I must admit: I was reluctant to publicly share my views on
President Obama's recent same-sex marriage statement. His presidency has caused separation within the ranks of
African-American leadership too often.
And yet, what does an African-American pastor do when his
African-American president makes a decision that eventually will destroy
the foundation of not only the African-American community, but the
nation as a whole?
Does that pastor take a risk that he will be misunderstood and
labeled as an "Uncle Tom," a Republican Party pawn, or someone "the
white man has bought out?" If I do not take the risk, knowing that
mentality in itself is as discriminatory as it gets, I become a
co-conspirator in keeping us in bondage to our culture; suggesting that
none of us is free to think or speak outside of what we are told. read more
Although Valentine's Day is meant to celebrate love, it
can bring bittersweet memories and pain.
For kids, Valentine's Day is a time to exchange funny cards and eat boxes of
chocolate. For adults, it's often much more than just a time to send flowers
and buy heart jewelry, chocolates and cards—it's a time to rededicate your love
to one special person. But when you're a widow or widower, or have lost your
love due to an unfortunate life circumstance, Cupid's arrow can pierce your
heart in a very different way. What was once a holiday of "warm
fuzzies" can turn into a sorrowful day to overcome.
It's true that Valentine's Day holds significance for most couples, but it was
particularly special for my husband Gordon and me. After losing my father in
February, the whole season had become fraught with painful memories. Then a
young man with a lot of heart came into my life, and it just so happened that
Valentine's Day was right after our first date. When I got home from work,
Gordon had left a bouquet of pink carnations on my front porch. So, it became a
yearly ritual for us to use Valentine's Day as the anniversary of our first
date together. read more
Each December I urge my congregation to focus
on the true meaning of Christmas. The worry my fellow pastors and I share is
that the solemn message of Christ’s birth gets overshadowed by the
commercialization, jingle bells, and Santa-fication of the yuletide season.
As we turn the calendar’s pages to yet another
Memorial Day, I feel compelled to issue a similar challenge, one I offer not as
a clergyman but as an American. Simply, let’s not lose focus about what this
most solemn of national holidays should really be about. read more
With
regret, my family was unable to attend the homecoming celebration of our dear
friend, David Wilkerson. Due to my own personal sickness, Jeri and I and our
family could not be present to pay tribute to this man who so radically changed
our lives.
The
story of Teen Challenge is the story of Steve and Jeri Hill. Christ was brought
to us and nurtured in us through this ministry. It’s with
tears in my eyes that I say, thank you brother Dave, for being there for us. read more
Everyone has heroes--or at least people they respect. David
Wilkerson was one of mine, along with John the Baptist and a few others. So I
was deeply saddened when my daughter called and said that he had been killed in
a car accident. Of course there was the sweet knowledge that he was with the
Lord, but there was also the bitter reality that we no longer had him here on
earth.
His passing brought back a flood of memories. Back in 1980, I
screened the movie that was based on his best-selling book, Cross and the
Switchblade. It starred Erik Estrada (from the television series CHiPs) as
Nicky Cruz, the hardened gang member who mocked the naive country preacher who
had come to his rough neighborhood. read more
Stewardship is one of the well-worn
words of Christendom. The word evokes a
lot of different thoughts, but I think most Christians get the essence of stewardship
wrong.
They believe that if you give God a
bit of what you have, then you have been a good steward, and the rest is yours
to do with as you please. They equate
stewardship with “tithing.” read more
Christian evangelist Ray Comfort explains why natural
disasters, such as earthquakes, only confirm God’s existence rather than deny it.
“I was actually in
this earthquake ... I live in Tokyo and it was the scariest thing that I have ever
been in. I was in Kitasenju teaching English when it struck and after the
initial shock we all ventured outside. I saw a mother of about 27/28 clutching
her newborn to her chest in fear as the temperature got colder and colder and
colder. Fallen creation? What are you talking about? I will NEVER accept this.
NEVER. Do you hear me Ray? You can SCREAM this in my face for the rest of time.
I WILL NEVER ACCEPT WHAT YOU SAY.”
Creation is absolute
evidence of a Creator. It didn’t make itself. So to suddenly say that God
doesn’t exist because we have killer earthquakes and horrific tsunamis (such as
the March 2011 tragedy) is to be in denial of something we all intuitively know.
The question is rather, “Is God impotent?” Did He have the ability to create
this infinite universe, with suns that dwarf ours massive sun, and yet He can’t
stop a tremor on this little earth? The question itself is rhetorical, but it’s
covered in Scripture when we are told, “With God, nothing is impossible.” So it
then becomes, “Why did almighty God allow it, and its terrible train of
unspeakable suffering and death?”
Atheism has no
consolation for us, other than to say that such pain is the result of an
indifferent “nature” that created itself, and is still in the process of
creating. Richard Dawkins said, “Nature is not cruel, pitiless, indifferent.
This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that
things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply
callous -- indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.” [A Devil's
Chaplain & Other Selected Essays,
by Richard Dawkins]
However,
the Bible has the consoling answer. It says that we live in a “Fallen Creation”
(see Genesis 1-3). We are like an alcoholic who is in denial, adamantly saying
that all is well, and yet the symptoms of alcoholism are clearly evident as he
staggers toward you.
Here is just some of
the evidence that humanity has a serious problem–earthquakes, tsunamis,
hurricanes, tornados, disease, suffering and death. The Bible says the
whole of creation “groans in travail” under the Fall (see Romans
8:22)—the “curse” of Genesis. Those who understand this don’t lose faith in God
when terrible tragedies shake a world in denial. Each one of them instead
reminds us that all isn’t well. For the world they should be a wake-up call—a
slap in our drunken face--a reminder that we are not apes with no moral
responsibility, as so many are trying to have us believe. All is far from well
between sinful man and a holy God. We have a problem. A big one, that is more
serious than a heart attack.
For
someone to accept that we live in a fallen creation means that they have to
accept that we are sinners—that we aren’t the good folks we say we are. It means
that we have moral responsibility—that when a man rapes a woman and slits her
throat, God will hold him accountable. It means that Hitler will face God on
Judgment Day for the mass murder of so many innocents. It means that God is
just, and that Hell therefore is a real place of punishment for the wicked.
These are not pleasant thoughts when we realize that God is morally perfect,
that he sees the thought-life and considers lust to be adultery and hatred to be
murder. That puts all of us, with our unquenchable thirst for (and addiction to)
sin, in deep trouble.
Earthquakes tend to make us tremble. They show us that we don’t have total
control. In the Book of Acts, there was a big quake that caused a
hardened Philippian jailer to cry out to his prisoners “Sirs, what must I do to
be saved?”(see Acts 16:30). He wasn’t talking about the quake (that had already
happened). He was talking about his relationship to the One he had angered by
his sin.
Fortunately, God has
more than a 12-step program for the hopeless alcoholic. When Jesus suffered in
our place and rose from the dead, He balanced the scales of eternal justice. He
paid the fine so that we could leave the courtroom. The cross is an expression
of the love and mercy of God. He is “rich in mercy,” and can make us clean and
sober with a new thirst for righteousness, and the ability to walk the straight
and narrow.
I contacted a friend
early in March of 2011, whom I hadn't seen for twenty years. He lived in my
hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand, had always mocked me for my faith, and so
I was surprised that he emailed back. He said that "god" greatly scared him in
2010 (he used profanity) with a 7.1 earthquake. When I then shared the gospel
with him, he wrote back and mockingly said that he was guilty of breaking the
Commandments, and that he going to Hell to “party.” The next day a killer quake
hit, taking over 165 lives. When I contacted him again to see if he was okay, he
soberly replied, "Tell your God I am sorry and please don't do that again." This
time he used a capital for "God."
Tragedies have a way
of putting the fear of God into those of us who are still living. Most of us,
that is. Sadly, some may stay in denial and say, “Fallen creation? What are you
talking about? I will NEVER accept this. NEVER. Do you hear me Ray? You can
SCREAM this in my face for the rest of time. I WILL NEVER ACCEPT WHAT YOU SAY.”
I hope you are not one of them.
