The Greatest Struggle of the American Pastor

    It was the Summer of 2001. I was 16 years old at the time, and had taken a mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico with my youth group. The one thing that I will always remember about that trip is when we visited one of the farming villages outside of the city. I had never seen such poverty. In fact, growing up in a middle class neighborhood in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, I had no idea that such poverty even existed. I saw large families piled into tiny, one room shacks with dirt floors and only bed sheets to cover their doorway and window openings. These shacks also had no running water or electricity, which meant that these families also had to endure the brutal Mexican Summers with no AC. 

    Our main purpose for going there was to host a worship service in a barn located at the center of the village. About two hours prior to the service our youth group walked around the village and handed out fliers to the residents, inviting them to the service. Admittedly, I thought that this would be an exercise in futility. In my heart I laughingly thought, "Who's going to show up to a barn in the heat of the Summer to hear preaching on such short notice?" However, I was in for a shock. It seemed as if the whole village showed up. All of them had walked, many of them were barefoot. The barn was packed with women and children sitting on hay bales and hard bench seats. The men would not come in (I think it was a cultural/pride thing but I'm honestly not sure) but they did stand at the barn door and listen. I couldn't understand a word of this Spanish worship service, but the preaching was passionate and the singing was incredible. It was clear that everyone was happy to be there. There was no special singing group or big name evangelist. There were no padded seats, AC, stage lighting or effects. There were no gimmicks, door prizes or fellowship meal. There was only Bible preaching and singing. It was a very humbling thing to be a part of. 

    Fast forward to 2021. I am now 36 years old and have been a pastor for over thirteen years. The Lord has given me some amazing opportunities that I never dreamed of and didn't deserve (I'm just a Gump from West Alabama). On top of pastoring some wonderful churches, the Lord has allowed me to co-host a local FM gospel radio show that aired every weekday from 11-1. Our church also had an additional hour long radio broadcast on Sunday mornings at 9 AM. I've also had the privilege of doing some open air outreach at abortion clinics, college campuses, gay pride parades and other outside events. This led to a podcast that showcased videos from our outreaches. The total views and downloads from all of my online endeavors are well into six figures. I've also been able to write a book about finding my birth mother at the age of 27, as well as getting to lead her to Christ and baptizing her. I've preached at prisons and nursing homes, knocked on countless doors, handed out an insane amount of gospel tracts, prayed countless prayers for the lost, and for revival, etc. I am also currently pastoring a church in the heart of Mormon country Utah. (And yet I am constantly haunted by the knowledge that I am not doing nearly enough)

    So, why mention all of this? It's because even with all of these outreach opportunities, I have never again seen the amount of gospel enthusiasm and commitment that I saw on that scorching July day in the Mexico desert. If I could actually see the statistics of people that I have shared the gospel with, verses the number of people that have been saved, I'm afraid that the percentage would be shamefully abysmal. The same is true of people that I have invited to church, or to a special event. If I were to compare the number of church members that I have lost over the years with the ones that I have gained, I think that the numbers would be about even. This means that at best I am maintaining the status quo. If I am to be honest and make myself vulnerable, many times I feel like a failure. There has been many tears shed. There has also been countless nights of venting this feeling to my wife as we lie in bed. 

    This brings me to the crux of this blog; what is the greatest struggle of the American pastor? I believe that it can be summed up in four words; the desire for validation. We want to know that what we are doing is working, and that our efforts matter. Salesmen enjoy good numbers on their sales reports. Mechanics get a feeling of satisfaction when they bring a broken down car back to life. Doctors must experience a sense of euphoria when they save a life or bring sick people back to health. Carpenters feel accomplished when they admire the work of their hands. Some of the most hard working, intelligent, faithful, educated, honorable men that I know are pastors. They would have been successful at anything they chose to do, and yet they struggle in the ministry. In fact, I know quite a few men that left a lucrative career in order to be obedient to their calling. How are they to find any validation in what they are doing? 

    Is it possible to measure "success" in the ministry? I believe that it is, although I believe that many times the reason that we get so discouraged is because we have a different measuring stick than God does. If someone were to Google the word "success", they would find 3,270,000,000 results in 0.95 seconds (I know because I just did it). There is a countless list of books, videos and online seminars about success. However, it may surprise the reader to know that the word "success" is only found one time in the Bible.  Moses has just died, and the Lord reveals Himself unto Joshua in order to transfer His authority unto him. As Joshua gets ready to lead the people across the Jordan River, the Lord gives him this advice, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Joshua 1:8. The Lord says here that He measures success by the amount of obedience to His Word. Joshua and the children of Israel fought plenty of battles and had their share of failures, but that wasn't the point. 

    When we think about the ministry of Isaiah, we love to talk about his response to God in chapter 6 and verse 8, where he says to God "Here am I; send me." There have been countless T-shirts and missions themes with this phrase on it. However, most people don't read the next few verses to see what God was sending him to. God essentially tells Isaiah that the people won't listen, they will completely ignore Isaiah's message, he will be hated and then God will have to judge them anyway. The people were living in a time of relative peace and prosperity and cared very little for the things of God. To my knowledge, Isaiah never had a single convert. Jewish tradition says that Isaiah was killed by being sawn in two from his groin to his head. Who wants to sign up for that? Are we to say that the most renowned prophet in the OT was a failure? It depends on who we are asking. According to the results he was an utter failure, but according to God he was immensely successful. Christ Himself quoted Isaiah several times in the NT. 

    I believe that we also see this principle in the NT with the parable of the sower. In Mark 4:3, Jesus said, "Hearken; behold, there went out a sower to sow." The seed of course is the Word of God. It fell on four types of ground, which represent the human heart. Only one of the four represent someone who is actually saved and bearing fruit (I would be happy with that percentage these days). However, the truth in all of this is, that our only responsibility is to sow the seed, preach the gospel and leave the results up to God. We can't save one soul, change one heart or cause one person to do right. The best that we could ever do is get somebody's emotions or compliance, only God can get their heart. Our mission is this simple; a sower went forth to sow. We will make ourselves miserable by trying to play the part of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others.  

    The truth is that like Isaiah, we are living in a time of prosperity in America. People don't care about the things of God. If even a tenth of the people that I have shared that gospel with had the same enthusiasm as those poor villagers in Mexico, I would be in a never ending building program. The results aren't up to us, they are up to God. If we live and die by the results we will get a big head when things are going well, and get depressed when things are going badly. We will also be tempted to water down the gospel message and change our methods in order to attract carnal men and women. If we ever lose confidence in the message, we will change our methods. We must find our joy in the sowing, not in the reaping. Be encouraged pastors, keep studying, praying and preaching. God sees. Think about one day hearing those words "Well done thy good and faithful servant, enter thou in to the joy of the Lord." Let Him be our validation, or else self validation can become our idol. 

Dr. Seuss, Critical Race Theory, and the Coming Purge

 

    In 2004, Diana Duyser made headlines when she sold a ten year old, half eaten grilled cheese sandwich on EBAY for a whopping $28,000. How was she able to accomplish such a feat of salesmanship? She was convinced that the Virgin Mary's face could be seen in the grilled cheese sandwich. Duyser stated, "I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary Mother of God." Could she have been lying about what she believed? Sure, but that's beside the point. The fact is that she was able to convince someone else that the Virgin Mary was in and on this sandwich. Amazingly, sales of such things are much more common than one might think. The moral of the story is that a person can see whatever they want to see if they are looking hard enough for it. 

$28,000 Virgin Mary Sandwich

    Perhaps this is why Dr. Seuss' books were able to be read by millions of people for over seven decades before we finally figured out that Seuss was actually a Nazi propagandist and the grand wizard of the KKK. How could we have been so blind? At least in 2021 we are finally smart enough and woke enough to realize just how inherently racist Dr. Seuss' books really are. So it comes as no surprise that Dr. Seuss will no longer be recognized on Read Across America Day, and that half a dozen of his books are now being pulled from the shelves (see the list here; https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2021/03/dr-seuss-canceled-social-media-sounds-off-as-6-of-his-books-are-no-longer-being-published.html). 

    Seriously, what's going on? I think that the answers can be found in another book that isn't being pulled from the shelves, a book that has made the New York Times Best Seller list on two different occasions. The book that I am referring to is White Fragility; Why It's So Hard For White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo. DiAngelo is a diversity trainer and counselor. If her name sounds familiar it's because just recently one of her training webinars was released to the public in which she made this infamous statement to Coke employees, "To be less white is to be less oppressive, arrogant, less certain, less defenseless, less ignorant, more humble." (See story here; https://nypost.com/2021/02/23/coca-cola-diversity-training-urged-workers-to-be-less-white/)

Robin DiAngelo

    Diangelo is one of today's leading voices for Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. The main theme of these two ideologies is that the world is divided into two categories, the oppressors and the oppressed. CRT obviously applies to race, but intersectionality highlights the intersection of these two categories. We hear them all of the time; LGBT vs. "homophobic", white vs. black, wealthy vs. poor, men vs. women, trans women vs. real women, etc. Our society has been saturated with CRT on every level for the last two decades and we are now seeing the fruit. This ideology is completely antithetical to Christianity and the Biblical Gospel because the oppressed are merely victims who have no need of repentance or forgiveness, while the oppressors are evil and are incapable of being granted forgiveness. When someone actually buys into CRT and Intersectionality, it becomes clear why our society seems to be in a race to the bottom. Tis better to be a victim than a villain. 

    So what does all of this have to do with Dr. Seuss? Well, everything. It's important to understand that CRT is a religious ideology. And in their religion, Seuss is an oppressor. But why? Before we get the answers from DiAngelo's book, I want to preface by mentioning another book that I read years ago by Dr. Walter Martin entitled, The Kingdom of the Cults. In this work Dr. Martin points out a language barrier in which religious cults will redefine well established words, or invent new ones in order to push their agenda. Make no mistake about it, White Fragility is a theology book for the woke religion. While there are many works on the subject, I am convinced that White Fragility is the KJV of CRT. And just like Dr. Martin warned, DiAngelo has completely redefined old words and invented new ones in order to push CRT. This is absolutely essential in understanding why Dr. Seuss is being attacked. Let's take a look at some of the terms in her book. 

White Fragility- This is the reaction of white people when they are confronted with the reality that they are racist. It is a form of "denial" and "bullying". It's purpose is to "maintain the white equilibrium in society." 

White Solidarity- When white people don't keep racism in the forefront of regular conversation. Apparently, if white people aren't talking about racism in the break room at work or at the dinner table at home, then this is a form of racism. 

White Flight- when white people flee the city to move to the suburbs in order to get away from black people. 

White Guilt- When white people finally come to terms with their racism and its negative consequences. However, according to DiAngelo, this can also be confused with righting the wrongs of past racism, and thus become an excuse for not making any further progression. Just because someone has white guilt does not cleanse them of their inherent racism. 

White Saviors- Even when white people treat black people with love and respect, this is actually a form of racism because it proves that white people feel superior to black people. DiAngelo specifically mentioned the movie "The Blind Side" as being racist because it portrays a wealthy white family saving a poor young black man from his rough uprbringing. 

Racism- isn't really limited to individual acts of discrimination based on race. Racism is a system in which all whites are "invested". Therefore all white people are inherently racist, this is not even up for discussion. Racism is essentially an unforgiveable sin. And because racism is so "complex", "fluid" and "constantly evolving", literally anything that white people do could be considered racist at any given time. Hence, the racist Dr. Seuss books that literally nobody had a problem with until now. 

White Supremacy- has very little to do with groups like the KKK and almost everything to do with white influence and power in society. DiAngelo specifically mentioned that most of the richest people in the world are white, the majority of Congress is white, most judges are white, most CEO's are white, etc. This is the modern definition of white supremacy, which pretty much means that if a person is successful and white, by default they are white supremacists. 

    The proponents of CRT and Intersectionality aren't about equality, they want control. Everything that they preach is about destroying the system. This is why it makes perfect sense that even a beloved children's author like Dr. Seuss would be in their cross hairs. He was a wealthy, white male who wrote books that drew people of all races together. Dr. Seuss books are considered by many to be a sacred part of their childhood. But not anymore, now it's racist, and if you like his books, then that makes you a racist. And you're so blind about your racism that you didn't even notice it until someone pointed it out. 

    In conclusion, it's important to point out that the system that CRT and Intersectionality seeks to destroy is the American Capitalist system, the nuclear family, and the church. Every political revolution must have a religious system as an ally. CRT is the religion of Marxism. They deem Dr. Seuss' books racist because they want them to be (hence the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich). But it won't stop at Dr. Seuss. If society thinks that his books are bad, can you imagine what they want to do with the Bible? CRT isn't a religion of grace, it's a religion of guilt, shame and penance. Right now they are making disciples and identifying heretics. I will save them some trouble and confess my heresy because I wholeheartedly reject CRT. It is a hellish religion. The truth is that I didn't have to read White Fragility in order to know that I have a depraved heart apart from Jesus Christ. But because of His atoning sacrifice on the Cross, my sin debt has been cancelled. That’s the only cancel culture that we should be concerned with. Christians, we need to anchor ourselves in the truth of God's Word and the Gospel because a storm is coming.