The Holy War—Mansoul Mortifies Wicked Influences

The adult Sunday School classes at my church are halfway through our series of studies based on John Bunyan’s Christian allegory, The Holy War. We are getting a theological education from Bunyan as we read his book and search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so. Bunyan presents a reformed, biblical soteriology, and I hope to put the main teachings of his story together into a separate post sometime in the near future. Though he had but little formal education, Bunyan was able to combine a thorough knowledge of the Bible with a fertile imagination to produce in story-form a comprehensive doctrine of salvation.

In our reading for today Bunyan portrays the redeemed town of Mansoul, under the direction of Emmanuel, as executing its enemies, the followers of Diabolus, because of their crimes against the town and because of their continued corrupting influence. This clearly refers to the scriptural teaching of mortifying the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13), or, putting off the old man with his deeds (Ephesians 4:17-32). According to Bunyan (and the Bible) obedience in this pursuit shows our love for our Savior and advances our growth in holiness.

In this part of the story Emmanuel continues His remaking of Mansoul into something that will glorify His Father, King Shaddai, and benefit the town itself. Diabolus had introduced so many ungodly, harmful things that Emmanuel has to pull down these strongholds of His enemy. The next order of business in Mansoul’s cleansing from sin is to arrest, try, and execute the remaining followers of Diabolus, known as Diabolonians. Emmanuel orders the arrest of the three greatest troublemakers: Mr. Unbelief (Mr. Incredulity in Bunyan’s original text), Mr. Lustings, and Mr. Forget-Good. These had exercised the most leadership and had caused the greatest harm when Diabolus ruled the city. In the round-up Lord Willbewill also arrested other influential Diabolonians: Mr. Atheism, Mr. Hard-heart, Mr. False-peace, and several others. All these renegades were brought to trial.

The trial was conducted with utmost righteousness, consistent with the nature of Emmanuel and King Shaddai. One by one, the prisoners answered the charges against them. With every one of them the plea was “not guilty.” The witnesses testified against them truthfully; thus the Diabolonians were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to execution. Bunyan spends time with each of the defendants, but especially with Mr. False-peace, because during Diabolus’ sinful reign he had lulled the town into a false sense of security so that they thought they would suffer no penalty for their sins against Shaddai, their rightful king.

Emmanuel commanded that the people of Mansoul execute the Diabolonians. In this way they would show their love for Him and the sincerity of their commitment. This would please Him, and He would bless them.

A twist in the story comes here. When the prisoners were returned to the jail to await execution the next morning, Unbelief escaped. He fled the city and met his old master Diabolus on Hell-gate Hill. Unbelief informed Diabolus of the things that had happened in the city under Emmanuel. This sent the monster into a rage, and he swore to get vengeance on Mansoul.

But for now, no Unbelief was to be found anywhere in Mansoul.

The city brought the condemned to be executed. Much to the surprise of the people, they were hard pressed to put these criminals to death. The Diabolonians struggled so hard that Mansoul had to appeal to the captains and men of war for help. Shaddai’s secretary, who was in town and who loved Mansoul, came forward and put His hands on the people to strengthen them for the work. Thus Mansoul crucified these Diabolonians, much to the joy of the city.

Bunyan, here, is teaching that the redeemed follower of Jesus Christ must “put off concerning the former [lifestyle] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). This is done through mortifying the deeds of the flesh. It involves a struggle since mortification goes against our nature. But the Christian must show his love for Christ by his obedience to Him (John 14:23-24). The Puritan preacher Thomas Watson put it this way: “The exercises of the worship of God are contrary to nature; therefore there must be a provoking of ourselves to them. The movement of the soul towards sin is natural, but its movement towards heaven is violent” (Heaven Taken by Storm, Soli Deo Gloria Publications, p. 11).

There were still Diabolonians lurking within Mansoul, who would cause trouble again. We may get victory over some evil one day only to have another appear afterward. Or we may have to deal with the same evil again. This is the process known as sanctification. When we feel discouraged over our apparent lack of progress in mortifying our lusts, we can take a long look back at ourselves and see that, though we are not what we ought to be, by the grace of God we are not what we once were. There has been some progress. Though we must struggle against our inner traitor for life, the Lord is honored if we stay in the fight, trusting in Him for power.

Just as Mr. Unbelief avoided execution by escaping, so we will never be permanently rid of unbelief in our hearts until the Lord takes His people home. God gives us blessed seasons when no unbelief can be found in us and we enjoy communion with Christ. But “the troubler makes his appearance again quite soon enough” (George Offor, ed., The Works of John Bunyan vol. 3. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1991. p. 316). When that besetting sin returns and we feel doubt gripping us, we don’t have to despair; “where is the believer who is at all times wholly free from the assaults of this arch-rebel? Where is the Christian who has not occasion to say, and that with tears, ‘Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief’?” (The Holy War, Illustrated with notes by George Burder. Swengel, PA: Reiner Publications, 1976. p. 252).

Take courage, Christian! “If by the Spirit [we] are putting to death the deeds of the body, [we] will live” (Romans 8:13). May the Lord enable His believing people to exercise “holy violence” in prosecuting those enemies within that seek to undo us. May the Holy Spirit enable us to put these harmful lusts to death. And may God grant us mercy when we fail, and grace for future battles, as He has done so with many other “holy warriors” before us.

The Holy War—Mansoul Mortifies Wicked Influences