Friendly with the Enemy

Chances are, you’ve probably never learned in school the contribution of John Parker to American history. He’s not a household name, but his one mistake changed the course of our nation. In Bill O’ Riley’s enthralling book, Killing Lincoln, he explains how a critical turn of events on the night of April 14, 1865 led to the assassination of president Abraham Lincoln.

Before John Wilkes Booth committed his dirty deed, he first stopped at a saloon that was adjacent to Ford’s Theatre, where the president sat enjoying a performance of the play Our American Cousin. Booth sat down at the bar and asked the bartender for a shot a whiskey to give him the liquid courage he would need to pull the trigger.  

At 10:00 PM Booth finished his whiskey and proceeded to Ford’s Theatre, just a few feet away. Surprisingly, he found the entrance to Lincoln’s private balcony seat unguarded by the Secret Service agent assigned to detail that night. With no one guarding the president, Booth had an unimpeded and clear access to Lincoln.

So where was Lincoln’s bodyguard—John Parker? According to historians, as the play began, and the President and First Lady got settled, Parker slipped away from his post and went next door to the saloon. It sounds unbelievable, but it’s one of those incredibly ironies of history—Parker was in the same saloon as Booth, downing a large mug of beer, when the assassin slipped out and murdered Lincoln.[1]        

When I read that story I thought of an expression that I’d heard an old preacher use before—“friendly with the enemy.” That was John Parker’s big mistake, he failed to stay vigilant and bellied up to the bar with a killer. Satan’s strategy is do the same—to get us to let our guard down so that we will play games with sin and become “friendly with the enemy.”

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Satan sometimes comes to us as a devouring lion (1 Peter 5:8), and sometimes as a deceiving serpent (Gen. 3). It’s much easier to identify a lion when he’s roaring than to detect a serpent when he’s slithering into our lives. That is why Satan is so cunning—if one disguise doesn’t work the first time, then he will change costumes and try again.”[2]

Satan’s first success came in the Garden of Eden, when he deceived Eve into a “friendly conversation” about forbidden fruit (Gen. 3). Then we see Lot slowly pulled into the lifestyle of Sodom, until eventually he rubbed shoulders with the wicked (Gen. 13:10; 2 Pet. 2:7-8). Samson’s downfall began when he toyed with sin and played games with the seductress Delilah (Jud. 16). Don’t forget about Judas who worked out a bribe with the Pharisees in exchange for betraying Christ (Matt. 26:14-16).

The old-time evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “One reason sin flourishes is because we treat it like a kitten instead of a rattlesnake.” Don’t listen to the sweet siren songs of the Enemy. “It’s just one drink. It’s just one peep. It’s just one lunch date. No one is looking. You’re smart enough to not get caught. Relax—it’s no big deal.” The first mistake we make when it comes to temptation is to think we can be friendly with the Enemy. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).”  -DM

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[1] Bill O’ Riley and Martin Dugard, Killing Lincoln (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2011), 192. 

[2] Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2007), 408.