Getting Through the Day

It was reported in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the youth pastor from Warren (AR) United Methodist Church was arrested for using the Internet to arrange intimate encounters with minors. He is 33 years old; the child was "under 16". He has been charged with attempted sexual assault and Internet stalking of a child. He was arrested at his home, and his laptop was seized from the CHURCH OFFICE and sent to the state's crime lab for analysis. Police declined to say whether the youth pastor and the girl knew each other from church, but they did say the child was NOT assaulted.

....... **** long pause ****.......

It was also reported today that the treasurer for the Arkansas Conference confessed to the bishop that he had been diverting Conference funds for his personal use. He was immediately terminated and has promised full cooperation, including restitution. The article did not say how much money was taken, and the bishop has yet to decide whether there will be criminal charges.

.......***** another cup of coffee *****........

Sometimes there are no words. In fact, I cannot say for sure right now that I even have emotions. I don't feel a thing. These stories are cropping up in the news seemingly more frequently than ever before (or are these just the stories I happen to notice?).

How easy it is to be tempted without fully realizing or appreciating the destruction that lies in wait! We who call ourselves "believers" or "disciples" do not realize how easy we make it for hecklers to turn up their noses at the Best News Ever all the while laughing at us for being no different from they who are equally tempted by money and flesh. I also wonder the level of faith that ever existed in one who can so easily be taken right out from under the Lord's nose (in a manner of speaking, of course). Of course I would hope that the former youth pastor was at least smart enough not to .... oh, who are we kidding?

We ARE held to a higher standard than what the world would expect. We do not surrender to man's whims even as we are ridiculed for being "narrow-minded", "bigoted", etc. But when we demand that our church more accurately reflect the values of contemporary society, contemporary society is precisely what we will get. "You reap what you sow."

Being a diversified church means no more than coming from different backgrounds, different cultures, different races, different nationalities. The personality of Christ's Holy Church is losing her moral authority because she has become a thing of this world and not of the next. We are fighting our own battles from within because the evil one has been invited in.

You want to talk about love? First tell me what it means. "Agape" love, the kind of love Jesus supposedly had for His people. Tell me what it means. Tell me because I really want to know.

For my perspective, love means direct confrontations with danger. Just as I do with my own children, if they violate the rules of our home or our standards of behavior, they will pay a price and immediate correction will be expected. There are no long, drawn-out discussions about the "diversity" of opinions. My wife and I are of like mind, and our rules reign supreme in our household. Telling the children WHY what they do is harmful or dangerous is also part of the teaching process but, of course, you can virtually HEAR the eyes rolling while the "discussion" is going on.

My point is simply this: we the church CANNOT, MUST NOT become a reflection of society or of our contemporary culture. We CANNOT, MUST NOT succumb to the enormous temptations that exist in this world. Christ's Holy Church MUST ALWAYS stand as a sanctuary AGAINST contemporary culture, or she will cease being Christ's church. As it is right now, the church - or what is left of it - is becoming more and more like "culturally relevant". That is to say, the church is working its fingers to the bone giving in to a society that, like children, will take and take and take until there is nothing left to take. The one essential - genuine respect - will be absent. This must be earned, and it cannot be earned by being complacent or by being unable to stand on sound principles. If the church cannot or will not stand on moral principles, it cannot exercise moral authority. Once this is gone, there is nothing left to separate the sheep from the goats.

The only thing that gets me through days like this when all seems lost is only in knowing that He will one day put an end to it. In the meantime, I can only pray His mercy on others just as I continue to pray mercy for myself.