How to Oppose Christ

and Still Call Yourself a "Christian"

The world has two ways to oppose Christ: by doing bad things, and by doing good things.

In the church, people normally recognize the obviously-bad things and tend to avoid them. (The religious leaders of Jesus' day did this much.) The problem occurs with good things (activities, values, programs, etc.) that are given a stronger emphasis than Scripture warrants. These are the things that often prove to be the snare that leads to destruction.

Examples of such things could include anything that is given precedence over "seeking first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33). This could include a focus on one's family, on careers and financial security, on religious activities, on sports and entertainment, or on just about anything else that can have the appearance of being "good." Any of these can become a type of idolatry, and a method of opposing Christ.

Any time one of these "good" things receives a greater emphasis than God's kingdom is given, it eventually begins to influence the person's concept of spirituality. Once this happens, the person who has such a focus tends to lose his ability to recognize true spirituality, as the Bible defines it. The genuine becomes effectively neutralized by the fake - and sometimes even defined right out of existence.

Quite often, those who reach this point will actually begin to attack those who truly "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33). If someone exposes the error of their false perspective, they are normally unwilling to view it as an attack against error (which it actually is). Instead, they tend to interpret it as an attack against what is "good" (those things which have now become their definition of "spirituality" and "godliness"), and they condemn the person who is attempting to warn them.

The end result is that those who have this perspective become so consumed by "good" things, that they lose the only thing that counts for eternity.

Dennis Hinks © 2004