Fighting Friendly Fire

Have you come under attack lately from someone who should be on your side?

What are you supposed to do when someone who shows as a friendly on your IFF starts blasting away at you? It can happen in all walks of life, whether it's your ministry coming under attack from another, a spouse stabbing you in the back with hurtful words, or a co-worker cutting you down to lift themselves up.

Fortunately, Fundamentalists have had decades to develop responses to these situations, and they've really honed a few techniques to a fighting edge, especially when applied at the ministry level. In situations where we are criticized or attacked by someone else who claims to be a blood-bought follower of the Lamb, many Fundamentalists set a blazing example of technique that leads to triumph. Perhaps you who were inclined to patiently endure the suffering for the cause of Christ can learn something from the Fundamentalist reactions I've observed and noted lately.

So without further ado (doesn't it sound very Shakespearean and educated to use that word?), here is the classic, time-honored, tried and true Fundamentalist approach to dealing with friendly fire.

1. Return fire! After all, isn't friendly fire as much fire as enemy fire? So when someone attacks us, does it really matter all that much what they say their motives are, whether there's something to what they say, or whether they've usually agreed with you in the past? If you're on the Lord's side, and they're criticizing you, then that makes it pretty apparent which side they're on, doesn't it? The moment their first round lands near your position, you'd better be whirling to blast at them. All this talk of longsuffering and patient continuance in well-doing might be fine for lily-livered New Evangelicals, but Fundamentalists are men of action. No matter what flag someone is flying, you can't let them do any more damage to you and your troops by getting off additional shots before you return fire. If it helps, you can psyche yourself up for your counterattack by thinking, "If they thought fighting Satan was bad, wait'll they get a dose of the firepower from somebody filled with the Spirit!"

2. Involve allies immediately. The moment you get wind of a possible dispute or disagreement, make sure you're lining up all the allies you can. A good way to do this is to send a mailing to every person or preacher you know explaining things from your side and taking those counter-attacking shots. Assessing your opponent's position yourself rather than letting him speak for himself can be a huge help in recruiting people to your side. (A subtle way to do this is to use lots of carefully-selected quotes involving many of those little elliptical dots.) At all costs, you should avoid going in person and in private to speak to the other person humbly about the disagreement between you. You've only got one real ally when you do that, and clearly, you want the numbers on your side if there's going to be a fight. That great spiritual leader Napolean Bonaparte informed us that God fights on the side with the better artillery, and fortunately, Fundamentalists have paid a great deal of heed to the attitude and techniques of that wise man.

2. Remember that the cause of Christ isn't as important as making sure everyone knows you're right on this issue. It's only okay for young people to go to college at an institution that agrees to the fourth decimal place with your understanding of the preservation of Scripture. Whatever the issue of contention is, that completely overshadows any other truth people may obtain somewhere else. A sense of perspective is not your friend here. Reframe your thinking and speaking so that whoever fired on you is now the enemy, not merely an ally with a nit to pick, a disagreement over strategy or tactics, or a bit of careless speech. Feel free to extrapolate wildly about what lies at the bottom of the slippery slope they're plunging down like an out-of-control X-Gamer. Make sure you mix their assumptions with yours when you address the issue, so it looks like they're denying the deity of Christ or the inspiration of Scripture, when really the issue started out over whether wine in Scripture is always alcoholic or only sometimes alcoholic. The bigger the doctrine you can tie your position to, the more likely it is that you can force them to back down.


3. Rather than giving a Biblical defense for why what you are doing is right, instead remember that the best defense is a good offense. When they cite Scripture to support what they are saying or to attack your position, feel free to ignore it - after all, even Satan can quote Scripture for his purposes, and since this person is clearly siding with Satan on that issue, they probably are too. It's not necessary to interact with their Scripture as long as you've got some you can quote for your side or, better yet, throw like exploding javelins of truth at them.

4. Dedicate all the attention and resources to this that you can. This matter of which college the preachers for your summer camp come from is critically important and must be dealt with post-haste. How can you worry about focusing on evangelism and edification if someone is sniping at you from behind your own lines? Make sure you turn and give them your full attention. I mean, it's not like Satan is going to take advantage of you turning your back on him for a little while. He's a gentleman in these conflicts, and he'll be glad to call a little truce while you straighten out that erring brother.


Whatever you do, don't actually consult the Scriptures or go to your brother and pray humbly for God to work in and through both of you. Don't assume that he's a reasonably intelligent Christian, indwelt by the Spirit of God, who is trying to serve Jesus Christ to the best of his understanding, just like you are. How can you win the battle against him if you're both on the same side?

What other highly-effective tactics have you seen for dealing with friendly fire? Any good techniques that we Fundamentalists still need to integrate on a larger scale?