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I saw a commercial by @Franklin_Graham the other day telling viewers why they should receive Christ as their Savior. Thankfully, I received Christ decades ago. I trusted those who shared the Gospel with me.
But what if I were hearing this message - from him - for the first time?
But what if I were hearing this message - from him - for the first time?
If the unregenerated me had heard someone who did not seem to have any problem with Trump’s extreme lack of morality, but seemed to make excuses for it and even celebrate some of it, would I be receptive to them telling me how to have MY sins wiped away?
It’s been a long time and I don’t know exactly what the teenage, pre-Christ, version or me would think in today’s world.
But I still had a basic sense of right and wrong. And I still could smell hypocrisy from a mile away.
But I still had a basic sense of right and wrong. And I still could smell hypocrisy from a mile away.
I’ve heard the message he gave in that commercial a thousand times and have shared it myself hundreds of times. But it dawned on me that the most credible message in the history of the world - the Gospel of Christ - is muted if people don’t believe or trust the messenger.
Would I look at people who had NO problem with lying, cheating, cruelty and corruption - or worse, only had a problem with it when the other political party did it - and consider them a trustworthy source of information about where I stood with God?
The young men who shared the Gospel with me and who God used to change my life were a bunch of white Evangelical brothers.
One of them became a spiritual mentor to me for years after that. I’ve since shared the Gospel with hundreds of people myself and have led many to Christ.
One of them became a spiritual mentor to me for years after that. I’ve since shared the Gospel with hundreds of people myself and have led many to Christ.
If that meeting happened today, with the strong intermingling of the white Evangelical community w/political support of a person who contradicts God’s Word in almost every way imaginable, would I even have listened to them? Or would I have rejected Christ because I rejected them?
I think I know the answer.
Listening to Graham give the message that I love and the message that I myself have given countless times, I didn’t focus on the message. I focused on the messenger. And the fact that I no longer trusted him.
Listening to Graham give the message that I love and the message that I myself have given countless times, I didn’t focus on the message. I focused on the messenger. And the fact that I no longer trusted him.
People may or may not see it now. But the intermingling of a large segment of faith community with a man who violates nearly everything it says that it believes in, the mixing of spiritual faith and secular politics, has harmed the Church more than any external force ever could.
