A Man's Enemies
Cled E. Wallace
I do not want any enemies. I will not deliberately and with malice aforethought make any. It is the craving of my heart to "follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord." (Heb. 12:14) Nevertheless, a man's enemies can be a standing monument to his power and integrity. It was so with Christ and it was so with Paul. Theodore Roosevelt said a man who has no enemies is a man who does nothing. Christ said: "A man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matt. 10:35)
If I must have a few enemies, or many, here are the kinds I want: I want to make them "for the truth of the gospel." I want them to be among men who have winced from the sharp point of the sword of the Spirit. There are both in and out of the church bold advocates of false doctrine. Some of them are unscrupulous. Chattering enthusiasts threaten to eclipse the present glory of the church and the power of the gospel with theories. The gospel must fit the mold of their theories or they will have none of it. If I must make a few enemies, I want them to be false teachers, church destroyers, and their sympathizers and apologists. And ff they must be my enemies, I want them to be so because I have told them the truth; and on the principles involved I will ask them no quarter, nor will I offer them any. Christ did not; neither did Paul.
TRUTH MAGAZINE XIV: 9, p. 7
January 8, 1970
