Daily Devotional for Tuesday December 3, 2019

The betrayal of Chick-fil-A!!!

(Matthew 6:24)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, give me a passion, a hunger for Your Word. Let me wake up each day, excited what You will show me that day from that precious Word of God. Help me Lord each day to not just be a reader of the Word, but a DOER of the Word. In the name of Jesus I pray…AMEN!!!

***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: Whether it is the strong VOCAL cover to the killing of innocent babies coming from the current White House, or the fact there is a Supreme Court with a 4-3 conservative majority, never before have I seen more blacks speaking out against Democratic politicians for their support of killing innocent babies...primarily killing innocent black babies! There has always been a small group of black pastors taking on this fight, but now we are seeing more blacks than ever calling out politicians who fully support killing black babies. More than ever since Roe v. Wade 46 years ago, we are seeing certain states taking decisive action to cut down the number of abortions being performed in their state. We are also seeing more public outcry against the barbarism of infanticide. The millions of prayers, untold hours or public protest and debate, so many people over the past 4+ decades who literally gave their lives to bring attention to the plight of the unborn, are bearing fruit today. Those seeds that were faithfully sown are bringing forth a harvest of LIFE! This war is by no means over, but more than at any time in the past it is now a real fight! No matter what anyone tells you, the roaring undercurrent that has existed in every issue in the efforts to take down President Trump since the day he was elected, is the issue of life! That undercurrent broke into the daylight for a few minutes for all to see during the shameful and disgusting confirmation hearings of current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The issue of LIFE will animating passion that will drive the 2020 Presidential election, even though it won’t be clear to most!!!

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“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24

The betrayal of Chick-fil-A! Let me say right up front, it is a sad commentary on Christendom when a fast-food chicken restaurant is the most visible Christian icon in our culture. I am not saying this in any way to demean the Christian example Chick-fil-A has been for decades. It is simply another byproduct of Christians abandoning the marketplace for the safety, comfort, and profitability of the subculture we created for ourselves over the past 50 years!

46 years ago, founder Truett Cathy who was called home to be with the Lord in 2014, started his chicken restaurant in Georgia. Cathy was a great man of faith who ran his business guided by Christian principles. One of those principles was closing his business on Sundays, a day of rest as set forth by the Bible.

One of the most powerful sermons I preached over nearly 3 decades of ministry and one I had condensed into a Daily Devotional many years ago is about never following “a man,” only “THE MAN!” A man of flesh and blood will always fail at times. The only one who did it perfectly throughout his life was THE MAN, Jesus! That is why we worship Jesus and never a man of flesh and blood.

So it was with sadness we learned a few weeks ago that Chick-fil-A was going to stop donating through their charitable giving foundation to the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, due to the fact they were Christian organizations. As this alarming news hit, it turned out that Chick-fil-A who have been a long-time target of radical LGBTQ groups, was pressured into stopping their giving to these Christian groups since they stood against the sin of homosexuality and the perversion of God’s Holy Institution of Marriage.

Since Truett Cathy’s homegoing, his son Dan has been the CEO of Chick-fil-A. Under Dan’s leadership, they have greatly expanded from being primarily a southern regional business, into many more markets across the country. They were often targeted as bigots as they expanded into more liberal areas, primarily by pro-LGBTQ organizations.

As they were boycotted, kicked out of airports, off of college campuses, Christians time and time again spoke with their wallets and flooded Chick-fil-A restaurants effectively neutralizing the boycott efforts. Christians saw “one of their own” under attack for simply being a Christian-based company and stood by Chick-fil-A.

So you can imagine the sorrow and anger many Christians felt upon learning that Chick-fil-A had caved-in to pro-LGBTQ groups and cut off their future giving to the Salvation Army and FCA. Their charitable giving foundation went into damage control and sent out a statement that they were going to re-focus their giving strategy and support feeding programs and other more socially aware secular organizations. They stated that as they moved into new markets, they wanted to be clear “who they were.”

Of course, this only made the controversy worse as Christians who stood by Chick-fil-A in their battles over the years felt justifiably betrayed. It was then learned that the head of the charitable giving foundation was a very liberal person, having donated to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That news only made people more concerned why Dan Cathy would put such a liberal person over an important part of this Christian organization.

Sadly, it got worse. A recent 2017 tax filing showed Chick-fil-A donated to the uber-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC is a civil liberties group of former ACLU attorneys that protect progressive groups and organizations. Since 2007, the SPLC “national hate map” has listed Bill Keller/Bill Keller Ministries/Liveprayer as a hate group (Tampa, Fl). I am on with true hate groups who incite violence like the New Black Panthers, the KKK, neo-Nazi groups, and various militia organizations.

The Chick-fil-A foundation also gave money to Covenant House, a homeless shelter that is pro-LGBTQ, YWCA, a pro-abortion group that partners with Planned Parenthood, the Pace Center for Girls, another pro-abortion group, and the New Leaders Council, which says it promotes “a more progressive political and cultural landscape.”

Death threats, damaged property, being spit on in public, are some of the issues I have faced monthly over the past 20 years of Liveprayer. They got much more frequent and intense starting in 2003 when we launched the TV program and I began doing lots of secular media appearances on the issues of the day from a Biblical worldview. Many of those after 2007 were directly due to being on the SPLC hate map since I preached the truth of the Bible about the sin of homosexuality, that marriage is between a man and a woman, and Islam is a false religion.

The organization has obviously become very large due to God’s blessings. So I assume there are many things going on that a CEO like Dan Cathy may not be totally involved in, although their charitable giving should be one issue he has knowledge of. The other issue sadly is that they may be simply taking their Christian customer based for granted. A mindset like we have their loyalty, so we can push ahead to other markets where we have to play nice with non-Christian groups.

Despite my personal sadness over this revelation about the charitable giving at Chick-fil-A, I never have or ever will be involved in a boycott. Each person has to pray and find their own peace from God where they choose to eat, the things they buy, the places they go. How a person spends their money is a prayerful choice each person must come to for themselves.

The lesson in this situation is very applicable for our personal lives. After Chick-fil-A announced they were cutting off donations to the Salvation Army and FCA, pro-LGBTQ groups came back to them and told them that they now needed to renounce themselves!!! My friend, this is why you don’t give in to blackmailers. They tell you to give them $1,000 and they will go away. You give them $1,000 thinking it is over. A few months later, they are back, this time wanting $5,000 to go away. IT NEVER ENDS!

This is how satan operates and why giving in, compromising, plays right into his hands. Remember, Jesus said he comes to “steal, kill, and destroy.” SATAN ISN’T GOING AWAY UNTIL YOU ARE DESTROYED! That is why you can’t ever give in, can’t ever compromise, since once you do he has won! Also, never forget that satan is the “great justifier.” He will tell you exactly why this one time it is OK to compromise. He will give you the exact reason why it is OK, this one time. JOHN 8:44...SATAN IS A LIAR!!!

I love you and care about you so much. My counsel to Dan Cathy is simple. Christians are in the forgiveness business. Chick-fil-A has grown dramatically due to God’s blessings from decades of obedience. What would Truett Cathy do? Dan should get rid of the head of the charitable giving arm of Chick-fil-A and replace him with a Godly person. He needs to reinstate the giving to the Salvation Army and FCA, and double it. He needs to make a statement that God’s people are NOT FOR SALE!

Pray for Chick-fil-A since it is one of our most visible Christian icons in the marketplace. Pray for Dan as he seeks the Lord to take this situation and turn it around for God’s glory. Again, the lessons are two-fold. One, never compromise God’s Truth, especially for money. Second, always make sure your focus is never on “a man,” but always on “THE MAN!!!”

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller