The church talks a lot about “Who is my neighbor?” – which can be good. But I think Rich Nathan has a point when he said that the “first question the church must answer correctly is, ‘who is my enemy?’”

From this premise, Rich tackles five of the most pressing issues facing the modern church in his book Who Is My Enemy? Welcoming People The Church Rejects.

• Is the Postmodernist My Enemy?
• Is the Feminist My Enemy?
• Is the Homosexual My Enemy?
• Is the New Ager My Enemy?
• Is the Liberal My Enemy?

Unlike a lot of books that tend to rant and rave about each of these issues, this book takes a very logical, pragmatic approach to each of the issues. This does not mean that Rich leaves out the aspect of love and compassion – far from it!!

The heart of this book and of Rich Nathan – if I might be so bold – it to draw people to the person of Jesus (especially those rejected and/or cast out of the church). Basically, Rich is calling the church to be the church – to quite tossing out those whom are sick and are in need of a Savior. [@more@]

One story in particular really stands out to me. It was about a Christian man who was struggling with homosexuality. Being in a church, he went to his pastor to share his struggles and to have someone pray with him. He wasn’t looking for a silver bullet or anything – he just needed someone to talk too.

However, the pastor of a Christian church told the man to leave the building and never come back!! Ooch!! I can’t even image the heartache felt that day! Yet – I am confident that this is not a “one-off” story. Shoot – I’ve talked to homosexuals in my city that have heard similar statements from Christian believers. How messed up is the church if we can’t love people?

The good news is that after leaving the church for many years, God brought this man back into his fold through a group of Christian guys who invited him to join their Bible study. While at the study, they be-friended the man and brought him into their lives – even after he told them about his struggles.

That is how we are supposed to act as that is what Jesus did. He hung out with the drugs, the prostitutes, the hurting and the struggling.

If you have any questions, anger or fears towards any of these five groups of people, I would highly recommend reading Rich Nathan’s book. You will find a powerful Biblical, historically, pragmatic, and spiritual look at who is our enemy.