Daily Devotional for Monday February 20, 2012
A Sign that God is Still Here
(John 14:6)
A sign that God is still here! I found it very satisfying Saturday afternoon as I watched the homegoing service for pop icon Whitney Houston from a Baptist Church in Newark, NJ. The media that openly supports and roots for the agenda of satan, whether it be killing babies, the radical homosexual agenda including gay marriage, gay adoption, and special rights for people who choose this unnatural and perverted form of sex, radical Islam and the enemies of Israel, the very same media that openly mocks Christians and the Christian faith, in their zeal to garner ratings from the death of Houston carried live a FOUR HOUR CHURCH SERVICE without commercials!!!
I love to watch God work!!! Millions worldwide saw "church" Saturday afternoon. They heard Scripture. They watched people praising God and testifying about their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!! AMEN!!!
Having been blessed over 20 years of ministry to have preached in hundreds of churches that were primarily African-American, having been honored to give the eulogy at several funerals in African-American churches, what I watched along with millions Saturday was a true homegoing service. It was not a "funeral," but the celebration of a gifted artist who grew up in that very church, who achieved worldwide fame few will ever know, and whose life was tragically cut short by her choice to fall into one of the many traps of satan designed to "kill, steal, and destroy." The life of Whitney Houston went full circle as her life was celebrated in the very same church she started her life in.
I can assure you, that what people saw Saturday was for the most part people who knew the Lord, loved Him, and were not ashamed to proclaim that love to the world. This was not a church that preached the radical, anti-Biblical "Black Liberation Theology" of Jeremiah Wright and President Obama. The fact is, 99% of African-American churches reject that radical social message as non-Biblical and not of God. It is only those like Wright, poverty pimps and men who mock the title of Reverend like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who pervert the message of Christ and the Bible to advance their own radical social agenda who spew such anti-Biblical teachings.
My only issue with the service Saturday was that it was foreign to the vast majority of those who tuned in. There is a special language of the church, I call "Christian-ese" or "Church-ese." Those who are Biblically literate. know this language. They know the music. They know what is happening. To the non-churched, the better percentage of the last two generations, what they saw Saturday was like being in a foreign land. They were being moved, but don't understand it is the power of God and the Holy Spirit that is moving them.
Listen, I understand this was a homegoing service for Whitney. Nothing that was done was inconsistent with that. However, I was praying that one of these men of God who spoke would use wisdom from on high and take this special opportunity knowing that millions would be wathcing, the vast majority of those non-churched and not saved, to speak in plain English and make a defense of why the Bible is the only Truth there is and present a clear Gospel message that the ONLY way to be saved, the ONLY hope for men, is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by faith.
Based on the demons that eventfully led to Houston's death, it was also the perfect opportunity to challenge the people, not just in that church, but watching around the world, that there is hope and freedom from the traps of satan through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To talk about how Christ came to set the captives free, no matter what their bondage may be, would have been an incredible opportunity for people who don't go to church to hear that the answer they have been looking for can be found through faith in Christ.
I love you and care about you so much. It was amusing to watch the media that censors a true Christian worldview on the issues of the day, instead, mock and demean those who hold to Biblcial values, used by God to bring His message to a worldwide audience. Despite having major media networks and hosts who openly cheer for abortion, the radical homosexual agenda, Islam and the enemies of Israel, they rarely allow a Christian who boldly advocates a Biblcial worldview speak. Even the supposedly conservative and Christian-friendly FOX News censors those who advocate the Biblical Truth and that faith in Christ is the ONLY answer for man. So it is amazing to see God use certain circumstances to put Himself on center stage.
Sadly, on these far to infrequent occasions, those who are speaking or performing stay "safe." Instead of sharing the bold Truth of the Gospel, they stick to a more universal message that won't offend anyone. I have always used my opportunities to speak at a funeral or homegoing service to bring home the reality of our own mortality. The fact is, one day we will all take our last breath and it will be our turn to be laid to rest. What more perfect occasion is there to share the bright Truth of the Gospel and the reality that in life we all have only one choice which will determine our eternal home. That choice is to accept of reject Jesus Christ by faith.
As wonderful as the homegoing service of Whitney Houston was Saturday for the setting it was in, sadly, the choice for those in that church and watching around the world to accept Jesus by faith was never presented. God set the ball on the tee, and sadly none of the men or women of God who spoke chose to swing the bat.
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller