Hypocrisy

     I started writing this July 1, but it got pushed to the wayside, and other posts became more urgent.  It also gave me the opportunity to add more to it.

     

    Well, for another year, June is behind us. June is just a month.  Life lived.  Flag day, the summer solstice, birthdays, weddings (traditionally June has been the most common month for weddings--though my husband and I did the opposite and married in December!).  In the last few years, though, June has taken on a new meaning to some as pride month.  This is a month to celebrate the lifestyle of those who claim to belong to the LGBT (etc.) community.  For this reason, I am so glad this month is behind us for another year! 

     Though it is framed as a compassionate idea for marginalized people, it is actually anything but.  Chloe Cole, a young woman who at one time believed she was really a boy and transitioned and then detransitioned, now works to expose this ideology as a cult and, as she puts it, "one of the biggest medical scandals in the history of the United States of America."  I encourage you to look up her story, and her current advocacy.  

     If something is truly compassionate and loving, then everyone should be shown compassion and love, not just the target group.  This is not the case with pride month (which I refuse to capitalize, by the way).  It is completely hypocritical, as this picture below illustrates:

     This sign was in front of a business during June.  It says, Happy Pride, Y'all.  John 8:7, He without sin cast a stone.  There are so many problems with this, not the least of which is the logic.  Whether or not their intent was to do this, they have acknowledged that homosexual lifestyles (and other deviant lifestyles recognized in the LGBT etc community) are sinful.  But they take a laid-back view of it, and say, in essence, "Hey we're all sinners."  Which is true.  The fact that we are all sinners is a reason not to cast stones (and why we all need Jesus!), but certainly no reason to celebrate anyone's sin!  I speculate here, but the owner of this business establishment might realize that the population around are God-fearing folks, and decided that a quote from the Bible might win them over.  But the error in thinking goes even deeper here.   The maker of this sign didn't take into account that the Bible actually teaches that homosexuality is a sin (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:16-28--to name just a few verses).  To use the Bible to defend something that it condemns in other places is fallacious.  If the Bible both condemns and excuses this lifestyle, then the Bible shouldn't be used as an authority at all (of course I know it doesn't excuse it, and the Bible is my authority, but I'm illustrating where their logic ultimately leads).  Those who read their Bibles know what it teaches about homosexuality, so this sign likely didn't win anyone over.  If anything, it annoyed Bible-believers to see God's word misused, and possibly annoyed LGBT folks to see it called a sin.   In John 8:7, the verse they're using as an authority here, Jesus did not allow anyone to cast a stone at the woman caught in alultery, but neither did He celebrate her sin.  He didn't even excuse it.  He forgave her, and then told her to go, and sin no more. (John 8:11).  To use these words to celebrate pride month is a gross misrepresentation.  

     Three summers ago, I was so sick of the LGBT (etc) agenda being forced on everyone, so I did a little barb against it.  My husband and I took a group of our teenage summer missionaries to Chick-Fil-A (a business known for conservative values, and one a lot of the pride folks were boycotting at the time), and got a picture of all of us.  I put it on FB, and put the hashtag #humilitymonth.  It was just my own statement.

I am pictured with my husband, right, with some friends and summer missionaries in 2021, after we had finished teaching at our 5-day club that afternoon. 

     How did Facebook handle my post?  I went to FB jail!  I was cancelled!  I received a message, telling me that I wasn't being "safe" for other people.  And yet their LGBT propaganda isn't considered unsafe?  The idea that someone just might dare to disagree with them isn't acceptable?  Do they have any idea how hypocritical they are?  I was eventually let out of FB jail, but I have never again been allowed to boost my author posts, and this has hurt my writing business.  It's a small thing.  God knows.  I don't let it get to me.  But the LGBT agenda, and all who accommodate it, are hypocrites, accusing everyone else of the very things they are doing.

     Around that same time, my favorite baseball team, the Dodgers, posed in support of pride month.  I asked the honest question: "What does baseball have to do with sex or who a person is sexually attracted to?"  I got hundreds of furious responses, telling me I was ignorant and I needed to go educate myself (but I bet if I read 100 books about baseball, none of them would mention homosexuality, and if I read 100 books about homosexuality, none of them would mention baseball, so my question would still go unanswered).  One person told me (quite angrily) that pride month has nothing to do with sex!  Look who's ignorant now!  

     Why does this agenda need to be bullied onto people?  Why are those who disagree villainized?  Why are dissenters (like Chole Cole) silenced and cancelled?  I waited a while to post this (as I said, I had started writing it in early July), and now, I can point out that the Olympics opened with a disgusting display of drag queens making a mockery of the Last Supper.  Why?  Why don't we see people of other lives enacting it?  They didn't ask a bunch of law enforcement officers to reenact the Last Supper.  They didn't ask school children to reenact it.  They didn't get a group of regular but modernly-dressed people to do it (reenacting period pieces in modern clothing is an art form that many find interesting).  But they didn't do any of this.  They had to get people caught up in blatant sin, and are proud of it.  We're all sinners, and our sins are equal before God, but we don't all flaunt our sin and demand the rest of the world celebrate it.  We don't all intentionally and publicly make a mockery of Jesus with it at a world event.  

     We live in a world that has never known God since Genesis chapter 3, and will not know Him until He comes back and settles evil for all time.  Satan will get people to swallow whatever he can.  Many years ago, people weren't necessarily better--they were equally sinful and depraved, but the enemy has been working to get people to accept different things.  He is working toward a progression (or more accurately, a degression).  Where things are now--that's not an end goal.  That's a step in the progression.  We as Christians need to stand up for truth and not be taken in.  I have shared in other posts how we should completely love all people, and treat them with the love of God.  This means accepting them as created by God, fallen into sin, and redeemable through faith in Jesus.  It does not mean we tell them their sin is acceptable.  It doesn't mean we accept things God has condemned.  Love without truth isn't love at all, and if we act all loving toward people caught in sin, and refuse to tell them the truth, we don't really love them.  We are wishing them well on the road to hell.  We can't do that!  We can be kind and polite, and we don't need to make every conversation with such people into a major confrontation, but we can't afford to just "live and let live" anymore.  They aren't doing that for us.  They don't accept our stand or faith.  They are doing exactly what they accuse us of doing, cramming their beliefs down our throats and having temper-tantrums at anyone who disagrees with their fragile ego.  We need to call it what we see it.  They are hypocritical.  

     People often see hypocrites as very conventional people, like the Pharisees seemed to be in Jesus' day--people who wanted to do right so baldy that they added to God's laws.  Their intentions may have started off as being good, but it led to self-righteousness, and caused them to fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  This is a form of hypocrisy, certainly, but it is not the only form.  Many people apply this Pharisee analogy to mean that anyone who is conservative or has more traditional tastes are hypocrites, but that is not true.  A hypocrite is anyone who fails to practice what they preach.  The "tolerant" left only tolerates their protected classes.  They don't tolerate the views of others.  Those pushing this LGBT agenda are not sweet people trying to be kind and accepting.  If that were their goal, they would be wrong and misguided, but at least we could understand where they were coming from.  They would be kind to everyone.  But it is far from what they want it to look like.  The claim to want equality, but they really want their agenda to be more equal than those that oppose them.  Many well-meaning Christian people unfortunately play into their plans, like Jacob Whitehead, who shared the following about the opening of the Olympics (please read after this for my response):

   I’m a pastor, and I have something to say.

Christians that get online and spew hate toward nonbelievers anger me much more than nonbelievers spewing hate toward my religion.

I have no idea what the table at the Olympics was supposed to represent, as the official statement contradicts the larger opinion. But what I can say is that every single person at that table would have been invited to Jesus’ table. Jesus not only spent His time on earth with sinners, He invited them to the very table everyone assumes the Olympic table represents.

Matthew was a tax collector.

Peter was about to deny Him.

Thomas was about to doubt His resurrection.

Judas was about to betray Him.

Jesus ate with them anyway.

Jesus was with “sinners” all of the time. In fact, it’s one of the reasons the church people hated Him and wanted Him dead.

Please allow this to serve as a reminder that people who are not Christians are not our responsibility to regulate. Jesus gave us an example to follow of welcoming everyone and pointing them toward the love of Jesus. Remember that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, not the shouting of His angry “followers.”

This doesn’t mean I condone any religion (especially my own) being mocked. In fact, it is wrong. But my heart doesn’t hurt for what they are doing to Jesus. My heart hurts for people that are likely not in a loving relationship with their Creator. Jesus doesn’t need me to shout about sinners sinning. He wants me to shout about the hope and the love they are missing out on.

Before you share an angry post, or shout at people that Jesus died for, think for a while, and ask yourself if He would do the same. To be honest, you already know the answer. He wouldn’t. He didn’t. He died for them just as much as He died for you. Angrily shouting at people that don’t know Jesus is in direct contradiction to the example He gave us on the cross.

Westboro Baptist sandwich signs should anger you much more than this. Jesus flipped tables on people in the temple, not people outside of it.

Remember that.

This pastor is very misguided in this post. A lot of people rightly responded against his comments, and he turned off the comments from the post. That is immature. It would be better to just remove it. If you can't take it, don't dish it out. Immaturity aside, He is implying that the disgusting display and mockery wasn't a problem, but those who disagree with it are actually the problem. He is throwing his fellow Christians under the bus, and seems to completely misunderstand the situation. I think he is naive (and that's giving him the benefit of the doubt--maybe he's cruel and caustic). I don't know any Christian who hates those in the LGBT community, but we are called to stand for righteousness, and call people to the truth. Disagreeing with people shouldn't be equated with hate. Those who participated in the drag queen version of the Last Supper are not simply misguided and needing someone to just set them right. They need to be called out, and brought by the Holy Spirit to repentance. It's true that Jesus ate with those caught up in sin, but there is no instance where He saw someone openly mocking Him and approved of it. He delivered them first, then called them to follow Him. He called them to a new life in Him. That is what we are to do.

Don't buy into the hypocrisy. Stay in God's word, and keep the truth in mind always. Then, when foolishness rears it's ugly head, we can respond rightly. I'll close with Second Timothy 2:15, Study to show thyself approval unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Down in History

      How would you like your name to go down in history...from the worst part of your life, even though you've come so far since then, and will go further still.  That wouldn't be fair to hold you to where you were at one point in time.  And yet, so many of us do that with others, especially people who are no longer among us.  

     We hear stories about historical and even biblical figures, and the focus is always on one point of their lives.  Some victory or failure.  And yet their life on this earth was very much like ours--a mixed bag of wins and losses, successes and disappointments, accomplishments and regrets.  There is no biblical character I see so unfairly viewed as the Apostle Peter.  I hear sermons (and have heard several even recently) about how Peter was the buffoon who talked too much, took his eyes off of Jesus and started to sink the in water, was led by his impulses, and denied Christ.  If anything good is ever said about Peter, it's usually from the point of view, "After all this dumb stuff he did, God still used him, and you're obviously not as dumb as him, so God can use you too!"  But does Peter deserve that?  

     For one thing, the Peter of the four gospels did not have the Holy Spirit, and the Peter in Acts and the epistles did, so that is the biggest difference.  Peter went on to do great things for the Lord, including dying for him (Jesus predicted it in John 21:18-19, and history records it).  Long before his death, Peter was imprisoned for the faith more than once, and was bold and steadfast (Acts 4, Acts 12).  Peter preached the first gospel message at Pentecost, seeing 3,000 come to salvation (Acts 2:14-41).  He led the first Gentile family to the Lord (Acts 10).  He was an Apostle of the Jews (Galatians 2:8).  He was used by the Holy Spirit to pen the epistles of First and Second Peter.  Why aren't there more sermons about any of these spiritual victories?  Why do people just use his blunders in the gospels as negative examples?

     Not only did Peter grow and prove himself after his earlier mistakes, but let's look at his so-called mistakes.  Was Peter really worse than the other 11 disciples, or anybody else hanging around Jesus (he was certainly better than Judas!)?  He was more external that the other disciples.  But is that a fault?  Is that a bad thing?  Or is it just a different kind of personality?  The Bible urges us to watch what we say, but it never tells us that it is a sin to be outgoing and talkative.  Peter wasn't the only one who sometimes said shocking things.  James and John were nicknamed by Jesus as the "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17).  They asked their mother to ask Jesus to give them special honors of sitting at His right and left hand (Matthew 20:20-23).  They could be quite vengeful (Luke 9:54).  Where are the sermons about these incidents?  I don't say this to suggest that we should be down on James and John.  I just think it's hypocritical to be negative towards Peter and then not hold other disciples to the same standard.  

     Let's look at some of Peter's so-called missteps.  Yes, he sank in the water when he looked at the waves around him (Matthew 14:22-33), but he was the only one who actually got out of the boat.  For that brief moment, Peter was the one "of little faith" but the other disciples were of little faith that whole time.  And to get personal a moment, I've felt a lot like Peter in this regard lately, feeling like I'm looking at the waves around me instead of at Jesus, and He has mercifully taken my hand.  Peter walked by faith on the water!  No other mortal in history has done that!  Yes, Peter denied Jesus three times, but he was also the only one who had followed Jesus after his arrest.  The other disciples weren't even there to affirm or deny him (in John's account, "another disciple" was also mentioned to go with Peter to Jesus as well).  

     Peter was an all-or-nothing disciple.  He was given to extremes.  He had a temperament, as we all do, and God used his personality, just as He uses ours.  Jesus never criticized Peter's personality.  He corrected him, as He did others at times.  But Peter was one of Jesus' three closest friends (Peter, James and John were included with Jesus in otherwise private moments in the synoptic Gospels).  He was called and chosen by Jesus from the beginning of His ministry.  

     Instead of treating Peter like some idiot Jesus humored, I wish more Christians looked at him as someone we can relate to--someone with a heart and passions, wanting to do right, but sometimes failing to do so; someone who needed the Holy Spirit to make him who he was supposed to be.  That describes all of us.  The next time you hear a sermon about Peter's shortcomings, thank God for His redemption for Peter, and for you, and thank Him that your shortcomings won't be printed in the Bible for all of history!  I often wonder if Peter and some of the others in the Bible got more rewards for the sake of their lives being an object lesson like that.  I don't know, but I certainly think Peter's position deserves respect, as does every flawed believer Jesus has used!  That very much includes you.  Don't put Peter or anyone else "down" in history.  Put them up, where God has placed them--in His family, in His service, and in His forever kingdom!

Ministered to in the Forest

     "My Daddy wants you dead," the innocent kindergartner told me, wide-eyed.  How had I gotten myself into this?  It had been a successful week of ministry, with sixteen professions of faith in Christ.  I didn't need this!  Even in that moment, though, I knew this man wasn't my enemy.  The real enemy is Satan ( Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. -First Peter 5:8).  Sometimes it's easy to forget who we're really fighting, because we can't see him, but we can see the problems he creates.  

     Why did this child's father want me dead?  As we have worked with a particular partner church, a family came to the Lord--except the husband/father.  The mother, who had been saved as a teenager, has come back to her "First Love" of Jesus (see Revelation 2:4-5).  All the children have come to Christ.  Our little boy, Tommy, has loved doing play dates with these children.  The problem was, the father was not on board.  He has fought the church's efforts in the community.  He is a deeply troubled man.  In one instance, after he made some threats, I took his wife and kids to a safe place, and called the police on him.  He was furious with me (instead of being furious with himself for causing all of this with his ungodly behavior toward his family), and has refused to forgive me for this.  Instead of recognizing his own sin and need of a Savior, he is always on a witch hung toward anybody who dares to oppose his sinful (and sometimes illegal) behavior.  

     Not enjoying having my life threatened, I told this precious woman that I would always be her friend, but I was unwilling to come to her home as long as her husband made these threats.  I made sure the pastor of the partner church knew as well (he himself has called the police on this man multiple times).  

     Well, during recent Vacation Bible School, this man showed up at the VBS, completely intoxicated on drugs.  He attempted to steal a car, and the pastor had to stop him.  Tommy saw him and yelled out, "Mama!  Look!  _______'s Daddy is mean!"  I didn't coach him to say that this man is mean.  He has picked up on that.  The day after this, this man sent me a very mean and angry email, even though I had not interacted with him at all over his unwanted appearances at VBS.

     First, I ask that you pray for this man's salvation.  He is hard-hearted, and I believe that the only way he will come to Christ is to experience some legal comeuppance for his sins, and be truly faced with his need, and take real responsibility for his sin, and then be willing to embrace Jesus' sacrifice and forgiveness.  If you need a name to pray for, call him John--God will know who you're praying for.  Pray for John's wife and children.  Pray for wisdom for the pastor of this church, and for us in our dealings with all of them.  As a mandatory reporter, I am legally obligated to call the authorities when I am led to concern for their safety, and I have, and do, and will.  

     My biggest concern is something the wife told me about her husband's threats.  She assured me, "Oh, he says stuff like that, but he doesn't mean it.  He would never really do it.  He says it all the time, but he's never killed anyone.  He just wouldn't do that.  He has a good heart."  As a recipient of his ill intentions, I find little comfort in that.  This precious woman is inadvertently excusing and enabling his treats to continue.  Maybe she is okay with having threats, but I am not.  No one should be.  I told her that the law doesn't really distinguish between an idle threat and a real one.  There are certain discrepancies between the two, in cases where a reasonable person would know the person was in jest, but the types of threats this man makes are not in that category.  This was eye-opening to me just how much this sweet lady excuses and allows evil behavior, not having any idea.  And then it made me realize how much we all do this at times.  It is not possible for someone to threaten others and still have a "good heart."  Luke 6:45 states that, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.  What is coming out of people's mouths?  What is coming out of my mouth?  Your mouth?  That is the real revelation of what is in the heart.  

     This all led me to another thought.  How many times do we try to placate and excuse people in sin at the expense of the innocent?  Years ago, I heard someone calling into a radio advice hotline and sharing a story that went something like this: "My uncle lives with us, and I found out he's abusing my 5-year-old, but I'm afraid it will hurt his feelings if I confront him."  This is sickening that the caller was more concerned about hurting the abuser's feelings that protecting an innocent child.  And as for John's family, they spend all their time rallying around this man, trying to placate him and keep him happy, not taking into account everyone in the family and community he is affecting.  100% of the time, I will remove myself from abuse, without regard to how it makes the abuser feel.  I don't wish to counter-abuse, or harm them, but I am responsible for me, and the abuser is responsible for himself.  If he doesn't want people to avoid him, and wants people to like being around him, he needs to treat people as such.  No one is required to enjoy abuse.  No one is required to tolerate mistreatment.  Those who do tolerate it fail to see their value before the Lord.  God didn't create anyone for abuse or threats.  

     This is what God says about you and me.  

He loves us.  Jeremiah 31:3 says, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.  

Nothing can separate us from His love.  Romans 8:38-39 says, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is always working for the good of His people.  Romans 8:28 (ten verses earlier than the last passage) says, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God never forsakes us. Hebrews 13:5b says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

     If God loves us that much, and is working for our good, and is that committed to us, should we be subjecting ourselves to abuse?  Some might argue, "Well, Jesus did."  Yes, He did.  Once time for all eternity, Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, mistreated, and killed.  He didn't want it.  He begged to be spared if it were possible, but He knew it was the only way for us to be saved.  He conquered it all by rising again.  He never meant for us to just suffer needlessly at the hands of people who take advantage of these teachings and use spiritual-sounding language to excuse their sin.  We will suffer sometimes.  But we are not supposed to glory in abuse and just allow it as our "cross to bear."  Other than Jesus' atonement for our sins, He never allowed that kind of mistreatment.  Many times in the Gospels, the Pharisees wanted to kill him, but He did not allow it until it was time.  He put down a lot of personal boundaries by making Himself unaccessible at times, or going to a certain place where people could choose to meet with Him.  After Jesus, the apostles didn't just allow their enemies to harm them either.  Paul was sneaked out of the city in a basket (Acts 9:25).  Later, he used his Roman citizenship to get him out of abusive situations (Acts 16:37-40, Acts 25:9-11).  

     There is room for forgiveness, love and restoration.  I know everyone says and does things they wish they didn't sometimes.  Paul lamented this in Romans 7:15-20.  We need to give each other grace.  But there are lines, and when someone like John is crossing those lines, harming the community, and hurting others, that person needs to be brought to account, and the victims of their sin need to be safe and ministered to.  I heard a recent testimony of Cindy Clemishire, who was abused by pastor Robert Morris throughout her junior high and high school years in the 80's (I'll put the link to this Christian testimony below).  She shares that, as this story has recently come out, everyone has been worried about this pastor being restored, and yet not one person has tried to see if she has experienced restoration in her heart and soul.  This needs to change.  While we need to love and help those caught in sin, we need to doubly love and help those who have been hurt by this sin.  My concern is that Christians are choosing the harm their abusers inflict over the love God has for them.  

     After months of difficulty with John, and then having him try to ruin our VBS and send me a hateful messsage, and I was at the end of my rope.  I felt the Lord leading me to let Him minister to me.  I needed some time to decompress from dealing with this.  Not only did John's hateful tactics take a lot out of me, but I was reminded of other times hurtful people tried to insert their abuse on me, especially on some past mission trips.  We forgive and move on in victory, and yet at times, they come back to us, and we need God's ministry to us all over.  Since last week, I have had vivid dreams about past hurtful things.  I needed some ministry to my heart, and God knew.  I took a drive out into the countryside.  Arkansas is beautiful, and I felt restored.  One church we partner with is out in the forest, and they keep it unlocked at all times so that people in the community can come in and pray whenever they need, so that is what I did.  I prayed in this beautiful church is the woods.  And as I did, I was reminded of God's victory.  That's another promise to believers.  First Corinthians 15:57 says, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have His victory over evil people and behavior.  We have His forgiveness.  We have His plans for our lives.  Move forward in victory.  

Cindy's testimony on "The Beat with Allen Parr:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOHr69429L4

From the Ashes

 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  John 12:24

     Have you ever had a dream that died?  Something so strongly on your heart, and it broke your heart that it didn't come true?  Sometimes, broken dreams are the things God's plans are made of! 

     Some of the biggest hurts in my life were church hurts.  I could tell a lot of stories I won't go into right now.  Stories of love and loss, acceptance of rejection, hope and despair, courage and fear.  I knew refuge from the harsh realities of the world, yet also experienced the worst of what these realities can bring.  I saw two churches I loved die, and the dear friends from those churches scattered in the different directions of God's guidance and the winds of history.  Some of them, I never saw again, and will miss them until the day we are reunited in Heaven.  Sometimes, I still dream about these churches, and my loved ones from those special times.  This is one of the reasons I love 80s and 90's worship music more than any other style, because it reminds me of those precious days when I was just learning to know God's will.  Yet there are some songs from that era I still cannot listen to without feeling great agony.  I think of skating parties, picnics, potlucks, youth group outings, plays and performances, Christmas caroling.  I think of laughing, anticipation, friendships, and learning about life.  I also think of hurts, some so unnecessary.  I think of lapses in right judgment among some that I trusted--forgivable, but devastating.  As Christians, we are told we will never fit in with this world, and we accept that.  But nobody ever prepares us for when we don't fit in at church.  Persecution from within.  And a part of me obsesses, longs to travel back in time and somehow undo the mistakes of the past--even when they weren't mine to begin with.  I try to control what was never in my power in the first place.  I react strongly and irrationally against situations that remind me of those losses.  In my heart, I'm fighting those long ago battles, hoping for a different outcome.  Do you ever do that?  

     And yet God never wastes a hurt.  The aches in my heart have served a purpose.  The fire they lit in me in another century is now coming to fruition at last.  The kernel of grain died long ago, but is finally bearing fruit!  

     I long to see dying churches revived, given another chance at life, the way I wish mine had.  I long to bring back laughter and joy to places that had all but given up.  I can still feel the past victories hanging in the air, and want to bring it all back.  For years, I have wondered if I was crazy, but just now, in our ministry, I am seeing God bring use out of this passion.  

     Two years ago, Walter and I met with Pastor Stan Payne at Roland Baptist Church in Roland, Arkansas.  This  little country church had seven members, all senior citizens.  When we shared what our ministry does, in partnering with churches to reach children with the Gospel, and then directing these children and their families into churches to find a church home, Pastor Stan actually cried, and said, "We need this!"  We started a weekly Good News Club in that church, and over the last two years, we have seen 12-15 elementary-aged children come each week.  They are fed a meal (which is initially always the draw!).  But many have come to salvation, and several have been baptized and joined this church.  We saw a whole family baptized together last year!  This little struggling church has tripled in size, and for the first time in 30 years, they have children's church on Sunday morning.  The four pictures directly below are signs of new life at Roland Baptist!

     Mabelvale Methodist Church (here in a part of Little Rock known as Mabelvale) was facing a slump of discouragement.  Their beautiful building was once full of families and growth, but was now dwindling, a ghost of its past glory.  When we reached out to Pastor Bob Marble, he excitedly agreed to partner with us.  We were able to do a Christmas and an Easter outreach at this church this past year.  We reached out to the families in the community.  A new family who just lost their wife/mother to death and were in desperate need of Christian fellowship came to an outreach we did, and after this, began attending the church!  God used these outreaches to start something!  God has plans at this precious church, as the pictures below of families at the outreaches show.

     Probably the most exciting story occurred at Wye Mountain Community Church, in a very rural part of our ministry area.  This tiny congregation only manages to stay afloat by doing a yearly daffodil festival for the community, that brings in revenue.  I have lived in Arkansas four years now, but hadn't yet attended the festival.  This year, the day before it started, I had a strong urging in my spirit that I needed to go to the festival a day early and check it out.  I didn't know why, but I couldn't shake this sense that I needed to get down there.  I took the 40-minute drive out into the beautiful countryside that always restores my soul.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I pulled up to Wye Mountain Community Church.  Talk to someone, the prompting in my heart grew.  I got out of the car and approached a man who was setting things up in front of the building.  Not sure what to say, I asked if he was the pastor.  He told me they hadn't had a pastor in a while, but he referred me to a woman who was more or less in charge of the festival.  I located her and introduced myself, explaining my ministry.  This sweet, beautiful woman beamed, and grabbed me into an unexpected hug.  "Not ten minutes ago, I asked the Lord to send someone to help us with our children's ministry!  We need children in this church!"  Thus began a friendship and partnership.  We helped them with an outreach, and saw four children come to salvation.  We did their VBS, and 9 children attended, with a few new children coming into the church Sundays!

     Seeing these old and dying churches reviving is a dream come true for me.  Redemption for my losses.  The passion had to be ignited long ago, so I could help them now.  This isn't about me.  It's about what God has been purposing to do.  He has me in this time and place to help them.  He used things that have been on my heart for decades to bring about victories now!  He does the same with all of us.  His plans arise out of the ashes of our losses and brokenness.  This is a biblical idea.

     In Genesis Abraham had a heart's desire that was God-given (Genesis chapters 12, 15, 18), and after years of disappointment (and even some disobedience on his part--Genesis 16), he saw God's fulfillment, which made the victory all the more amazing (Genesis 21).  He even faced a test of faith after this (Genesis 22).  He saw the death of his dream more than once, only to see it rise up again out of the ashes of disappointment. 

     A few generations later, Joseph had some dreams, again God-given (Genesis 37).  But it wasn't smooth sailing into fulfillment.  Joseph went through trial after trial--being sold as a slave, lied about, falsely jailed, forgotten.  In the midst of that, I wonder if he thought his long-ago dreams were just a fluke of his imagination.  And yet finally, he had his day.  Everything came together.  Everything that had happened to him added up only one way, and that led to his being put in the second-highest office in the country, and saving the world from famine (Genesis 41ff).  He had his dream come true, but God had to prepare the way for him before he got there.  Again, this is a picture of victory from defeat.  

     Simeon had a God-given desire to see the Messiah before he died (Luke 2:25-26).  It is implied he was quite elderly by the time he got to see baby Jesus (Luke 2:29-32).  Imagine his years of waiting, wondering if he had misheard God.  Would he ever see the Savior?  When it finally happened, he knew it, and he knew he had lived his purpose on this earth.  His soul must have soared with a lifetime of joy and fulfillment in God's will and leading.  

     Proverbs 13:19 says, A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul...  The verse I started with, John 12:24, echoes this sentiment, and enhances it by saying that when these desires die, they arise again to greater life.  If I had not had the losses and heartache of church hurt, I would have stayed who I was.  A nice person, happy at church, but with no greater realization about how to help others, and how to reach those I am now called to reach.  These victories would pass me by without my even knowing.  I never understood the why--and I still don't.  My experiences were life and joy--and humiliation and devastation.  I have lifelong friends because of those times, and also broken relationships that will never be restored until Heaven.  I have fun stories that still make me smile, and hurt feelings that still make me ache inside.  All of these things sat in my soul for years, being stirred slowly by the Lord.  They culminated to bring about these new victories.  He will do the same with your heartaches.  

      The victories--Abraham getting his promised son, Joseph becoming a world leader, me seeing these churches revived--isn't the real ending to the story.  Those are just the parts we can see.  In the process, God shaped these people's characters.  God has made me more like Jesus, and that is the real victory.  I imagine when we get to heaven, we will see even more than we know now--more victories that stem from our seeming defeats.  

     The greatest defeat in history happened on Good Friday, when it looked like Satan had won.  Jesus was dead.  What could come from it now?  And yet Easter morning tells the answer.  Resurrection.  Salvation.  Life from death.  

     If you are seeing death of dreams, take heart.  It may be Good Friday, but Easter is coming.  You will see victory.  Stay in the word until you see more light.  It might take years to see fulfillment--and to an extent, maybe none of us will see it in our lifetime, but God's comfort is there in the defeats, leading you onward to victory.  Don't give up!  

      If you are a Christian, your heart is that kernel of wheat.  God is doing something.  He is getting ready to reap a harvest.  Don't quit before the miracle!  The best is yet to come!