Sermon Central
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No Neutrality
Contributed by Dr. Ronald Shultz on Dec 10, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: There are no spiritual mugwumps. You are one one side or the other. Do you know which one?
No Neutrality
As a retired soldier and a bit of a history buff I know a little about warfare. I also know that in every war there are people who do not want to get involved for various reasons. They may be theological or political pacifists or just folks too young or too old to participate. Despite this desire more often than not they become involved in some way or they become victims. They cannot stay neutral.
During the War Between The States/War of Northern Aggression, Generals Sherman and Butler perpetrated acts against civilians that had they been committed in WWII they would have been considered war crimes and the generals would have been hung as war criminals rather than decorated as heroes. Civilian men and women should have been considered neutral but instead they found themselves deeply involved in the battle. Men were killed and women were ravished at the consent of these men and the whim of their subordinates.
Indeed, Sherman felt that total genocide of Southern people should have been the order of the day. No one was neutral in his eyes. Black men were conscripted by the Union forces and placed into battle first to bear the brunt of the attack while other soldiers ravished the Black women left behind. Not even the people they said they were concerned about were allowed to be neutral.
During the later Indian wars, Federal soldiers killed women and children in various raids. These victims should have been considered neutral and yet they died like combatants.
During WWI and every other war since the advent of aircraft many neutral people died from the results of bombing raids. Many people in Germany were just farm workers and shopkeepers but they lost goods and their lives just like Nazi SA or SS troops that were fully engaged in the battle. Many old men sat on the porch and children played on their way to school the day the first atomic bomb fell. They were neutral but they died like Kamikaze pilots just the same. War knows no neutral parties. Collateral damage happens no matter how hard one or both sides of a war try to prevent it.
Our enemies in various wars have booby-trapped children and tortured and raped civilians. Governments under men like Saddam and the Taliban have had innocent people killed on a whim. In essence, they have waged war in their own countries and no one was allowed to be neutral.
The world has been fully engaged in a spiritual war since the Fall of man and there are no neutral parties. We are all born into enemy territory and are citizens of a doomed kingdom. We are participants in the battle even if we act like we are citizens of the victorious kingdom or believe that there is no war or combatants. Sin has placed us on the losing side. We shall die on that side and spend eternity in Hell unless we accept the unconditional surrender terms of God.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (KJV)
Nicodemus came to ask about Jesus and instead was presented with the condition of mankind and their need. Many think today that because they are born into a certain group, caste or creed that they are automatically on the road to Heaven. Jesus repudiates that concept by saying that all men must be born again or else they miss the Kingdom. That includes the Jews despite what the Pope, John Hagee or anyone else says. We are all condemned men unless we accept the King’s pardon.
Eccl 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (KJV)
Some like to use this verse to show that we all end up in the same place and that all paths lead to God. We all end up before Him but what will He do with us when we get there? We need to hear Jesus.
Matt 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (KJV) Luke 11:23 echoes this verse.
Jesus is very clear that it is Him or nothing. Either we are with Him in His program or we are out completely. In John 10:9 Jesus says that He is the door and in 14:6 He says that He is way and no man comes unto the Father but by Him. You can’t say that you are neither for or against Him you’re just neutral for He will not allow it.
38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
