TWO KINDS OF ENEMY
By W. G. Guy
This topic is very significant, yet it has not been addressed properly by the Christian community. In fact most traditional teaching dealing with your enemies has ignored the fact that there are TWO different kinds of enemies that can afflict us. Many recognize that we fight the enemy on two fronts – spiritual and physical. Most teaching deals with the spiritual kind of fight against an enemy. However, this leaves Christians vulnerable since they try to deal with the physical kind of enemy with pacifist or spiritual methods. The reason for this is the failure to recognize the TWO distinct kinds of physical enemies.
What you are about to read flies in the face of traditional Christian views which have developed out of religious piety and some which are not based on scripture. Therefore, please read the entire article and mediate on it, reading all referred Scriptures, then go before the Lord with this material and see what He says to your heart about this topic.
Generally, Christians have failed to recognize that enemies come in two kinds – MENIAL and MORTAL. As a result of ignorance, most Christians have been taught to apply the pacifist scriptural principles that are intended for our menial enemies but will mistakenly try to use the same principles on their mortal enemies. The result of this error will be death and destruction of those saints because the mortal enemies will not respond to the principles that were designed for dealing with menial enemies. At the same time, believers have been taught to completely ignore the scriptural principles that are to be applied to mortal enemies – where, “turn the other check” doesn’t work. Applying these ignored principles are the means that will preserve the saints in a mortal situation, because, as they put their trust in God and do what they are instructed to do, God will give them the victory. (Read the Biblical history of Israel dealing with her mortal enemies if you are not familiar with how to deal with such.)
Now that the subject has been introduced, let’s look more closely at the details and differences between the two types of enemies. First, the word enemy according to modern dictionaries means: one who is hostile; an opponent. There are also different applications of this word ranging from antagonism to military conquest and destruction. In this range we see the menial enemy and the mortal enemy described.
The word translated enemy as used in the Old Testament are: oyeb – (from a root that means hating), an adversary, a foe, an enemy; also tsarar – to cramp, afflict to oppress; and sharer – to be hostile, an enemy. As you can see, these Hebrew words give us the same range of menial to mortal as does our modern dictionary. The New Testament word is even broader in meaning: echhtros – which comes from the root meaning to hate and refers to an adversary, a foe, an enemy. This also includes the range from menial to mortal.
With such a range of application for the word enemy the church has ignorantly taught believers only how to deal with the non-lethal kind of enemy – the MENIAL ones. This leaves Christians unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with their MORTAL enemies who may soon be moving against the saints on a much larger scale then ever before.
The two categories of enemy, menial and mortal, will be broken down for clarification and identification. The menial enemy is your personal opponent, a low-level foe. This kind of enemy is motivated by hatred or dislike for you personally. However, his hatred of you is not to the level of wanting to kill you – he is NOT a mortal enemy. He is simply “a sore that will not go away”; “a fly in the ointment”; he is a constant problem or harassment to you. He will oppose you and oppress you when he can. He is more of an annoyance than a physical threat to you; he is a social and psychological pest.
However, the mortal enemy simply wants to kill you. There is nothing personal between you and him except that he wants you eliminated for what ever reasons he has or has been given by his superiors. Your mortal enemy could be an invading army bent on conquering; he could be a terrorist or jihadist; he could be a criminal, a rapist or an assassin. Your mortal enemy could even be a government that has determined that you are not fit to live and plans to eliminate you as exemplified by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the Islamists, and possibly a future New World government under an Antichrist that will not tolerate Christians.
Let’s focus now on the menial enemy. This is very important because Christians have a responsibility before God to deal properly with their menial enemies. This is where the typical pacifist principles apply.
Matthew 5:43-44 – Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Here Jesus gives us the description of a menial enemy and our responsibility to that kind of foe. We know he is not referring to a mortal enemy because Jesus refers to an ongoing process or continuing set of circumstances. A mortal enemy will not allow an on-going process unless it involves torture designed to destroy the soul (your will and mind) by physical affliction that could kill the body. A mortal enemy simply wants to hunt you down and kill you; you have no opportunity to respond or react, that is, unless you were properly prepared to defend yourself.
Romans 12:20-21 – Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Here we have a responsibility that God has given Christians in how they are to relate to their MENIAL enemy. The key to understand our responsibility is in the term relationship. We find that we have a relationship with our menial enemies. In general, we have no relationship with our mortal enemies. If we have a relationship, then we have a God given responsibility.
Our relationship with others fits into one of three categories: first is a friend, a person with whom we have a positive relationship. The second is an acquaintance, a person with who we have a neutral relationship. The third is the foe, an adversary or opponent, a person with whom we have a negative relationship.
Our responsibilities to each of these categories of relationships is to enhance the positive so it can reproduce and multiply; turn the neutral into a positive, (evangelize as opportunity avails), by means of your life and testimony; turn the negative into a positive by means of your life and testimony and by doing what is recorded in Romans 12:20 above; by showing love in return for his hateful opposition.
When you properly fulfill your responsibility to your menial enemies, then God blesses you in return. We even find reference to this in the Psalms:
Psalm 23:5 – Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Enemies, as used in Psalm 23 above, refer to the menial, not the mortal. You don’t sit down and eat in front of a mortal enemy, he will take advantage of the situation to kill you. However, to sit down and dine in the presence of a menial enemy is to show that you have pleasure and enjoyment, provision and protection in spite of his opposition, harassment, etc. Such action is intended to provoke him to seek why you are blessed of God that he may reconsider his opposing you and join with you instead, thereby making God his shepherd also.
In addition, we need to learn how to use discernment, our IFF equipment. For many years our military aircraft, tanks and ships have been equipped with IFF equipment. IFF means Identify Friend of Foe. The military has a need to recognize who are friends and who are enemies as they approach one another because it is not always easy to tell.
Sometimes we have acquaintances who we view as friendly but they are actually subtle foe’s. These are those who “stab you in the back” when they get an opportunity. God has given us spiritual gifts to use as IFF equipment in such matters; the gift of discerning spirits (1 Corinthians 12:20) aids us in this matter. This person is a foe, a menial enemy, not a mortal one. However, we also need to use this gift of discernment to recognize or sense the approach of a mortal enemy.
The passive approach is proper in dealing with a menial enemy. Endurance, patience, acts of kindness (the Fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23) and love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) is how you deal with the menial enemy. In so doing you have a chance to turn him around from being a foe to a friend. This is possible because you already have some kind of relationship with him. You therefore, have an opportunity, and an obligation in the Lord, to win him over, to convert him to be a friend rather than a foe. This is done by how you treat him and relate to his treatment of you. You can influence that relationship to the positive rather than to allow it to continue on in the negative, by not repaying evil for evil. This is what scripture tells us to do – but again, this applies to menial enemies, not mortal ones.
Romans 12:17-21 – Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Such is not the case in dealing with a mortal enemy. Mortal enemies have to be fought against and destroyed as told over and over again on the Old Testament. This is clearly shown when Elijah, a prophet and servant of God killed 400 prophets of Baal who were destroying God people with their false worship and idolatry. Similar action is foretold to occur in the New Testament, particularly at the end of this age. Jesus is going to have us (or someone) kill His enemies:
Luke 19:27 – But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Have you ever heard anyone in a Bible believing church preaching about killing mortal enemies? Yet scripture tells us it is going to happen. The very last days will be filled with mortal enemies, and God’s servants will have to deal with them using deadly force. Consider what the two witnesses in the Book of Revelations are to do:
Revelation 11:5 – And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Here we read about the ministry of the two witnesses, prophets of God, of whom it is said their enemies “must in this manner be killed”.
As stated previously, a false sense of superficial and religious piety encourages Christians to shun weapons of any kind. Yet Jesus instructed His disciples to arm themselves and be prepared to defend themselves after He returned to heaven:
Luke 22:36 – Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Jesus was telling His disciples that things were going to be different after He left and that they would have to also use and rely on natural things that God would use and bless.
Does it not sound strange for Jesus to tell his servants to buy weapons. You sure don’t hear this preached in church! For what purpose were they to carry weapons? Certainly they are not used as an evangelistic tool for propagating the gospel message. No, they are used for self-defense against mortal enemies. It seems that this message was lost to the church early on, but was briefly regained in latter history; …remember the crusades? Then, because of the bitterness of war and bloodshed, this message of being armed was lost again due to recent religious piety and passivism.
Luke 22:38 – And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, “It is enough”.
It seems strange that Jesus instructed them to buy swords when they already had two in their possession. Did He not know they had two swords? Of course He did. After all, he traveled about with these guys for three years and knew everything about them; so why the command to sell personal possessions to buy weapons? This was spoken for the sake of those who would be living since that time, especially in these last days, those of us who read His words as recorded here.
The sword of Jesus’ day was the most powerful weapon available and could be carried semi concealed in a belt (girdle). It would be the equivalent to carrying a .44 magnum or a so-called assault rifle today. Are you likely to fall pry to a mortal enemy if you are carrying such a weapon? Not unless you were ambushed and went about not being alert as Jesus instructed us:
Luke 21:36 – Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Are you surprised that Jesus told His ministers and servants to arm themselves? This was so important that they were even told to sell their clothes in order to buy a weapon. (Can you imagine a time when a weapon would be more important than clothing?) They were not to be without a weapon!
When they produced two swords, Jesus said it was sufficient; they were to go out as a ministry, not an army armed to the teeth. The purpose of being armed is for self defense. The mere presence of a weapon in a person’s possession is a significant deterrent to make a mortal criminal or enemy reconsider his target.
(NOTE: Have you recognized the great effort being put forth by the liberal arm of our media and government to disarm the American citizens. They have to take our guns before they can move us into the next phase of socialist slavery of the New World Order. They fear our guns and must get them out of our hands. They believe Americans will fight for their freedoms once they catch on to what is going on behind the scenes. Our founding fathers knew that corruption will eventually become prevalent in our government so they incorporated the 2nd Amendment to provide for such a scenario. This is why the 2nd Amendment has been increasingly under attack by the liberal-socialist element in this country. The British, Canadians and Australians have already been disarmed by their governments and America is next on the list.)
Does this mean that we, Christians, may actually have to kill some one? No! It means that that we Christians may have to kill a MORTAL ENEMY! Let’s summarize this topic. You certainly don’t use a weapon on a menial enemy; you use love instead. However, a mortal enemy posses an entirely different set of circumstances; one in which it is either you or him that lives.
Christians are called to be the light of the world; God’s visible presence living in and through His saints. One way that this is manifested is when we show love to our menial enemies. On the other hand, your mortal enemy wants to put that light out by eliminating it, such is the plan of Satan – an enemy that only Jesus will eliminate. God’s will is for the light (Christians) to dispel the darkness.
If our mortal enemies kill all the saints, then the spiritual light of life is gone from the earth. This may possibly occur yet in the future, but we are not supposed to just lay down and let it happen. This is why Jesus wants us to defend ourselves so the light can continue to shine. Don’t allow pious religious tradition disarm you or compel you to dumb passivism in the face of mortal threats. That is clearly not God’s will as revealed in scripture.
How would you approach the following issue? Suppose a mortal enemy, like a radical Muslim jihadist, came to your house to kill you and your family. Would you try to use the traditional, non-violent, non-armed passive approach? Would you love them? You couldn’t because you’d be dead; they don’t want any type of relationship with you – they want you dead!
Would you stop and pray about it? No time for that now; the time for prayer was long before the enemy arrived! (Yes, you mite try to whisper a “quickie” to God under your breath, but this is after the fact.) This is not the time to become spiritual, if it was Jesus would have given other instructions to His disciples rather than telling them to be prepared by arming themselves.
If you took the passive approach, you and your family would be dead and the darkness of the jihadist would continue to spread. This happened to both Christians and Jews in Germany during WWII. Had they been armed, prepared and resisted, many would not have died and the enemy may have been stopped or his efforts greatly reduced. Not only that, but their plight would have rallied support from elsewhere around the world to come to their aid much quicker.
So the enemy is forcing his way into your home to kill you and your children; who is going to die? Ask yourself this question: Who is better off left alive – you or the enemy? If the enemy lives, he will move on to kill others; continuing to put out the light. If you live, you go on to be a positive influence for Christ having eliminated a portion that is representative of the darkness. Obviously it is better for them to be killed by you then for you and your family to be killed by them.
What all this means is that you need to be prepared to use deadly force on a mortal enemy; and don’t have any religious reservations about doing so! Traditional reservations originated from the preaching of one of the Ten Commandments; number 6 which says “thou shalt not kill”. However, in the original language, this command says “thou shalt not murder”, which refers to a premeditated determination to take a life – a homicide. Death resulting from war or self defense is not murder and thus is not a violation of this commandment. This may go against what you have been led to believe, but you must let the Word of God, rightly divided, not traditionally divided, be your rule. Remember, God ordered Israel to kill the enemy; if fact, at times, God did it for them as with Jehoshaph.
This article may be alarming and bizarre to you, but so are the days we are living in; and they are getting worse quickly. You need to know the truth and be in a state of readiness should the need arise. It is likely that nobody else will tell you such things as you just read, so please heed the warning.
Those who have firearms, or who need to sell something in order to purchase one, must also make sure they take proper training in their use, care and safety. Everyone in the family should be trained. An un-trained person with a firearm possess a considerable danger to everyone including himself.
In addition, you must be willing to use deadly force when needed, hoping and praying that such will never be necessary. This means you must have a mindset to defend your family, a predisposition or mental preparedness to act without hesitation; but you must be sure you are justified in using deadly force – you must be in fear of your life or the life of another in order to act without hesitation. Hesitation with a mortal enemy can be fatal. Don’t even think about negotiating – the mortal enemy won’t.
Your main preparation is in the Word of God, and in having your faith in God built up so you act on His Word; obey His command, and being faithful to Him. In so doing you may be able to avoid encounters with mortal enemies. Do not be entirely dependent on your physical weapons; but do not exclude them either. Their presence is quite a deterrent to being targeted. It was Jesus who said to sell your garment and buy a weapon.
Remember there are two kinds of enemies; each requiring a different response from you.
- LOVE YOUR MENIAL ENEMY
- DEFEND YOURSELF FROM YOUR MORTAL ENEMY
DON’T GIVE UP YOUR GUNS!
DON’T STOP PRAYING!
