On
Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 7:48 AM Dana sent the following
Hey John,
And because iniquity shall abound, the
love of many shall wax cold. Matthew 24:12 (KJV)
This past week it was announced that Senator John McCain was diagnosed
with a brain tumor. That is never good news…or so you would think. What I found terribly disturbing was the cold
blooded, hateful response by many who consider themselves “conservatives,” or
worse “conservative Christians,” who commented, to the effect, that the
Senator’s condition was God’s justice, and, who were actually ecstatic that he
is potentially facing death. To be
honest, I am not a fan of Senator McCain or of some of his policy stands. But
to rejoice in anyone coming down with cancer, regardless of their political
leanings is monstrous.
And,
we grossly speak out of turn if we declare someone’s illness as God’s
judgment. That is not our call to
make. God is certainly and righteously
justified to enact judgment on sin in any way He chooses, but that is His
business and not ours. We’d do well to
know (or learn) our place, and tremble at His judgments, rather than throw a
party when we see someone who we don’t like “get theirs,” so to speak. We all are just one old rugged cross away
from “getting ours.”
So
in the passage quoted at the beginning, there could very likely be applications
to the disciples’ day and to ours. While that may or may not be a harbinger of
the “Last Days,” we do see iniquity abounding, and we also are daily witnessing
the love of many waxing cold. One can
hardly take in the news, be it network TV or radio news, a newspaper, or
internet news without being absolutely deluged with enough slop to warrant a
shower immediately following. Many of
the stories reflect a level of cruelty on a par with Genghis Khan or Pol Pot or
ISIS.
Jesus
told us things were going to get worse before they got better in Matthew 24 and
its parallels in Luke 21 and Mark 13, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but
somehow it still does. Just when one
thinks that humanity cannot sink any lower in depravity, good old mankind will
rise to the occasion and completely astound us with something even more barbarous
than we could have imagined.
Hence the John McCain incident. Had Senator McCain been defeated by a rival
in a fairly held election, I, and many in this country would have thought that
to be a positive thing, in that it would be a reasonable expression of our
American political will. But his exit
should be through the democratic process and not due to cancer.
We should not be surprised when sinners act like sinners, any more than
we should be surprised when our family dog acts like, well…a dog. But many on the political left (and to be
fair, some on the political right) have acted absolutely horrendously toward
our current president. This is not to
vindicate Mr. Trump, his actions or his policies so much, as it is to point out
the unmitigated hateful bile spewed out against him by those who oppose him.
There are not many US presidents with whom I have totally agreed as to
their political, public, or even private doings. But outside of the assassination of John
Kennedy, which was an extreme show of disapproval, I cannot recall the tone of
any president’s criticism being as dark and vile as it is now. Legitimate criticism and public discourse has
turned into pure hate. Are we seeing the fulfillment of Matthew 24:12 happening
right in front of our eyes? It would
appear so.
The overarching question, in my book is what should be the Church’s
response? Now, I’m not suggesting the
Church take up any politician’s cause.
If one goes to the trouble and expense to get themselves elected to
public office, then that one should have a thick enough hide to weather the
storms of public criticism. In other
words, “…If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
What I am proposing is the Church going on the attack against the wanton
hatred being so shamelessly displayed in our land. For if what we see now becomes accepted or
tolerated, what then, can we expect next?
But how can we do that?
Some would say the best way to fight fire is with fire, and in the case
of out of control forest fires, that may be true. But more fires are put out with water than
with starting another fire. Since we’re
dragging out archaic sayings from a previous generation, what about “killing
the haters with kindness?”
What if the Church made a concerted effort to show love and kindness on
a militant level? We’ve spoken of this
before. We can provide a very effective
witness when we do something nice to someone who is not expecting it. More so, what about doing something nice for
someone who does not deserve it? We need
to step up, and show some real love in this dark and fallen world. Sitting back and complaining about how bad
things are will only satisfy our desire to “belly ache” about things until
things get even worse.
We in the Church could all commit, God helping us, to trying to think of
one person we (and possibly justifiably) do not like, and target that
individual with an underserved blessing.
I mean, doesn’t that sound somewhat Christ-like? Didn’t He provide the ultimate gift to the
undeserving (us, His enemies)? By our
very drawing of breath didn’t we mock and blaspheme Jesus, and do every
conceivable thing contrary to His most holy word?
I
don’t know what that might portray to one so lost (even if thinking they are
following Christ) who is overjoyed that John McCain is getting what he
deserves. We all deserved something much
worse than cancer…hell. Yet God loved
us! Aren’t we commissioned to do the
same? Aren’t we to reflect the character
of Jesus?
So
where is that on a massive scale? Hating
the haters, while sometimes tempting (and we must ask ourselves just where that
temptation comes from?) is not the answer.
Demonstrably loving the haters is the answer.
This is a call to arms for Christians.
A call to take those two arms the Lord gave us, and put them to use to
enact goodness and kindness and mercy in the name of that same Lord. Pray about it. Ask God to show you some miserable hateful
soul who could use a good dose of Christ’s love, and, ask Him to give you the
grace, courage and means to show that person love. Do not be surprised if when shown the love,
said miserable hateful soul responds negatively—(hint, hint, that’s what they
do, remember the dog illustration above.)
If they respond negatively, hit them again with even more kindness. We’re lighthouses, and Lord knows, we could
use some more light.
Talk
soon,
Dana
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John responds Tue, On Jul 24, 2017, at 3:15 PM
Hello Dana
One
of my all time favorite movies is All the
President’s Men where Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman portray the real
life characters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, respectively, of the once
respected “The Washington Post” newspaper. I was living in Alexandria, VA, when
the Watergate scandal exploded. I would
often watch it daily on the television and of course read about it in “The
Washington Post.” Because of this, today,
I often tell young journalists to watch that movie to see what good journalism
can do. You’ve heard the line in the Christmas song that says, “He’s making a
list and checking it twice,”? That’s
what good journalists used to do. Fact check. Not today. It is no wonder that
few people read a newspaper today (Yes I know all about electronic media
helping to kill print news. But I contend that a strong, TRUTHFUL AND HONEST
press, especially newspapers, is one of the greatest safeguards for our
democracy that there was, and should be!)
On
May 19th of this year, in “The Washington Times” is an article by
the real Bob Woodward, not Robert Redford.
In the article headlined and quoting Woodward “stop binge drinking the
anti-Trump Kool-Aide,” the still respected senior journalist tells younger fellow
journalists, “I think it’s time to dial back a little bit....” referring to the
constant stream of vitriolic publishing against the current, sitting President.
Then
there is what used to be “yellow journalism,” i.e
journalism based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration. or what
President Trump regularly refers to today as “fake news.” (see Wikipedia about
yellow journalism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism ) I
think today’s yellow journalism is one of the more visible symptoms of the
cultural cruelty that is ever more abounding today.
While
I don’t agree with your fan status of Senator John McCain, (I am) and I do not
agree with your view on the Church being apolitical (I think this is one of the
reasons the country is in the mess it is in); I do heartily agree with your
condemnation of those who would equate the recent announcement of his cancer
and tie that into God and His judgment of the man.
More
later. I’ve got to run to the bank before it closes.
John
++++++++++++++
Dana
responds at Tue,
Jul 25, 2017 at 5:03 AM
John,
I don't want to turn this into something
political. It's just that I am using something that happened and is happening
in the political world to illustrate a growing sickness in our society. The
issue is how cruel our society has become, not something political or
eschatological.
+++++++++++++++++
John
replies at Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 7:30 AM
Dana
I agree. A scripture comes to mind 2
Tim 3:1-7, that might cover all aspects that we’ve touched on so far.
3 But
realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful,
arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous,
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have
denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For
among them are those who enter into households and captivate [d]weak
women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the [e]knowledge
of the truth. (NASB)
But quite honestly, I don’t know
what to do with your statement, questions, suggestion, and challenge:
What I am proposing is the Church going on the attack
against the wanton hatred being so shamelessly displayed in our land. For if what we see now becomes accepted or
tolerated, what then, can we expect next?
But how can we do that?
You suggest
What if the
Church made a concerted effort to show love and kindness on a militant
level? We’ve spoken of this before. We can provide a very effective witness when we do something nice to someone who is
not expecting it. More so, what about
doing something nice for someone who does not deserve it? We need to step up, and show some real love
in this dark and fallen world.
Then you challenge us with this:
We in the
Church could all commit, God helping us, to trying to think of one person we (and possibly justifiably) do not like,
and target that individual with an underserved blessing. I mean, doesn’t that sound somewhat
Christ-like? Didn’t He provide the ultimate
gift to the undeserving (us, His enemies)?
For the past number of months, we’ve
written about various ills in the Church, most recently my agreement with
Martyn Lloyd-Jones that the Church, in general, is comfortable with what they
have and who they are and it doesn’t want revival. Presuming that the Church doesn’t want
revival, even though your suggestion is eminently reasonable, how can we get
ones and twos in church to act on your challenge? While I am a proponent of the
John Hagee almost fire and brimstone style of preaching, (good, old fashioned preaching) and you
recently suggested we take a lesson from Elijah and listen for God’s still
small voice, if individuals don’t take your suggestion to heart, it just won’t
happen, and we’ll slide farther down the cultural cruelty slope.
What say you now?
+++++++++++++++++
Dana
answered Thu,
Jul 27, 2017 at 9:53 AM
It has to start
somewhere, John. Do we stand by and do nothing based on a presumption that the
church might not want revival? Brother
Greenaway used to say, “If you don’t know what to do, take over.”
A fire most often starts with just one spark. It’s not our job to “get” the ones and twos
in the church to act, but to lead by example—to do what’s right and pleasing to
the Lord whether anyone else does it or not.
“Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is
in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 (KJV)
And: “ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44 (KJV)
