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Thoughts from Pastor Holloman
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This last weekend I watched with interest the events happening in Washington DC. Marilyn and I were part of the hundreds of thousands that were there on July 4th in 1980 when the Beach Boys played prior to the fireworks display. It is an impressive site to see so many in one place at one time for one reason. But this weekend was a different kind of gathering lead by a different kind of person. There was a rally lead by a media personality who many might describe as divisive leading a rally very heavily infused with coming back to God.
Glenn Beck's rally was one of those things you just don't see every day. In a society that has been more and more distancing itself from God and has less and less trust of the church now has a person telling people to remember God, it must cause us to ask why and what does it mean. And much of what he said that I heard was true and things I have been trying to tell people.
And what struck me the most was the reaction by various groups to him. Because Glenn Beck is a conservative, liberals naturally railed against him with one saying that there was something wrong with him mentally. And of course there were conservatives who like him and others who were not sure what to make of it.
But as I listened to the reaction, which as I said, seemed pretty much along political lines, I couldn't help but think about a story that both Mark and Luke tell in their gospels. The disciples come to Jesus and tell him that they saw a man casting out demons in Christ's name and they told him to stop because he was not one of us. Jesus told the disciples to not stop him. He was on their side. It is ashamed that we haven't learned this lesson yet. We all too often look not to truth, but whose side is the person on who is speaking.
And for me, this is important because the church needs to reclaim its voice. Truth today is being twisted and people are believing anything and everything because the church has lost consistency in voicing truth. We now live in a society that says to become a rich star on TV, just release a private sex tape or sneak into a white house dinner uninvited. TV shows relationships between married people as all trouble. Fathers are clueless and religious people are crazy. And we in the church don't stand up anymore and speak any truth to combat this. And when we remain silent, then churches such as the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas or the Dove Outreach Center here in Gainesville begin fill that vacuum with their hatred and Un-Christ like actions. No where in the Bible does it say that God hates what he created. God sent his son because he loved the whole world and seek all to come to him.
The church has a role to play in life. It is to be a voice of truth and a voice of hope to a searching and hurting world. If we truly believe in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, then we need to proclaim it and teach it. We need to show it by living it and not being afraid to speak the truth in love. The more we remain silent, the more the void will be replaced by voices we may or may not agree with. Christ had one message, "Come to me, all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come to me, and I will give quench your thirst and I will give you life." We are to bring this Good News of Jesus Christ to the world and to not be ashamed of that Good News, no matter who proclaims it.
Blessings and Peace
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