戰場是決定戰役結果的關鍵因素；..... 身為基督徒，在每次衝突中，我們的主要目標之一必須將只發生在自然領域的戰場帶到屬靈領域，那才是我們特別的領土範圍。 

迷惑的時代—美國遺產概要40 

當耶穌被問到世界的末了有什麼預兆，祂的回答就是美國正在發生的事。祂一開始的回答是：「你們要謹慎，免得有人迷惑你們」（馬太福音24:4）。藉此祂指出，世界的末了最基本的預兆之一是迷惑。因此，我們要如何不被迷惑？ 

帖撒羅尼迦前書二章10節說到：「並且在那沉淪的人…，因他們不領受愛真理的心，使他們得救。」不只是缺少真理會引致迷惑，不愛真理也會。我們想要真理的理由不同，甚至是出於自私和邪惡的理由，例如用真理來傷害別人。除了愛真理以外的動機，都可能使我們向扭曲真理的事物敞開。 

腓立比書一章9節給予我們分辨真理所需的最基本要素，正如使徒所寫：「我所禱告的，就是要你們的愛心在知識和各樣見識（分辨）上多而又多。」在這裡我們看見真知識和各樣見識（分辨）的根基就是愛。如果我們從任何角度來看事情卻少了愛，我們的知識將被扭曲，而我們的分辨也不會完全。這與常偽裝成分辨的事物形成對比，偽裝的分辨充滿懷疑和恐懼，總是扭曲著我們的感知，只會看到並相信最壞的情況。 

舉例來說，我們若沒有從愛我們的國家為出發，就不太可能找到我們國家歷史的真理。我們也必須愛真理愛到不去掩飾我們歷史中的瑕疵與錯誤。當我們從愛的角度來看，這些瑕疵與錯誤也會看得更準確。此外，從拯救的角度來看歷史將幫助我們從歷史來學習，而不只是去譴責那些做錯的人。 

邱吉爾不單是世界最崇高的政治家，他也是一位偉大的歷史學家。他寫下被英語系國家的人視為最有洞見的著作，這些著作以非常準確的方式來展現先知性觀點。當他被問到是如何領受如此卓越的先知性洞見，他歸功於對歷史的研讀，並推斷出與人性有關的事物，例如「正面的人在每個問題中看見機會，但負面的人在每個機會中看見問題。」 

歷史證實了此洞見。那些設定歷史進程並進行建設的人是積極正面的思想家，他們在別人只看到問題時卻看到了機會。消極負面的思想家，充滿著否認和批評，看到問題多過看到機會，無法在歷史上留名，因為他們沒有做什麼或建造什麼值得注意的事。 

我們若從愛我們國家的正面態度來看美國歷史或是我們目前的景況，我們會從目前浮現的所有問題中看見機會。如果我們對國家或敵人不屑一顧，就無法看到解決方案或機會。 

正如我們曾討論過的，基本軍事原則是你無法擊敗看不見的敵人，我們越清楚看見敵人，所擁有的優勢也越大。在今日的美國，我們可能面對有史以來最明顯的內部敵人，他們是如何成長為如此龐大又有嚴重威脅，卻沒有被我們的領導人察覺？為什麼分辨力如此小？會不會是我們對國家的愛太少？還是因為我們對敵人的愛太少？

很少有人會把愛與仇敵聯想在一起，但耶穌告訴我們要愛我們的仇敵（馬太福音5:44；路加福音6:27, 35）。會不會主耶穌要我們這麼做的一個原因，是要我們能擁有對敵人的「真知識和各樣見識（分辨）」？這不僅會幫助我們分辨敵人，而且在哥林多前書十三章6-7節，愛被定義為「只喜歡真理；凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。」如果我們開始愛我們的敵人，我們會開始為他們「凡事」相信。然後，我們將更有可能看到將敵人變成朋友的解決方案。那不是最終的勝利嗎？

在衝突之時，我們必須將希伯來書十二章14-15節的勸誡謹記在心：「你們要追求與眾人和睦，並要追求聖潔；非聖潔沒有人能見主。又要謹慎，恐怕有人失了神的恩；恐怕有毒根生出來擾亂你們，因此叫眾人沾染污穢。」 

那些只能二分法思考的人，就是只能看見黑或白的人，他們將看到事情的極端面，因此最容易受到欺騙。這樣的人很難看見要如何能愛他們的仇敵，或是要如何與他們和睦。我們必須這麼做，否則就如上述經文所說，我們將無法見主。我們將無法在目前的情況中看見主，以便參與在祂所做的工，我們將失了神的恩，因為我們拒絕對他人施恩，我們只會讓苦毒倍增，而取代了帶來醫治的生命活水。 

目前的抗議與暴動比過往更危險的一個原因，是這些人對美國和我們遺產所表現出的仇恨和忿怒程度。我們基督徒不是被呼召擁有別於世界所彰顯出來相反的靈嗎？耶穌說撒旦不能趕除撒旦，指的是並非要成為邪惡才能擊敗邪惡，我們對敵人的仇恨並無法趕出他們的悖逆，我們反要「以善勝惡」（羅馬書12:21）。 

這實際上看起來像什麼呢？首先，愛比仇恨和懼怕更有能力。相比之下，相較於仇恨，愛具有更大的感染力。許多充滿怒氣和仇恨的人會這樣，是因為他們從未經歷真實的愛。真實的愛─神的愛遠超過人的同情和理想主義，神的愛在一些陣營中爆炸起來就像是靈界的原子彈。然而，我們必須擁有這樣的愛才能以此方式被神使用，這在歷史上和這些時候是相當罕見的。 

在目前的情況中，我們若出去對抗我們的仇敵，對著那些正在叫囂之人叫囂回去，結果是雙方什麼都聽不到。身為基督徒，我們的勝利不是將敵人打倒、打傷或殺害，而是以最有能力的武器來擊打他們─用愛說出真理可以釋放人得自由。這武器有能力翻轉他們，使他們從造成他們仇恨的綑綁中得生命和自由。我們不僅要贏得爭論，更要贏得人心。 

以上所言需要將戰場從自然領域提升到屬靈領域，我們必須先從自己的心做起。這並不是否定自然界的戰爭，在自然領域也有必須打的仗，我們會在下週的每週一話更深入談到。即便如此，真正的戰役是在靈界多過於自然界。 

戰場是決定戰役結果的關鍵因素；因此，戰士知道誰能夠選擇戰場，誰就比敵手有優勢。目前，敵人掌握此主導權，能夠選擇戰場，讓戰場在世界，地上的領土。身為基督徒，在每次衝突中，我們的主要目標之一必須將只發生在自然領域的戰場帶到屬靈領域，那才是我們特別的領土範圍。 

在下次的每週一話中，我們將檢視基督徒在地上國度和神國度的雙重國籍，以及我們要如何並在何時行使地上與天上的權柄。  

～摘錄美國發明家與建築師─巴克敏斯特·富勒（R. Buckminster Fuller）～

自從電磁光譜圖首次發布以來，人們學到他們所能觸摸、聞到、看到和聽到的東西不到現實的百萬分之一。

～摘錄德國詩人與作家─諾瓦利斯（Novalis）～

我們與不可見的事物更緊密連結勝過可見的事物。

～摘錄美國知名作家─安內絲·寧恩（Anais Nin）～

我們所看見的不是事物的本質，而是自己的樣子

 

The Age of Deception—Heritage Brief 40

 Jesus spoke of what is now happening in America when He was asked about the signs of the end of this age. He began His answer with: “Do not let anyone deceive you” (see Matthew 24:4). By this He was indicating that one of the most basic signs of the end of the age would be deception. So, how do we not become deceived?

         In II Thessalonians 2:10 it speaks of: “those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” It is not just the lack of truth that can lead to deception, but not having a love for the truth. We can want truth for many different reasons, even selfish and evil ones, such as to use it to hurt others. Any motive but a love for the truth can open us to what would distort the truth. 

         Philippians 1:9 gives us the most basic factor required for discerning truth as the apostle writes: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.” Here we see that the foundation of “real knowledge,” or true knowledge, and “all discernment,” is love. If we are looking from the perspective of anything less than love, our knowledge will be distorted and our discernment will be incomplete. This is in contrast to what often masquerades as discernment, which is suspicion and fear that will always distort our perception to seeing and believing the worst. 

         For example, we will not likely find the truth about our national history if we do not begin with a love for our country. We must also love the truth enough not to cover over the flaws and mistakes in our history. As we see through the perspective of love, the flaws and mistakes will be seen more accurately. Also, a redemptive perspective will help us to learn from them rather than just condemning those who made them. 

         Winston Churchill was not just one of the world’s most notable statesmen, he was a great historian. He wrote what is considered the most insightful accounts of the English-speaking people. These included prophetic perspectives that unfolded with remarkable accuracy. When asked how he received such remarkable prophetic insights he credited his study of history, which he did out of a profound love for his own country and people. He also concluded things about human nature such as, “Positive people see opportunities in every problem, but negative people tend to see problems in every opportunity.”

         History verifies this insight. Those who set the course of history and build are positive thinkers who can see opportunities when others see only problems. Negative thinkers, the naysayers and critics, who see problems more than opportunity, are not remembered in history because they rarely do anything or build anything worth noting.

         If we view our history, or our present, from the positive attitude of loving our country, we will see opportunities in all of the problems now surfacing. If we look at these with a disdain for our country, or our enemies, we will rarely see solutions or opportunities. 

         As we discussed, the military principle that you cannot defeat an enemy you do not see, the clearer we see our enemy the greater the advantage we have. In America today, we have possibly the most obvious domestic enemies we’ve ever faced. How have they have grown into such a large and serious threat virtually unnoticed by our leaders? Why has there been so little discernment? Could it be that we’ve had so little love for our country? Could it be because we’ve had so little love for our enemies?

         Hardly anyone associates love when considering enemies, but Jesus told us to love our enemies (see Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35). Could it be that one reason He told us to do this is so that we could have “real knowledge,” and “all discernment” concerning them? Not only would this help us to discern them as the enemy, but love is defined in I Corinthians 13:6-7 as “rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” If we begin to love our enemies, we will start to believe “all things” for them. We will then be more likely to see a solution of turning our enemies into friends. Would that not be the ultimate victory?

         In times of conflict, we must keep the exhortation of Hebrews 12:14-15 in mind: “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.”

         Those who can only think dualistically, who can only see black or white, will see extremes and are therefore some of the most prone to deception. Such will have a very difficult time seeing how they can love their enemies or how to pursue peace with them. We must, or as the above text notes, we will not see The Lord. We will not see Him in the present situation so as to be a part of what He’s doing, we will come short of the grace of God because we refuse it to others, and we will only multiply the bitterness instead of the waters of life that bring healing.

         One factor making the present protests and riots so much more dangerous than in previous times is the level of hatred and rage manifesting in them for America and our heritage. Are we as Christians not called to have an opposite spirit to that which is manifesting in the world? Jesus said that Satan could not cast out Satan, which means it is not going to be evil that defeats evil, and that our hatred for the enemy will not cast out their rebellion, but we must “overcome evil with good” (see Romans 12:21). 

         What does this look like practically? First, love is more powerful than hatred and fear. When they are seen in contrast, love is far more contagious than hate. Many of those who are so angry and full of hate are this way because they have never experienced real love. Real love, the love of God not mere human sympathy and idealism, could go off in some of those camps like a spiritual nuclear bomb. However, to be used this way we have to have such love, and this is very rare in history and these times.

         In the present situation, if we go out to confront our enemies by screaming back at those who are screaming, no one is going to hear anything. As Christians our victory is not to beat down the enemy, wound, or kill them, but rather to hit them with the most powerful weapon of all—the truth spoken in love that can set people free. This has the power to convert them that they may have life and be set free from the bondage that has caused them to hate. We do not just want to win the argument, we want to win them. 

         The above requires elevating the battleground from the physical to the spiritual realm. We must do this in our own hearts first. This is not to negate that the battle is also physical and must be fought in that realm too, which we will cover in more depth in the next Brief. Even so, the real battle is more spiritual than physical. 

         The battlefield itself can be a crucial factor determining the outcome of a battle. Because of this, warriors know that the one who is able to choose the battlefield will have an advantage over their foe. Presently, the enemy has seized the initiative and been able to choose the battlefield, keeping it in the worldly, earthly domain. As Christians, one of our primary goals in every conflict must be to move the battlefield out of the merely physical realm into the spiritual realm that is our special domain. 

         In our next Brief we will examine the dual-citizenship Christians have in the earthly nation and the kingdom of God, and how and when we exercise both civil and spiritual authority.

         Since the initial publication of the chart of the electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one-millionth of reality. – R. Buckminster Fuller

         We are more closely connected to the invisible than to the visible. – Novalis

         We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. – Anais Nin