Inventors of Dragons

by Jefferson David Tant
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 4, December 1992

In the days of yore, when fierce dragons wandered to and fro on the face of the earth, there was often great fear in the land, as the dragons were wont to capture fair maidens and make them a delicious dessert. But these tales also tell us of the handsome knight in shining armor upon his faithful white steed who would come to slay the dragon, rescue the fair maiden, and come home to a hero’s welcome. And who wouldn’t like to be the knight who won the fair maid’s heart and the admiration of his countrymen?

Such desires are still with us, even in the 20th century. It seems some love to save the church, the bride of Christ, from the fiery dragon. They then return home to the undying gratitude of the multitudes who were endangered. The only problem with this is that there don’t seem to be enough dragons to go around to satisfy some. But there is a solution to this problem — let’s just invent some dragons!

Such a statement may seem far-fetched to some, but from the carryings on of some, I wonder. Some brethren seem bent on rescuing the church from something, anything, whatever it may be. They go to and fro in the land, looking behind this bush, under that rock. They tear their hair and foam at the mouth, trying to find some issue, some problem, some aberration that they can turn into a "brotherhoodwide" crusade.

They then rally their forces around their banner and march off to the battle. They force others to choose sides and declare themselves. If some do not do to the liking of these brethren, they then are written up as being suspect. The dragon-slayers go about the countryside preaching dire warnings against the heretics.

At times, they create division and dissension where none had existed. They alienate brethren where there had been peace. They turn a private, local problem into a public, national issue.

Please do not misunderstand. I firmly believe in contending for the faith, fighting the good fight, and exposing error. And there are plenty of good causes that need our attention¡, but to have the spirit of "looking for a fight" seems to me to be contrary to the spirit of Christ. I have known of young men who have been driven away because a sentence in a sermon outline was interpreted a certain way by a "dragonslayer." I know preachers who have been called into question, had meetings threatened with cancellation, or had support cut off because they had not publicly declared where they stood with respect to the current litmus test. "Brethren, these things ought not so to be."

God forbid that these brethren would have a "Diotrophes complex," and I really do not question their sincerity for the most part, but their tactics pose some unanswered questions.

Brethren, if any of you reading these lines recognize yourselves, please do some honest and sincere soul-searching. Tearing each other down rather than building up doesn’t seem to be the best way to accomplish the mission for which we have been sent.