Articles
FAMILIES: Resisting Satan’s Attacks
The following article (and for the next several weeks) was published in the May 2016 issue of
Gospel Advocate, written by Ben Hayes, pulpit minister for the Highland Park church of Christ
in Muscle Shoals, AL. Printed with permission, Gospel Advocate and Ben Hayes.
(This first article was printed in the June 5 bulletin and is being re-printed for the purpose of
creating continuity with the remaining articles. PM)
FAMILIES: Resisting Satan’s Attacks
“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
I’ve often heard variants of this quotation. I believe it would also be true to say, “As the family
goes, so goes the church.” The family and thus the church are under attack today. While there
has never been a time the family has not been under attack, the devil seems to employ new
tactics to draw Christians away from God with each generation. (Bro. Hayes proceeds to list
what he believes is seven of the top problems faced by families in the church today and ways to
combat them.)
ASSIMILATION
Assimilation occurs when a person or group adopts the actions or language of another
person or group. It seems more and more Christians are beginning to adopt the lifestyles of the
people who do not call Jesus their Lord. Many families worry more about what their neighbors
or Facebook friends will think than what God thinks. Like the children of Israel wanting a king
so they could be like the other nations, we are not comfortable with God being the King of our
lives. Keeping up with the Joneses has become more important because that is what people see.
Through inspiration we are reminded about the need to stand out in the world. James
reminds us, “Friendship with the world is hostility toward God” (James 4:4). Peter pointed out,
as obedient children, we must not “be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in
ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1
Peter 1:14-15). Paul didn’t shy away from this topic either: “And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of
God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
