Don't Say "No" to Temptation - Say "Yes" to Jesus

The title of my blog today might shock you. But the message it seeks to convey is, I believe, central to the New Testament. What the Law of the Old Testament failed to do, Christ did for us. For us living under the new covenant, the issue is no longer striving against sin, but resting in Christ (see Hebrews 4). When we focus on Christ and what He has done for us, and as a result, who we are in Him, temptation loses it's appeal. What Christ offers us is so superior, to what the enemy tempts us with, it would be foolish to trade one for the other. This is the reality we must see, and not live in the deception of the tempter. Satan tempts us, like Esau, to sell out our "birthright" for "a bowl of beans" (Heb. 12:16).

Allow me to draw an illustration from Greek literature that I believe helps us see this truth. Homer's epic poem the "Odyssey" presents us with the story of Odysseus and the Sirens. In this story we see religion's approach to dealing with temptation.

Odysseus and his mighty sailors sailed the Aegean Sea. The sorceress Circe had warned Odysseus and his men to be wary of the beautiful but deadly Sirens. These half-woman, half-beast creatures would entice sailors with their beautiful music, compelling the men to sail closer to the island of the Sirens. Without warning, the Sirens would swoop down, kill and canabilize the sailors who had sailed too close to the island of the Sirens. The sorceress told Odysseus that he and his sailors should have their ears filled with wax to block the Sirens' songs from being heard. , Odysseus did ashe had been instructed he however, wanted to hear the Sirens' beautiful songs for himself. So he told his sailors to tie him up to the mast with strong ropes, and no matter what he might later say, do not let him free, so that when the Sirens began to sing, he could focus on the singing, but he could not jump ship and swim toward the enticing but deadly island. The sailors complied and bound their captain to the ship's mast. When the ship sailed near the island of the Sirens, music began to fill the air, and Odysseus focused on the beautiful songs and found himself enraptured. He began to fight the ropes and chains that bound him, longing to draw closer to the Sirens. He struggled with all his might to free himself, and begged the sailors to unloose him. He wanted to free himself, but he was trapped and held by the ropes. His battle against the temptation was bloody and ugly. Odysseus avoided death at the hands of the Sirens, but his arms and chest were scarred from the struggle.

On the other hand, we have from Greek mythology, the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Jason dealt with the Sirens in a different manner. He too sailed the Aegean, but unlike Odysseus, he refused the ear wax, the strong ropes, and all attempts to "bind" anyone to the mast of the ship. Instead, he brought the greatest musician in the land onto the ship, a Muse named Orpheus, and he ordered him to play his beautiful music. The music from Orpheus' lyre and harp was so much sweeter, so far better, so incredibly more beautiful than the songs of the Sirens that Jason and the Argonauts had no desire to listen to the Sirens' songs when their ship passed by the island of the Sirens. What kept Jason and the Argonauts on the ship was the greater pleasure and beauty of Orpheus' music.

The word "religion" derives from the Latin word "religio" which according to some Latin scholars means to "re-bind" or "to tie back." Religion is like the ropes binding Odysseus to the mast of the ship to keep him from his own destruction. Religion has given man the "don'ts" and provided a list of what is forbidden. We see this, of course, in the Law. Part of its purpose was to set boundaries to keep man from "shipwreck." This can be a good thing, like the ropes binding Odysseus. But it is not the best way. There are many who have avoided destruction, but are scarred and miserable from the struggle. I have known many of them. Not only does religion create miserable people, it creates self righteous people, for example, the Pharisees. Neither does it deal with the "desire" for the forbidden. The ropes saved Odysseus from the Sirens, but could not dispel the attractiveness of their song.

I believe the New Testament shows us that in focusing on Jesus and His kingdom - which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17) - temptations fade in comparison. This does not mean that temptations are not real, but we must see the deceptiveness of sin. The "deal" the enemy offers is seen for what it really is - "a promise that never delivers." Sin's pleasures are momentary, and never gives us what we had hoped it would. Not only does sin fail to "deliver" it destroys and brings harm to us and others.

Jesus, on the other hand, tells us that He came that we might experience the "abundant life." That is not to be understood in a worldly, carnal way. It is to be viewed in light of His promise that that those who "lose their life shall find it" (Matt. 10:39). Jesus shows us a better way and offers us a better deal. He keeps His Word and gives what He has promised. The music of Christ far surpasses the song of Satan and his tempters.

The Challenge of Islam

To most Westerners, Islam is the most misunderstood of the so-called three great religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. But of these three, Islam is the fastest growing. If current estimates are correct, by the year 2020 approximately 25 percent of the world’s population will be Muslim. Today, Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) covers roughly one billion people worldwide. The vast majority of which are neither oil rich nor of Arab descent.

The power that Islam exercises over the minds of its followers is derived from "stolen truth." As demonic as Islam is, due to its rejection of God’s revelation in His Son (John 3:36), its "roots" are found in Judaism and Christianity. In fact, it is the contention of Islam that it is the "fulfillment" of God’s revelation, which began with Abraham and came to its completion in Mohammed.

When Mohammed’s armies first confronted the early Byzantines, it was assumed that Islam was merely a variant form of Christianity, and in some ways they were not far from wrong; Islam, of course, accepts much of the Old and New Testaments. Islam adopts and adapts certain Christian doctrines (monotheism, the immortality of the soul, and final judgment), while rejecting others (original sin, the Incarnation and divinity of Christ, the sacraments). To the dismay of many Christians, Islam believes in the virgin birth of Jesus, his miracles and that He was a prophet, and even the Messiah. On the other hand, the Qur’an teaches that Jesus was only a created being: "Praise be to Allah who has never begotten a son; who has no partner in His Sovereignty" (Sura:17, Ayat:111). Elsewhere the Qur’an states:

"In blasphemy indeed are those that say that God is Christ the son of Mary. Say: ‘Who then has the least power against God, if His Will were to destroy Christ the Son of Mary, his mother, and
all – everyone there is on earth? For to God belongs the dominion of the heavens and earth, and all that is between. He creates what He pleases. For God has power over all things’" (Sura: 5, Ayat:17).

Interestingly, one of the great theologians of the early Church, St. John of Damascus (d. 749), was convinced that Islam was at its root not a new religion, but a variation on a Judeo-Christian form. St. John wrote the first Christian critique of Islam in his work entitled, The Fount of Knowledge. John closely related Islam to the heterodox Christian doctrine of Arianism. (After all, this doctrine, like Islam, took as its starting point a similar position stating that God could not become truly human without somehow compromising His divinity). In other words, John viewed Islam in the same manner in which we view Mormonism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I might add that Martin Luther had a similar evaluation of Islam.

Islam stole much of its building material from the "temple of God." Because of the strength of this building material, it has been able to survive almost 1,500 years, while lesser ideologies have pasted from the world stage. Remember, unlike Hinduism and Buddhism, Islam has its own "great commission" to bring the whole created order under submission to Allah.

In the 1930’s, when most people in the Western world had relegated Islam to the backward regions of the Middle East, one man saw it quite differently. The Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc,
an Englishman of French ancestry and member of Parliament, recalled Islam’s history of conquest and predicted in his book The Great Heresies, that it would one day challenge the West again. Remember, as late as 1683 its armies had attempted to conquer Europe, penetrating all the way to Vienna. Belloc believed that a great Islamic revival, even in the 20^th century, was a possibility.

Belloc admitted that the idea of a new Muslim challenge to the West seemed rather fantastic to most, but only because we were "blinded by the immediate past." He saw Islam’s great strength resting on its fervent religious faith, while the weakness of the West being it’s loss of religious faith and growing moral decadence. He believed that if Islam were to catch up technologically, it could severely threaten the Western world. The only hope, which he doubted was likely, was a spiritual awakening in the West.

Could it be that we are beginning to see the fulfillment of Belloc’s prophetic warning? Are we seeing the results of spiritual decline in the West, as Islam begins to exert its "muscle"?

Our hope for the future cannot rest upon our technology and military might. Our horses and chariots will not save us from the Islamic threat. We must arise from our "humanistic slumber" and find once again the "ancient path." It is only in returning to the God of the Bible that we will be able to meet the challenge of Islam. I believe it may very well be that our Sovereign Lord is using Islam to "press" the Western world into a spiritual reawakening.