Beware the Enemy of Your Enemy

It has been said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." This quote, first written by Hindu scholar Kautiluya in the 4th Century BCE, has been recycled by minds throughout the centuries. Generals, kings, and politicians have even used this popular echo to make important decisions, and it's easy to see why.

It rolls nicely off the tongue; as a writer I appreciate pretty words. The meaning of these words also seems simple and sage. To its credit, this phrase has proven true on many occasions.

But Christians should be particularly cautious regarding this, because for us, it is not always true. For us, more often than not, the enemy of our enemy is just another enemy.

How so?

Well, Christians worship a Risen God in a fallen world, and this puts us in an extremely unique situation. Revelation describes Christ returning to conquer earth, but until then, we are in enemy territory with Satan's minions running rampant.

These minions are called by many names: communists, globalists, political Islamists, radical Hindus, militant atheists, militant democrats, etc, etc, and still more etc, but the point is not their title. The point is that they exist, and in the course of their existence, they can and often do fight with each other.

Their disagreements can seem like opportunity to the Christian, but again, caution is advised.

I'll use two examples.

Recently, pride culture has encouraged the open and flagrant celebration of sexual orientations in public schools. Christians are notably against this; so are Muslims. While this seems to be an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation, the Christian must beware. Islam is as different from Christianity as night is from day. Yes, they have some similar views regarding family and child rearing. Yes, Muslims are against open displays of homosexuality. Yes, Muslims can be very vocal at school boards and help push back against rainbow overreach, but at the end of the day, their doctrine is their doctrine. Mohammed is Mohammed. Sharia Law is still Sharia Law, and no amount of interfaith dialogue is going to change this.

Similar can be said of the Black Lives Matter and Free Palestine movements. Certainly, Christians agree that all lives matter, and no one likes what is going on in Palestine. Christians value all life, including an enemy's life. But while these groups outwardly champion the cause of human life, they have communist revolution lurking at their heart, and communism was built on the dead bodies of the faithful.

Now don’t get me wrong, we should engage the enemy. We must spread the gospel and win souls for our God, but these engagements must occur under guarded circumstances, and whatever alliances we forge with the enemy must be entered rarely and with extreme caution. These alliances also must NEVER be mistaken for friendships; at best, they are "truces,” and the definition of a truce is a temporary and mutually agreed upon end to hostilities between two groups to accomplish a common goal against a bigger threat.

The second that goal is accomplished, the truce ends.

For Christians, the enemy of our enemy can be useful, the enemy of our enemy can be respected, and the enemy of our enemy must be engaged, but the enemy of our enemy is NEVER automatically our friend, and it’s vital we remember that when dealing with them.