now then, some giant, looming questions for us in 2008. Someone said that the “happy ending” is our national belief. Everything will work out alright; just hang in there. But Revelation 13 helps us understand that no happy ending waits just ahead for America.

As Christians we seek to have a good testimony among those who are outside the church (1 Timothy 3:7; Acts 6:3; Genesis 34:30; 1 Chronicles 22:8). At some points in the process of history this sense of positivity may mean our being mostly in harmony with a highly conforming culture. At others, it must mean disagreeing with such expectations. You do know that the earliest Christians were attacked as being atheists—because they taught that the many deities of Roman and Greek culture were mere idols, not true gods. As such, Christians were considered to be undermining the morals of society.

Probably we will agree that every government is not the same as every other government. Stalin’s Russia killed tens of millions of its own. The government of Canada did not. The government of Nazi Germany killed millions of Jews, Christians, and others, civilians—not counting military casualties. The island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis did not. Not every government is the same. Even the same government in different periods of time is not the same.

Our moral and ethical commitments to God cannot be vetoed or intercepted by the state. When Paul writes, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21), it applies to all believers in all time. If the state should ask you to do something wicked, you are responsible for choosing to comply or disregard the orders.

No-privacy Society

One problem we face is the development of an invasive, no-privacy society. What we read or do is no longer private. If you live within 100 miles of the border of the United States, you can be stopped by the state and searched without a warrant. This is present fact. It is 65 miles from where you are sitting to Newport Beach. We are in the “Constitution free zone.” If you live in Loma Linda or Yucaipa, you are still in it. If you want to take your notebook computer, cell phone, or iPod out of the country with you, either across the border or via air transport, it can be removed from you by the TSA. Books that you are reading that you have with you, are recorded and filed with your name.

A nationwide camera network is imminent. Cameras and license plate readers will take photos of your automobile at intersections. It will all be done on the basis of fighting terrorism or helping protect our children against sex offenders. In England it is even worse. Not only is there already a ring of surveillance cameras in and surrounding London, but the government is readying to deploy a system that will record and save every single email that is sent through Britain.

Now, the reply is, What do you have to hide if you are doing nothing wrong? But the same argument could have been made in Stalinist Russia or Hitler’s Germany had this technology been available then. Technology already exists and is already in use for facial recognition in crowds. The technology is neutral of course. Just as it could be used to help stop terrorists or to locate convicted sex offenders, it could also be used to single-out anyone who’s name might be linked in a state database under the heading “Sabbath-keeper” or “Seventh-day Adventist.” Someday. But someday is drawing relentlessly closer.

Is there biblical counsel applicable to privacy issues? There is some.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished (Proverbs 22:3).

This is a general counsel to be wise, keep your radar on, and use your common-sense to avoid trouble. While we are not to be chronically suspicious, neither are we to be blindly trusting. We are to be alert.

There are many admonitions to watchfulness (Matthew 24:42, 43; 25:13; Mark 13:33-35; Luke 21:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Peter 4:7, etc.). These tend to center around end-time events and the Second Coming of Jesus.

Another helpful text is 2 Timothy 1:7:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

We are not to become overwrought by strange developments. We are to avoid fanatical excitements and ill-founded declarations, and while remaining alert, refuse to partake or encourage a spirit of fear. Notice in this text that sound-mindedness is contrasted with a spirit of fear. We can be level-headed about the end-times; we need not be running after novelties, or behaving such that others view us as discredited calamity howlers.

Let us remember Luke’s critique of the Athenians, whom he noted “spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21). Sometimes Adventists do little better. Even now, it is hard not to think that we have come to the time foretold when “there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing” (Maranatha, p. 200).

Not all of Jesus’ movements were in the open. John 7:10 says that “when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.” On other occasions, He hid himself, escaped a mob, or withheld His identity (John 8:59; Luke 24:16, 31; John 7:1).

When the magi left Judea (Matthew 2:8, 13) and when shortly thereafter Joseph fled to Egypt with the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:13-15), they did not leave forwarding addresses for the authorities.

Let me suggest that we live in a time when it may be well to revisit what we are doing. We give out information about ourselves very freely. Much is published on the internet in Facebook, Myspace, and other social networking sites. It may be well to ask yourself again who, actually, is and is not morally entitled to hear and know information concerning yourself or your family.

If we truly believe that in the end church and state will unite and even seek to use force to prevent us from buying and selling, eating and drinking, then how much sense does it make for us to hand over all the information they will need?

One more text on this: 1 Thessalonians 5:3-5:

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

As end-time Christians, we are to have an awareness of what is passing in the world. This does not mean we have to refresh the Drudge Report every two minutes, or listen to radio talk personality X every weekday. But we should stay close with the Scriptures, close with Jesus, and without being fearful, pay attention to developments.

The mania for more searching, seizing, censoring, tracking, and surveilling can proceed from entirely benign intentions, or from evil ones. I do not think that these developments presage any intention to evil in the current or immediately incoming administration of the United State government. As a working understanding, I anticipate that right or wrong, the persons involved have the best intentions. I do not see a conspiracy here.

The future is another matter. We’re not suggesting anything new. It has ever been the Seventh-day Adventist understanding that in the end the governments of the world will be illegitimately influenced to persecute those who conscientiously worship God on the seventh day and who reject mandated worship on Sunday as a merely human institution. There is little new here. Only this: before, we had to guess what tools might be employed against us on some future day. Today, there are tools in deployment. The darkness at the end of the tunnel is coming into view.

Conscription in the Armies of the Empire

Here is another problem: a state bent on empire needs soldiers. Make no mistake, the United State is a world empire. The nation has more than 700 military bases. There are US military personnel in 130 countries. The economy is sinking in a tailspin, and voluntary military enlistments are up.

It might be anticipated that much of this will be closed down because of the economy. It may happen. But remember, that not only is war the health of the state, but it is also the great distractor. History shows that often regimes in the midst of economic distress initiate wars. War refocuses the populace and dampens criticism of the state. People feel they must all pull together now because the survival of the state is threatened. They tangle up their own identity with the state. When it triumphs, they triumph; when it fails, they fail. And so it goes.

We may expect increasing calls for compulsory national service. Young people may be given the option of civilian or military service. Or, maybe not; the draft could return. Seventh-day Adventist young people should be clear: your labor, perhaps even your life, will be wanted. Keeping one’s Christian scruples while serving in the military is an almost impossible task. You need to figure out where you are on these questions. Would you be willing to kill on orders from the United States military?

John the Baptist urged the people to bring forth fruits indicative of true repentance (Luke 3:8, 9).

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages (Luke 3:14).

How could John be taken seriously in telling soldiers to do violence to no man? This is the very work of the soldier; to exercise force, to use violence, to enforce the orders of his commander.

But John’s counsel stands. “Do violence to no man.” This was not counsel limited to Jews but offered to Roman soldiery there on the banks of the Jordan, to the occupying forces. “Do violence to no man.” Each and every person is responsible for being truthful to conscience. Probably John was referring back to Jeremiah 22:3:

Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

The biblical position is not pure pacifism. The follower of God is called to deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. But this does not mean blind obedience to secular authorities. You see, the conscience of the soldier is in the hand of his fellow fallen humans. If they order him to kill, he is expected to kill. But what if the decision-makers are wrong? Is he then absolved? Is he not guilty because he was commanded by someone else to kill? Were the SS (“Schutzstaffel” that is, “Protective Squadron”) at Auschwitz who killed at the orders of others, murderers, or were they not guilty? If they weren’t, then who was?

Nations have neither choice nor conscience. The leaders of nations do. The generals and officers and the soldiers, do. The multitude of officers, or even were it the will of the millions of a nation, to urge the soldier to kill on their behalf, still come face to face with the command in Exodus 23:2: “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” John the Baptist did not tell Rome, but individual soldiers of Rome, “Do no violence to any man.”

Consider this fascinating insight from a recent documentary:

The evidence is that far more soldiers refuse to kill than we might expect. In WWII, research by the official us army historian, Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall, revealed that among U. S. soldiers in combat, less than 25% actually fired their weapons at the enemy. Even with their own lives at risk, 75% did not try to kill the enemy. Marshall wrote, ‘the average individual still has such an inner resistance toward killing a fellow man, that he will not take life if it is possible to turn away from that decision’ (excerpt from the Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg documentary film “Soldiers of Conscience,” whole 88 minutes here: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=soldiers+of+conscience&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#).

Just before the flood, “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). We may expect that it will be again, just before the fire at time’s end.

We need to reexamine what we were taught in public school. Basically, the United State was always being good, always just minding its own business, when along came a great unjust provocation, and then it had to fight to save civilization. Maybe. But is it really likely that Americans were always the innocent good guys and those on the opposing side the indisputably evil bad guys? Maybe in a cartoon. It is a convenient picture. But we are called to put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13).

Hardest Loyalties and Misloyalties

We have a fairly hard time with the state. But the hardest of all is with our friends. Hear the servant of the Lord:

We may have special, select friends that, all unperceived and unacknowledged by us, we place in the heart where God should be, and we can never perfect a round, full Christian experience until every earthly support is removed, and the soul centers its entire affection about God (Ellen G. White, Letter 6, 1896).

We will not linger to expound this awesome statement. Suffice it to try to understand in brief. Idolatry is alive in many a heart. The warning is, that for most of us, it is unperceived, unacknowledged, unknown by us. We think we are putting God first, but these actually hold place in the heart above the place we give to God.

Sometimes we elevate friends whom we feel have stood with us through our own trials. Other times, someone may have experienced what they regard as a deep personal failure, but opportunity rises to nurture another. They seem to respond affirmatively. We feel reaffirmed. We begin to hold them in special esteem. Yet again, our identity gets tangled up with the identity of someone or something else. We become idolaters as verily as the pagans of old; only it is worse; for we remain self-deceived, thinking that we are actually putting God first. We are, all over again, the rich young ruler who lacks one thing: consecration. We put family, friends, employers, the state, or even an idea above God in our lives. Heart work remains undone. We are unready for the revealing of Jesus.

Conclusion

We conclude therefore with one final, revealing incident. Join me at John 21.

Here is the setting: Jesus has been crucified. There are a handful of occasions where He shows Himself to the disciples after His death. Peter and six of the disciples are together at the sea of Galilee (the sea of Tiberias is the same body of water). Peter declares that he is going fishing. The others go with him. They fish all night but do not catch anything.

In the morning a man standing on the seashore asks them if they have caught anything. They reply, No. He tells them to put out their net on the other side of the boat. They do and have an astounding catch of fish. Peter recognizes that this Man on the shore is Jesus. They come ashore and bring in the catch.

They eat around the fire. Then Jesus commences a pointed conversation with Peter. We start at John 21:15-17.

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love Thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

What are the “these” that Jesus asks Peter about? Is it the other disciples? the boat? the fisherman’s lifestyle? the fish? or something else? Jesus does not specify; but Peter answers that he loves Jesus more than “these.” Peter knows.

But do you know? Where are your own loyalties? Peter was a fisherman before he was a follower of Jesus. Jesus called him from that. But after an experience with Jesus, here is Peter, catching fish again. When Jesus had made him a disciple, He had told Peter, “From now on, you will catch men” (Luke 5:21). Was Peter going to be a fisherman or a follower of Jesus? This was the question.

What is it for you? Do you love Jesus more than these? Are you willing to search your heart, to put effort into your walk with Jesus? Are you willing to do the hard work of knowing Him? Being utterly true to His Word? Giving your ultimate loyalty to Him as your King?

Ellen G. White said,

We must free ourselves from the customs and bondage of society, that when the principles of our faith are at stake, we shall not hesitate to show our colors, even though we are called singular for so doing (Our High Calling, p. 341).

Hear, then, the warning. If we persist in misapplying our loyalties to family, friends, employers, the state, even to pet ideas, then we cannot be ultimately loyal to Jesus. Then we remain in bondage to the customs of society, and when we come down to the very brink, we will be confused and unable to rightly represent the Christian faith just in the hour when Heaven awaits the vindication of God’s character.

Satan stands arrayed before us like a Goliath seemingly with all the world on his side. Looking at the situation with eyes of flesh, we see certain defeat. Looking through eyes of faith, we can overcome. Every earthly support will be cut off. Let us make sure of what our faith is built upon. GCO

© 2008 by GreatControversy.org. GCO grants permission to individuals, wholeheartedly encouraging them to copy and reproduce documents and files appearing on this site, in an unaltered state, and for non-commercial use, unless otherwise noted. All other rights reserved. Other groups or entities wishing to reproduce these materials are encouraged to contact us with reproduction requests.

Larry Kirkpatrick has served in the pastoral ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church since 1994. He is an ordained minister. He received his Batchelor of Arts in Religion from Southern Adventist University in 1994 and a Master of Divinity with specialization in Adventist Studies from Andrews University in 1999. While in Michigan he was employed by the General Conference at the Ellen G. White Estate. Pr. Kirkpatrick has been involved in ministries such as the General Youth Conference. Included among his numerous writings are the books Real Grace for Real People and Cleanse and Close: Last Generation Theology in 14 Points. He was a pioneer in internet ministry, launching GreatControversy.org in 1997 where he continues as director. Larry and wife Pamela presently minister to the Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, located near Loma Linda, California. They live in Highland, and much of the joy in their household is the blessing of children Seamus and Mikayla.