Know Your Enemy

The fundamental principles and motivations that underlie war between nations and peoples have remained the same while strategies and the delivery systems of weaponry have changed.

The desire for power, control, wealth and hatred born of race and ideologies have consistently propelled nation against nation. But when it comes to weaponry we have gone from throwing rocks to swords; from gunpowder to automatic weapons; from canons to computer-guided missiles and drones; from tanks to thermo-nuclear bombs. Defensive strategies against such diverse delivery systems have grown exponentially. You can’t bring a knife to a gunfight and expect to succeed.

There are similarities in our Christian struggle against sin and temptation. Certain things remain the same. Sin has always had the same root of rebellion and desire for autonomy since our rejection of God’s word in the Garden of Eden. We are still, as James writes, “carried away by our own lusts that give birth to sin.”

Our enemies are still the world, the flesh and the devil. But the delivery systems of temptation have gone from the whispers of a satanic serpent to small communication devices wirelessly connected to a massive database of information. Technology has changed the way human beings interact and exchange information. Along the way it has made it possible for visual and text based temptations to bombard our minds and hearts almost anywhere, anytime.

The truth is that delivery systems of temptation have changed exponentially in the last few decades and there is no sign of it abating any time soon. We have to grapple with this deliberately and openly.

When I was a young man a person had to travel to a place of public business and in the presence of others openly to purchase pornography. There was some degree of public shame associated with it. Now you could be sitting on public transit plugging into an endless stream of filth with your headphones on and no one would know to blink an eye.

Pornography is not the only sin and temptation that streams invisibly to our communication devices. All idolatries have a visual and word-based medium of expression. Advertisements and celebrities are continually evangelizing the populace with the empty promises of happiness and fulfillment via images and verbal testimonials.

There is much that technology and the Internet have provided that I am grateful for. But it also has many dangers we must remain aware of. The ability to communicate nearly instantaneously with others has many benefits. It has provided a platform for ministries such as ours to have a worldwide reach.

But it also can encourage and feed several idolatries. The capacity to instantly connect often feeds the desire to be “in the know.” After all, who wants to be told “that’s so thirty seconds ago?” The idol of control can be empowered by knowing that your employees must have already received your text and they should all be responding shortly.

I’ve counseled couples that were upset because their partner doesn’t instantaneously respond to queries and this fed their insecurities and idolatries of control or need for acceptance. Some Christians are substituting participation in a local church with Internet feeds of sermons and worship services.

In short, the delivery systems of temptation are changing rapidly and the church must help identify the dangers embedded in the use of various uses of technologies. Several Christian authors, theologians and social commentators have begun the discussion but it has yet to trickle down to a majority of believers. Let me encourage you to join the conversation.

This spring quarter Grace School of Theology and Ministry will offer a course on the use of technology in ministry. A few of the lectures will discuss some of the ethics and temptations noted above. I will also write a few follow-up blog entries on this topic in the near future. At the very least I encourage parents to discuss this topic with their children and become more aware of what they are consuming via the modern delivery systems of temptation.

Tony Sanelli is a Pastor-Teacher at Grace Bible Church