This Week’s “California Pastors Briefing” Column

Good morning, fellow shepherds. Today I had the chance, as I often have during this election season, to deliver a luncheon address to a room full of pastors and community leaders. They had gathered to become informed about the issues in the upcoming California elections, particularly as they affect the traditional family.

I spent a lot of time in my speech reviewing the remarkable impact of Christian leaders in America’s past. I never fail to discover as I do this that people with conservative values respond so readily to great stories from America’s past, because those stories affirm the deepest values that conservatives are fighting for in the present “culture storm”. It felt good to remind these good people about the great traditions that Biblical patriots share.

But there’s another reason I spend a lot of time in America’s historic Christian past when I speak to audiences. It has to do with the reality that Christian patriotism has to be rekindled in every generation. Some revivalist once famously said that “God has no grandchildren”. He basically meant that every generation must find its faith in its own time and on its own terms. And every generation must also discover that its faith, no matter how passionate, cannot be simply passed on to its children with the same vibrancy. The children of every successive generation have to embrace faith themselves, and then make it their own reality. It’s the old “caught versus taught” symbolism, I suppose.

Well, in the same way that God has no grandchildren, I have come to believe that patriotism never spans the generations automatically either. There is a need for people who truly love their country to constantly revisit the committed history that created what they presently enjoy, and to make that past passion their current pursuit.

This is even more the case when you think about the fact that America is unique among all the republics of history, in the sense that it was a country founded on a belief in a liberty-giving God, the God of the Scriptures. That fundamental assumption is the seedbed of liberty.

Over 20 years ago, Quaker theologian D. Elton Trueblood put this truth more simply when he said that “America is a cut flower civilization”. Trueblood was making the point that our American culture was uniquely biblical in its origins, but if it is cut off from its Christian roots, much like a flower that’s cut from its stem, it will eventually die. An America disconnected from its Biblical past might hold its beautiful image and vibrant colors for a short time, he reasoned, but being cut off from its source, it will still inevitably decay.

For the last 50 years, social radicals have been hacking away at the beautiful connection between the flower of America and its root of righteousness. They have been doing everything they can to cut the beautiful flower away from the stem of its Biblical beginnings. Whether wrenching prayer out of public schools, or making the Bible a banned book on high school campuses, whether smearing candidates for office over their fundamental Christian church experiences, or denying intelligent design a place in the classroom, you can feel them cutting deeply. All of it is designed to cut the flower of liberty away from the stem of the Scriptures.

Time will only tell if Trueblood’s words will become a prophecy concerning the future of American culture. I for one still think the flower clings to the stem, though with a tragic frailty and only by a string of historic memory. Whether we strengthen that connection and preserve the Christian beauty of the most remarkable republic in world history will be the decisive task of this generation. As a Christian leader, I’m doing my part to remind people of the great Christian past of this wonderful country.

Because, God indeed has no grandchildren.

Neither do patriots.

Keeping the Faith with You,

Joe Pursch

Of Pride and Children

Drawing on the conversation from yesterday about the emerging power of elites over American thought and, quite possibly, the legislative environment of the future, I was interested to run across a comment by Jesus on the disadvantage of being an intellectual elitist. I came across it in the 11th chapter of Matthew.

The context is Jesus criticizing the unrepentant religious leaders of the cities of Galilee. He makes the shocking statement that if the mighty works done in them by His miraculous hand had been done in Sodom, that Old Testament city would’ve continued until today. The text continues with the statement in verse 25, “At that time Jesus began to say, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth ,that You have hidden these things from the wise and clever and learned, and revealed them to babies, to the childish, the untaught and the unskilled.” (Amplified Version)

My quick read from this is the principle that Jesus taught about the fact that intellectual arrogance is a true barrier to spiritual perception. In fact, God resists revealing his greatest truths to those whose minds are already made up in their own arrogance. And that’s a risky refusal to experience, because it apparently excludes you from the insight that you need to truly repent. Costly nuance, that.

Fred Barnes on the Election and Evangelicals

I had the chance to be in an audience last night to hear journalist Fred Barnes from the Weekly Standard speak. You may also know him from his appearances every weekend on FoxNews’ Beltway Boys feature. He was the keynoter for the fall fundraiser for The Pacific Justice Institute, an organization I have done a bit of speaking for in the last couple of years.  

He spoke about three distinct differences in this presidential election, and all of them had to do with an increasingly negative attitude toward evangelicals. The first thing he noted was, in his words,”The single most appalling action in American politics in his memory.” He was referring to the savaging of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin over her religious views. The second thing he noted was the relative silence of discussion regarding the issue of abortion, even though the two presidential candidates have dramatically different positions on the issue. The third thing he pointed out was his growing personal fear that regardless of who wins the presidency this November, our country is moving into a time when its affairs will be increasingly governed by a group of people holding a set of views far different than those held by any other group with a ruling sway over American life in the past: secular liberals.

 

It was a remarkable moment to listen as this veteran observer of the political scene got real with an audience that was filled with religiously conservative folks like me. He really just told us the things that we had already perceived ourselves. It’s so much more powerful, however, when your own sense of being religiously persecuted is confirmed by a veteran political observer who’s watching things from the outside. Well maybe not powerful, so much as disturbing.

I think what he said about Sarah Palin’s experience was especially insightful. Barnes pointed out that none of the other candidates had undergone anything close to the religious scrutiny that Palin has experienced, even though in at least the case of Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright such scrutiny would’ve been warranted. But no legal team descended on the Chicago suburb of Trinity Church, and no junior reporters were sent out to all the past churches where Barack Obama has ever attended, to meet people that might have prayed over him or sat with him in Bible class. But that’s exactly the kind of scrutiny that has been going on for the last eight weeks over Sarah Palin’s religious past.

Barnes pointed out that when mainstream reporters found nothing really exciting or unusual about the Bible church the Palin family currently attends, they went back to the churches of Sarah Palin’s past until they arrived at a Little Assemblies of God church in her hometown. There they began interviewing anyone and everyone who ever knew her or participated in ministry with her. Currently they’re trying to make a big deal out of the fact that a visiting pastor from Africa once prayed over Sarah on a platform  and asked God, among other things, to protect her from “witchcraft”. Forgetting completely that this would be a natural prayer for a pastor from the experience of ministry in Africa to pray, reporters have immediately written of this as a possible “revelation” about an odd spiritualistic connection in candidate Palin’s life. How pathetic, and transparently malevolent.

Where were these reporters when somebody needed to check out the truly odd and dangerous roots of the liberation theology of Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Where were the junior reporters months ago when the interviews needed to be made regarding the truly odd ball and in some ways, borderline violent, views of the Rev. Jeffrey Flegher, Obama’s former mentor in community activism? Guess they were busy with something else . Or maybe the party affiliation and religious conservatism of the vice presidential candidate in question made a bigger difference.

Nobody can know for sure why Sarah Palin’s religious DNA is being picked apart in a journalistic petri dish today. Perhaps it’s her pro-life convictions, which found their way not just into the context of a speech but into her family’s decision in the waiting room of a hospital to put their belief in the sacredness of every life into action in “real life”. It seems that the leftists in the mainstream media today get quite motivated to investigate and castigate religious people who dare to take their practices out of the pew and into public life in such a way that their decisions violate the sacred codes of the left.

So why is Sarah Palin being shadowed in her religious life by mainstream journalists today? Maybe it’s because she took her convictions out of the four walls of her Bible church and dared to live them in the context of public service. If that is indeed the reason behind this outrageous scrutiny, Barnes is right to say that it is not only the most outrageous type of behavior he has seen in any recent election, but it is also a disturbing sign of an emerging hostility against people of conservative faith in public life. Somehow the gloves have come off, somehow a wall has fallen that once at least nominally protected conservative religious people from the outright hostility of the journalistic left.

Something has now made people of conservative religious conviction uniquely fair game in this hollow battle of politics. What a sad day it is when people of conservative religious faith have to cast a glance over their shoulders to see who might be vetting them for acceptance in the mainstream world.

George Truett: Reluctantly Called, Greatly Used

Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. In these days of large multi-staff churches and fading denominations, it’s mighty easy to become a pastor without sufficient preparation, and sometimes without a real calling. I’ve always been a believer that the people truly called to ministry are usually pretty humbled by the prospect. A young boy from Crooked Creek Georgia had a gift for preaching. Everyone in the little town knew it, and they called him the preacher boy from the mountain. But every time he was asked to preach, he stood in front of the pulpit rather than behind it, because he felt he wasn’t worthy to preach. His congregation urged him to enter the ministry, but he resisted until one Sunday the deacons stood up and unanimously ordained him on the spot, pleading with him to recognize God’s obvious anointing on his life. He finally relented, and I’m glad he did, because young George Truett would go on to found the First Baptist church of Dallas Texas, one of the largest churches in the country. Not bad for a poor boy from Crooked Creek. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.

 

Oswald Sanders:Memorable Preaching

Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. Pastors have a unique challenge among all public speakers. Unlike politicians or professional speakers who get to wow a different crowd every night with the same stump speech or comedy routine, pastors have to come up with new material every week for the same audience, year after year. It can be a real challenge to stay interesting over all that time. That’s why the best preachers have always coined phrases that allow them to drive home the truth to their congregations in ways that will be remembered. One of the best at this was Oswald J. Smith, pastor of the great Peoples Church in Toronto. Here are some of his gems: in regard to foreign missions, he would say “Why should someone hear the Gospel twice until everyone has heard it once (take that spoiled American church!) Or this one: Every Christian should go to the mission field or send a substitute! Ore how about this one on tithing Give according to your income, or God just might give you an income according to your giving Ouch, ouch and double ouch! What a memorable preacher. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.

 

Patrick: Keeping It Simple

Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. Lately I’ve been reading about the growing debate over the effectiveness of large churches. The question being bantered about is “Should we have bigger churches or more small churches?” Well, if you look at the places in the world where the church is really growing, places like Korea and India, it seems to be through the multiplication of small simple churches instead of big organizations. The person who may have started this trend in missions was Saint Patrick. Called to evangelize pagan Ireland in 420 AD, Patrick would lead some people to the Lord, get ‘em gathered in a house, and then tell them their village was their responsibility to reach. With that, he was gone! By this method, Patrick was able to start two hundred churches in Ireland, baptizing one hundred thousand converts. He seemed to follow the KISS principle of church planting: Keep It Simple, Saints. “God called me to create disciples, ” he wrote, “Not to build an organization!”  Seems when God is in it, simple works! I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.

 

 

 

Patrick: Penned Into The Ministry

Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. Young Patrick was only fifteen when raiders from Ireland invaded his village and carried him off as a slave in the year 406. He was forced to work feeding hogs, and he made his bed in a pigsty for the next six years. Every night his mind returned to his Christian parents. They had tried often to lead him to Christ, but Patrick had always resisted. Now he was desperately alone. One night he remembered the Parable of the prodigal Son, who came to his senses when he too had been forced to feed pigs. In that midnight moment, Patrick repented and came to his Heavenly Father. “God strengthened and comforted me there as a father does his son” he would later write. He remained a slave, but he was now free at heart, and he decided to use the misery and isolation of his life as a hog feeder to learn how to pray. Years of such focused devotion taught him to discern the voice of His Lord and to endure hardships unimagined. Why did God allow all this? Because years later, Patrick would grow up to become Saint Patrick, one of the greatest evangelists in church history.  Feel penned in today? God has a plan. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.

Arthur Stace: “Mister Eternity”

Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. If God puts a work on your heart to perform for Him, no matter how small, do it. You never know what might happen. Arthur Stace was a hardened alcoholic until he was saved at a rescue mission in Sydney Australia one night in 1930. He heard a preacher soon after say “I wish I could shout eternity through all the streets of Sydney”. Immediately, Arthur Stace knew his calling. The next morning he took a piece of chalk and spent two hours writing the word “eternity” in two foot high letters on the sidewalks of Sydney. And he did it again the next morning. And the next. For twenty-five years. The city residents became used to seeing the word “eternity” on the sidewalks as they walked, and pondering the meaning.  Stace kept his identity secret all that time. The newspapers buzzed about who “Mr. Eternity” might be. Someone finally revealed Stace’s identity in 1956, but he just kept right on writing. Did it have an effect you ask? Well, in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Sydney a few years ago, if you looked closely you would have seen a single word in lights above the harbor bridge: the word “eternity“. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.

Jackie Joyner-Kersey: Passing God’s Baton

 Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. Today social scientists bemoan the fact that a new generation of inner city hoodlums has come of age in America’s cities, each one with a shattered moral compass. To hear them tell it, you’d think every child growing up in the ghetto is irresistibly drawn to drugs. But many are just as surely drawn to greatness because of the Christian faith. Consider this story: at the age of eleven, she witnessed her first murder, right in front of her house. A year later her grandmother was shot and killed. The numbing poverty her family lived in strongly tempted her to follow the other teens across the street to the liquor store after school, but her mother constantly reminded her to respect her future more than that, and on Sundays would take all of her children to the same church where she had found a Savior many years before. Maybe this is why young Jackie Joyner-Kersey would walk strongly through the hopelessness of the inner city until she hit her stride as a six time Olympic medal winner. Today Jackie goes back to the same streets to teach a new generation of kids about hope. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.

Rabi Maharaj: He Spoke My Name

 Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. The young boy growing up in a small village in India in 1950 carried a secret grief: not once in the entire eight years of his life had his father spoken to him. Not one word. Rabi Maharaj’s father had taken a Hindu religious vow to seek the trancelike condition of higher consciousness, and he died later that year without ever having even called his son by name. Young Rabi was devastated, especially when the village elders came to him and told him that he was chosen to carry on his father’s silent pursuit. Then they bowed down and worshipped him. All was confusion, until a cousin one day had the courage to speak to Rabi and tell him about a different God than Brahman, a God named Jesus, who would not only speak to Rabi, but would care for him like a shepherd. Rabi agreed to attend a church service with his cousin, and the pastor preached from of all places, Psalm Twenty Three. When Rabi Majaraj heard about the Good Shepherd, he ran to Him. Now the former child guru travels the world as an evangelist for the Shepherd who gently called him by name. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.