Faith Fighters For Christ

Christian Martial Arts Ministry

With God, a Little Bit of Sin is Never In

As Christians in a sport and art from Asia, we grapple with concerns over Eastern religious practices that come to us intertwined with our art/sport. Inquiring of God and obeying is the only way to deal with this, as we will see in these parallel passages.

For the purpose of this study, we will focus on Jehosaphat, King of Judah who ruled around 800BC for 25 years. He was 35 years old when he took to the throne (Israel had broken into two different kingdoms in 931BC, Israel and Judah). He was old enough to have learned a bit about the kingship from his father. He also saw the consequences of disobeying God by watching the results of his father's disobedience and Israel's idolatrous practices. He cleaned up Judah by getting rid of the Asherah poles and the pagan shrines. He taught the people of Judah God's law, but they still continued some of the idol worship from earlier. What really hurt Jehosaphat was when he and Ahab, King of Israel, made an alliance sealing it with the marriage of their children. In 2 Chronicles 21:6, Jehosaphat's son Jehoram who becomes wicked like Ahab is married to Ahab's daughter,a Baal worshipper.

Ahab invited Jehosaphat to join with him to defeat the Arameans who practically surrounded Israel on the northeast side and ran down to the Jabbok River, not far from Judah. That possibility intrigued Jehosaphat, not to mention the fact that Ahab had buttered him up with a wonderful feast at the time of the proposal of this joint venture. So, Jehosaphat said yes, but added that they should ask God about it. Ahab, who isn't stupid, brought out his "Yes Men" prophets who told him to go ahead and that God would be with them. One of the 400 prophets even accentuated the Go Ahead illustrating that with the iron horns he fashioned they would gore the Arameans. But Jehosaphat asked for a prophet of God so he could hear what he had to say about this. He was concerned he hadn't heard from God, but he didn't want to insult his ally. After all, alliances between countries in the Old Testament were binding and Judah really benefited from having Israel on it's side. So Ahab grumbled that this one never says anything good about him, but brought out the only prophet of God anyway. The prophet Micaiah who was told to go along with the king sarcastically said to go and God would be with them. But Ahab knew he was lying and told the prophet to tell him the truth. We find out why Ahab didn't have him come out because Micaiah told Ahab that he would die in this battle. He also told them that a lying spirit was sent by God to speak through the prophets to have him killed by one of his fiercest enemies. Micaiah's reward for his truthfulness was a trip to prison and a slap in the face by the prophet who had the iron horns. There is the assumption that Micaiah never came out of the prison.

But it seems that the fear of reprisal by saying no to his ally was more important to Jehosaphat than obedience to God. They both went into battle together. Ahab, disguised as a soldier, died of an arrow wound, as God said. Jehosaphat was protected by God because he cried out to Him when his life was in danger. Jehosaphat had been set up to be killed, by Ahab, being the only one dressed in royal robes. Jehosaphat didn't seem to realize this or thought he was protecting Ahab from the prophecy. It didn't matter because God used the stray arrow of an enemy to fulfill His prophecy.

Did Jehosaphat learn anything from this? Yes, he did, actually. He went back home and told his prophets to be careful about pronouncing judgement and to please God, not men. He also set up his priests and Levites as judges and told them to fear God and rule justly according to God's Law. God blessed him by winning battles against neighboring enemy countries.

Did Jehosaphat ever goof up again? Yes, he did. He didn't get rid of his idolatrous daughter-in-law who brought her pagan religion with her. He also made the mistake of joining in a business trade venture with Ahab's son and lost his ships and their crews, never obtaining the gold he hoped to acquire. His people were never fully committed to God and were easily pulled back into their previous idolatrous practices.

Application

We can certainly learn a lesson from Jehosaphat's life as Christian martial artists. First, we must take all of the aspects of our art/sport before God and ask Him about it. We do that through prayer, heavy Bible study, and asking Godly men and women for their wise counsel. By scrutinizing every aspect of martial arts under God's "light", we can see the idols and idolatrous practices then toss them out. Second, we need to make sure that what we keep and potentially pass on to our students totally glorifies God. If we bring even a little bit in, we risk steering our students off track with the Lord and we will definitely pay consequences ourselves because of it. Third, if we do bring bits of the Eastern religions and practices in, we need to learn from the consequences of that sin and get rid of it.

Steps to Removing Idolatry in our Art/Sport

1. Know what the religious practices are. Martial arts in the secular world usually have Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, and nature worship intertwined with the protocol, symbolism, and physical moves. Identifying these is important to knowing what belongs and what doesn't in our Christian practices. Even if there seems to something "harmless" or have a similar moral base, the foundations are very different between Christianity and the Eastern religions. Pray up before you study these and keep up your own devotions, or you may be led astray.
2. When these are identified, define the terms and issues prayerfully. Then use a good topical index and concordance along with your Bible (translation or multiple translations, but not a paraphrase!) to look up these terms and issues. A Bible dictionary or lexicon to look up meanings of difficult Bible words could be helpful, too. Remember that things like the words meditation and prayer are common between Christianity and Hinduism and Buddhism, but are vastly different.
3. Talk with Christians in martial arts, pastors, and others whom you feel are solidly grounded in their faith. They can have both negative and positive views about Christians in martial arts. Those against you should note why they object to it. Those who do not object, you should note how they feel a compatibility exists and their concerns about the Eastern religious influence. Find a WWII vetran who served in the Pacific or a Korean War vet who knows the Lord and ask his opinions. We learned the meaning of Bushido from a WWII vet brother in Christ. Look for books and websites like this and those from general Christian writers.
4. Pray over your findings. Write the impressions that God has led you to see. Thank God for His wise insight.
5. Revamp your art/sport based on your findings. Be careful that if you are going to minister through tournaments and seminars with non-Christians that you find alternatives which do not seriously violate protocols in the functions, but are acceptable to you and God, unless you have no concern for being shut out. If you are too radical either you will greatly offend the non-Christians and lose a witness opportunity or you will gain a curiosity. Either way, if you feel led to be radically different, be ready to share why and accept negative responses (remember Micaiah?).
6. Periodically review your art to make sure you have not brought along "stowaways". It is easy to accumulate little idols along the way. If you do, ask God's forgiveness and get rid of it.
7. Be careful of the alliances you make. If your association, Grandmaster, or Sensei are not Christians, they may put pressure on you to "make allowances" for their sake. Many Christians have totally severed ties with their instructors and others in authority over their systems, risking being shunned or lose ranking status. The pressure to give in to Eastern practices is often great. Don't compromise that which God has entrusted to you for anyone.

copyrighted 1998 Charlaine Engelhardt all rights reserved