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by Charlie Wolcott

Which battles are worth fighting? Which ones need to be avoided? Many of us growing up have been told we need to pick and choose our battles wisely. Which points of belief are held so strongly that you would fight to the death to retain? Which points of belief require such conviction that you will not budge from them no matter what it costs you?

Many people will not agree with what I have to share here and for various reasons. Many might agree in ideal, but are not willing to take action regarding it. As Christians, we are called to go to a hill and to fight for the Kingdom and the Glory of God. Our battles are not fought with physical weapons but with spiritual weapons, and our foes are not physical foes but spiritual foes, ideas, and authorities. Some of you reading this are warriors for Christ; some of you do not ally yourself with Christ. But we are all on this battlefield. The question is who are we fighting for, who are we fighting against, and what are we fighting for.

The last 2 ½ years, I have studied the Biblical worldview with extreme detail, and God has been raising me to be a defender of the faith. There are things where I need to stand my ground and not budge from my position. There are hills I need to have the courage to die on so that hill can be retained for the glory of God. What are these hills?

The first one that I fight for primarily is for the authority of Scripture. God put Scripture in the highest place of authority, even above his name according to Psalm 138:2. To have a proper understanding of the world around us, scientifically, historically, morally, socially, etc., we need to see it the way God sees it, and the way God sees it is revealed in Scripture.

When I come across someone who claims to be a Christian, I look to see if the Bible is their source of authority. Many times, it isn’t. The origins “debate” has been the focal point of my studies, and it is a critical point to understand because that is the framework and foundation for everything else in the Bible. I believe in a natural, plain reading of Genesis is the proper way to read it, which is how the young earth creationists read it. But many others do not read Genesis that way. Is that a battle worth fighting? Is that a hill worth dying on? 6 days or millions of years?

Before I give my answer, let me expound for a minute. I have heard numerous people who hold to an old earth position, regardless of the variation of it they have, tell me that “origins does not matter. Only the cross matters. It is only young earth creationists that make an issue of Genesis.” Is that really so? The other day I heard a theistic evolutionist claim this, but what do I see him do? Every time a young earth creationist say something regarding Genesis, he gets in there and says, “There are other ways to look at it.” Is that a secondary issue to him? Absolutely not. It is primary for him, because he keeps making an issue of keeping confusion in the discussion. This is for anyone. If origins did not matter to these people, they would not have issues with one position being presented. Instead, however, they have major issues with that one side being presented. Why? Because their position is shown to be wrong. And here is where it boils down to: is the Bible their primary source of authority or not? It does not take me long to figure out which position they hold: above Scripture, equal to Scripture, or below Scripture.

Is the origins issue a hill worth dying on? It depends on the situation. I have dealt with old earth creationists where I can agree to disagree on that point, because while I believe they are wrong on the origins issue, they overall hold the Bible in the proper authority where it belongs. They are just wrong on that one point. It is the ones where I see the authority and integrity of Scripture being challenged is when I will fight. Why? Because those who are using that position are fighting against me and the God whom I serve. I may be little more than a dog in God’s Kingdom, but when my master is being threatened, I growl and I will bark.

There is something else we must also be watchful for: the Mt. McGuffin. A McGuffin is a literary device in a story where a person or object is put into the story but has absolutely no point or purpose to the story or the character’s arc other than to bring the characters together. An example of this is in Mission Impossible (the first one). The NOC List actually had nothing to do with the plot, but was just a tool/device to bring all the characters together.

In a spiritual sense, Mt. McGuffin is a battlefield that draws us together but has nothing to do with the overall vision of our Commander-in-Chief. We must be watchful of these hills. Our spiritual enemy, Satan, will strive to get us over to that hill and engage him there. However, this battlefield does nothing to help us achieve God’s will in our lives, nor does losing it mean anything to the enemy. Satan will readily use up his resources if he can get us to fight a meaningless battle, taking us out from the position we need to stand on, and getting us to fight for a hill that actually does not help us.

Many church battles are lost because of Mt. McGuffins. Eric Ludy has a spectacular sermon called “Christophany” where he deals with seven such issues: Creation, End Times, Theology, Method of Salvation, the Sabbath, Behavior, and even Gifts of the Spirit. Many Christians have fought and “died” on these hills and all it did was create in-fighting and distractions. Where these battles need to be fought are in context of Christ being glorified and the center of the attention. When I fight for Creation, I need to fight because the authority of God’s Word is being threatened and Christ is being attacked as a result. But if I do not direct the battle from Creation to Christ, I can often miss the point of fighting it.

Upon which hills are you so strongly convinced that you will fight and die, if necessary, for that point? Are we fighting for God or are we fighting just to prove ourselves right? Are we picking and choosing our battles wisely? Where God is the central focus? Are we fighting the spiritual powers that are causing the deception, or the people blinded to the forces of darkness and of this world? Or are we even fighting at all? Know when to fight, know when not to fight, but know we are in a battle one way or the other. Which side are you on? And why are you on that side?

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