In this thought-provoking episode, the discussion opens with an intriguing question: would you make a treaty with the devil? Drawing on historical lessons from Winston Churchill and World War II, we explore the dangerous compromises made by nations desiring peace at any cost. These lessons are not only historical but deeply personal, posing questions about the compromises we make in our own lives out of fear, weariness, or convenience.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
Would you make a treaty with the devil? It’s a silly question, isn’t it? You would never do anything like that. That would be stupid. And yet, nations do it all the time. I was struck recently. I’ve been rereading Winston Churchill’s The Gathering Storm. It’s his history of World War II, where he talked about all the things that led up to and resulted in the Second World War. And I was struck at how much the nations risked on treaties that they trusted to prevent another terrible world war. Churchill, in his book, said that there has never been a war in history more preventable than the Second World War. And when you understand the destruction of life, property, economic, I mean, it’s just incredible to think about it and to think that no war in history was more preventable, that that war actually could have been stopped. Some people could be accused of using hindsight in making a statement like that, but Churchill saw it coming. He said so to anyone that would listen. And for him, it wasn’t hindsight. He knew it. The League of Nations was a great covenant of nations who banded together to try to prevent ever again having to fight a war like the Great First World War. They relied on a series of treaties and agreements. You know, there were treaties and sub-treaties. There were agreements and sub-agreements, all to limit arms, prohibit aggression. They specified how many battleships you could have, what size battleships they could be, whether they could be an air force, how big an army Germany could have, whether Germany could have conscripts or not. It had more treaties, just a whole long line of agreements and treaties. In some of these treaties, and with Hitler in particular, They made a pact with the devil. Now, we would argue that no one would ever knowingly make a deal with the devil because he is a known liar. He is a sworn adversary. The only reason he would ever make a deal with you is to do you harm. You wouldn’t believe him. You know he is your enemy. No way. His only treaty with you would be to gain an advantage over you, to lull you into making a mistake, and to eventually do you in. And the parallel between what I just said and the deals that were cut with Hitler, who was in human form a devil, it’s hard to miss. So why did the great powers do it? It isn’t that they should have been completely blinded to it. They should have known what they were dealing with. What were the things that drove the great powers to make such a terrible mistake? We know why Germany agreed to the Armistice Treaty. They wanted to avoid the kind of destruction that eventually came down around their ears at the end of World War II. They were going down. But why did the Allies agree to the Armistice? They did it to end the fighting and to stop the bleeding. And I use the term bleeding literally. Between two nations alone, Britain and France, they suffered 8 million casualties, of which over 2 million were dead. And these were the flower of their youth. Young men, what, 17, 18, 19, 20, up to the 25, maybe some of the officers on up toward 30. These were the flower of their youth. Two million dead and six million more wounded. Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Russia suffered nearly 13 million casualties, of which over four and a half million of them were killed. All the great powers, including the United States, suffered 25 million casualties, nearly 7 million dead, and that doesn’t include the losses that were by the rest of the world. Even Japan had 250 people killed in World War I. So they entered into treaties with Germany. They created the League of Nations and they held their breath. Men like Winston Churchill, sadly only a few men like him, recognized the danger. Why would no one listen to them? Why did they continue to trust treaties with the devil? for the simplest of reasons. They were tired. They were worn down by war, and they were deathly afraid of another war. Their economies were in a shambles. They had lost millions of their best young men. They wanted peace at almost any price. And so they grasped at the tenders of peace and hoped for the best. They got the worst. And they got it because they weren’t willing to pay the price of peace. Now, why am I telling you all this? I’m telling you all this to underline what fools we can be, even at the highest levels of government, and to consider what you and I can learn from their experiences. Because while we would never make an outright deal with the devil, We are all too willing to make compromises with him, and for the same reasons that Britain and France made a deal with Hitler. We are tired. We are afraid. And we don’t want to have to pay the cost of continuing liberty. I think it’s fair to say that sometimes we find ourselves worn down by the world. You know, Jesus did not tell us it was going to be a bed of roses. He said, you’ll find this in Matthew 7, verse 13, Enter in at the straight, the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go that way. Now, that’s not hard to figure, is it? It’s not as though it’s easy, that there’s nothing to it. He says it’s narrow. You may not find it if you’ve got to be careful. Straight is the gate. Narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Then he says this, and it seems to be germane. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now, you would never cut a deal with the devil, right? but you might well make a deal with one of his minions and not even realize it. Peter, in his epistle, second epistle actually, chapter 2, talks about these false prophets that Jesus was talking about, and he draws an interesting distinction that’s worth you and I giving some thought to. He said, “…there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.” who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Now, did you notice this, that he makes a little shift in terms here between false prophets in the Old Testament and false teachers in the New? It isn’t exactly that these false prophets are coming along telling us some prophecy for the future that’s false. What they are teaching is not true. And they’re bringing in damnable heresies. Now, heresy is a bad word, but in Greek it really isn’t that big a deal. All it means is sect. They’re bringing in damnable sectarianism, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. So we’ve got to consider this, not just a handful of people, but a whole bunch of people are going to be following after false teachers who have privately or alongside of brought in these ideas and have got a following for themselves. And he then says, through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingers not and their damnation slumbers not. A few years ago, I wrote a book, which was never published. They looked at it, but by the time I finished writing my book, it was out of date. I was 10 years in the process. But what I did, I got on the mailing list of all the television evangelists out there I could possibly find, and some radio evangelists, too. What I wanted to evaluate was how they raised their money and what their fundraising methods said about their theology, how they looked at God, how they looked at you, and what they were in general. And I collected all these things. I got on their mailing lists. And so month by month, I get these letters coming in from these people raising money. Now, you can do the same exercise if you’d like to do so. And you can see for yourself a clear illustration of those who are ethical in their fundraising. who basically come to you and say, this is the work we are doing. We ask for you to help us do this work. Because after all, I mean, a program like this one is actually paid for by our listeners. We wait, you know, people have to send us money or we’d be off the air. But you will find many of them who will frankly tell you that and ask for your support. That’s okay. But then you’ll also get a lot of letters from these people saying, who are, well, there’s no other word for it. They’re trying to make merchandise of you. Their whole objective is to raise money, and they are trapped. I think many of them, when they started out, were very sincere in what they were doing. They believed in what they were doing. The problem is they got locked into this extremely expensive medium, television, and having been locked into it, now they’ve got to pay for it. And frankly, folks, it isn’t easy to pay for television production and television time. And so some of the fundraising methods that are used by some of these people are, well, to put it mildly, unethical. So covetousness leads them to use feigned words. In other words, their fundraising letters are simply not honest letters. And you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to spot it. All you’ve got to do is just realize people like that are out there, sit down and read their letters, look at their little gimmicks, and say, what are they doing? Why are they doing it? And what does this mean? And you won’t have any trouble noticing the difference. God says their judgment now of a long time lingers not, their damnation slumbers not. Now, it’s a hard saying, but Peter is as clear as anybody could possibly be. There are going to be false teachers among you, and a whole bunch of people are going to follow them. Now, why would anyone listen to a false prophet or a false teacher? Well, sometimes it’s because he’s tired. Sometimes it’s because he’s afraid. And sometimes it’s because he doesn’t want to pay the cost connected with the kingdom of God. And there is a cost. Stay with me. When I come back after this short message, we’ll talk further about this important issue.
SPEAKER 02 :
There is danger out there. There are pitfalls everywhere. So what do you do? Stay indoors and play it safe or stick your neck out and take a chance? Write for a free CD titled Stick Your Neck Out. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this station.
SPEAKER 03 :
That is free. There’s no obligation. So be sure and grab a pencil and a piece of paper in case you didn’t get the address. We’ll give it to you again before the program is over. Now, I know that salvation is a gift of God, that it’s by grace, it’s not of works, there’s nothing we can do. But that doesn’t say that there’s not a cost. In fact, Jesus makes it very, very clear that not merely salvation, but just being his disciple has a cost. It’s in Luke 14, verse 25. Luke tells us there were great multitudes following Jesus, and he turned around and said to them, if any man comes to me, And hates not his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Yes, and his own life also. He cannot be my disciple. Now, that’s an incredible thing to say. But he’s basically telling you this, it’s going to cost you everything you have or you can. You’ve got to be willing. You’ve got to be ready. And he says, whoever does not bear his cross, whatever his burden is, and come after me, you can’t even start on the road. You can’t be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it? Lest happily, after he’s laid the foundation and can’t finish it, everybody begins to mock him, saying, Look at this guy. He started to build something he couldn’t finish. And then in verse 33, Jesus says this, So likewise, whoever he be of you, that forsakes not all that he has. He cannot be my disciple. We’re not talking about finishing up something. We’re talking about just being on the road. Salt is good, Jesus said, but if the salt has lost its savor, it’s worthless. It’s not fit for the land or the dunghill, men, throw it out. If you have ears to hear, you had better listen. Now, here’s the thing. That If we are tired, if we are afraid, and if we’re just not willing to pay the cost, we might very well get suckered in by a false teacher, a false prophet, and cut a deal that tells us that we’re going to get this thing for less than what it’s really worth. Now let’s go back to Matthew 17. Jesus says there are going to be a lot of false prophets around. You’re going to have to watch out for them. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns? Do they get figs from thistles? No. Every good tree brings forth good fruit. A corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree can’t bring forth bad fruit. A corrupt tree can’t bring forth good fruit. Now, we understand all this, don’t we? He said, now understand this, every tree that doesn’t bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. By their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Wow. Wow. Now, this is a pretty strong statement that he makes here. And I have learned a long, long since that just because somebody puts a sign on the wall of his business that says Jesus is Lord does not mean that I’m going to be doing business with somebody who’s going to do the will of God. Because I’ve already seen people do that and then cheat their customers. Okay, so my suggestion is that you look out for these people that put Jesus as Lord on the wall. If they have to tell you, if you can’t tell by the way they do business, then there’s hardly any point in them putting it on the wall of their business. I would suggest be a little more careful of those people than you might of someone who didn’t bother putting up the sign. at all. Now I find this passage highly problematic because when you listen to a preacher in person, in the pulpit, in church, on television, on the radio, somebody like me, It’s not all that easy to see the fruits that would help you make a decision that what Jesus said, we’ll know them by their fruits. It’s not what can’t be by the number of converts. That wouldn’t be the reason. There’s got to be something more than that. But, you know, there is one fruit that is always there, and it’s always visible. It may be hard for you to spot from where you sit, but it’s there. The fruit is division. Because basically what results from the work of false prophets and false teachers is a sect. You know, you’re sitting here in your church, everything’s going along fine, but you’ve got some people in your church who prefer praise music over the traditional hymns that you guys are singing week by week in church. And so someone begins agitating for this particular thing to have happen. And in the course of time, he creates a following and carries this little following away, and they start another church somewhere that is God-praised music. Now, I don’t know if we’re going to talk false or true or anything of the sort, but I am telling you this. that the fruit, one of the primary fruits of people who cause, who are heretics, as it were, is division. They split people away from one another, sometimes over mere preferences of one another. And it’d be okay if you make that kind of division on purpose, simply because, hey, we love you guys, but we just like this kind of music. But you know what’s really funny? So often it comes about with acrimony because it seems necessary for some people to make you mad at somebody else. in order for you to be a true follower of whatever it is they’re trying to get you to go along with. And that is the kind of thing Jesus condemns. Continuing Matthew 17, Jesus said, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, haven’t we prophesied in your name? Haven’t we in your name cast out many devils and in your name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. Now, wait a minute. Do you realize what Jesus is saying here? You can get on television Sunday morning. You can watch and make your way channel to channel. And probably somewhere along there, you’re going to find somebody who claps his head on somebody’s head and they keel over backwards. Or he may walk by a row of people, touch one person on the end, and collapse the whole row as he goes down. And you’re tempted to think, wow, look at the power. Look at the casting out of demons. Look at the wonderful works. And this man gets up there and preaches about Jesus. He’s got to be a man of God, hasn’t he? I don’t know. Jesus said, I’m going to say to some people like that, I never knew you. Why? Notice that little word at the end of the sentence? Get away from me, you that work iniquity. The Greek word that we find here is talking about lawlessness. You people who pay no attention to my law, who won’t keep my words. It’s a complete gospel that has nothing to do with obedience, with law. It has to do with a kind of cheap grace. And it’s mostly involved with performance, with, you know, miracles or things that you can see. All of that is very impressive. But Jesus says that isn’t going to cut it, folks. You’ve got to do what I tell you to do. And by the way, we’re not talking here about Buddhists, Muslims, or some Eastern religion. These people claim to be working in the name of Jesus. And if you believe what Jesus said here, you ought to be able to turn your television set on on Sunday morning and make your way across the dial, and somewhere along there, you ought to be able to find one of these people. I’m not going to tell you who’s who. You’re going to have to figure that out for yourself. But really, if Jesus knew what he was talking about, isn’t it true that we’re going to have to find them somewhere? They’re out there. Think about that.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be right back after this short message. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, A Treaty with the Devil. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now Jesus winds up what he’s talking about here in verse 24 of Matthew 17 with an illustration. He says, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house. It didn’t fall because it was built on a rock. And everyone that hears these sayings of mine and doesn’t do them And in context of what he’s saying here, he’s talking about all kinds of people who will say Jesus is Lord, who will call him Lord, Lord, and won’t do what he says. He says those people, he says, they’re like a foolish man that built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, and down it came, and great was the fall of it. Now, why would anyone build his house on the sand? Because it’s easier? Maybe it’s cheaper. Is that why he would do it? I do know, in my neck of the woods, you can buy land in the 100-year floodplain a whole lot cheaper than you can get land on the high ground. What he’s talking about here is a person who isn’t willing to pay the price to do it right. It’s a person who cuts corners. Remember I said there are three reasons why we compromise with the devil. We get tired. We’re weary with bearing the burdens and the heat of the day. And so oftentimes when somebody comes along and says, oh, you don’t have to do that. Let’s go this way. You’re willing to make a compromise. And maybe you’re afraid. You’re afraid that God is very displeased, and rather than repent and try to do what he says do, somebody tells you, oh, you don’t have to really do that, and so you’ll go follow that way. And we don’t want to pay the cost, the continuing cost of liberty. Jesus said it would not be easy to be a Christian. If that’s true, then fatigue will be a factor. Sometimes we make compromises with evil because we are just tired. There is a prophecy in Isaiah 43. God, speaking to Israel in verse 19, says, Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it’s going to spring forth. Shall you not know it? I’m going to make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field will honor me. The dragons and the owls will honor me because I give water in the desert and rivers by the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen. These have I formed for myself. Now, what he’s talking about is the owls, the dragons, the beasts. These are what he’s talking about, the people, his people in the wilderness, as it were. He said, I formed all these for myself. They will show forth my praise. I can get it from the beasts, the owls, the dragons, and so forth. But you, Israel, have not called upon me. You have been weary of me. What a thing to have God say to us. You know, I get praise from the birds, the beasts of the field, snakes, you name it out there. All these things out here, they show my praise for it day by day. But you, you’re just tired of me, aren’t you? And I guess when it gets right down to it, what are we tired of? We begin to lay down the burden of living God’s life. We’re just tired of him. Paul, writing to the Galatians 6, verse 1, said, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault… Ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you be tempted. Now, I want to tell you something. That’s hard to do. It’s a lot easier if a man’s got a fault to let it go and talk to somebody else about it and not bother going to him. There’s a burden to be borne here. Paul says, bear one another’s burden and fulfill the law of Christ. This is going to cost you something to do this, you know. It’s not free. He says, if a man thinks himself to be something when he’s nothing, he deceives himself. Let every man prove his own work so he can have rejoicing in himself and not of what somebody else has done. Every man will bear his own burden. Oh, yeah, there is a burden to be borne, people. You can’t serve Christ and have it not cost you anything. You’ve got to step up to the plate, as it were. You’ve got to carry that burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teaches in all good things. That’s a simple statement. If somebody’s teaching you the truth, support him. Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, he’s going to reap. Man, I remember that song when my dad used to sing it. You reap whatsoever you sow. Whatever the seeds, they will grow. And a man needs to be pretty careful. Paul says, if you sow to the flesh, you’re of the flesh going to reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, you’re of the Spirit going to reap life everlasting. But don’t ever think it’s not going to cost you something. And then he says, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we will reap if we just don’t faint. You’re going to have to hang in there, folks. The way is not easy. It’s not short. It’s long. It’s uphill. And sometimes the temptation to lay it down is more than almost than we can bear. But we can’t give it up. He says, as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Now I know you would never intentionally make a deal with the devil. You never make a treaty with him. But it’s entirely possible, folks, that you and I both would compromise with what is right because we are tired. The writer of Hebrews said, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, he just in the 11th chapter of Hebrews told us about all these great examples of faith. And he said, when you’ve got this whole cloud of witnesses around you, let’s throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us. That’s out of the NIV, and I thought that was a striking way of putting it. For each of us in our future, there is a race that is marked out for us, and we have to run that race unless we are too tired, unless we’re ready to make a treaty with the devil so we can lay down the burden and take it easy.
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I’m Ronald Dart. And visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
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