“TOLERANCE, ACCEPTANCE, EMBRACE”

 

Neal Pollard

One of the feature stories in today’s USA Today is a glowing feature about a homosexual couple getting married in Maryland, one of the states to legalize homosexual marriage in the last election.  The article is also about changing attitudes in our nation.  Chuck Raash, the author, states in the course of writing that 53% of Americans surveyed say they think that same-sex married couples should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples.  Perhaps the statistic I found more interesting was that 36% of people surveyed have changed their mind about this issue during their lifetime.  While those numbers are not further analyzed, the tone of the article would suggest that most, if not all, have changed from opposing to accepting it.  One of the grooms summed up the “three stages” homosexuals often face when they reveal their preference to the people in their lives–”tolerance, acceptance, embrace” (USA Today, 1/9/13, A-1).  I do not doubt any of the statistics in the article, nor do I disagree with the fact of such gradual change in thinking in people’s minds toward matters like homosexuality.

Yet, I would disagree with this man and those who support his lifestyle that such change is positive.  Sin is very often met with such a gradual, changing attitude.  The 18th Century English poet, Alexander Pope, is actually the originator of the thought from the afore-quoted groom.  In “Essay on Man,” Pope said, “Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, as to be hated needs but to be seen. Yet too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace.”  The idea, especially in context of the whole, is that people’s attitude toward sin soften through the attrition of exposure.  That is, the more we are exposed to sin, the more comfortable and desensitized to it we become.  When a sin is increasingly portrayed as positive and right and people stop speaking against it, that society inevitably moves from disapproval to embrace.

Isaiah speaks of people getting things spiritually backward, calling evil “good” and good “evil” (5:20).  Consciences get seared (1 Tim. 4:2). They become callous, having “given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (Eph. 4:19).  Someone may deny God’s existence or that the Bible is His inspired Word, but those who claim faith in both cannot consistently do so but tolerate, accept, or embrace what He says therein is sin!

VACCINATION

Neal Pollard

Despite the work of some special interest groups trying to expose the health risks to children who get vaccinated, there has historically been inestimable value derived from them.  Perhaps no incident proves this better than the deadly, debilitating outbreaks of polio in the 20th Century.  Starting early in the 1900s, polio cases turned into outbreaks. In 1916, 9000 cases were reported in New York City alone.  Even a U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, contracted it as a young man. Physicians raced to find remedies, treatments, and preventatives.  The “March of Dimes” was created to fight Infantile Paralysis due to polio.  The Mayo Clinic got involved around the time the U.S. was drawn into World War II, which distracted America’s best medical researchers with military-related projects. In the last five years of the 1940s, there was an average of 20,000 new cases of polio per year.  It is hard for most of us alive today to remember the panic and fear struck by this mysterious malady. Then, Jonas Salk develops the first successful vaccine around 1950.  Albert Sabin eventually develops an even more effective vaccine. By 1964, there were only 121 cases in this country.  By 1994, the World Health Organization certified the entire western hemisphere as “polio free” (much information via timeline at http://users.cloudnet.com/edrbsass/poliotimeline.htm).

 It would be hard to imagine parents who knew of other infected children not rushing to take steps to protect their own.  For that matter, they would surely move to prevent their own infection.  Whatever perceived risk or sacrifice, the risk of doing nothing was surely, universally seen as worse.  

 To call sin an epidemic is to grossly understate.  Beyond even pandemic proportions, this spiritual malady is universal.  Every accountable person has the problem (Rom. 3:10,23; 1 Jn. 5:19).  The effect is spiritually fatal in 100% of untreated cases (Rom. 6:23).  Yet, it is an affliction mankind always chooses to contract.

 No words can adequately describe the love, mercy, grace, and compassion that drove God to supply the cure.  While it came at an incomparably high price (cf. Jn. 3:16), it is 100% effective in eradicating the effects of the malady.  That is, no one who ever obeyed from the heart God’s plan of salvation ever failed to receive what God promised–forgiveness (cf. Rom. 6:17; Ac. 2:38).  Can you imagine, then, that people every day and every week have the opportunity to be cured, but choose to refuse it.  May God give us courage and compassion to persist in making the cure available!

THE PRICE PETRINO PAID

Neal Pollard

Thanks to a morality clause in their contract, the University of Arkansas was able to fire head football coach Bobby Petrino and save nearly $18 million dollars.  That will be money, no doubt, that can be used toward finding and signing his replacement.  Though the fan base openly stated they could not care less about his sexually immoral ways (after all, he had led the Razorbacks to a stellar 21-5 record as coach), the university fired him for a series of indiscretions at the bottom of which was the married man’s affair with a 25-year-old, engaged former volley ball star from the school.  It is yet to be seen what impact his actions will have on his marriage or his relationship with his four children.  How hard will it be for another university to trust him enough to hire him?  He has embarrassed himself and damaged his reputation.  And, for what?

There was another man, a man who by every indication was a much more spiritual man, who centuries ago gave up so much for comparatively little.  He had it all, power, wealth, reputation, respect, and a healthy relationship with God.  But one trip to the roof of his house began a downward spiral fueled by his own lust for a married woman.  By the time the dust settled, the man would experience the loss of four children, death threats, displacement, wholesale embarrassment, and his own spiritual compromise.  Though David was forgiven and restored in his relationship with God, look at the carnage that came of his tragic decision.

One of the biggest lies men and women swallow is that sexual immorality and deviance from God’s pattern for sexuality is relatively harmless.  They know there is risk, and sometimes risk is part of the thrill for the guilty.  Perhaps one sees all that is at stake, but driven by sinful passion are too intoxicated with such to care.  But as sad as this week’s newest scandal is and as lastingly tragic as David’s decision was, it serves as a reminder and a warning for us today.  What does the “after” picture look like?  Let David have the last words:  “For I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before me” (Psa. 51:3).  What a price!

THE INNER STRUGGLES

Neal Pollard

Marilyn J. Abraham revealed something remarkable that a forest ranger told her about how trees protect themselves.  The ranger said that when a tree’s life is threatened, stressed by fire, drought, disease, or whatever, it twists beneath its bark to make itself stronger. You cannot see this new inner strength on the surface. The bark often looks the same.  It is when the exterior is stripped away or the tree is felled that its inner struggles are revealed.

The ranger’s story tells us several helpful things.  Often, we do not know the depths and extremes of others’ suffering.  Too, usually, no one knows the depth and extreme of our suffering.  But, God is able to help make us stronger even through the struggles through which we go.

Asaph wrote, “My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud; My voice rises to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be comforted” (Psa. 77:1-3).  Asaph depicts a mighty inner struggle, one wallowing in the pit of despair.  When things seemed most hopeless, the struggler saw that His pain had changed His view of God.  He had focused on God’s anger and seeming rejection.  But, then, He remembered who God is.  He thought about God’s deeds, His power, His holiness, and His leadership.  Then, he had the help he needed to handle the hurts.

To those who are hurting, remember who God is and what He can do!  Think about the strength and growth God can produce in you through the trials you are enduring.  May all of us understand, as we deal with others, that we may not be able to tell how much others are hurting when we see them.  Let us deal gently with others, since we do not know their inner struggles.

The Listeria Outbreak

Neal Pollard

The CDC reports that 30 people died and one miscarriage was attributed to an outbreak of listeria, a bacteria causing food poisoning, traced to cantaloupe raised and processed at Jensen Farms near Holly, Colorado.  An attorney representing several who died in this outbreak has the count at 34 victims, including a 68-year-old man who succumbed to listeriosis yesterday.  Those who have either become ill or died hail from 19 states, and the FDA traced the outbreak to dirty equipment.  The dead in most, if not all cases, already had compromised immune systems or underlying health issues that allowed the bacteria to be lethal (cf. Denver Post, 2/22/12, Michael Booth).

It is useless to become paranoid about listeria and cantaloupe, but it does point out how “little” or “minor” things can easily become significant.  If the “right” (i.e., “wrong”) person is exposed to something that may not hurt most people, it can be toxic and even deadly.  If one is “careless” about how they handle even the seemingly routine things, he or she can have a devastating impact.  Even without evil intentions, harm is done!

Perhaps the most common way we contaminate and poison others is through our words.  On the surface, they are seemingly insignificant.  But they can quickly injure or contribute to the spiritual death of the weak, vulnerable, and otherwise susceptible.  James warns of the volatile potential of the tongue (Js. 3:2ff).  Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

We also must watch our example.  Others are watching how we react to life, they see our attitudes, and they examine our choices.  We may brush something off as “no big deal,” but it might be deadly for them.  Jesus warns, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble” (Lk. 17:1-2).

May our lives bring spiritual health and life to others!  May we disdain what is otherwise!  Eternal lives are at stake.

 

The Family That Distributes Cocaine Together…

Neal Pollard

Family togetherness can be a good thing, but, obviously, not always.  The Lerma family in Grand Junction, Colorado, were not playing Scrabble, hiking, or watching Disney Movies together.  They were working together to bring two pounds of cocaine into this “western slope” community about every ten days or so.  They were arrested on Sunday, coming back from Denver.   Federico, wife Dolores, 19-year-old daughter Blanca, and a 16-year-old son were all implicated in the drug ring.  Blanca even took her 7-month-old child along for the car rides to transport the drugs (via Grand Junction Sentinel, 1/31/12).

It is unfathomable, unwholesome, unthinkable.  How parents could not influence, but encourage, sinful behavior is baffling to consider!  What were they thinking?

Extreme as it is, this family’s example should cause us to pause and consider what we do as a family when we are together.  Are we ever encouraging our children to miss worship and other regular assembly times in order to pursue other activities?  Do we watch things with them on TV or at the movies that are spiritually harmful?  What do we find humorous and entertaining?  Is it ever that which is not spiritually lawful?

We would never contemplate taking our young ones on a drug run, but where are we taking them?  Where will where we take them cause them to eventually go?  Fathers, as the spiritual leaders of the family (cf. Eph. 5:22-23; 6:1ff), God makes us accountable for our wives and children.  Let us rally them around only “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute” (cf. Phil. 4:8).

ORAL HYGIENE (or “VERBAL SNIPERS”)

Neal Pollard

Routine teeth cleaning can be pleasant, but cavities, extractions, and root canals, from what I hear, are less than thrilling.  No matter how well you think you are doing with “home care,” the dentist will always have suggestions for how you can improve your “oral hygiene,” from flossing and regular brushing to avoiding certain types of food (i.e., sugary and staining stuff).

But, how is our spiritual “oral hygiene”?  Sometimes, we equate such with abstaining from profanity and vulgarity.  But, doesn’t God expect more?  Growing up in the church, I have preserved in my mind a “Hall of Fame” of people who have filled their speech and words with encouragement, truth, gentleness, and thoughtfulness.  They brighten the lives they touch, altering them for the better.  However, I have seen too many Christians in every congregation I can remember whose speech is rotten and decayed.  Ironically, they often are those who faithfully attend and are generally morally and ethically upright.  Yet, they have slipped the bridle off their tongue to the harm and detriment of others.

Neither one’s age, perceived position and importance, nor tenure in a congregation entitles him or her to riddle others with verbal bullets.  Insults, discouragement, destructive criticism, loveless rebukes, railings, and the like have proven stumbling blocks to many visitors, new Christians, weak Christians, or others who are spiritually vulnerable.  I cannot count the specific number of times I have tried to help these wounded ones pick up the pieces after razor-sharp comments made by thoughtless brothers and sisters who ought to know better.  The offenders may not have any idea of the havoc they cause, but I am certain that some will be shocked and astonished at the judgment.

Jesus taught that “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” and “that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt. 12:34b, 36-37).  What do we think James means when he says that the tongue “is set on fire by hell” (Js. 3:6)?  The kind of speech referenced above is certainly not ignited by heaven!

Please consider that your speech is a direct reflection of the content of your heart!  Be mortified at the thought of a word of yours causing anyone to stumble and fall!  However important or unimportant you believe yourself to be, realize the potential harm or good you do simply by what you say.  Am I talking about your speech?  Well, ask if your speech is “with grace, seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6), wholesome, edifying, needful, and gracious (Eph. 4:29)?  If it is not, please keep it to yourself!

Let us remember the words Will Carleton wrote in “The First Settler’s Story”:

Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds;
You can’t do that way when you’re flying words.
“Careful with fire,” is good advice we know
“Careful with words,” is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;
But God Himself can’t kill them when they’re said.

Swept Away, Enslaved Then Reunited

Neal Pollard

 

Seven years ago today, an 8-year-old girl was torn from her family by a violent tsunami wave that struck her hometown of Meulaboh, Indonesia.  She was recovered by a wicked woman “who called her Wati and forced her to beg, sometimes beating her and keeping her in the streets until 1 a.m.” (Fakhrurradzie Gade, AP, via Denver Post, 12/25/11, 14A).  When she stopped bringing money in to the woman, she told her to leave and find her parents.  She even told her the hometown from which she hailed.  Now a teenager, “Wati” had to draw on vague recollections to find her family.  She remembered her grandfather was named “Ibrahim,” and locals in Meulaboh took her to the man and ultimately to her parents.  They had long given up hope that she had survived.  230,000 people perished in that infamous tsunami, including tens of thousands in her province alone, but Meri Yuranda, Wati’s real name, was reunited with her overjoyed parents (ibid.).

Such reunions are, sadly, rare, but they are thrilling when they occur.  The imagination races with all the twists and turns of a seven year journey that began with a tidal wave and ended with a solemn, yet happy, rejoining.  That the girl would escape death and then survive an unhappy experience far from home is amazing enough.  That she would be resourceful and savvy enough to rediscover her family is almost unbelievable.

How it illustrates the terrible, spiritual circumstances facing the vast majority of this world.  Swept away and enslaved by sin (Eph. 4:14; Rom. 6:16-18), they find themselves in the cruel far country (cf. Lk. 15:13).  Too often, they never find their way to the Father.  However, when they do search for Him, they find Him (Ac. 17:27)!  It sets off a joyful celebration in the Father’s House (Lk. 15:25ff)!  The Father never ceases hoping and longing for the return of the wayward ones, but we must come back to Him.  What a happy ending is made when we are reunited with the loving, waiting Father!

Immune To Venom?

Neal Pollard

My son, Dale, tells me that the mongoose builds up immunity to cobra venom by eating smaller poisonous creatures, from spiders to scorpions to wasps.  That makes the mongoose an “ophiophagous” creature.  Ophiophagous animals are those which hunt, kill, and eat snakes (including the poisonous ones).  Many of these kinds of animals are thought to be immune from their prey’s venom, and they have antineurotoxic antibodies in their blood.  However, the most venom-resistant animal known to science is the wild and exotic Virginia opossum.  They do not build up immunity, but rather seem to be born with this resistance.

As a Grade A Snake Hater, my skin is already crawling.  However, what a splendid application there is.  In Genesis three, we are introduced to a creature many take to be nothing more than a serpent.  While this may be true, Satan is referred to in symbolic terms as “that ancient serpent” in Revelation 20:2—a seeming allusion to the garden scene (cf. Rev. 12:9).  Is it coincidental that the beguiling serpent is mentioned in the same context as Satan’s beguiling work in 2 Corinthians 11 (cf. 3 + 14-15)?  Whatever may be concluded about any connection between the serpent of Eden and the devil, there are some potent comparisons.  Like a poisonous serpent, Satan is destructive and deadly (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8-9).  As such creatures can strike suddenly and without warning, Satan can do the same (cf. Matt. 4:3).  Just as these can cause fear, so can the devil (Heb. 2:14).  The devil can be made to flee (Jas. 4:7), just as those nefarious reptiles can.

Keeping with our analogy and original illustration, can we build up immunity against the devil?  Yes and no.  We cannot, in the sense that we can ever court sin and temptation and hope to come away unscathed.  The wages of sin are always the same (Rom. 6:23).  However, in another sense we can.  By drawing close to God, we can build up devil-resistance (Jas. 4:7).  Building a proper relationship with the Lord serves the dual purpose of helping us stand against the power of the devil (see Eph. 6:10ff).  By being and remaining in Christ, we are free from the effects of the sting of sin and the spiritual death brought thereby (1 Cor. 15:56-58; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Pet. 5:8-9).  Let’s work to protect our souls from the ravaging effects of sin by building righteous, submissive, and holy lives!

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Don’t Be Overcome By Night

Neal Pollard

Gary, Carl, and I visited the United States Holocaust Museum today.  There is no experience with which to compare this harrowing, sobering, and unfathomable tour of one of the darkest periods of recorded history.  That one human being was capable of treating another human being the way the Jews were treated defies understanding.  We saw pictures and videos of the pogroms, boycotts, concentration camps, executions, and experimentations.  An entire ethnic group across an entire continent was seized with terror for over a decade.  To have witnessed such atrocities and survive must have scarred and wounded the psyche.  Perhaps no one who survived this genocide saw more than the Romanian writer Eliezer (Elie) Wiesel, who spent time in the Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald, and Gleiwitz Concentration Camps.  In fact, he only reluctantly became a writer to share his dark experience at the hands of the Nazis.  In his first book, Night, he wrote,

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

I do not stand in judgment of Mr. Wiesel’s pain.  Who of us will ever know its depths?  But his words demonstrate how pain and suffering can undermine and even destroy faith.  Paul told the Romans, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).  We will not be cast in the throes of despair Wiesel has known, but when we encounter trials, difficulties, and suffering may we keep our faith in God strong.   It may be hard to love our enemies (Mat. 5:44), but may we maintain our love and fidelity to our God–no matter what!