Daily Devotional for Thursday October 9, 2008
No Outrage because We Simply Don't Care
(Matthew 27:27-31)
No outrage because we simply don't care. Last Sunday night, the disgusting FOX cartoon "The Family Guy" that airs in prime time on Sunday nights and targets children and families, aired an episode titled, "I Dream of Jesus." You can watch the program for yourself on Hulu.com, by going to The Family Guy program page. The sad reality is, many people, I am sure even some Christians, will find this mocking portrayal of our Lord humorous. I have no doubt I will get flooded with emails from people saying, "lighten up, it is just a cartoon." That is the whole point of this Devotional today. There is no outrage because the fact is, we simply don't care that our Lord and Savior is mocked, demeaned, and blasphemed, and turned into a joke!
I have told you for years about NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch, a man who has made his multi-billion dollar fortune by selling sleaze to the general public guised as news. It makes me laugh how many Christians love FOX News that is also owned by this sleaze merchant. If this blasphemy of Christ had been done on NBC or some "sleazy website," you can bet Bill O'Reilly would have done a segment on this program. It would have been a segment on Hannity and Colmes, Fox and Friends, and all of their programs. But since it was their own company putting out this blasphemy of Jesus...SILENCE!
That silence was to be expected. What was even more disgusting to me was the total silence by the Christian community. Where is the outrage by so-called leaders like Dobson, Warren, Osteen, Jakes, and others? Part of their silence is due to the fact they don't want to say anything negative about FOX since they use FOX as a platform to promote their ministry/business to the public. That is the same reason they don't have the guts to speak out against a New Age witch like Oprah. The other part of their silence is due to the fact they are so detached from the mainstream culture, they probably haven't even got a clue about this program that several million people were watching this past Sunday evening.
This is what I have been talking about for over 9 years now. These high profile ministries have extracted themselves from the culture to preach to the choir, since that is how they generate their millions each year so they can buy their glass buildings, private jets, and live like the rulers of small nations. They don't even care what is going on in the culture, other than to use it in their fundraising appeals. Their only connection to the lost world is to tell Christians to give them money to fight sin in the world, yet all of their efforts are geared not to reach the lost in the world but to target people who already know the Lord.
As I sat and watched this blasphemous depiction of our Lord, let me tell you exactly what I was thinking. I thought, Lord, let the fire and brimstone rain out of the heavens on this wicked nation. Pour out your wrath and judge this rebellious people. I am dead serious. Why should God continue to withhold His wrath any longer. We legally slaughter 4,000 innocent babies every 24 hours. We make a mockery of God's Holy Institution of Marriage. We live in complete and total rebellion to God's Word. We blaspheme Jesus who came to save this world. We literally spit in the face of God every minute of every day. We deserve His wrath and punishment!
One year ago the stock market was at 14,000. Today it is around 9,000. That is a 35% loss in one year! Apx. 10 TRILLION dollars has been lost in the past 12 months. For those who have been part of the Liveprayer family for at least the past couple of years, you will remember I kept telling you to be prepared for this year, it would a year of great upheaval and one like we have never experienced before, a year of great change. It was early in this year I shared with you a word on how God could easily use the economy as a form of His judgment on this nation and made that case. Well, here we are, and while tens of millions of people are hurting, feeling the pain of this economic meltdown we are living through, men are creating cartoons for a prime time network program geared to children and families mocking and blaspheming Jesus.
The amazing thing is, we are so blinded by our sin, we don't even understand how much trouble we are in. There is only one hope, one answer, and that is Jesus. Yet, instead of falling on our faces and begging Christ to forgive us for our gross sins and wickedness, we blaspheme Him in a cartoon, turning the only hope for this world and for each person into a joke. We are not only a sinful, wicked, and pathetic people, we are also very stupid people. That is like if you were drowning and there was one person with a life raft to rescue you. Instead of crying out to that person for help, you curse him and tell him to get lost.
Am I being too sensitive? Am I being so rigid that I have missed the humor in this depiction of Jesus? NO! I guarantee you that the geniuses at FOX would never, EVER, dare to depict Mohammed in this way. The FOX studios would be bombed if they did. Every Muslim group would be holding press conferences in outrage. Fatwas would be issued against Murdoch. No, they would never dare blaspheme Mohammed in this way, but Jesus, no problem because they know gutless Christians will sit back and take it. They know that there are no Christian leaders with a large platform who have the guts to speak out. I am certain they never even thought twice about it, and those who created this filth probably had a great laugh. I assure you they won't be laughing when they take their last breath and are standing before God!
I love you and care about you so much. I realize that I might as well be talking to a brick wall today. The fact is most people, even Christians, could care less. Some days I think I should just shut off all of the servers, take my Bible, and go lay out on the beach and enjoy the few days left before God's judgment falls on this nation. However, I wake up each day and my commitment to Christ forces me to come to my office and do everything I can that day to warn the people, bring the hope of Christ to the hurting, and tell the lost that without Jesus they will perish for all eternity. I am a bondservant to the Lord Jesus Christ and I have no choice but to serve Him. It is what I have given my life to do.
All I can do today is to pray for each person reading these words today. Pray that the Lord will move on your heart to no longer sit back and simply accept the way this world blasphemes our Lord and mocks our faith. Speak up. Quit sitting back in silence. If the world is so bold to speak up and slam our faith, we should be that much bolder in defending our faith. WE ARE RIGHT! WE HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF! WE HAVE THE TRUTH ON OUR SIDE!
May the Lord give you this day a spirit of boldness as you take your stand for Him and share His Truth with those you meet each day. It is blasphemy to reduce Jesus to a cartoon character to be laughed at and ridiculed. It is no different than what the Roman guards did to Jesus before they crucified Him! HE IS THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. HE IS THE LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS!!!
***As we are into the first week of October, I am asking you today to be praying about what God is calling you to do to help me this month as we look to keep this great outreach moving forward each day to reach more souls for Christ while bringing His Truth into the marketplace. It is your love, and prayers, and sacrifice that make it possible.
Thousands have sacrificed over these past 109 months as Liveprayer has impacted tens of millions of lives all over the world. This is your opportunity to join that faithful group as you give to help impact lives for all eternity. I am not asking you to make ridiculous pledges out of emotion, I am not going to pervert the Scriptures to give you false hope just to get you to give, I have no "love gifts" to offer you, nor am I asking you to give what you don't have.
I am simply asking you to pray and let the Holy Spirit guide you in taking your stand with me as we bring the hope of Christ to the lost and hurting. For some it may be a gift of $10 or $20, for others a gift of $50 or $100, and still others can give $200, $500, $1,000 or more. Simply give as you are able and let the Holy Spirit guide you.
TO GIVE A GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER, you can use your major credit card on our secure server at: www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" link, you can give using your PayPal account using my email address: bkeller@liveprayer.com, or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6660 46th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, Fl 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.
Thank you for being faithful and being OBEDIENT, since our blessings flow from our obedience!!!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller