Leaning Forward

Christianity in Crisis Part 2

Several years ago Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute, wrote a book titled Christianity in Crisis, an expose of the Word-Faith movement being popularized by the false doctrines and faulty biblical interpretation of quite a few visible proponents. The book frankly evaluates the "systematic subversion of the historic Christian faith" by boldly naming the individuals responsible for it's deceptive false teaching, and suggesting discernment before becoming an adherent of it's doctrines. Today, many Christians are being deceived by the claims of the Word-Faith movement and it's step-child, the supposed health/wealth gospel. Before you become attached to a para-church group, TV evangelist, or sow a "seed" of faith gift with one of these guys, you may want to Google "Word-Faith Movement" or "positive confession movement" and do some research about them.

This health/wealth perversion of faith became intensely personal for me during my mother's illness with ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease. One day an individual offered to pray for my mother. At first I was very appreciative of the gesture, that is, until he started praying. In short, this person prayed that my dear, Christian mother would have enough faith to overcome this illness. This person blamed mother's  condition on her lack of faith. Quoting Isaiah Isaiah 53:5 ("...by his wounds we are healed") totally out of context, and misapplying other Scriptures, he concluded that my mother was sick because of some hidden sin in her life or because she had not summoned up the word of faith in Christ to conquer this disease. Of course, such perversion of Biblical faith infuriated me. All I could think was, "get thee behind me Satan!"

This is not an adequate venue for an exhaustive refutation of the health/wealth cult, it's parent Word-Faith belief system, or the proponents who keep this false doctrine at center stage. Of course, they are numerous, maintain high visibility through TV production and presentation, and prey on sincere people looking for answers to life's perplexing questions. At the core, this movement involves big bucks and targets people who really don't know any better.

This is the point. Finally. Once again, this is primarily a biblical literacy problem. Most people don't know enough Bible to confront and refute what is no more than blatant heresy. The Word-Faith belief system, in short, mocks God, deifies man, and makes the "word of faith" a magic formula for dealing with many of the inequities of life. Growing Christians study God's Word and learn to apply the whole counsel of God to life situations rather than throw out-of-context verses at them. They trust God no matter their circumstances, stand in awe of Him in all things, live contented by His provision for life, and know that He is sufficient in everything. Growing Christians understand that this world is out of balance because of sin and lives for the perfection and joys of heaven rather than a pretense of paradise on earth.

It's cloudy outside today, and forecasters are predicting rain. What do they know! Still, if it rains today, I don't expect some supernatural umbrella to hang over me all day because I'm a believer. Jesus said, "He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous"  (Matthew 5: 45). Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Get over it. Grow up! And, beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. They will eat you alive.

Life Goes On.

After being away for a week, returning to the office Tuesday morning was another level of blessing from the Father! As I returned, I was once again reminded of the awesome privilege of being the pastor of Northwood Baptist Church and the even more astounding surprise of being called to serve Him. Walking into my little private refuge actually blew me away. To know that God uses people like me for His purpose is just beyond comprehension. Wow! Stand in awe of Him!

Testimonies of pastoral or ministerial calling are nothing new. Any person serving Him better have one, or either have his or her head examined. I mean, who would pretend to serve His purpose or seek to accomplish any assignment from Him with anything less than a clearly understood mandate. Still, we've all heard many personal accounts of God's calling. They usually start with something about "surrendering" to God's purpose---you know the drill, giving up all the advantages of secular pursuits, bypassing the big bucks of the business world, forsaking material stuff to live out of the missionary box, and other riches to rags stories fabricated to relate the sacrifices of serving God and the church vocationally. Excuse me if the gag reflex overtakes me.That angle on calling nauseates me lot.

Take note! Serving the Lord God of the universe is a distinct honor and a privilege. We don't surrender anything when He calls us. In fact, we gain everything. That God would stoop to invite us to join Him in this work is incomprehensible. To be certain, accountability grows with the increased platform of ministry. At the same time, there are certain pressures and frustrations unique to ministry. One young minister prayed for the heart of King David, the mind of the Apostle Paul, the boldness of Simon Peter, and the hide of a rhinoceros, such are the demands of ministry. And, yes, some people do walk away from lucrative secular work to attend seminary or enter a vocational ministry position. But, get over it! Scripture affirms the gracious provision of the Father to those he has called. Serving Him is pure joy.

God gives me great awakenings all the time! Tuesday morning was another one. How thankful I am to be able to speak for Him and minister in His name. What a blessing to serve Him and His people, to preach and teach His Word, to be a part of His church ministry team. Surrender? Fuhgedaboudit! There is nothing but blessing here, and this is one minister who is thankful.

Yes, life goes on, full of surprises and blessings, the greatest of which is serving Him.

A Gentle Reminder

The Friday night visitation for my mother was full of surprises. Our family greeted friends we had not seen for many years, re-connected with extended family members that only gather for such occasions, and met quite a few people who had known our mother and father in their youth and college years. One man from Pendleton, South Carolina, had escorted my mother to the junior prom at Westville School. Several had been kindergarten students of mothers at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior, where she taught for many years. I recognized Wyatt and Betty Duncan instantly, dear old friends of our parents. My cousin Brenda and I were the ring bearer and flower girl in their wedding fifty-five years ago. It was three tiring hours of laughter, tears, and fond memories. My brother Michael, sister Christie, and I discovered that our parents had a life before us. It was a very sweet time.

As we greeted all of the people, I reached into my suit jacket pocket for some reason, and encountered a gentle reminder of the occasion. You see, I was wearing my blue suit, the suit I had worn the previous Sunday morning in our traditional 8:30 a.m. service. That day we had shared a celebration of life with our church family. At the conclusion of the service our ushers had distributed blow-out noise makers to our congregation so we could lift our hands to the Lord and celebrate the gift of life. I wish you could have been there. We blew our noise makers and praised God for giving us life, abundant and eternal. It was a worship experience I will never forget. When the service was over, I stuck the noise maker into my suit coat pocket.

Fast-forward to the visitation at the funeral home. Right there, in the midst of laughter and tears, I found the noise maker. God instantly brought the celebration of life to mind. That little toy noise maker reminded me that we were in fact celebrating the life of Esther Mae Owens Holmes. When I showed it to the rest of the family, they all wished we all had them so we could celebrate her life with them. Yes, Lord, thank you for life. Even more so, thank you for life everlasting.

Now, you know I would never trivialize death or make light of the respect intended for my mother by those gathered to remember her. But, when I found that noise maker I really wanted to blow it. You see, that "visitation" and her funeral the next day were not the final chapters of her life. She lives. Jesus turned our mourning into laughter because she will live forever with him.

Scripture promises that believers do not grieve as the world grieves. We have hope. Yes, we are sad. But we will see her again. That is an occasion for rejoicing. Blow the noise makers and lift your hands to God for his indescribable gift. Celebrate life! Don't ever forget that life is precious and we should celebrate it together.

I will keep that noise maker as a cherished memento. And, I will use it on her birthday every August 17 to celebrate her and the gift she was to all of us. Amen.

The Morning After Death

Years ago some thoughtful friend gave me a small but insightful book about the human spirit and how we cope with the greatest mystery, death. Titled The Morning After Death, pastor and author Dr. L.D. Johnson explained the internal mechanisms for coping with loss. His insights were a compilation of Biblical truth and his own experiences in the immediate aftermath of his daughter Carol's tragic automobile accident death. For many years I have called on the wisdom of this little volume to guide others through the hard days following the death of a loved one. This week these insights brought comfort and guidance to me.

We are consumed with a certain a busy-ness the morning after death. Decisions must be made, friends and loved ones notified, plans affirmed. People automatically shift into their gift or talent or passion areas---some clean the house, others stock the refrigerator, someone else makes all the calls, while another re-arranges the furniture. There is much to do. Initially our grief is covered in a typically human fashion: we do things. Our friends and loved ones react in essentially the same manner. They call the florist and start cooking. We all know the futility of words at such a time so we kick into action and provide acres of food to cover the counters and feed the multitudes. Friday our dad commented that there couldn't be a live chicken within 500 miles of Greenville, such was the provision of the people who love us. We truly expected a personal thank you note from Colonel Sanders when the food started to arrive.

Through the funeral most grieving people are on auto-pilot, simply responding to the busy-ness after death. At some point, however, the flowers wilt, the food is finally eaten, and all the people are gone to resume their lives. Then, most of us hit the wall, the grief reality when the death of a loved one finally settles over us and we realize they are gone. We encounter them in the rooms and hallways, and imagine them in the familiar surroundings of home. But, they are not here. What is here is finality!

The Bible calls death the final enemy (see 1 Corinthians 15:26). Certainly this is not true of departed believers. It is victory for them, their instant transition to be with Jesus for ever. The sense that death is the final enemy is about those who remain. When all the busy work of the morning after death is over, this enemy attacks our minds to discourage and defeat us, to make us doubt, to confuse us with questions that cannot be answered, to steal our joy, and darken our memories.

Last evening Harriet and I came home. The morning after death was over and we were able to grieve together at the loss of my mother. We watched the moving video tribute that the wonderful people at Thomas McAfee Funeral Home provided for our family. We wept together and thanked God for her life. Today, the sun is shining and we are comforted by the reality of all the people who surrounded us the morning after death, and the thrilling promise of Scripture, " For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all Creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38). Even the dark enemy death cannot own us.

The morninng after death is over and we are still his. He holds us tightly. No one can take us from him, not even the final enemy death.

The Other Blessing of the Shepherd

This week our family has been mysteriously guided through the valley of the shadow of death by the good shepherd. He calls us each by name, leads us beside the still waters to ease our troubled hearts, and shows us paths of righteousness when the way becomes obscured by our tears. He is there to tend his sheep through this hard valley and to fight off the wolves of doubt and fear that could devour us when we are so vulnerable. This good shepherd is faithful and true. His presence has superimposed an abiding joy over our grief and sadness at the loss of our wife and mother, Esther Mae Owens Holmes.

Last night I discovered another dimension of blessing from this wonderful shepherd. We stood for three hours receiving the encouragement of hundreds of our friends and extended family at Thomas McAfee Funeral Home in Greenville. While they lavished their love and support on our family and paid tribute to our mother, it occurred to me: our loving shepherd has a flock! We are part of his flock, the sheep of his pasture. Another blessing of belonging to this shepherd is that there is a flock to surround us and travel with us as we navigate the difficult terrain of life. We have the blessing of a shepherd who not only knows the way, but is the way! Even more, he directs his flock to gather close when one of the sheep is threatened or hurt. 

You know, in the past thirty years I have conducted hundreds of funerals and officiated many kinds of worship experiences. Crowds energize rather than deplete me and preaching is one the ministry duties I relish most. The funeral of my mother, as you can imagine, was different. Let me tell you something, though. As I stood to speak I was attended by the shepherd and the sheep. According to his promise, the good shepherd gave me words to say (see Luke 12:12). The sheep gave me the courage and strength to say them. They gathered 'round to form a circle of love and prayer that lifted me and our family above the emotions that could have controlled us. Yes, those emotions were there, close to the surface all day. With the shepherd guiding us and the sheep surrounding us, however, we discovered joy unbounding and the peace that passeth all understanding.

What a treasure, to be a part of his flock! What a place to discover it. The other blessing of the shepherd is the sheep. And for them, every single one, we are all very, very thankful.

At that time...

Many years ago a ministry mentor advised a prayer to lift just prior to a speaking opportunity. Ever since then I have prayed Luke 12:12 as I took may place on the stage for a Sunday sermon, teaching session, revival message, funeral, or any occasion where the situation called for a word from God. It is a prayer based on a simple Bible promise---"the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say." More than anything, this little prayer has witnessed the Father's faithfulness as he has provided millions of ministers the words to say to grieving families, spiritually hungry people, and other folks facing the many urgencies of life.

The significance of such a prayer should be pretty obvious. You see, every word that goes out of my mouth is not infallible, inerrant, or fitted to the situation, as crafty and language savvy as I or anyone else may be. Try as we might, we're flawed and our best is but filthy rags before Him. On the other hand, every word uttered by God, words that He sends out, promises to accomplish what he intended and not return to Him empty. His Word brings fruit like the rains bring harvest. So, ministers who stand on this awesome platform need a reassuring promise from God before they deign to speak for Him.

Today, I am praying that prayer in a way that I've never prayed it before, as I ask the Father to give me the words to speak at the celebration of my mother's life on Saturday morning. My brother and sister, Mike and Christie, and our dad, have entrusted this awesome honor to me and my friend, Pastor David Case. We are asking God for His words, and more. I am asking for His peace and strength to speak words that will honor Him and testify to the faith and life of Esther Mae Owens Holmes, the woman who birthed us and guided us through the majority of our lives. I am humbled to say words about her, and for our family to permit me this honor. Am I worried about it? Not one bit. For more than thirty years our faithful God has been answering that little prayer, and I know he will again Saturday morning. In the ebb and flow of life the constant is His faithfulness.

A few days ago, God gave me the text to guide my thoughts. Mind if I share it with you? Of course it comes from the Old Testament Book of Esther, my mother's namesake. It is such a descriptive verse, and at least for me, captures one of the basic aspects of my mother's life. It is Esther 2:15, "And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her." Mother oozed faith, and it touched everything around her. She was faithful---wife, mother, grandmother, family member, neighbor, friend, church member, kindergarten teacher, all the way. More though, she was a faithful grocery store shopper, telephone talker, mall walker, shoulder to cry on, Sunday School member, encourager, pray-er, and listener to God. The faith that seeped from her pores made her faithful in all that she did. And, everyone loved her for that innocent, dependent, yielded, surrendered quality that defined her life. Like Esther of the Bible, she won the favor of everyone who saw her because she trusted God in everything and lived a faithful life as a result.

Searching for just the right words? For your Sunday School class, your children searching for answers, a friend facing one of life's devastating realities, a stranger God places before you, the incredible honor of speaking a Word from the Lord in any locale or circumstance? Just pray a little prayer, and let God do what He does..."the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."

Thank you Father! And, Esther Mae, thank you for teaching us to depend on and listen to Him---

She's Not Lost

Wednesday morning, our mother, Esther Mae Owens Holmes, concluded her journey under the sun and went to be with Jesus. Thankfully, she was accompanied through the valley of the shadow of death by a loving, gentle shepherd she had known so intimately most of her life. After witnessing the debilitating effects of ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease) for the past year, our family was grateful that her final moments in our life were peaceful.

She left here quietly, much as she lived. Yes, she was a vibrant, friendly woman who lived her life for others, especially our father, my brother, sister, me, and our families. For the most part, though, she was in the background holding us up, praying for us, rejoicing in our victories, weeping with us in our sorrows, and being the wife and mother God called her to be. She taught thousands of little ones in her many years as a kindergarten teacher. But, more than all the others, she shaped us as people of faith. We thank God for her life.

Tuesday night all of us stood around her bed, held hands, and prayed for our Lord's mercy in her final hours. We all wept. We could hear the applause of heaven as the cloud of witnesses prepared for her coming. We heard the brush of Angel's wings and knew, without a doubt, that "surely the presence of the Lord was in this place"!

A couple of years ago, Robertson McQuilken, emeritus President of Columbia International University and Seminary spoke at one of the Shepherding the Shepherd conferences sponsored by the South Carolina Baptist Convention. He spoke poignantly about the death of his beloved partner Muriel. He related an important incident. At the funeral home visitation, someone grasped his hand and said, "Dr. McQuilken, I'm sorry you've lost your wife". He looked the man in the eye and replied, "I haven't lost my wife. I know exactly where she is. I'm the one that's lost."

This is a truth. We did not lose our mother. We know exactly where she is. Jesus took her life many, many years ago. Now she is with him. We are a little lost. But, his grace will be sufficient for us too.

Later, mom. Thanks.

Say What? Advanced Journalism 101

OK, pretend for a moment that you just arrived from the third planet from the sun! You've plugged into a vocabulary port at the interplanetary arrival depot and you have downloaded all the words in the English language. Then, as you await your travel itinerary you sit down to read a local newspaper. After only a few minutes of reading the headlines, you cancel your global tour and book a starship back to the third planet from the sun, where the language makes a little sense. Reading the headlines has been a startling experience. Who would want to live in a world like this.

So, here's what you read on the sports page:

Torres Swims to Beijing.
Now, you're not all that informed about the geography of earth, and you're not aware that Dara Torres is 41 old, but you know to swim from Omaha, Nebraska to Beijing, China would be a supernatural feat. How could a visitor from a distant galaxy compete with people like that?

Braves Handcuff Marlins.
Once again, you're not sure why Native Americans would want to handcuff fish, or what kind of handcuffs could be needed to subdue an aquatic creature by the fins. But, this poses a horrible picture. Third rock sounds good.

Yankees Smother Bosox.
For one group of humans to cut off the airways of another group of humans, and then brag about it, seems totally barbaric. What kind of culture is this?

Cubs Bats Catch Fire.
This does not compute. Cubs? Bears, scouts, novice reporters, an airplane brand? What gives? What a danger flaming bats would be to everyone. Don't tell the terrorists!

Runner Has Eyes in His Feet
Now, you understand the basics of this other sport, football, but a human with eyes in his feet is an anomaly even to strangely shaped space creatures. This seems to give unfair advantage to his team. What a fearsome sight!

Shark Stalks the Open
Once again, this forms an incredible mind picture. The British Open at Royal Birkdale was played on a links course, meaning, golf holes linked along the Irish Sea. Still, as far as you know it is a land sport. Knowing that sharks haunt the dunes and greens is frightful. Watch your step!

Whew! Now turn the page to the health section and you're ready for your flight to be called. Bold headlines declare Man Stops Smoking Cold Turkey. And you thought cold turkey was something to eat! Remind yourself to avoid the deli before you head back to the third planet!

How do these people communicate?

I Feel Your Pain

Over the weekend Pope Benedict XVI attended World Youth Day festivities in Sydney, Australia, to disciple the next generation of Roman Catholics. The papal itinerary included a visit with victims of abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests. Pope Benedict told them that, as their pastor, he felt their pain. He apologized for the sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

This scandal keeps growing and critics of the church demanded actions and not words to remedy the corruption that has rocked their church and disenfranchised millions of Catholic youth. The scope of this scandal is massive. Approximately 4,392 American priests have been charged with abusing children entrusted to their pastoral leadership or in their schools. Already the various Catholic dioceses have paid out more than $2,000,000,000 ($2 billion) in settlements to their victims, $615,000,000 in the US during 2007 alone. Still, little has been done to address the problem. Few of the priests have been de-frocked and even fewer have faced criminal charges in courts. Mostly, the abusers have been re-assigned to parishes with smaller exposure to children.

The ministry has been a good hide-out for criminals. Recently a local pastor was implicated as a key player in a nationwide auto theft ring. A few months earlier, another local cleric was charged with multiple counts of child sexual abuse, after several prison terms for the same offenses. It is not uncommon to read about drug addiction, alcoholism, pornography, spousal abuse, and other visible infractions among people of the collar, so to speak. Yes, they are all humans, subject to temptation like everyone else, and capable of falling. But, come on! Something must be done.

OK, so a congregation fails to detect these patterns in a pastoral candidate. Some of these things slip through the cracks. Face it, every resume is not genuine, and identities can be altered these days with a few strokes of the laptop keys. Congregational polity and local autonomy leave plenty of room for human fallibility and mistakes. Still, the process of selecting ministerial candidates could be upgraded to include thorough background information, verification of resume bullets, criminal checks, and ordination review. I mean, Scripture does warn about being hasty in the "laying on of hands".

In a hierarchical organization like the Catholic church, however, with well-defined and absolute lines of authority, the continuation of these abuses is inexcusable. Pope Benedict could stop it. A word from him and the culprits would be defrocked and facing the tough justice meted out to child abusers in the prisons.

To share the pain is not to lessen it! So the Pope's sympathetic words, while playing well in the press, aren't much solace to those who have suffered. God's Word offers plenty of direction for dealing with errant and ungodly leaders. To break through the club mentality that so often defines ministry, we should turn to Scripture and let His Word be our guide.

Faded Words

A month or so ago we met on the concrete pad of our new facility for prayer meeting. At the conclusion of our meeting many of us wrote prayers and Bible verses on the slab, penning our dreams and desires for God to be honored in our use of these buildings. I remember spending my daily devotional time out there for several days reading all of the precious, thoughtful things our church family wrote. Each was a blessing!

Early this past Sunday morning as I walked around the project, I noticed that most of the words had faded. Tire marks and the elements had worn a majority of the words away and they were barely visible now. God reminded me how life wears us, how the stresses and pressures of daily life tend to dull the polish and brilliance of life as each day progresses. As fresh and bright as we may be at the start of each new day, reality often blasts it all away. As age creep up on us, the veneer changes, lines and cracks created by exposure to the elements appear. That perhaps is why we are advised in 2 Corinthians to "fix our eyes on not what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18). All this visible stuff just fades, like those words on the pad.

The Apostle Paul indicated, however, that some words remain. He wrote, "you show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:2).  This is the promised New Covenant indelibly written on our hearts. It cannot perish, spoil, or fade. It remains forever.

Soli Deo Gloria! His Word is eternal.