Always Abounding - Spring 2017

CURRENT TRENDS
Peace in This Place:
Social Media in the Spotlight
Pastor Dan Armacost
Are you a Neville Chamberlain
Christian in your social media life?
Some fellow professing believers
believe that you (as one who has made
yourself their friend or follower on social
media) should never be so bold as to utilize
the sword of the Spirit boldly in this arena.
Maybe you have unwittingly agreed with
them, concluding that “it’s not the place
to be divisive.” You are using excuses.
What’s worse—your own heart weakens
as you leave that powerful sword resting
harmlessly at your side.
You have transferred Chamberlain’s
Peace for Our Time mantra* to your own
practice of Peace in This Place—a virtual
world apparently off-limits to the direct
application of the sword—the truth of the
Word of God. Do not hoodwink yourself;
this place is not neutral. By making peace
in this place that so frequently “blitzkriegs”
committed Christianity, you rest in a phony
truce while the enemy covertly advances.
The Axis powers of spiritual warfare never
employ a frontal assault; they simply ease
their way in over time.
Social media bills itself as neutral,
unbiased, relaxed, cool, and “accepting.”
But what do you think? And more
importantly, what does your Lord say?
To those who have made the decision
to enter this field of activity, soldier up!
Don’t cower. Take up your sword—you
are a soldier of the Lord! Never let your
sword hang unused by your side when
the truths of the eternal Word of God are
ignored, mocked, and belittled. Introduce
the sword to the place of pseudo-peace.
Publish its contents. Uphold it and, by all
means, put your sword into action. If your
sword remains sheathed, as time goes
on you will experience the effects of that
choice.
The powerful triumvirate of the world,
the flesh, and the devil has found a home
among some whom you call friends. Well,
“friend,” take your sword out and engage
this Axis force enslaving your friend. That’s
genuine friendship. Don’t be Chamberlain
to the one who needs Churchill.
Chamberlain was popular, Churchill
was not; yet ultimately, Chamberlain was a
disgrace. The precious and powerful Word
of God applied to this part of your life may
just rescue your friend from the world, the
flesh, and the devil.
Don’t be a Neville Chamberlain on your
social media.
(Dan Armacost is the Dean of Students at Fairhaven
Baptist College.)
*On July 23, 1938, British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain met with the leader of the
Third Reich, Adolph Hitler. Through the Munich
Agreement, a region of Czechoslovakia was
conceded to Hitler, and Chamberlain felt peace
had been reached. Quickly he proclaimed
“peace for our time” in a speech to the British
people. A year later, Britain was under siege
and the destructive WWII was underway. In
this war, over 60 million people were killed,
which was about 3% of the 1940 world’s
population.
Don’t be
Chamberlain
to the one who
needs Churchill.
12 ‌‌‌‌│ ALWAYS ABOUNDING