SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #197 ---- 10/08/01
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Fight the Good Fight of Faith
A personal letter of encouragement to you, written solely to "lift up hands that hang down".
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SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #197 ---- 10/08/01
TITLE: "Taking Personal Responsibility"
My Dear Partner and Cherished Friend in Ministry:
We are now four weeks away from one of the most horrific events in the history of the United States. Counter strikes have just taken place hours ago against the Taliban and terrorist organizations. The challenges before us are unprecedented in our generation. It is my prayer that you and your people are finding refreshing, hope, and encouragement in the Lord. It is a perfect opportunity to discover at new levels the absolute faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is certainly not the time for the faint of heart or the nay sayers. It is a time for God's people to be people of courage . . . . praying, loving, forgiving, ministering, and boldly proclaiming the Gospel message. As Peter declared, we must always "be ready to give an account of the hope that is in you".
MORE RESOURCES:
Friday I received the current "Lighthouse" newsletter with the following excellent resources listed. I would encourage you to use them exhaustively.
One of those resources is a new web site that has been developed to help Americans deal with their personal feelings and grief following the attacks. The web site - http://www.911recovery.com - is a joint effort of Here's Life, Inner City and The King's College, in collaboration with hundreds of churches. The site offers the following options:
Respond - By sending a note of thanks to firefighters, police officers and rescue workers in NYC.
React - Words to help us heal.
Reflect - Is there a God?
Renew - Beginning or refreshing a relationship with God.
In every area, the reader is pointed toward God and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Consider making others - particularly non-believers - aware of this web site. It offers a non-threatening approach in sharing the Gospel.
Also, go to http://www.evangelismtoolbox.com for resources in how to share your faith. On the left hand side of the Evangelism Toolbox home page is a list of resources to encourage and equip you. Those resources also include materials to reach Muslims. Now is a wonderful time to reach out to those who are Muslim or of Arab descent in your workplace, neighborhood or community - showing them love and concern. Seek ways to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to them through acts of kindness, friendship and offers of help.
Another good resource is The American Tract Society - http://www.gospelcom.net.ats. ATS has developed a number of new Gospel tracts based on the tragedy. On their web site home page, click on Crisis Resources.
One of my grand daughters sent me this little notice: A downloadable program to put an animated US Flag in the lower right > hand corner of your screen. Its awesome! http://www.deskflag.com/
A GREAT IDEA:
I ALSO pass this on for your consideration:
"The firemen at the WTC work 24 hour shifts. some are trained in search and rescue and go into the cracks and crevasses, looking for victims as they pray for survivors. Believe me when I tell you they have seen horrors we could not even imagine. Take your worst nightmare and you still would not be able to imagine the horror.
"So what do these guys need? Something that is not publicized.
"On the news, they are saying that the firemen are getting discouraged because they have not found anyone [alive] for a long time. . . . But through it all, they go on and on and on and on.
"So let's start a Card Writing Campaign. Go out to your local Hallmark or where ever it is you by your greeting cards. Buy a card that reflects what your feelings are about their heroic efforts and send it to them at:
NYC Fire Department
1 Chase Manhattan Plaza
New York, NY 10005
"Lets start our own miracle. Lets show these brave men how we feel about them. They need our love, support and encouragement.
"Forward this e-mail, send those cards!!!!!!"
HEAVY HEARTED:
As I write you, I again find myself incredibly heavy hearted. The scenes before me are vast and deep; sometimes they are so dark that much of the pictures are indistinguishable. But, I do remember some scenes that are changing me.
1. I remember the scenes of September 11th. They will forever be imbedded in my memory. It is still hard to believe. But it all really did happen. Interestingly, those scenes remind me of other murders in America . . . . at the tune of 4,000 per day in abortion clinics. I grieve that such carnage was ignored by most people, including Christians. They also remind me of Oklahoma City and the fact that the survivors and family members of those victims have for the most part been left to now grieve alone . . . . we have gone on to other things.
2. I remember the scenes of the Balkans. The scenes of desolate Kabul look like other places I've been . . . . Mostar, Vukovar, Blata, Pakrac, . . . I am reminded of the hundreds of thousands of Bosnians, Croats, Serbs, Kosovars, and Albanians who continue living in squalor, empty inside because of the ethnic genocide that took the lives of family and friends. If you did not know the difference, you would think you were looking at buildings in Afghanistan.
3. I remember the scenes of the Afghanis. Like you, I've seen recently the eyes of demoralized men too old to fight. I've looked into the faces of mothers and wives and have seen nothing but a sense of fatal hopelessness, to numbed to even be frightened. I've gazed at the innocent faces of children bewildered by all that is around them. If I didn't know better, I'd think there were Albanians or Macedonians.
4. I remember the scenes of futile efforts and gestures. Even yesterday we learned that the retaliatory actions have begun. Where will it lead? I don't know. One thing I do know . . . . it's not going to lead to here America wants it to lead. It's going to be an unbelievably long road to a dead end. Because, as long as there is no battle in the heavenlies, there will be no lasting victory and peace on earth.
Frankly, some of what I see in this arena also angers me intensely. How unbelievably narrow and dogmatic some of our statements have become. We have reached new heights of presumption and have expressed unforgivable levels of arrogance as some members of the Body of Christ have spouted their eschatological declarations (as if they really knew) on the one hand and have excused America's sins on the other . . . . insisting that God is either so merciful He will let us get away with our depravity, or He is so angry with us that He'll fry us no matter how much we might repent, or He is so partial to us because we support Israel that He'll reward us instead of judging us for our sins.
My encouragement is to go back to the Book and take another look . . . . . this time through the eyes of the Holy Spirit instead of through the words of human interpretives. I'd be much more interested in what God is saying that what others are saying. And you should be, as well . . . . including what I've been saying. Don't take my word for it; I could easily be wrong.
5. I remember the scenes of the church past. I don't know . . . . maybe this is where my heart feels the heaviest. I still remember past experiences where the most poorly attended services in a church were the ones devoted to prayer. I still remember the scenes of empty alters in the midst of great crisis. I remember recent scenes where churches were gearing up for "business as usual" with little or no evidence of change. I remember looking recently into the faces of believers intentionally pre-occupied with activities and plans designed to distract away from the critical events and pivotal moments of decision. The picture of "spiritual denial" is still clear in my mind as if some believers are oblivious to the reality of what has just happened . . . . the stage has been re-set, hidden characters have emerged, and the final act has begun.
I also remember the scenes of great revival and know what can be. I remember seeing alters filled with weeping people. I remember times when Wednesday night prayer services would exceed the attendance of Sunday night services. I remember seeing college students on their faces before God crying out to Him for mercy and interceding in behalf of nations.
So many scenes that relate to the church past and present. And yet I have a heart reaching out to grasp the possibility of a church falling before her Head and King. Yet, I am fearful that this opportunity, too, may be passed by on the other side.
Friend, I have always tried to be completely honest with you in my own pilgrimage. And, tonight as I try to write further, I feel absolutely spent. I don't know what else to say. In that I can find no further words to sufficiently describe my heart at the moment, I share with you a recent editorial by my good friend, Jeff Floyd, with Jubilee Ministries. It says what I could not find words to express.
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"Regardless of one's politics we can not help but admire the honesty of Harry S. Truman who was said to have a plaque on his desk in the Oval Office which read: 'The Buck Stops Here.'
"On one occasion and in a certain community it was well known that the local church had prayed long and hard that God would remove a tavern that was the instrument of much drunkenness and evil in the community. Eventually the tavern caught fire and burned to the ground. The tavern owner sued the church---accusing it of being responsible for the loss of his tavern. The church pleaded 'not guilty' when the case came to trial. Finally, after all the eloquent machinations of both attorneys, the judge remarked: 'Before I pass judgment on this case, I want to make the following observation. It appears to me that the tavern owner believes in prayer and church does not!'
"It is a mistake to think that society in general, will ever get better. We are taught by the Apostle Paul, that in the last days evil men will grow worse and worse. It seems that the church today, even when its citizenry approaches a numerical majority in the nation, does not have the spiritual power to quell the rising tides of unrighteousness. We would rather gather our robes of self-righteousness about us, stoke our indignation with recriminations about the awfulness of sin, while all the while shrugging our spiritual shoulders in despair and helplessness. One wonders if the church, indeed, believes in prayer!
"It is difficult for us to face the fact that there is such a spiritual lassitude and moral turpitude within our collective midst that it dulls our vision, quenches our spirits, and opens the floodgates of unrighteousness of a world ever poised to expand its evil. We would much rather, in a victimesque type mentality, point fingers of accusation toward the evildoers
of the world to cloak our own culpability, slothfulness, and unbelief. The churches of the land generally stand guilty in failing to pray down the kind of power that chills the seething cauldrons of unrighteousness that ever boil within any nation and to stem the encroaching curtains of darkness that threaten our national shores.
"Our Father has never left it up to the world to get better. He, rather, charged us to pray with the intensity and persistence of Abraham when he prayed for Sodom where he implored God to spare the unrighteous in behalf of the righteous. Although God may be poised, ready to pour out His judgment on the land because of the stench of its evil, He is willing to stay His hand if a significant righteous presence in the populace is there to stand in the gap for the land. If He, indeed, has brought judgment on the nation as some believe, it is because we as believers have failed in our mission. Therefore the buck stops here!
"History has proven repeatedly that it does not take a 'moral majority' to change the moral and spiritual heart of a nation. Rather it requires a minority who understands its true task of intercession and who is willing to pay the price required. The growing menace of the moral and social ills of our day is not because of the lack of those who will speak out sufficiently, but rather because there are not those who are willing to reach up efficiently to Him Who can and will bring revival if we, as His people, demand its issuance and presence.
"We, like Elijah, can chide the unrighteous in their feeble attempts for their prayers to reach their 'gods,' but reality hits when we stand before our altars seeking for the fire to fall in response to our prayers. God does not require that we sit immobile and passive in the face of an invasion of our freedom and way of life. However, He does ever require that we prostrate ourselves before Him seeking the enabling power that ultimately leads us to victory. It is imperative that we see that there is a war behind all wars that cannot be fought with guns, aircraft, and tanks. This war is one that only we can fight on our knees before a great and powerful God.
"God assured Solomon that if HIS PEOPLE (not the worldlings) would humble themselves, repent, and pray then He would hear their prayers and heal their land. It remains, then, that the buck stops here. Only as we, as God's people, humble ourselves to the extent that we can not only admit but confess that 'the buck stops here,' do we have a starting place out of our national dilemma.
"We have long blamed the nation, the schools, the abortion clinics, the courts ---- in fact, the ungodly ---- for the ills of our nation. As terrible as the evils are that plague our society, and as guilty as the unrighteous are, we must finally admit to ourselves and among ourselves that their existence is symptomatic of our failure as the people of God to be who and what He has called us to be. We must finally admit that we have enjoyed our religious traditions too long and been too engrossed with our own religious pleasures to take seriously the job that is really ours.
So in the end, the buck stops here!
Jeff
For other messages by Jeff and others, go to <http://www.jfloydministries.org> and
<http://www.lifelinenet.com>.
Jefferson H. and Norma R. Floyd, CO-directors
Jubilee International, Inc.
P. O. Box 3202
Carmel, IN 46082
Copyright October 2001 by Jefferson H. Floyd. All rights reserved.
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IN CONCLUSION:
Have we got the message yet?
Some have, but I fear that most haven't. I believe there is much more to come that will bring great anguish and heart ache. But, I believe God's Word to us is the same as it was to Israel ---- "I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you," declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile." (Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Dear friend . . . . please join me in urging our churches, our pastors, our fellow believers to come before God. He is our only hope in these historic days. And most of us don't have a clue just how crucial things are.
And, let's you and I be prepared ourselves. If nobody else does it, let the two of us come before Him an brokenness and intercession . . . . . for the Afghani people, the terrorists, the Taliban, the other nations, our own people. Pray for our president and all those in authority and responsible positions.
"Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness [again] on us." (Hosea 10:12)
To that end, For His glory, and in His Bond,
Bob Tolliver -- Rom 1:11-12
Copyright October, 2001
Life Unlimited Ministries
[email protected]
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