Our current celebration is thought to be the fruit of forty years of letter writing pressure by Sarah Josepha Hale. It was in the fall of 1863 that Abraham Lincoln picked up the practice that has been continued annually by every president since to call our nation to a day of national Thanksgiving. However, it wasn’t until 1941 that federal legislation established Thanksgiving as a national holiday to be celebrated on the 4^th Thursday of November.

I commend particularly the proclamations of Washington in 1789 and Lincoln in 1863 linked above.  Read them and share them in the midst of your Thanksgiving Day activities.

And don’t forget the main focus – “O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1 ESV

The Tale of Two Robertsons

In one corner is Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Well known for reckless comments, I shouldn’t be surprised, but I heard he actually justified divorce and remarriage because one’s spouse has Alzheimer’s. If he really said such a thing, surely it would have been removed from the CBN website with a retraction in its place. So I checked it out on the website and sure enough, there it was on the show of Tuesday, September 13.

CBN’s “Bring It On:” is a segment in which Pat takes questions from viewers. Here is the question: I have a friend whose wife suffers from Alzheimer’s. She doesn’t even recognize him anymore and, as you can imagine, the marriage has been rough. My friend has gotten bitter at God for allowing his wife to be in that condition, and he’s started seeing another woman. He says that he should be allowed to see other people because his wife as he knows her is gone … I’m not quite sure what to tell him. Please help.

Pat’s answer began with appropriate compassion for those in that situation, but then went on to say, I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but, to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.

The cohost broke in, But isn’t that the vow that we take when we marry someone, that it’s for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer…? Pat interrupted, Yeah, I know, if you respect that vow, you say ‘til death do us part.’ Well, this is a kind of death. … I can’t fault him for wanting some kind of a companionship, and if he says in a sense she is gone, he is right. It’s like a walking death. He closed with, But get some ethicist besides me…. I recognize the dilemma and the last thing I would do is condemn you for taking that kind of action.

Pat Robertson doesn’t need an ethicist he needs a Bible where there is no hesitation to condemn the violation of the sacred covenant of marriage. Pat’s rationalization, this is a kind of death, is the same logic used by those who give up because the love has died or we are dead to each other. What a disaster that he would lead so many astray, further eroding the sacred foundation stone of society, in sickness and health and until death do us part marriage.

More encouraging is the Robertson in the other corner, Robertson McQuilkin, former president of Columbia International University who left his post in 1990 to care for his wife, Muriel, as she tragically declined due to the effects of Alzheimers’s. He cared for her until her death in 2003, even though she stopped recognizing him in 1993.  Listen to his 1990 resignation speech and to his four part interview on Family Life Today.

I am not concluding that the only right thing to do in this situation is resign your post and be the full time caregiver. Special circumstances made that the right decision for Robertson McQuilkin, but faithfulness to the marriage vow is not circumstantial, but a matter of keeping your word.

For two other excellent commentaries, Is It Okay to Divorce a Spouse With Alzheimer’s? by Dave Boehi from Family Life Today; and from Moore to the Point by Russell Moore, academic dean of Southern Baptist Seminary.

]]> http://pastortom.faithchurchindy.org/2011/09/16/in-sickness-and-in-health%e2%80%a6-except-for-alzheimer%e2%80%99s/feed/ 1 http://pastortom.faithchurchindy.org/2011/09/09/%e2%80%9chow-i-have-changed-since-911%e2%80%9d-anne-graham-lotz/ http://pastortom.faithchurchindy.org/2011/09/09/%e2%80%9chow-i-have-changed-since-911%e2%80%9d-anne-graham-lotz/#comments Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:37:37 +0000 http://pastortom.faithchurchindy.org/?p=429 Continue reading →]]>

Quite different from the other respondents in the 9/11 article in the September issue of Christianity Today, Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham and sister to Franklin Graham, declared, “All I know with certainty was that God was trying to get the attention of his people including me… Like Isaiah, I also saw a humiliating vision of my own sin” with “immediate impact…in my relationship with God, an increased fervency in prayer, clearer insight into God’s Word, and a sharpened focus in ministry.” What a great model of starting with personal self-examination and going before the Lord, much as Daniel does in Daniel 9.

But there’s more as Lotz goes where a few others dared to go only temporarily, but quickly retreating when the deistic protest comes. “the alarm did not fade away…I have heard it reverberating throughout the past ten years: from Hurricane Katrina to the record-breaking floods, forest fires, tornadoes, droughts, and snow storms; to the collapse of our major financial institutions; to the economic recession; to the inability to win the war in Afghanistan. The alarm keeps resounding because so many people have not heeded, or even heard the warning.” What is the warning? “Judgment is at the door. Jesus is coming! It’s time to wake up and get right with God! Are you listening?”

On what basis does Lotz make such statements while other supposed evangelical voices declare that God had nothing to do with 9/11 or other tragedies, and that it has nothing to do with America’s sins? My only conclusion is that most professing Christians are practicing deists. We say we believe God is in control, but the default position is that life happens, sin happens and there are no significant lessons to be learned from 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina or the many floods, fires, wars, economic crises, etc.

Jesus declares quite the opposite in Luke 13:1-5, providing Lotz solid ground for her conclusions. Two scenarios were brought to Jesus: First, a massacre was committed by Pilate (the governor who later ordered Jesus’ crucifixion) in which people offering their sacrifices were killed on the temple grounds. Secondly, a tower in Siloam fell, resulting in eighteen deaths.

In both cases, Jesus raised the question, the assumption of many, “Were these worse sinners? Were they more guilty than others?” The answer in regard to both examples is “I tell you, no!”

The too quickly reached conclusion is that therefore God had nothing to do with the two situations and there is nothing to learn from them other than get better leaders and strengthen construction standards. These things just happen in a sinful and fallen world. But that is to leave the text too soon. Jesus had more to say, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Don’t conclude when you see someone else suffer that it was their personal sin that brought on the situation. Jesus clearly refutes that as the universal explanation or even the most likely explanation. There are logical consequences to sinful choices, some suffered by the sinner, some by nearby victims, but the best of people died in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in the hijacked airliners, people we now rightly think of as heroes, the best of humanity. But he doesn’t say it has nothing to do with anyone’s sin beyond the evil perpetraters, individually or corporately in society. Just as individuals reap what they sow, so entire societies and nations reap what they sow, resulting in judgments that affect both the righteous and the wicked, believer and unbeliever. But what Jesus makes clear is that every disaster is a warning, a gracious warning by a loving God, “unless you repent, you too will perish.”

What should we then do? Repent! Humble yourself before Almighty God. Search your own heart. If you have not received Jesus, who died as the substitute sacrifice for your sins, receive Him now! As a believer, walk humbly and obediently before God, giving your life for His Glory! Pray for revival in your own heart, in the church of Jesus Christ, and then by God’s mercy, in our nation.

I was taken aback in reading Will Willimon’s response in Christianity Today to the invitation to provide a response to their column, “How I Have Changed since 9/11.” Willimon is no stranger to the pages of Christianity Today. After twenty years as dean of Duke University Chapel and professor at Duke Divinity School, he is now bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Here’s what he said as the climax of his response: “September 11 has changed me. I’m going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what’s wrong with the world.”

He had my full attention. Preach it, Brother!

But he continued, “I have resolved to relentlessly reiterate from the pulpit that the worst day in history was not a Tuesday in New York, but a Friday in Jerusalem when a consortium of clergy and politicians colluded to run the world on our own terms by crucifying God’s own son.”

What? You call it a bad day when the Son of God just died for your sins, taking the wrath of God upon Himself that you deserve? You call it a bad day when provision has been made so that your sins can be forgiven and you can receive eternal life?

You are right that “a consortium of clergy and politicians” conspired to kill Jesus, but you are wrong to call the outcome the “worst day in history.” I’m grateful for the much better explanation provided in Peter’s first sermon in the Book of Acts.

“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Acts 2:23, 24 English Standard Version

Further clarification comes in the prayer meeting of the church after Peter and John were first arrested and released, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Acts 4:25-28 ESV

Yes, evil men conspired against a righteous man. No, it was not a tragedy, the “worst day in history.” It along with the Resurrection on the third day and his future return when we will “always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV) are the best days in history. Evil men played into the sovereign hand of God to bring about our rescue. That is not just a good day; that is the best of the best days.

To God be the Glory!

No surprise that this week leading up to the 10^th anniversary of 9/11/2001 is dominated by stories of that fateful day. While driving back to the office, I just listened on NPR to the riveting story of a NYPD firefighter who was trapped with his team on the 4^th floor of the north tower when the whole thing came down around them. Explaining how he and others with him survived, including the woman they were there to rescue, he described the building as a banana being peeled as it came down around them, as they, in the “banana” itself, were spared; while 343 of their colleagues were killed.

Also, not surprising is that the September 2011 edition of Christianity Today, has several stories about 9/11. Most intriguing to me were eleven responses under the title, “How I Have Changed since 9/11.”

Wess Stafford, president of Compassion International, spoke of the surge of patriotism; flying our flags and singing “God Bless America!” It “energized my faith and filled my heart with pride and gratitude to be an American.”

Stafford, as well as Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, testify that they were motivated to intensify response to international need, particularly extreme poverty; and both have been encouraged to see the growth of “private donations for international causes” that have “more than quadrupled” in the past decade.

Phillip Yancey expressed serious concern about “imposing democracy on Iraq and Afghanistan… at a terrible cost… with no guarantee of … success.” Will Wilimon expressed it more as outrage toward both Presidents Bush and Obama in regard to the U.S. response, “spent billions asking the military to rectify the crime of a small band of lawless individuals, destroying a couple of nations who had little to do with it…” Only God knows how the world would be today with a different response in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our main responsibility is to pray for “all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” 1 Timothy 2:2 ESV

Willimon was further concerned with “the ubiquity of flags and patriotic extravaganzas in allegedly evangelical churches” and suggests that “American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as out greatest Christological defeat” losing the “theological means to distinguish between the United States and the kingdom of God.”  He lamented that “when our people felt very vulnerable, they reached for the flag, not the Cross.” I don’t fully share Willimon’s sentiments, but I agree that we need to be cautious about flag and cross confusion. More on Willimon’s response in a later post

Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. noted the rise in church attendance after 9/11 that lasted for about three weeks. “What was missing?” he asks. Genuine revival marked by “deep repentance and personal piety, prayer, and devotion to the Scriptures.”

Anne Graham Lotz continued with the bishop’s theme. “All I know with certainty was that God was trying to get the attention of his people including me….Like Isaiah, I also saw a humiliating vision of my own sin.” More later on the response of Anne Graham Lotz

English worship leader and song writer, Matt Redman, was in London with his wife, Beth, scheduled to fly to the U.S. on the 12^th when America was attacked. After a few days delay, they arrived in the U.S. and were impressed with the messages from America’s pulpits stressing confidence in the sovereignty of God. Redman asked, “What could we sing to God at a time like this? It was as if our worship songs were missing some important vocabulary—the language of tragedy and struggle, of the valley at the bottom of the mountain…” Out of that question, the Redmans wrote one of the top new songs of the 21^st Century, “Blessed be Your Name,” borrowing from Job’s response to his loss, “You give and take away… Blessed be Your Name.”

How have you changed in the past ten years? How do you relate it to 9/11? What changes should you ask God to help you make now?

Another guest contribution from my brother, Wesley Andrew Macy, Estes Brook Evangelical Free Church, Minnesota; September, 2011 Newsletter

While we appreciate the telephone, Facebook, text messaging, etc., nothing takes the place of “face to face.” I keep in touch with family by phone and email throughout the year, but being in Kansas this past August for the bi-annual Macy family reunion, it was so much better to see them “face to face”.

In the fall of 1973, I was a college sophomore, living in Kansas. My brother was in seminary in Illinois. I missed him and wanted to see him. I took Amtrak from Wichita to Chicago to visit Tom and his wife, Linda. Arriving at Union Station in Chicago, I took the commuter train to the northern suburbs. Somehow I managed to get off at the right stop, Lake Forest –just a wide spot in the road with a simple shelter and a long sidewalk. Tom wasn’t there. Everybody else walked purposefully from the train to their cars. But I had no car. I was alone, didn’t know where I was, feeling unsettled and insecure. As the train pulled away, I looked across the track and standing there directly opposite me was my brother. I saw him “face to face”. A big smile spread across both our faces as I crossed the track and we hugged. Face to face! What joy! What peace! What delight!

Just recently, I was loaned the book, Number 176520, the story of Nazi Holocaust survivor Paul Argiewicz. When Paul was removed from his family, he wondered if he would ever see his father’s face again. He didn’t. But after the war was over, he began a long search for his sister Lucy, the only family to survive the concentration camps. When he found her, it was with unrestrained tears of joy that they embraced each other “face to face.”

But we anticipate an even greater delight, the settled hope of seeing Jesus “face to face”. Our joy will be far greater than from any other face to face meeting. Our happiness will be complete, our hope fulfilled, our longings satisfied in Him. “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;” writes the apostle Paul, “but then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). The apostle John wrote about our future when Christ returns and we are with Him – “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face…” (Revelation 22:3-4).

Carrie Breck expressed these longings in her 1898 hymn, “Face to Face”.

Face to face with Christ, my Savior, Face to face—what will it be,
When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me?

Refrain

Face to face I shall behold Him, Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by!

Only faintly now I see Him, With the darkened veil between,
But a blessèd day is coming, When His glory shall be seen. Refrain

What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain;
When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain. Refrain

Face to face—oh, blissful moment! Face to face—to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loves me so. Refrain

O Lord, give us hearts full of longing to see Jesus – to know and believe and live in the reality of seeing Jesus face to face; to live at school, work, and home as glad ambassadors for Christ, for “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

Pastor Wes

I received this from my brother on Saturday, September 3. Sunday morning, during our first worship hour, one of our elders, Phil Johnston, received a message from his wife, Margaret, that her mother, just four days short of 95 years, had entered our Lord’s presence. Just minutes before, Phil was thinking about this dear saint as we sang the lines from Charles Gabriel’s hymn, “My Savior’s Love,” the last verse,

When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages To sing of His love for me.

Thanks Wes and Phil, for stirring that longing in my heart.

I invite you to read the excellent eulogy by Tim Stafford describing the world wide cross generational influence of this humble servant of Jesus.  It is long as obituaries go, but more than worth your time to read it to the end. Few have had such a positive impact as John Stott.  You will benefit much from his life and teaching.

And don’t forget!  In the face of death, we do not “grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14

Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

Christ, the blessed One, gives to all wonderful words of life;
Sinner, list to the loving call, wonderful words of life;
All so freely given, wooing us to heaven.

Refrain

Sweetly echo the Gospel call, wonderful words of life;
Offer pardon and peace to all, wonderful words of life;
Jesus, only Savior, sanctify us forever.

Refrain

What are some of these wonderful words of life?

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
“Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:5
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my Word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.  He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24
“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34
“I am the bread of life.” John 6:35
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” John 7:37
“I am the light of the world.” John 8:12; 9:5
“I am the Good Shepherd.” John 10:11
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” John 14:6
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” John 14:27
“Take eat, this is my body…Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:26-28
“Yet, not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36
“…today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
“It is finished…” John 19:30
“He has risen, He is not here.” Mark 16:6
“…whoever believes in Him is not condemned…whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…” John 3:18: 36
“… he who began a good work in your will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

And that is just the beginning as you daily draw truth and encouragement from the Bible, the Wonderful Words of Life.

“It’s a girl.” *** Dr. Good 5-22-84

“It’s a boy.”**** Dr. Wedel   1-15-88

“You are cancer free.”***** Dr. Chris Rupe 7-15-11

 Notes of explanation provided by the blog host:

*John is my youngest brother, five years my junior, the fifth and last child born to Alton and Ruth Macy. As evidenced here, he can say more in four lines than I can in multiple paragraphs or even a few footnotes. But then, he has more time to reflect as he spends the major part of his day in the quiet of a Motor Grader, maintaining the roads of Ottawa County, Kansas.
**my pronouncment of the marriage of John to his wife, Robin. I was privileged to officiate the weddings of my two younger brothers andparticipate in the wedding of my older sister.  John and Robin’s wedding coincided with my 32nd birthday.
***announcing the birth of my niece, Nicole
****announcing the birth of my nephew, Nathaniel
***** Response to the question, “What do I say when people ask me if my wife is cancer free?”  John’s wife, Robin, was treated for breast cancer with a double mastectomy, just three weeks after my wife, Linda, was treated for breast cancer with a single mastectomy. Both women are recovering from surgery and considered to be cancer free.

Thank You Heavenly Father!

Next to the Bible itself, one of the finest books you will ever read is Basic Christianity by John Stott. Ninety years old as of this past April, Stott has had major influence on the evangelical movement; and has been the main force for a faithful evangelical witness within the world wide Anglican community. Rector Emeritus of All Souls Church, Langham Place, his boyhood church with which he has been associated ever since, Stott also served as a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II. One could wish he might have had more influence on her children.

My first awareness of Stott was as a college student in 1970 through his little commentary on Romans 5-8, Men Made New. [1] His clear, concise exposition of Scripture is illustrated here and evident in all his writings. The “chink” in Stott’s evangelical credentials was his flirting in his later years with annihilation as opposed to eternal punishment for the unsaved. I understand he has since taken a more agnostic pose on that issue.

But for a clear presentation of the essentials of Jesus and true Christianity, there is nothing better than Basic Christianity. I recently gave a copy to a “seeker” (check out Stott’s careful use of that word) who needed some clarity about the essence of Christian belief. As I baptized this man just recently, he mentioned the help of this little book, and his verbal testimony to Christ reflected a much clear understanding of the Gospel.

That witness drove me to go back and read Basic Christianity again during a recent trip. The simple outline of the Gospel, with clear explanation and application can be a great outreach tool. The four parts are: Who Christ Is; What We Need; What Christ Has Done; How to Respond

I commend it to you as a great summation of the Good News, the Best News you’ll ever hear.