The Gift of Christian Resistance

by Al Benson Jr.

As we enter the Advent Season of the Christian year we look forward to the Christmas Season which commemorates the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We look upon this historic event as God's precious gift to His elect people, His new Israel. It is this gift that Christmas is really all about. Jesus Christ  came to die and to rise again to procure salvation for all His people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

As this Christmas Season approaches we observe the world situation, and to those without Christ it is a hopeless one indeed. And even in the Church, we observe the retreatist attitudes of many. Rather than do battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, many Christians seek to retreat within the four walls of their church building and to shut the world out, to have no dealings "out there" and therefore, to effect no cultural changes out there. I have wondered, over several Christmas Seasons if the best gift the Church might give the world at the Christmas Season is the gift of Christian resistance.

Should not we, as Christians, seek to resist the present (One) World System with all its evil machinations?  Are we to fear the world and its anti-Christ conspiracies? NO! But we should resist and expose them (Ephesians 5:11).

If we will only take our heads out of the spiritual sand we cannot help but take note of the blatantly anti-Christian trends in government, education, economics, the media, and in a score of other areas we could name. Why not the gift of Christian resistance to anti-Christian forces in all areas of life? Are we supposed to contend for the culture around us or just to surrender to it? Many Christians would claim that all we will ever be is a "counter-culture" and that we better be satisfied with that. We have inherited a lot of retreatist attitudes from the early promoters of the Darby-Scofield school of retreatism, so much so that we need to overcome that and find anew that strong strain of godly Christian resistance so prevalent in the Protestant Reformation.

Let Christian again stand up and RESIST anti-Christian governments, anti-Christian educational systems, ungodly money systems, etc.

So, as Christ brought to us the free gift of salvation, let us also bring the Good News of that event to others as He leads us to do so. And let us also seek to give to the world the precious gift of Christian resistance to what is ungodly. Let us, as the Lord leads, learn to "fight the good fight of faith" and let us learn to "resist the devil" in ALL areas of life. Our Lord did not tell us to retreat until He came; He told us to OCCUPY until He returned. If Jesus made a whip of cords and drove the money changers from the temple, can we do less today? Unfortunately, for many Christians today the answer to that question is "yes--lots less."

It is high time for Christians to stop retreating and to start resisting. Think about that as this Christmas Season approaches.