Four Hidden Issues That Satan Uses To Divide the Body of Christ, Part 2

Christians can often wrestle against one another for reasons that aren’t worth it. Satan loves to pit God’s people against each other and he does so by using four methods.

First, The Inability to Understand God’s Paradox, which we dealt with in Part 1. Next,

1.   The Confusion of Temporal with Eternal Principles

There is much confusion over temporal and eternal truths, again another kind of paradox.   As I stated in Part 1, many Christians want to argue over a particular viewpoint in Scripture without considering the passages in paradox to that viewpoint.

Because we want God to fit into our logic box, we discard any nonconforming Scripture, or simply ignore it. If we acknowledge the opposite Scriptural reference, our doctrine must be modified to accommodate both Scriptures. In the temporal, God’s law is still in effect. By this I mean we have consequences by not following the law.

For example, when the principle of grace is being taught in churches, if one is not careful, too often it can come at the expense of ignoring the law. The grace of God is an eternal law that is applied to our eternal spirit, but it should not give us the idea that we can sin with no temporal affect of not having to obey the law of God.

In the natural, if you break the law, you will suffer the consequences. If you are speeding and you get a ticket, you might argue to the policeman that you are not under the law, but I doubt it would do any good. The eternal law of grace will keep us out of the lake of fire but will not keep us from the consequences of violating the law in the temporal. Obedience to the law doesn’t save us, but it will keep us out of a whole bunch of trouble. The confusion over law and grace has caused many Christians to be entrapped in sin and division (Romans 7:7-8).

Confusion over the temporal and eternal principles often divides the body of Christ. True wisdom comes when we can be gracious with brothers and sisters who have not yet come to a fuller understanding of the temporal and eternal truths.  In some churches that preach more of a positive message in which one hardly hears anything about sin, it is easy to conclude that they have no regard for the law of God. This may very well be an incorrect assumption.  In a church where sin is always being expounded from the pulpit, one may erroneously conclude that the church has very little love and compassion. Both sides of grace and truth are correct.  One church may emphasize one more than the other. Balance is the key. While grace is eternal and the law is temporal, both are needed to hear and learn in order to grow closer to God.

Jesus said to His church, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34). In other words, Satan can gain great authority in our lives if we reject the commands of Christ.

End of Part 2