Worldliness.
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Forgotten Factor in Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual Deception
It is a chilling biblical fact that every Christian has spiritual enemies so deceptive that even the most deadly and wicked of them makes a show of being innocent, helpful and good.
2 Corinthians 11:14 . . . Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
The most bitter, hate-crazed, paranormal enemy anyone could ever face regularly pretends to be our friend; supernaturally making himself seem to be on the same side as we who live in the light.
It is not paranoia to say that this evil genius plots something far more sinister than killing us in cold blood. Still more disturbing is that he is, in a sense, less of a danger than certain other spiritual forces arrayed at us. I say this because, despite knowing worryingly little about the devil and other evil spiritual beings, most conservative Christians are at least vaguely aware of their existence, whereas another chillingly powerful opponent has slipped almost completely under our radar.
To use the Bible’s terms, our spiritual enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil.
Today’s average Christian has heard much about the devil but finds the term “flesh” uncomfortably unfamiliar. Regardless of terminology, however, all of us are unavoidably aware that we are tormented by undesirable cravings.
What we seem to know least about is what the Bible calls “the world.” I cringe from grappling with this wildly misunderstood topic that to most modern Christians seems about as trendy as chastity belts. The topic will always be most unpopular with non-Christians – a foreign concept to them, in fact – but it being a highly unfashionable topic even among today’s Christians is alarming, since it is a strongly biblical concept.
Worldliness is one of the key ways that anti-God spiritual powers exercise mind control over billions of unsuspecting people, including strict, Bible-loving Christians. It is so invasive and chameleon-like and misunderstood, that few Christians realize that some versions of worldliness are straight-laced, laughably old-fashioned and found only in churches, and yet are as worldly as that embraced by godless, pleasure-crazed trendies.
I’m delighted for us to abandon any aspect of Victorian Churchianity or of any era, including the first century, that is not an inseparable part of Christianity. By all means, let’s strip Christianity of all human traditions. Non-essential trappings weigh it down. We need to keep the Gospel message sleek and lean. To maximize its power-to-weight ratio is not just exciting and highly glorifying to God, it is essential for making Christianity the explosive force for good that it is divinely fashioned to be.
If we are humanity’s salt, ridding Christianity of non-essentials is like extracting impurities from salt, intensifying its taste. It is like focusing candlelight until it is transformed into a laser beam. Jargon, superstitions and weirdness build up like rust in every expression of Christianity. Many of these attitudes and paraphernalia were always encumbrances, some are relevant to a particular group of people but have been transferred too far afield, and some had a valid function years ago but have passed their expiry date.
The power of the cross will always be an offensive stumbling block to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). That’s unavoidable. There are offenses, however, that are not part of the gospel but simply our quirkiness and being too lazy to make ourselves relevant to this needy world and be “all things to all men” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Anything we do that needlessly turns off unbelievers and fools them into thinking that Christianity is impotent and irrelevant will bring us immense shame when we stand naked before our Judge.
I want to dump old wineskins quicker than stale bread and rotting fish, but I must be careful. If there is an unfashionable subject that is a significant part, not merely of God’s word to the first century church but of divine revelation for all humanity, I must not let myself squirm out of grappling with it.
I’m so biased towards removing every non-essential reason for Christianity appearing out of step with modern society that I’ve got a little sidetracked. My point, however, is that no matter what my biases, I cannot escape the glaring fact that the Bible keeps emphasizing that there is a world system that is dangerously opposed to Christians and to the advance of the Kingdom of God. This is simply too fundamental a part of biblical revelation to dare ignore.
To disregard this Bible fact to be subjected to spiritual warfare while refusing God’s every effort to point out the identity and strategies of the enemy who longs to destroy us. We might as well try to fight blindfolded.
Many years ago, some Christians gave the impression that one could safely navigate life’s spiritual minefields by this rule of thumb: if it is old fashioned, it is holy; if it is up-to-date, it is worldly. That’s as ridiculous as supposing that holiness is reached by following a list of do not's, or that the moon can be reached by jumping. No, holiness is a miracle, and it is those who are led by the Spirit – who enjoy continual companionship with, and submission to, the Spirit – who are freed from slavery to the flesh (Galatians 5:16-18). And there is nothing holy or spiritually safe about being old fashioned or out of touch.
Eventually, a mixed-up view of worldliness fell so out of favour that the average Christian thought it safe to ignore the entire concept of what the Bible calls “the world.” But is this a dangerous over-reaction?
It is vital that we realize that worldliness is not confined to modern society. The New Testament makes it obvious that worldliness was dangerously at work two thousand years ago. In fact, it has been a powerful spiritual force throughout human history, since humanity’s first sin. The worldliness of past generations might now be old-fashioned, but old-style worldliness is as anti-God as the very latest forms of worldliness.
Moreover, worldliness can seem amazingly unworldly. It can seem churchy and spiritual. For example, when Colossians 2:20 tells us not to submit to the world’s rules, it is referring specifically to religious rules and worship. Since no one but very strict religious people would have kept all these rules, those caught up in this would be sure to suppose that they are keeping themselves very distinct from the godless world around them. Worldliness is so seductive that these highly committed people would have felt sure that following the very rules that the Bible calls worldly was keeping them from being worldly!
So if worldliness can be old-fashioned and/or religious, there is as much chance of worldly influence in musty church traditions as there is in the latest fad. It is disturbingly easy to be engulfed by worldliness, while too dazzled by our own illusion of moral superiority to have a clue that we are in error.
With the supernatural god of this world dressing himself up as an angel of light, he is just as capable of infiltrating cherished church traditions as the latest attempt at defilement by the music industry or Hollywood. When it comes to worldliness, I have no reason for supposing I am any more discerning than the average Christian. I am not even aware of any particular church practice that fits this category, so I am not targeting anything specific. I simply conclude on the basis of the Bible’s teaching that whether they be old or modern, revered Christian traditions reeking of worldliness are sure to exist and are probably quite common.
That version of the world that slips through our defences seems cosy and harmless.
So what is “the world?” Not just teenagers, but all of us are highly vulnerable to peer pressure. Consider how most men would feel, for example, to appear in public dressed in pink pants. Worldliness works through more than just peer pressure, but this is part of it.
Psychologists designed an experiment to demonstrate this pressure. They put people in a room and asked them to take turns saying which of two lines looked longer. Only one of the people was actually being tested. This person, seated second to last, was unaware that the others had been instructed to lie. The psychologist found that people placed in such a situation go with the crowd and report seeing the shorter line as being the long one.
Worldliness is the mentality that says, “It must be right because everyone I respect thinks that way. Their combined opinion renders it so undeniably true that it would be a waste of time to bother confirming it by seeking God’s heart on the matter.” It matters not who we surrender our minds to in letting people be our unquestioning source of truth on a particular matter. Regardless of whether they are scientists, trusted friends, or even revered Christian authorities, by us having this mentality we are spiritually endangering ourselves by putting these people into the position in our lives that belongs solely to God.