Armor or Loungewear?

This week I finally finished reading John MacArthur's "The Truth War." Let me first and foremost say that I highly recommend this book. If you are a pastor charged with diligently looking after your flock, you should read this book. If you are the head of a household with the responsibility to protect your family not just from thieves who break in and steal but with those who would lead your family away from a Biblical Christianity, you should read this book. I could go on, but you should read this book.

Christianity has enjoyed a long season of favor in America, and it has caused Christians to get very relaxed. We go to church and have a good time - children play with glue and glitter, youth plan trips, and adults catch up with friends. We sing songs we like and hear a good sermon, we shake hands with the pastor, and tell folks we'll see them again on Wednesday night. Mind you, I am not at all saying there is anything wrong with the fun and fellowship I have described. But when do we strap on the armor? I'm not talking about physical armor and a bunker mentality, I'm talking about spiritual armor and an apologetic mentality, always ready to give a defense for our faith (I Peter 3:15-16). The times have changed, Christianity is falling out of favor, and Christian thought is losing the battle for people's minds. And that is because the enemy has been fighting, and we have not. In many cases, we are not even preparing ourselves to fight. In fact, we are framing ourselves for defeat, because we have pushed Christianity into a little corner we call "faith" and refuse to let it have anything to do with the intellect or anything tangible. But Biblical Christianity is the Truth, the full Truth, not just about the next world, but about this one. We need to fight and defend that Truth!

I'll get off that rant for now and say one other thing about the book. MacArthur speaks throughout about the Emerging Church movement. I am still trying to figure out this movement (so you'll be seeing more on that topic in this blog), and find I just haven't been able to yet. Part of it is that I just don't think like a postmodern at all. But here are a couple of different perspectives on it, if that will help confuse you as much as me. Part of the issue in regarding the Emerging (you may also hear Emergent) Church movement is that it is not clearly defined (which is typical of the postmodern way of thinking). What that means is that there are many things that are falling under the label of Emerging/Emergent Church. So I will give this one word of caution regarding "The Truth War": MacArthur has lumped all things Emerging together, and so his criticisms of the movement may not apply as much to some who use that label. That point is brought out by another blogger who also recently read the book.

Get the book. Read it. It's important.