Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 16

The Twentieth Anniversary of the Heaven Book

After her four-year battle with cancer, I said goodbye—for now—to my wife and soulmate Nanci. My grief, though deep, is informed by God’s sovereignty and love. I know that Nanci is no longer suffering and is happier than she has ever been.

But the story isn’t over; the best is yet to come. Nanci went ahead to the present Heaven, which is “better by far” than this present world (Philippians 1:23). One day, after the resurrection, God will relocate us to the future Heaven, centered on the New Earth, where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). So while Nanci lives in a wonderful place without pain, she and all God’s people there are looking forward to the resurrection, and the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Nanci and I talked often about what living as embodied people will be like on a resurrected Earth—a world with trees, rivers, animals, eating and drinking, reunions, old and new friendships, and above all, a place where we will worship God without sin to hinder us! Because we will still be God’s image bearers, reigning over a risen Earth, I believe we will enjoy art, literature, sports, drama, technology, and all other products of God-given creativity and glorified imaginations.

I am eternally grateful for those conversations, which began decades before Nanci was diagnosed with cancer. In her last days here on Earth, I saw her outwardly wasting away, yet because she fixed her eyes on Jesus and her unseen home, I saw her inwardly being renewed (see 2 Corinthians 4:16). Now that she has relocated to Heaven, an eternal perspective has helped me grieve in healthy ways. Nanci’s death was not the end of our relationship; reunion awaits.

God’s Word tells us, “In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). Yet today most Christians haven’t had their imaginations captured by that promise. God never abandoned His original plans and purposes. Not only does He not give up on us, He doesn’t give up on the creation He called “very good” (Genesis 1:31). He will redeem this earth as surely as He redeems His children. Where Adam and Eve failed, Jesus succeeded. Righteous humans will indeed rule a righteous Earth forever!

When Heaven was released in 2004, people said, “How can this be true, since I’ve never heard it before?” I understood—I’d never been taught these ideas in Bible college, seminary, or church. Here’s the irony: in an age when people often twist biblical truth to make it appealing, what Scripture actually says about Heaven is far more attractive than the ghostly, vague view of the afterlife that plagues countless believers.

Big books full of Scripture and theology and quotations from people long dead don’t normally sell well. Yet to my surprise (and the publisher’s), well over a million copies of Heaven have sold (over two million, including related books and a booklet). Innumerable readers, including pastors, have told me it radically changed their view of eternity. Rarely does a day go by when I don’t receive encouraging messages about the book. These are just a few:

“Within a week of losing our 16-year-old son, I ordered Heaven. It has saved my life.”

“I started reading your book, and it’s put everything in perspective. I didn’t even realize that I had wrong beliefs about Heaven. It has renewed my faith.”

“My dad was on hospice for nineteen months. He read Heaven three times before he went there. This book, along with the Bible, was his preparation for Heaven!”

“I gave your book to a friend who was in poor health. Before she died, she told me she had accepted Jesus. I’m so grateful I’ll see her again.”

“I gave Heaven to my son-in-law who was dying. He read through the first seven chapters and gave his life to Jesus. He died a few weeks later.”

“After losing my fourteen-year-old to suicide, I questioned many things, including my faith. Your book Heaven and the Bible are the two things that bring me great comfort each day.”

My prayer is that readers of the book will experience what my precious wife and I did—the heartfelt happiness of knowing Jesus and anticipating eternal life on the glorious redeemed world He is preparing for us!

The 20th Anniversary edition of Randy's book Heaven  is now available from EPM.

Some Biblically-Based Resources for News and Current Events

These days, we’re continually bombarded by “news” (which is sometimes more sensational than informative) that dwells on the sufferings, tragedies, and negatives of life. This unceasing avalanche of bad news, as well as rampant political tribalism, suspicion, and critical opinions, can quickly bury what Scripture calls “the good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7) and “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10).

My wife Nanci wrote in her journal, “Please, Lord, whenever my heart leans toward anxiety and dread, bring me back into a Holy Spirit-led season of praise and thanks to You—the giver of all good things!”

Nanci wrote that while facing her cancer, but her wise words can be applied to current events, too. We shouldn’t feed ourselves primarily on news headlines, but on the good news of gospel truth.

Yet I don’t favor living in a cave, blissfully ignorant of the world’s woes and the suffering and difficulties around us. Rather, we’re to focus our thoughts on true eternal realities. Remembering God’s presence, praying, and feeding our minds with good things that honor our King—these practices will increase our joy while starving our anxiety.

That means when we do read the news, it’s important we analyze current events from a biblical perspective, always remembering what Scripture has to say. One source I highly recommend that does that is The Remnant, which is sent out three times a week by email. I think it is a very helpful, biblically-based, discerning, and concise summary of vital things going on in the world.

For example, in response to the recent headline “North Korea and Russia Teaming Up?” they wrote:

Sadly, wars and alliances between evil actors are possible on this side of the Fall (Romans 8:22). Thankfully, this is temporary. They're only possible on this side of the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 22:3). There is an expiration date on evil, and only God knows when that date will arrive (Romans 16:20). 

Jesus told us that we would hear of "wars and rumors of wars" in these last days but instructed us not to be alarmed, declaring that "such things must happen, but the end is still to come" (Matthew 24:6).

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God" (Psalm 20:7). An antidote to our worry is to take our eyes off of the happenings in the world and fix our eyes on the Lord. He is in control (Psalm 103:19), and He is good (Psalm 145:9).

God is the one who will ultimately settle disputes between nations (Isaiah 2:4). One day, there won't be any more wars, for the former things will have passed away (Revelation 21:4). Continue to pray for peace and for Christ to come back quickly (Philippians 3:20).

Kathy Norquist, a board member at our ministry, recommends The Pour Over, which is also an email list that sends out Christian responses to news headlines. They describe it as: “The biggest news of the day, summarized in a way you'll actually understand and enjoy, paired with brief Christian perspectives.”

If you enjoy listening instead of reading, The World and Everything In it is a daily podcast from WORLD Newsgroup with headlines, field reporting, interviews, and expert analysis. And Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has a podcast called The Briefing, which provides a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Photo: Unsplash

Why Does How We View Money Matter?

If the Bible were written today and judged by what it says about money and possessions, it would never be published. If it were published, it would be mercilessly panned by its reviewers and not see a second printing.

When it comes to money and possessions, the Bible is sometimes redundant, often extreme, and occasionally shocking. It turns many readers away, making it a hard sell in today’s marketplace. It interferes with our lives and commits the unpardonable sin—it makes us feel guilty. If we want to avoid guilt feelings, it forces us to invent fancy interpretations to get around its plain meanings.

We come to the Bible for comfort, not financial instruction. If we want to know about money, we’re more apt to read the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, or Money. Let God talk about love and grace and brotherhood, thank you. Let the rest of us talk about money and possessions—and do whatever we want with them.

How could the Bible’s Author and Editor justify devoting twice as many verses to money (about 2,350 of them) than to faith and prayer combined? How could Jesus say more about money than about both Heaven and Hell? Didn’t He know what was really important?

When I was a pastor, I planned a three-week sermon series on money. I began by compiling a cross section of Bible passages. Every passage led to another and another. I quickly became convinced that God cares a great deal about our money—a great deal more than most of us imagine.

The sheer enormity of Scripture’s teaching on this subject screams for our attention. And the haunting question is, “Why?” Considering everything else He could have told us that we really want to know, why did the Savior of the world spend 15 percent of His recorded words on this one subject? What did He know about money and possessions that we don’t?

Hitting Close to Home

And what are we to think of all the current teaching on money and possessions that emphasizes what does not apply to us? Confident voices assure us that the Old Testament practice of tithing doesn’t apply to us, that the New Testament practice of sacrificial giving by liquidating assets and giving to the poor doesn’t apply to us, that the biblical prohibitions of interest and the restriction of debt don’t apply to us, that the commands not to hoard and stockpile assets don’t apply to us, and so on. It’s time to ask, “What does apply to us?”

Can we put Christ before all, deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him (Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27), with no apparent effect on what we do with our money and possessions?

Sometimes more can be learned from the passages of Scripture we ignore than those we underline. No wonder C. S. Lewis called God “The Transcendental Interferer.” God has this annoying habit of stepping into our lives even when we’ve pulled in the welcome mat and bolted the door. The more we allow ourselves to grapple with these unsettling passages, the more we are pierced. Jesus wounds us with His words about money. Then, just when we think we’re healed, we run into another sharp passage, and God’s Word pierces us again. Our only options, it seems, are to let Jesus wound us until He accomplishes what He wishes, or to avoid His words and His gaze altogether by staying away from His Word. The latter option is easier in the short run. But no true disciple can be content with it.

You may be thinking, I’d rather not deal with these issues; I’m content with what I’m doing. But are you really content? I, for one, hate to live with that nagging feeling deep inside that when Jesus called people to follow Him He had more in mind than I am experiencing.

The fear of dealing with what God expects me to do with my money is exceeded by the fear of not dealing with it. I don’t want to stand before Him one day and try to give an answer for how I could call myself a disciple without ever coming to grips with money and possessions. Not when even a cursory reading of the New Testament shows this issue to be right at the heart of discipleship.

I must quickly add that for me the process of discovering God’s will about money and possessions has been exciting and liberating. My growth in financial stewardship has closely paralleled my overall spiritual growth. In fact, it has propelled it. I have learned more about faith, trust, grace, commitment, and God’s provision in this area than in any other.

I have also learned why Paul said, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). I have found that cheerful givers love God and love Him more deeply each time they give. To me, one of the few experiences comparable to the joy of leading someone to Christ is the joy of making wise and generous choices with my money and possessions. Both are supreme acts of worship. Both are exhilarating. Both are what we were made for.

What we do with our money will—and I choose these words deliberately—influence the very course of eternity.

My study of this subject has reinforced the reality that we were made for only one person and one place. Jesus is the person and Heaven is the place. Our purpose should pervade our approach to money. If it does, the door will be unlocked to exhilarating Christian discipleship, where “following Christ” is not merely a comforting but meaningless cliché; instead it is an electrifying, life-changing reality.

I believe that most of the financial matters we typically discuss are on the fringes of what’s important, light years away from the core of the issue. We tend to focus on things that belong at the tail end of stewardship discussions, not the beginning. In effect we’re trying to install the gutters before we’ve laid the foundation and started the framing. We must realize that many of the things our society considers to be at the heart of financial planning (such things as insurance, the stock market, and retirement, for instance) never existed before the modern era and still don’t exist in much of the world. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong—only that they are secondary.

Advice about how to accomplish our financial goals is valuable only if the goals we set are biblically based and Christ-centered. It’s not only important to know how to get the canoe down the river, it’s also essential to know where the river is taking you.

Before we learn the fine art of building a sturdy boat or the skill of staying in the boat as we head down the rapids, we should make certain that our desired destination is really downstream rather than upstream. Because if it’s upstream, we would do better to get off the river altogether, forget the boat, and plot our course by land. It may be a harder trip, but isn’t the whole point to arrive at the correct destination?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). If we prefer to think as the world thinks about money and possessions, we needn’t change a thing. Conformity is as natural as swimming downstream. But if we’re committed to thinking about money and possessions as God does, it’s a different matter. We need to set aside the bookshelves and magazine racks filled with advice on how to make, spend, and invest our money and blow the dust off our Bibles. The Bible is the only book worthy of the title chosen by a popular financial counselor for his own book: The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need.

For more on this topic, see Managing God’s Money and The Treasure Principle. And for a deeper dive into how God views money, see Money, Possessions, and Eternity.

Photo: Pexels

A Pastor’s Response, Full of Grace and Truth, to His Daughter’s Unplanned Pregnancy

Note from Randy: I love Pastor Heath Lambert, and I also love his love for his family. This had to be a hard sermon for him to give, but what good words to say about his daughter and the father of her child! And he celebrates the baby, his precious grandchild, while calling the sin by name. This response is full of grace and truth, and made my heart sing. My thanks to Care Net for this article.

Pastor Faces Daughter’s Unplanned Pregnancy with Courage and Compassion

by Tom Campisi

Dr. Heath Lambert, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, recently preached a message on The Prodigal Son.

The heartfelt sermon from Luke 15, which focused on the father’s unconditional love towards the once wayward young man, was shared in conjunction with some candid news about the pastor’s family—Dr. Lambert announced that his young, unmarried daughter was pregnant.

Although the senior pastor would have preferred to keep the information private, “the nature of my ministry means that the consequences of her private sin will be more public than it would be for most young women in her situation.”

In the sermon, Dr. Lambert talked about the disappointment he felt in finding out the news, but also expressed pride in how his daughter and the father of the child expressed repentance and were taking responsibility for the baby going forward. Like the father in The Prodigal Son parable, he found reason to rejoice.

“I hate the sin that got us where we are, but I already see a lot to celebrate,” Dr. Lambert said. “I have celebrated the honesty and humility demonstrated by my daughter. I have celebrated the character and integrity of this young man who has demonstrated courage and conviction that I couldn’t have dreamed of having when I was his age.”

Dr. Lambert also celebrated the gift of life as a sonogram appeared on the screen at the church.

“I want to introduce you to my grandchild,” he said.

“We have a few things in common. At 44 (years old), nobody asked me if I wanted to be a grandpa; Nobody asked (him or her) if they wanted to be alive, but God knew. God’s gift of Life is wonderful and precious. However [the baby] gets here, we are going to celebrate it…I’m going to love this little child…I’m already praying that we are able to lead this precious angel to Jesus Christ and baptize this baby right over there…”

In his message, Dr. Lambert—the author of several books, including The Great Love of God: Encountering God’s Heart for a Hostile World—stressed the reality that no sin was beyond the forgiveness and mercy offered by the Father.

“We all need to learn to live in an atmosphere of Grace… We have to be a Christian family that loves one another, accepts repentant Sinners, and extends the same kind of love and forgiveness that we all have to receive from our father.”

Dr. Lambert said he was approaching the situation by “listening, loving, and trusting.” He was listening to the counsel of close friends and pastors; loving his daughter and his family; and trusting God that all things would work together for good (Rom. 8:28).

Dr. Lambert’s courageous and loving example in the way he is navigating this challenge is an excellent model for churches when it comes to engaging those faced with an unplanned pregnancy. The data reveals that church communities need to do better.

In a blog post, Andrew Wood, Care Net’s Senior Executive Director of Church Engagement, describes how Care Net’s research and other studies corroborate the fact that two out of five women who have had abortions were attending church at least once a month at the time of their first abortion.

“Abortion is a problem in the church, not just ‘out there,’” he said.

“We can’t just delegate this sensitive issue to pregnancy centers when we have men and women considering abortion right in our midst.”

Wood says the church needs to do more than just oppose abortion. The heart of our challenge and calling is to provide alternatives that affirm life in all its complexity and potential.

“We need to learn to speak to the fears and idols of their hearts with compassion, hope, and help,” he said.

Churches would do well to emulate Dr. Lambert’s example of a loving father and his desire for future discipleship in welcoming his grandchild. This is exactly the kind of posture at the heart of Care Net’s Pro Abundant Life movement.

This article originally appeared on the Care Net blog , and is used with permission.

Photo: Pexels

Happy Are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God

A reader sent me this message related to my book The Purity Principle:

Dearest Randy,

I am one of the thousands who have extremely benefitted from this book.

Ever since I became a Christian (almost 4 decades ago), I have been struggling with sexual lust. And it has been a wearisome battle.

Over the years, I have been devouring books just to take hold of a particular principle that can help when I go through those terrible episodes of temptations.

From John Owen’s Mortification of Sin to John White’s Eros Defiled and Eros Redeemed, I zealously poured over the pages of many, many books.

Then I came across your book The Purity Principle, and what’s encouraging is that your simple, yet profound canon: “Purity is always smart, impurity is always stupid.” It has helped me tremendously during episodes of temptations. And that the best way to battle sexual lust is by turning to and seeking a higher pleasure, that is, God Himself and the provisions He has given in marriage.

I’ve devoured your book, and I felt as if a heavy chain that has been fastened on me for so long has been unshackled.

I cannot thank you enough for this book. And I’m buying more of this book so that I may share it men who, like me, have been severely struggling with sexual lust.

Thank you so much and may the Lord continually bless your ministry.

This man discovered that when his thirst for joy is satisfied by Christ, sin becomes unattractive. This allows us to say no to the passing pleasures of immorality, not because we don’t want pleasure, but because we want true pleasure—a greater and lasting pleasure that can be found only in Christ. We don’t pursue purity for purity’s sake; but because we want to pursue Christ.

Jesus described seeing God as something wonderful, declaring “Blessed [happy] are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Commenting on this verse, Jonathan Edwards said, “It is a thing truly happifying to the soul of man to see God.” (Don’t you love the word happifying?)

While one day we will literally see Christ face to face, even now we can “see” Him as we pursue knowing Him. “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand” (Colossians 3:1, NLT).

We must choose between sexual fantasies and intimacy with God. We cannot have both. When we see that God offers joys and pleasures that sexual fantasies don’t, this is a breakthrough. But that breakthrough will come only when we pursue God, making Him the object of our quest—and when we realize that fantasies are only a cheap God-substitute. Running to them is running from God.

Garrett Kell, pastor at Del Ray Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, gave a chapel message this fall at Cedarville University on the subject of purity. Garrett says, “[God] is worth everything, and He is better than anything sin can ever offer you. So friends, pursue purity to get God.”

This is a great message for every Christ follower, whatever their age:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxp_8Sd6pu4?si=UR6iyqIUS447lI4L

Photo: Unsplash

Steven Curtis Chapman, the Hope of Heaven, and Turning to God in Loss

My daughter Angela and I were able to attend a Steven Curtis Chapman concert with some friends last month. Steven had asked to meet with me before the show to talk about how the Heaven book and Safely Home ministered to their family after their daughter Maria’s tragic death 16 years ago.

We prayed for him, and I encouraged him (and myself) to finish well. I saw strong indications of Steven’s spiritual depth—you often get that depth through turning to God in suffering and loss, as their whole family has.

If you want to see something powerful, go back in time to the Larry King Live interview with the Chapmans and three of their older children. What a marvelous thing it was for the family to agree to this interview instead of hiding from all the questions that were being asked. The gospel went far and wide through this 16 years ago, and has ever since as people see it for the first time or rewatch it. It certainly brought fresh tears to me.

There are four 7-minute or so segments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ySghBeUuNM?si=mJx2kszaFbXfb9DO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQkmTHsSzn4?si=Q3Hvq0tYNZbFxzY2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lISsO5fzN70?si=ST8gvLVmRP9k5XMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azBcdKAM7as?si=omuNp9wUWL0SDZg0

One of the ministries EPM supports is Show Hope, which Steven and Mary Beth Chapman founded in 2003 after the adoption of their first daughter, Shaohannah Hope. Show Hope’s work is dedicated to breaking down barriers between waiting orphaned children and families. After Maria’s death, donations made in her memory helped build and launch Maria’s Big House of Hope—Show Hope’s flagship Care Center in Central China providing care for children with acute medical and special needs. 

Photo: Unsplash

Where Does Happiness Originate?

Some people suppose happiness is uniquely human, unrelated to God’s nature: as He gave us a body and hunger, which He doesn’t have, He gave us a capacity for happiness, which He also doesn’t have. I believe something radically different—that God wants us happy because He’s happy! He treasures His happiness and treasures us, and therefore He treasures our happiness! Old Testament professor Brent Strawn writes, “In the Bible, God is happy, and God’s happiness affects and infects the rest of the non-God world, humans included.” The last part of the sentence hinges on the first: if God isn’t happy, he has no happiness with which to “infect” us.

To be godly is to resemble God. If God is unhappy, we’d need to pursue unhappiness, which is as likely as developing an appetite for gravel. If following Jesus means having to turn away from happiness, and we’re wired to want happiness, then we can only fail as Christians. Looking at Scripture carefully, we find a happy God who desires us to draw happiness from Him. Yet how many Christians have ever heard a sermon, read a book, had a discussion about, or meditated on God’s happiness?

Not once at church, Bible college, or seminary did I hear about God’s happiness. I have no doubt it would have been surprising, memorable, and encouraging. What better explanation for the flood of happiness that overwhelmed my life after coming to Christ than that my God, who created, redeemed, and indwelt me, was happy?

Though I studied the Bible continuously, somehow the hundreds of Scriptures indicating God’s pleasure, delight, and joy didn’t register. They were nullified by unbiblical statements I heard from pastors and authors, such as “God calls us to holiness, not happiness.” I’ve always been a voracious reader, inhaling books, including theological works, by the hundreds. But I didn’t read anything about the happiness of God until the late 1980s, after I’d been a pastor for ten years. John Piper’s books Desiring God and The Pleasures of God introduced me to a subject I should have heard about in my first few months attending church as a teenager.

Why did it take so long for me to hear what Scripture clearly teaches? Because God’s happiness simply wasn’t on my radar, nor that of my church or school. God’s love, mercy, and grace were affirmed—not just His justice and wrath—so perhaps I should have deduced that God was happy. But the thought never occurred to me.

I believe it’s vital that we not leave our children and future generations of Christians to figure out for themselves that God is happy. Most never will. How can they, unless their families and churches teach them and demonstrate God-centered happiness in their own lives? We need to tell them that sin, suffering, shame, and unhappiness are temporary conditions for God’s people. We’ll once and for all be righteous, healthy, shame free, and happy. Once we’re in His presence, we’ll never again experience the anger, judgment, and discipline of God we see in Scripture (all of which are appropriate and important, but even now do not nullify His happiness or love).

I’m convinced that in the new universe—called in Scripture the New Heaven and the New Earth—the attribute of God’s happiness will be apparent everywhere. Upon their deaths, Christ won’t say to His followers, “Go and submit to your master’s harshness” but “Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21, NIV). Anticipating those amazing words can sustain us through every heartbreak and challenge in our present lives.

I share more in this video, answering the question, “Is God happy?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFRpqZaXqaE?si=MHob0XQJokqbsOUF

Browse more resources on the topic of happiness, and see Randy's books, including Happiness  and  Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Photo: Unsplash

No Little People, No Little Places

Denny Hartford, the founder and director of Vital Signs Ministries, and his wife Claire truly live to the glory of King Jesus. I was touched by this story he shared in a ministry update:

Early in March, I was talking to a fellow at the coffee shop, and I mentioned that Claire and I were heading down to Wichita later in the morning to visit my little sister Sherry for a couple of days. My little sister is dealing with an early and very severe dementia. I explained Sherry’s plight to him, and he asked, “Why do you go down to spend time with her if you realize she might not even recognize you?”

I smiled and kindly, but carefully, replied, “Because I recognize her!”

The point being that the key to experiencing the blessings of God in one’s relationships is to love, honor, and serve others unconditionally—not because of what someone can do for you or what arbitrary and utilitarian tests they can pass to “deserve” being treated with honor and kindness. Christians are commanded to love as Jesus loves us and that means with grace, humility, courage, a willingness to sacrifice, and a persevering spirit. Yes, I love my little sister because of who she has been. But I also love her for who she is right now, physical and mental illness notwithstanding, because she is worth every bit of tenderness and respect and service I can render her. And, thank the Lord, because Sherry has trusted in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to pay for her sins, I also love her for who she will one day be! Maranatha—come, Lord Jesus.

Along with ministering to my sister (embraces, music, conversation, helping her with meals and desserts, time enjoying the scenery outside, including the fox who lives in the woods behind the facility), the Lord gave us opportunities there in Wichita to touch other lives as well. Millie and Bertie to whom we brought sweet treats, swapped stories, read poetry, and talked of the splendors of Heaven. The nursing home staff to whom we brought our thanks, compliments (and donuts). The overworked “care pastor” from a nearby church who we were able to encourage. Two local musicians. A bookstore manager. People at the hotel. The girls working at the non-profit coffee shop. As Francis Schaeffer would say, “No little people, no little places.” Everything God gives us to do is big and beautiful and of eternal significance. So let’s not miss out on the chances God gives us every single day to make a difference to someone.

Denny mentioned Francis Schaeffer’s quote “No little people, no little places.” That was the title of a chapter in his book also titled No Little People, a collection of 16 of Francis’s sermons.

Schaeffer wrote, “Jesus commands Christians to seek consciously the lowest room. All of us—pastors, teachers, professional religious workers and nonprofessional included—are tempted to say, ‘I will take the larger place because it will give me more influence for Jesus Christ.’ … But according to the Scripture this is backwards: We should consciously take the lowest place unless the Lord himself extrudes us into a greater one.”

He continued:

We must remember throughout our lives that in God’s sight there are no little people and no little places. Only one thing is important: to be consecrated persons in God’s place for us, at each moment. Those who think of themselves as little people in little places, if committed to Christ and living under his Lordship in the whole of life, may, by God’s grace, change the flow of our generation. And as we get on a bit in our lives, knowing how weak we are, if we look back and see we have been somewhat used of God, then we should be…“surprised by joy.”

The humble willingness to help the needy and lowly has always set Christians apart, showing the world that we operate on a radically different value system. Christ says if we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, invite in the stranger, give clothes to the needy, care for the sick, and visit the persecuted, we are doing those things to Him: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat” (Matthew 25:34-35).

As Denny put it, “Let’s not miss out on the chances God gives us every single day to make a difference to someone.”

Photo: Pexels

The Faith-Based Response to Hurricane Helene

Note from Randy: Our hearts go out to the people of western North Carolina and in other communities who’ve suffered so much from the effects of Hurricane Helene. One of the ministries EPM supports and recommends is Samaritan’s Purse, which is based in Boone, North Carolina. It’s amazing that their organization, which is always responding to disasters around the world, is directly impacted by the disaster in this case. Franklin Graham, their president and CEO, has had wonderful opportunities to share with the media about their relief efforts, and also the hope found in Jesus. (See this video to get a glimpse into the devastation and the work Samaritan’s Purse is doing.) Pray for their staff and volunteers. Pray for open hearts in the people they minister to.

I was originally slated to speak at a retreat at the Cove, the Billy Graham Retreat Center in Asheville, North Carolina, later in October. Due to the disaster, they had to cancel all their October events. The staff member I spoke with told me they are making sack lunches daily for the state police whose usual places to eat have been destroyed or closed. It’s so sad, but I did tell the person who called me that we can get a small glimpse of Romans 8:28 by the fact that they are daily feeding the police, and that will not be forgotten when things return to normal. Some of the local skeptics will view them and the gospel differently after all the help they will receive from them.

In the following guest blog, Warren Cole Smith, president of MinistryWatch, shares about the faith-based response to Hurricane Helene. It’s a reminder that there’s a long track record of Christ-followers being the hands and feet of Jesus by serving the suffering, the needy, the poor. (Historically, what religions besides Christianity have established hospitals throughout the world, or networks of famine relief and development to help starving people, victims of disasters and refugees? Who has shown grace, bringing in tons of food, clothing, shelter, man-power, and medical supplies after every disaster?  It’s Christians. When Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus are suffering in far corners of the world, it’s Christians who come to help.)

May God’s people give generously and volunteer to help those in need. And may God use the church’s response to this terrible natural disaster to spread the knowledge of Him and to draw many hearts to Himself.

Helene Unleashed “Faith-Based FEMA”

Gov't has a role, but churches & Christian ministries are “new paradigm” for disaster relief

October 4, 2024

The whole world is now seeing what the people of western North Carolina have lived through this past week. Those sights are generating shock and awe. The strength of the storm and the magnitude of the destruction are stunning. The scale of the devastation is now becoming clear. Western North Carolina will not be back to normal for months, perhaps years. It is also clear that whatever “normal” looked like, the new normal will be different. This storm has recalibrated where and how thousands of people will live from now on.

I live in Charlotte, two hours east of Asheville. We were spared the worst effects of the storm, but even here we see ripple effects. With I-40 and I-26 closed through the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, traffic has been diverted for hundreds of miles in all directions. Charlotte-area interstates are now clogged at most hours of the day or night. My own schedule has been altered. I planned to meet with MinistryWatch supporters in Asheville next week, but the restaurant in Biltmore Village where we planned to meet is now full of mud. That trip is now (obviously) not happening.

Tuesday night I sat outside with a friend, and our conversation was interrupted repeatedly by helicopters passing overhead, headed west with supplies. The shelves of the big-box stores here in Charlotte are mostly empty of bottled water and other essential items. These are, of course, minor inconveniences, mere trifles compared to what the people of western North Carolina are facing, but they have provided me with a reality check. It’s clear that Helene’s impact has been rippling out from western North Carolina.

There is also much heartache. This morning the death toll passed 200, most of them in North Carolina, and 72 in Buncombe County alone. That grim number will certainly increase. A childhood friend of my wife Missy has a second home near Saluda, N. C. Three people died on her street alone. I have heard stories from rescue workers who are recovering bodies, some of them ripped apart. The weeks ahead will be hard ones for police, fire, and rescue workers. It’s also important to note that in the rural communities affected, many of these first responders are volunteers. This is certainly not what they signed up for, but I have heard story after story of these men and women rushing in, not running away.

Indeed, the stories abound. A college friend, Paul Hanna, posted on Facebook the story of his son Ben. Let me share it with you:

My son, Ben Hanna and his wife, Mandy, live in Asheville. They have a natural gas generator. So they are the only ones with power in their area. He was able to borrow a StarLink setup from a neighbor with no power and set up an internet hotspot for his neighbors to communicate. They also hosted a street “eat your food before it spoils” party and hosted a movie night for the neighborhood in their front yard and driveway in between the downed trees.

Such grassroots efforts are springing up all round. Ed and Anne Stych are names that might be familiar to MinistryWatch readers. They are part of the team that posts stories to the MinistryWatch website, and Anne has written more than 100 stories for us over the past five years. They are a part of Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Cornelius, N.C., a northern suburb of Charlotte. This small church, working with others in the area, helped send more than 38 small aircraft loaded with supplies to western North Carolina – on Monday alone. Local businessmen Travis McVickers and Kevin Garrison organized these efforts. Garrison set up a GoFundMe page to finance the project. By Friday, he had raised more than $840,000 to pay for supplies, airplane fuel, hangar space, and airplane rentals.

Another member of Good Shepherd Anglican, Matt Creswell, drove up to Banner Elk on Tuesday with a 1,000-gallon tank of diesel. “This has turned into a three-day event,” Creswell texted Ed Stych. “On Wednesday we are cooking 1,000 hotdogs and hamburgers for a little hard-hit community about 45 minutes north of Boone. Sleep is overrated.”

The resourcefulness of some of these grassroots efforts are enough to bring a smile to your face. One example: A mule team hauled supplies to people in Black Mountain, N.C. who are completely cut off by severed roads. The supplies were purchased at Food Lion just outside the area affected, and the local Tractor Supply store donated feed for the mules.

Federal, state, and local governments are involved, of course. They will have to play a major role in what will likely be a years-long recovery effort. But the real story of the first few days after this storm is the scope and scale of these spontaneous, grassroots efforts. They have undoubtedly saved the lives of some and have given hope to many. My friend and long-time journalist Bobby Ross, Jr., said he has seen this phenomenon repeatedly in the disasters he has covered over the years. In fact, he has even coined a term to describe these Christian first responders: “Faith-Based FEMA.” Indeed, as Ross reports, even when the government is involved, it often uses churches as command centers and staging facilities.

These ideas are not new to anyone who has been paying attention. Marvin Olasky is a veteran journalist and a historian of American charity and philanthropic efforts. He wrote after Hurricane Katrina, “Big government didn’t work. And a new paradigm for responding to national crisis has emerged. Private and faith-based organizations have stepped in, and politics will never be the same.”

That new paradigm is now on full display. Ed Stych summarized these grassroots rescue and relief efforts now springing up like a thousand flowers all around North Carolina: “I don’t know if the state and federal governments are doing a good job or a bad job. I just know that we ‘civilians’ need to do what we can immediately to help people in urgent need. We can’t wait for the government to save people.”

This article originally appeared on MinistryWatch and is used with permission of the author.

Header photo: Bill McMannis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How Does Evil Differ from Suffering?

It’s bad enough to do evil and abstain from good. But God condemns the moral sleight of hand by which we confuse good and evil: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

Paul built on this when he wrote, “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). Passages like Amos 5:14–15; Romans 16:19; 1 Peter 3:11 and 3 John 11 all presume we know the difference between good and evil. But in a culture that so often switches the price tags so what’s valuable looks worthless and what’s cheap demands a high price, this doesn’t come naturally. We must regularly withdraw to Scripture and ask God’s Spirit to train our minds and consciences to recognize what’s truly good and what’s truly evil.

Evil, in its essence, puts someone or something else in God’s place.

Most people today understand evil as anything that harms others. The more harm done, the more evil the action.

Evil is the fundamental and troubling departure from goodness. The Bible uses the word evil to describe that which violates God’s moral will. The first human evil occurred when Eve and Adam disobeyed God. From that original sin—a moral evil—came the consequence of suffering. Although suffering results from moral evil, it is distinguishable from it, just as an injury caused by drunken driving isn’t synonymous with the offense.

Evil could be defined as “the refusal to accept the true God as God.” For this very reason, the Bible treats idolatry as the ultimate sin.

Any attempt to liberate ourselves from God’s standards constitutes rebellion against God. In replacing His standards with our own, we not only deny God but affirm ourselves as God. Evil is always an attempted coup, an effort to usurp God’s throne.

Psalm 2 describes earthly kings standing against God and His anointed one and declaring, “Let us break their chains.” God scoffs at them and replies that He has installed His king on Zion—and they have no hope of conquering His Chosen One (see 2:2–6).

Evildoers not only reject God’s law and create their own; they attempt to take the moral high ground by calling God’s standards “unloving,” “intolerant,” and “evil.”

Moral evil comes in two forms—blatant evil that admits its hatred for goodness, and subtle evil that professes to love goodness while violating it.

Some view evil as the absence of good.

The logic goes like this: There is no such thing as cold, only lower degrees of heat (or the complete lack of it). Darkness is not the opposite of light, but the absence of light. Death is not the opposite of life, but its privation. A cloth can exist without a hole, but that hole cannot exist without the cloth. Good can, did, and will exist without evil. But evil cannot exist without the good it opposes. A shadow is nothing but the obstruction of light—no light, no shadow. Augustine said in The City of God, “Evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name ‘evil.’”

New Testament vocabulary sometimes supports this concept. We see it in words such as unrighteous, unjust, ungodly, lawless, and godless. These suggest that we best understand evil as a departure from God’s goodness. However, while this definition contains helpful insights, it doesn’t go far enough.

More than merely the absence of good, evil is the corruption of good.

The Holocaust was not “nothing.” The Killing Fields were not “nothing.” The 9/11 attacks were not “nothing.” All were real horrors, down to every emaciated corpse, bullet-riddled body, and person jumping out a window.

Perhaps we could better conceive of evil as a parasite on God’s good creation, since a parasite is something substantial. Without the living organism it uses as a host, the parasite cannot exist. As metal does not need rust, but rust needs metal, so good does not need evil, but evil needs good.

Grace and forgiveness, both expressions of God’s eternal character, are moral goods, but without evil they wouldn’t have become clearly evident. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit don’t need compassion, mercy, grace, or forgiveness. These qualities could only be fully expressed to finite and fallen creatures.

Some of God’s virtues will forever capture the spotlight that, without evil and suffering’s temporary hold on us, never would have taken the stage.

Immoral acts are primary evils, while their consequences, including suffering, are secondary evils.

Scripture portrays moral evils of rebelling against God, and natural evils including disease and disasters.

Child abuse is evil, demonstrated by the harm it inflicts on the innocent victim. We consider cancer and earthquakes evils because they bring suffering. While the evils of cancer and earthquakes differ from the moral evil of rebellion against God, the two are related. Human rebellion led God to curse the earth, which brought severe physical consequences.

Diseases and disasters are in a sense unnatural because they result from evil, an unnatural condition.

Disobeying God, inseparable from the failure to trust God, was the original evil. From that sin—a moral evil—came the consequence of suffering. So suffering follows evil as a caboose follows an engine. Scripture sometimes refers to calamities and tragic events as evils. To distinguish these, we can call moral evil primary evil, and suffering secondary evil.

“But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you” (Joshua 23:15). Note that the “evil” mentioned here is not moral evil. Rather, it’s a holy God bringing judgment upon guilty people.

In some cases God builds punishments into moral evils. Paul says of those committing sexual sins that they “received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (Romans 1:27).

Secondary evils provoke our indignation.

Why do innocent people suffer? Although many secondary evils befall us even when we have not directly committed a sin that causes them, we would not have to deal with secondary evils if we didn’t belong to a sinful race. Short-term suffering serves as a warning and foretaste of eternal suffering. Without a taste of Hell, we would neither see its horrors nor feel much motivation to do everything possible to avoid it. Hence, the secondary evil of suffering can get our attention and prompt us to repent of our primary moral evil.

God uses secondary evils as judgments that may produce ultimate good.

Jeremiah 11:17 uses the same Hebrew word for evil in both the primary sense (moral evil) and the secondary sense (adverse consequences of moral evil): “The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to pro­voke Me by offering up sacrifices to Baal” (NASB).

Because our English word has a narrower meaning, most translators normally choose “evil” when used of people disobeying God, but “disaster” or “calamity” when used of God bringing judgment on sinful people.

After promising judgment, God also promised He would bring good to His people—good that ultimately would outweigh the evil. Note the repetition of the word “good” in the following. God says,

They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. (Jeremiah 32:38–41)

God’s people endure temporary judgments for their sin. But God makes an “everlasting covenant,” promising, “I will never stop doing good to them.”

Evils, whether moral or natural, will not have the final say. God will replace both with everlasting good.

The surgeon inflicts suffering on the patient and the parent disciplines the child, but they do good, not evil. Likewise, God can permit and even bring suffering upon His children without being morally evil. God hates moral evil and is committed to utterly destroying it. Yet for now He allows evil and suffering, and can providentially use them for His own good purposes.

Adapted from Randy’s book If God Is Good, Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil.

Photo: Unsplash