Editor’s Note: If you haven’t yet taken a look at Part 1 of this stronghold, you really should do that before you read this post!

Revelation 2:18-29

The Battle Plan: We must hold on.

So if we are not to go around bashing sin and sinners, what shall we do? How shall we dislodge a stronghold of tolerance? To answer this question, in verses 24-25, Jesus says, “I say to the rest of you” – to those who have not subscribed to Jezebel’s teachings and plunged into “the deep things of Satan” – “hold on to what you have until I come.” In short, then, the battle plan for defeating the stronghold of tolerance is to hold on. But what does that mean?

The Greek word behind this English phrase is krateo. Strong’s defines it as “to use strength, i.e., seize or retain (literal or figurative).” With Thyatira’s historical roots as a military outpost, however, the saints there no doubt recognized krateo as a military term; when you take a piece of territory and hold it, you dig in and defend it with your life.

In other words, if there is a stronghold of tolerance in our neighborhood, our church, or in us, we must dig in and defend the truth.

It is important, however, to note that there is a significant difference between how the stronghold of tolerance will fight and how we must defend the truth. Consider, Jezebel did everything in her power to disguise idolatry and adultery as something good. When that failed, she was perfectly willing to force people to tolerate. In other words, she was happy to hurt people and leave them for dead, and to be frank, this sounds a lot like our culture, including too many churches.

We, however, must not camouflage the truth. Instead, we should put it out there for all to see. Moreover, we must never be okay leaving bodies in our path! Instead, we should build our fortress far larger than we need and then do everything in our power to avoid enemy casualties, bringing them instead into the safety, security, and freedom of salvation and eternal life. Our fortress, then, should be built upon truth, and our battle plan should be that of Jesus, who sought out tax collectors, welcomed and hung out with children and sinners, embraced the tears and offerings of the former prostitute, and never lambasted the Samaritan woman at the well.

How does this look from the other side? Shane Windmeyer provides a compelling image. On January 28, 2013, Windmeyer, a gay activist who is openly and aggressively opposed to Chick-Fil-A because of its stance on gay marriage, published a highly controversial article about his friendship with Dan Cathy, president of Chick-Fil-A. In the article, Windmeyer tells how Cathy, who is, of course, an evangelical Christian, obtained Windmeyer’s cell phone number and reached out to him on August 10, 2012. At the time, a media firestorm was raging over Cathy’s and Chick-Fil-A’s support of traditional marriage, and so one would expect a call between these two men, at polar opposite ends of the moral spectrum, to be short. Instead, that first call lasted more than an hour. More, it led to other calls. Windmeyer wrote about how, instead of preaching or lecturing, Cathy asked him questions so that he could hear Windmeyer’s perspectives and ideas. Cathy even invited Windmeyer to sit next to him at the Chick-Fil-A Bowl!

Perhaps more impressive, even as the media firestorm raged, Cathy never once publicized the developing relationship, leveraging it to extinguish the media fury. Moreover, though he did make clear where he stood on the matter of marriage, as well as that his position was never going to change, Cathy never once pressured Windmeyer.

Now, to be fair, Windmeyer made clear in his article that he was not a believer. In fact, he went to great lengths to ensure his readers knew he was a 40-year-old, married gay man. He may never become a believer. But he wrote a powerful article in one of the most prominent online publications of our day about how this stronghold of truth should look from the other side, and I would encourage you to check out it out if you get a chance: http://goo.gl/qYncM .