One of Satan’s favorite weapons to use against the church is false accusation.
There are plenty of examples of Satanic false accusation in Scripture. Pharaoh and Abimelech make false accusations against Abraham; Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses Joseph; Job’s so-called friends make false accusations against him, following Satan who did the same; plenty of false accusations were made against Paul by various opponents; and of course, Jesus was crucified on the basis of false accusations. The church has been accused of oppressing women because women have not been allowed to be pastors or priests; the church has been accused of forcibly converting people even though this kind of thing has been extremely rare and certainly not a widely approved strategy; the church has been accused of racism and slavery even though the church did more to integrate different ethnic groups and eradicate slavery than any other institution; etc.
Unfortunately, many false accusations are effective today, not only in getting the mob to pile on the innocent, but also in manipulating the innocent into compliance with a Satanic agenda. Satan knows that Christians are vulnerable to false accusation – especially soft hearted believers with very sensitive consciences and a bias towards introspection.
In our day, Satan loves to use the false accusations of racism and sexism. People will do almost anything to “prove” that they are not racist or sexist today. Unless we appropriately steel ourselves against these kinds of accusations, we can be easily steered and manipulated by them. We must have the courage to stand up against false accusation. We should not be cowed by these slanders.
We need to do two things to protect ourselves against false accusation.
First, we need to develop robust consciences. We need to use the doctrine of justification by faith to steel ourselves against false accusation and false guilt. Being in a church that practices confession of sin followed by a hearty declaration of absolution each week helps. We need consciences that are shaped by Scripture, not culture. People who know in their bones they are forgiven will laugh at false accusations and resist the menace of false guilt. Acknowledging you are a sinner does not mean you have to pretend you are actually guilty of all sins.
Second, we need to learn how to defend ourselves against false accusations. We need to learn how to push back. Some Christians struggle with this because it seems self-righteous or does not seem humble to defend oneself. But consider how David refused to let false accusations stand in Psalm 7. Or consider various places where Paul (especially in Acts and 2 Corinthians) refuted slanderous accusations leveled at him. When false accusations come your way, do not grovel in the face of them; expose them for the slanders that they are. Satan is a liar, and those on his side lie. We should not expect a fair fight when dealing with Satan and his minions but we should certainly fight back with the sword of truth.
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