These honest testimonies from some vulnerable saints raise multiple questions for us as church..and as preachers:
"How could I sit on national television [as CBN's 700 Club co-host] every day, and tell people that if they put their faith in Christ, everything would be all right, when things were far from all right with me?..
I had a conversation with someone who wanted me to consider the possibility that Satan was using me to try to try to attack CBN..
...Before I entered the hospital, many at CBN saw the pain in my face and simply stayed away. I know that divorce is a sin, and I understand that it was heartbreaking for those who knew me to see that become a reality in my life, but as much as I liked to avoid anger, I found it easier to deal with those who were at least openly angry and confused than with those who simply stopped calling.
I read their distance as an assent to my belief that I was simply a bad person.
Many of these same people have since said they are sorry, that they just did not know what to say.."
-Sheila Walsh, "Honestly," p, 22, 99
--------------------------------"I guess my Christian experience has been different from a lot of people's. Every now and then, I force myself to watch one of those Christian TV shows like the 'PTL Club.' Sincere guys come on saying, 'I was a drunkard, and I lost my my job. Then I found the Lord, and all of a sudden, my marriage was saved; my job was saved; I don't drink any more; and I'm a millionaire.'
I have no reason to doubt those folks' sincerity. I could go on that show and say, 'Well, I started out as an agnostic, went through Buddhism and black magic. Then I became a Christian -- and my marriage fell apart'. For me, my faith is a whole other thing than those PTL guys' faith. And, although I have to say this with a certain caution, I know that no matter how much I screw up, God is still going to be there. A large part of my faith is trusting that God won't let me screw up beyond a certain point."
-Bruce Cockburn, see "God loves you and has a wonderful plan: to wreck your life"
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In the post linked below, I tell stories about two of my favorite people, on whom I may have failed,
as I passed the potatoes, and could've asked "Hey, how are you REALLY doing?"
He killed himself a few days later:
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