Bringing Down a Super-Villain's Defenses

Suggested Reading: Revelation 2:12-17

In Superman II,  three super-powered villains from Krypton come to earth to take revenge on their jailer by killing their jailer’s son, Superman. After several battles where neither Superman nor the villains can gain the advantage, Superman lures them to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic. Playing on Lex Luthor’s greed and tendency for betrayal, he tricks the villains into turning on a machine that will eliminate their powers while Superman himself is protected within a crystal vault.  Superman knew that in order to win, he had to eliminate the villains' advantage.

When Israel was wondering through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, they wanted to pass through the land of Midian. Balak, the king of Midian, tried to hire a prophet named Balaam to curse Israel so that he could wipe them out, but each time, Balaam’s attempt to curse the Israelites turned into a blessing.  The Israelites were protected by God and, seemingly, there was no way to curse them or defeat them.  Not long after that, however, according to Jewish tradition, Balaam found a way to remove Israel’s singular advantage of God’s blessing. This new tactic is summarized in Revelation 2:14 as the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality (HCSB).  Balaam knew that Israel could never be defeated by Midian so long as they were under God’s blessing so, according to Jewish tradition, he encouraged Balak to send in some seductive women who would encourage the Israelites to engage in idolatry and sexual immorality, breaking God’s laws and removing God's blessing from them so that they could be defeated.

Like the Israelites, we also have an Enemy who roams about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us. Our Enemy also knows that we can never be defeated as long as God’s blessing rests on our lives, so he seeks to remove that blessing by tempting us into sin and into lifestyles that will separate us from the blessing of God. Our Enemy knows that if we remove ourselves from God’s protective blessings that we can be rendered ineffective and begin living defeated lives. Satan doesn’t always come at us head on, trying to mow us over. On the contrary, the Enemy tempts us to remove ourselves from God’s blessing, to give up our singular advantage.

Choosing to continue in a lifestyle of sin is not harmless. Rather, continuing in sin sets us up for failure and defeat, playing right into the Enemy’s hands. Choosing to sin and allowing sin to have a foothold in our lives amounts to stepping out from under the impenetrable shield of God’s blessing. By doing so, we give up our singular advantage and make ourselves vulnerable to the Enemy’s attacks. Why would we do that to ourselves?

Intentionally engaging in sinful behavior makes us vulnerable to the Enemy’s attacks. Recognize temptation for what it is: an attempt by your Enemy to bring down your defenses.

Inventing Tests for Your Future Spouse

Suggested Reading: Matthew 27:32-50

In the Superman prequel series Smallville, Lex Luthor caught Lana Lang at a time when she was emotionally vulnerable and manipulated her into a romantic relationship and then into marriage. Before he married her, however, he wanted to know if he could trust her. So he arranged for her to overhear a compromising conversation to see how she would react. Lana responded by working to protect Lex from what she perceived as a threat to him. Lex tested her but in a way that showed no respect for her.

Reading through Matthew’s account of the crucifixion, I recently noticed what might have been another test. Jesus was hanging on the cross and had cried out to God saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachtani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” And one of them at once, ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him” (Matthew 27:46-49, ESV).  When Jesus was in emotional agony on the cross, feeling the separation that the sin of the world created between him and the Father, he cried out. One man wanted to take pity on him, giving him something to drink that might deaden the pain but the others wanted to wait to see if Elijah would come.

Some were likely mocking him as one might mock a guilty criminal still hanging onto the pretense of innocence. But others must have been watching this man, knowing that he claimed to be the Messiah and that Elijah was supposed to come before the Messiah made himself known. According to Jesus, John the Baptizer had fulfilled the function of Elijah, but no one had recognized him. So I wonder, how many of these people, uncertain whether or not they were crucifying the Messiah, wanted one last test to see if Elijah would respond before completely labeling him a false messiah.

Whether anyone was actually using these events as tests or not, we often engage in very similar behavior. We let something “slip” at just the right moment to see how a friend responds. We create a situation designed entirely to determine whether or not we can trust someone without thinking about the betrayal of manipulating them. Sometimes, we test God, putting God in a position of doing what we want or threatening to stop believing (or at least to stop trusting), whether that thing is really what we need or not. We test people and God in ways that are selfish and demonstrate a lack of respect and a lack of love.

Watching how people respond to natural situations is good and healthy. But manipulating people and forcing them into sometimes painful situations just for our own peace of mind is cruel, no matter how we justify it. Deciding whether we will trust God or anyone else based on artificial criteria or self-created tests is childish and immature.

Are you testing someone at the moment? Are you thinking about doing it? Creating a test for someone may not give you an accurate reading of their character, but it does create a very definite image of who you are. Before you do anything, make certain you are treating the person in question with love and respect. If your test pushes the boundary of that standard, think twice before seeing it through.

Helping Lex Luthor Send His Dad to Prison

Suggested Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-27 (or read the whole story: 2 Kings 5)

In the television series Smallville, before Lex Luthor became a full-fledged villain, he tried to send his dad to prison for murder. Clark Kent had witnessed some things that would help convict the elder Luthor but Lex was worried he would not appear to testify because Lex and Clark had gotten into a fight. When Clark showed up to testify, Lex tried to thank him but Clark rebuffed his gratitude saying, "I didn't do this for you." The implication was clear: Clark testified because putting Lionel Luthor in jail for murder was the right thing to do, not because Lex deserved his help.

In 2 Kings 5, the prophet Elisha helped to heal an Aramean soldier named Naaman. The soldier was immensely grateful and wanted to give Elisha a gift but the prophet refused to accept anything. As Naaman and his entourage left, Elisha's servant Gehazi watched them go without understanding the exchange. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself, “My master should not have let this Aramean get away without accepting any of his gifts. As surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after him and get something from him" (2 Kings 5:20, NLT). While Elisha was concerned with what accepting the gifts would say about God and his miracles, Gehazi was concerned about whether Naaman deserved to be healed without paying (and with getting something for himself).  The focus of each man was different and Gehazi simply didn't understand Elisha's mindset.

Quite often, we simply don't understand why in the world people do what they do. Why does he let her get away with that? Why doesn't she speak up for herself? Why won't he call her on her crap? Why won't she leave him? Every day we encounter people who act in ways that make no sense to us. Sometimes we are Elisha wondering rightfully how Gehazi could be so selfish but sometimes we are Gehazi, so wrapped up in our own desires and so focused on the wrong things that we miss motivations that should be obvious. Lex should have known Clark would show up because it was the right thing to do. And Gehazi should have known Elisha would never accept a gift for performing a miracle of God.

When we just don't get why people are acting the way they are, there is probably an angle we haven't considered. Before we go off about how unreasonable or unrealistic someone is, we should first consider our own mindset to make sure we're not acting like a Gehazi.

Getting Shipwrecked With Lex Luthor's Murderer

Suggested Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-20

Green Arrow used to be one of the less well known superheroes in the DC comics universe. More people began to recognize him, though, when he became a regular on Smallville, the Superman prequel TV series. In that series, one of the pivotal moments for Green Arrow was his decision that Lex Luthor was too dangerous to continue living and so he killed him. Of course in the comic world no one stays dead, but Green Arrow had done something he knew was wrong "for the greater good." Violating his conscience messed him up badly. He struggled to come to terms with the murder, wrestled with suicidal desires and lost touch with sanity before an extreme intervention by a friend finally brought him back to himself. 

1 Timothy 1:19 describes Green Arrow's experience very well.  "Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked" (NLT). Violating your own conscience leads to a crisis of faith where you must come to terms with that violation, falsely justify the violation, or justify yourself by denying a violation took place.

Through the years, I have had several friends who chose to violate their consciences, to deliberately do things which they knew were wrong according to the Christian belief system they grew up with. Some survived this crisis of faith. Others chose to repeat these violations but soon abandoned their faith in order to alleviate their own feelings of guilt. After all, can you feel guilty (i.e., be convicted) if you no longer believe it is wrong? Some of these friends have rejected the faith completely, turning to other religions or to atheism, while others have simply altered their faith to such a degree that it is unrecognizable as biblical Christianity to any but themselves. In nearly each and every one of their lives, their abandonment of the faith can be traced back to a time when they deliberately choose to violate their consciences and had to come to terms with that choice. In Paul's words, their faith had been shipwrecked.

Before you choose to do something that violates your conscience, be prepared for your entire belief system to change in order to maintain your personal sanity. If your faith is precious to you, don't violate your conscience.