Entering the Lion’s Den

Question, if you wanted to learn what a lion eats, would you go into the the lion’s den to watch it happen, or study them from afar?

Seems like an odd question, for it would be ludicrous to put yourself into such danger, knowing that when a carnivorous beast goes into a feeding frenzy, the best thing to do is stay away. Surely if we sat with the lion to watch, we may very well end up as an extra snack for meal time.

Yet in some certain respects, we do just that. People think the best way to defeat sin is by going to the place where the temptation is strongest, and if we come out unscathed, then we must have experienced great victory. A man prone to alcoholism enters a pub to see if he can withstand the temptation. The pornography addict walks into an adult bookstore. Is any of this wise? Of course not. The Bible tells us regularly to avoid temptation, nay, flee temptation. Remove any avenues for temptation from your midst.

This has so many applications they would be hard to enumerate them all, but I would like to focus on one particular instance. I begin by asking if it is wise to enter into a stronghold of Satan? In various college missions classes, and even church evangelism classes we take time to teach our people about the beliefs of other religions, show where their weaknesses are to demonstrate in-roads for sharing the gospel with their followers. I firmly support this endeavor, but there is one teaching method for which I strongly question; the visit to their worship services.

It seems in our American view we tend to downplay the spiritual war taking place all around us. And so in our curiosity and even fascination with things different from us, we set out to visit houses of worship for false gods to “learn about them so we can understand them better.” I wonder at the wisdom of this idea because in it we downplay the spiritual battle taking place. We do not consider the darkness that covers over these houses of worship. And too often we are like soldiers running to battle without our weapons or armor. We are like that tasty after dinner snack walking into the lions den.

The Bible does tell us to reach out to the nations, but entering into their prayer services is not the best way. Yes we can and should learn about other faith systems to better understand their worldview, but this does not require participating by observation of their worship. By doing so we are in essence giving credibility to belief in their gods.

Here is the finest example of this disconnect we make. I would be shocked to hear of a Christian desiring to observe a satanic worship service such as Wicca, for clearly this is of the enemy. But then we have no problem attending a Muslim prayer service as “observers.” I admittedly have not yet been able to make a strong argument against this problem, but hopefully it will get people thinking.

And if you should be a part of a group preparing to go, then I implore you to do two things. First, pray and ask God for wisdom before going whether you should even go or if there are other, better ways to learn about the beliefs of that particular faith group. And second, if you do decide to still attend, then pray before, during, and even after the visit, for you are entering enemy lines.