Nik Wallenda Walked and Talked his Faith in God

On June 15, 2012 Nik Wallenda made history by walking directly over Niagara Falls on a 500 metre tightrope. A day or two after the event I watched a short video clip from ABC news. It was a beautiful sight seeing Nik, resplendent in his red track suit, walking slowly but calmly while defying the roaring monster far below. But as I watched I heard something amazing. In a brief lull from the flood of words pouring from the newscaster, I heard clearly and plainly the words, “Praise be to you Jesus, praise  to the Father.” I was stunned. Where, I asked, did those words come from?  Almost immediately I guessed Nik had been wired for sound, and this praise was issuing from him as he made the dangerous crossing. Later that day I confirmed my theory and also learned that Nik is a follower of Christ and fearlessly speaks of his faith in Jesus.

I have met a number of people who believe that verbally sharing the faith is not necessary. They have told me that instead of speaking about Christ, they witness by living a godly life in front of their neighbours and friends.  They have commented, “I’ll show my faith by my lifestyle; then if people are interested they will ask me questions.”

Now, this idea that we can be “silent” witnesses for Christ is not new.  I clearly remember having a personal conversation on this topic many years ago with a girl I was dating. Jacqueline (not her real name) was raised in a pastor’s family and was seeking to live a godly Christian life.  However, she had accepted this notion that speaking of Christ was not necessary.   Her viewpoint was all the more surprising for she was part of a denomination that practised bold witnessing.  I was convinced she had not learned her silent concept of witness either at home, or in her church.  Nevertheless, she had picked up the idea somewhere and it strongly appealed to her.

Recently I had almost an identical conversation with another follower of Christ. This idea that Christians are not called to, “talk the walk” is perennial, and I seriously doubt it will ever completely go away.

 I don’t want anyone to misunderstand.  People who think like this are half-right, but they are also half-wrong. It is indeed crucial that we who believe should, “walk the talk.” Nothing is more necessary. Our actions must back up our words (Matthew 5:16).  Actions alone, however, will never be enough.  For we are called over and over again to be a people who speak and confess, called to be a people who, “proclaim the excellencies of Christ” (I Peter 2:9).

I think many people who think like this have the idea that only super-smooth, courageous, natural talkers have responsibility to verbally share their faith. They might reason that shy people should not be expected to step out of their comfort zone.  It appears they have developed a defense for quiet and introverted people, giving them a basis for keeping quiet and “witnessing” only with their “lived out truth.”

But scripture does not back the claim that we only have to “live it” (Acts 1:8, John 20:21-22, Romans 10: 14-15). Walking the Christian faith and talking about it should never be separated. They certainly should never be put in opposition to one another.  

We’ve all heard the expression that Christians must, “walk the talk.”  No truer statement could be made. But I suspect that far fewer people know that believers are also called to, “talk the walk.”

 Nik Wallenda crossed the Niagara Falls walking and talking at the same time. He walked a narrow, dangerous pathway, in faith,  that God would keep him on the wire.  But at exactly the same time, he talked—talked to God and 13 million listeners, publicly giving thanks and praise to his savior and creator.

Nik witnessed both by actions and words. Let all who believe in Jesus go and do likewise.

Are Europe and the West the New "Dark" Continents?

In an earlier age Christian cross cultural workers went by the thousands from Europe and North America to the continent of Africa. They took with them the message of truth and love found in Jesus Christ. By unswerving commitment to their message and love for the African people they planted the church in a most difficult place. 

As a new paganism sweeps Europe and the West it is fascinating to see how missionaries from Africa are bringing light to the new "dark" places of the world.  Wallace Henley writes about this irony in an interesting piece entitled, Reverse Missions to the "Dark" Continent (Part I). See the full article here.

Can Even a Christian be Sure of Eternal Life?

Shouldn’t religion provide assurance of life after death?

A good many people are concerned about what comes after this life. They have deep uneasiness about where they are going after death.

I don’t blame them. Death comes knocking for all. Some day each one of us will have a little obituary in the local paper.

Where does religious faith play into this? Shouldn’t religion, above all else, be concerned with life after death? Now don’t get me wrong, belief in God should encourage the doing of good to other people. But, what if we really are creatures who shall live forever? Should not our religious worldview give us certainty as to our future state after we’ve been planted in the earth?

But, no, surprisingly enough the major religions of our day do not give such assurance. Ask any follower of the major Eastern religions if they have assurance. I have personally asked this question of many. They will say, more or less, all we can know for certain is that the soul does not die with the body. It shall live on and come back as another life form. This new life may be better or worse than the former—they just don’t know. But do they have a definite assurance of going to heaven? No, they make no such claim.

Another major religion, a very large one, also has not the tiniest shred of assurance. I have personally spoken to a number of its followers. The response has been the same: We can’t know for sure until we are judged on the basis of our actions. If we have done more good than evil then, yes, we will go to heaven. If not then we will go to the other place.

Now to be fair, many of those who claim allegiance to the Christian faith also have no certain hope of eternal life after death. They were taught their good deeds must outweigh the bad before God will reward them with eternal life.

But what if this teaching is fundamentally flawed? What if Jesus actually taught a person can have certainty about eternal life, right now, in this life? Wouldn’t that be something quite amazing?

Some time ago I had an amazing conversation with a cashier while paying for my gas. I had asked him if his belief system gave him any assurance of heaven upon his death. Not surprisingly, he said it doesn’t. Then, when I told him that as a Christian I had absolute assurance that when I died God would accept me, and usher me into heaven, he was astounded. He asked how you would know that you have done enough good deeds so that you deserve to go to heaven?

It was a great question, and perfectly logical if you believe that good deeds will buy your way into heaven. But what if the premise is wrong? What if our nature is so corrupted and so far from God that no quantity of good deeds could ever buy our way into heaven? Not even the best of us is good enough to be acceptable to God by our good deeds. But we must not despair.

Historic Christianity has always believed in grace. Grace simply means, “undeserved favour.” It means that Jesus shows mercy to people who don’t deserve it.

Christian teaching is unique—it points to a person, Jesus Christ, as being the basis for our finding acceptance and favour with God. Personal faith and trust in him are paramount in the Christian way of thinking. Yes, good deeds are still important. But, if eternal life was granted to me and you on the basis of our good deeds, we could never, never have any kind of assurance. We would always have a niggling anxiety about the future.

But God set up a different and wonderful plan. The Bible says, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son…I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Published in The Guelph Mercury, June 8, 2012

The Christian who Loved too Little

John Christian raced out of the house, slamming the door behind him. He was going to be late for his prayer meeting.  The bang of the door caught the attention of Brick Rexford who was parked in the neighbour’s driveway. Brick was in the back seat with Maria, the pretty young daughter of John’s neighbour. Brick didn’t even bother disentangling his hands from the young beauty. He was a local bad boy, and there were rumours that he was already pimping a number of local girls.

John remembered when Maria had been a sweet, innocent ten year old girl. He sighed grimly; he certainly didn’t like what seemed to be happening to her now.  His eyes locked briefly with Brick, he scowled angrily at him.  Brick insolently returned his gaze with an air of thinly veiled contempt.

He was worried about Maria, but what could he do about it? He thought that maybe he would share it as a prayer request.

Reaching his destination downtown John parked the car and began walking to the place of prayer.  He was about to walk past the Kettlestone Hotel when he abruptly stopped in amazement.  Workmen were buzzing around the building.  Then John saw the new sign.  No longer, “Kettlestone Hotel”; the new neon red signage boldly announced, “Kettlestone Passion Palace,” Then John Christian remembered:  prostitution was no longer illegal in Canada—some judge, somewhere, had decided that licensed brothels would increase the safety of the sex workers.  From what John could see the place would soon be open.

But John’s inspection of the property was interrupted by the approach of a clean shaven young man sporting hair, so long, that it was resting on his shoulders. His long white robe caught John’s attention too.  This must be one of those new cultists who had come into the city just a short time ago. You could always recognize them by their strange clothing, and unusual haircuts. But for John the far more worrying aspect of this cult was its strange and false views of Jesus. He regarded them as a danger to anybody who was seeking truth.  

The young man with the clipboard came straight to the point. Pointing to the Passion Palace he said, “I hope the sight of that joint makes you as sick as it makes me. I’m hoping that you will help me and my friends put an end to this monstrosity.  We’re worried about the young people in this city. We frankly don’t want any one of them to end up being enslaved in the flesh trade. We think we can stop this.  So, we’re gathering signatures from as many local people as we can, then we plan to present these names to our city government.  Sir, will you please take a stand for the good of this community.  Will you please sign this petition?”

John Christian was momentarily tempted. He certainly didn’t want a brothel in town.  But then he recalled the times he had been told that Christians should not get involved in politics.  Some had said, “Politics is just too dirty.”  Others had  warned, “If we get involved in politics it will just distract us from what we should be doing—winning people to Jesus.”

“I’m sorry,” John said, “I don’t believe I should get involved, and I’m already late for my prayer meeting.”

Just two weeks later John read in the local paper that licensing had been denied for the proposed brothel.  It turned out that members of the cult had turned the tide by collecting thousands of names in their petition drive to shut it down.

The closure turned out well, too, for Maria.   The young beauty was heartbroken when Brick dumped her.  She didn’t know that his true interest was purely financial—his plan was to set her up in the brothel under his control. But that option was lost.  In the end Maria got over him, went on to study medicine and became a doctor.

Reading the newspaper account John felt a twinge of pride that he had not signed the petition—he had escaped the temptation of political involvement. He never knew of course, that Maria had been delivered from a sordid life of prostitution by the action of a few cultists whom he despised.

But on the coming day of judgement John would learn all these facts. And on that day he would also hear Jesus asking him, “Who was the true neighbour to the young woman who fell into the hands of the rapacious pimp?”

What Happens in the Next Life to Evil Dictators?

Where is Moammar Gadhafi now?

“The dictator is dead, the dictator is dead. Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar!”

These cries rang out unceasingly in Libya and other Middle Eastern countries on Thursday morning as word spread that Moammar Gadhafi had been captured and killed.

Ruling for some 42 years, Gadhafi was the longest reigning dictator in the world. And for the many who suffered under his crushing oppression, I’m sure it was a great relief to see him delivered to some form of justice.

Kathy Tedeschi, who lost her husband in the Lockerbie bombing said, “I hope he’s in hell with Hitler.”

Con Coglin, an expert in the Middle East, sees it as fitting that he should have been killed in a Libyan sewer since, “He had all the morality of a sewer rat.”

I wonder where Gadhafi is now. One of my Muslim acquaintances told me bluntly that such an evil man would now be in hell. My Buddhist friends would tell me that he will be reincarnated as some lower life form so that his bad deeds can be atoned for by his own future suffering. My Hindu friends would probably agree with this assessment. I don’t share this view for the Bible says we die only once (Hebrews 9:27), and then face judgment.

Where do I think he is? Well, I can’t be dogmatic because it is God who judges people. He decides their fate in eternity. Having said that, however, I am inclined to think he is in hell or will shortly be making his way there. I know, I know, to say that is so politically incorrect, and some will probably take me to task for saying it.

But please don’t shoot the messenger. Why not take it up with my boss, to whom I am accountable? For it was God who caused scripture to be written as it is; and I simply use it as a touchstone to measure all truth claims.

And the Bible is clear in Revelation 21:8 that murderers shall end up in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This evil tyrant slaughtered his own people, which makes him a murderer. In simple terms, Gadhafi seems to be a prime candidate to end up in a very unpleasant future.

I know many reading this will say Gadhafi was a brutal, murdering wretch and he deserves to rot in hell just like Hitler, like Stalin, or like Pol Pot. And it will seem eminently natural to them that such a great evildoer should be judged and punished. But it will never occur to them that judgment day is coming not just for the likes of Moammar Gadhafi, but for all of us who live on Earth. Paul the apostle writing in Acts 17 informs us God is now calling all men everywhere to repent (turn from sin) for, “He has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

Where is Gadhafi now? Let’s be frank—his fate is totally out of our hands. God, not we mortals, is his judge. However, historical Christianity teaches that Jesus one day shall be our judge as well. That will include every person reading this article.

Wouldn’t it be amazingly wonderful if on that day we could stand before God with serenity and confidence? Yes, it certainly would. Maybe, just maybe, that’s why the teaching about Jesus is such astonishingly good news.

Royal Hamel is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a freelance writer.

Published October 22, 2011 in the Guelph Mercury

My First Ever Hip Hop Poem

Yeah, let’s be Talking the Walking

So let’s be clear you gotta have words! Your ears, your lips, they ain’t no extravagance.

God didn’t deck you out, two at the hairline just to keep your head in balance,

God didn’t shape pretty, pinkish puckered mouths just for eating…and...kissing,

You gotta have words! For us humans they do the communicating.

But, but, but… hold the horses now, for if words indeed are a must, without which we’d just be mutes doing the hand signals, which is really kinda cute,

You also gotta walk! Yeah, walking is living—living is walking, without which your horn is not ready to be tooting.

Excerpt from an unpublished poem by Royal

The Movie: COURAGEOUS

Courageous is a very good movie. And I would recommend that every father try and see it. But, is it cheesy? Does it try and do too much with the story line? Yes to both of those questions. But, often Christian movies are cheesy...this one in my humble opinion is only moderately so. Again let me say that every father should try and see it...it is inspiring, motivational, has some intense pathos and excellent humour.

Would I invite a non-Christian friend to this movie. Nope. There are parts of the movie that reflect the fundamentalist Christian culture of the USA where the movie was made. And to a great many normal, ordinary, secular Canadians I think there would be a number of "huh, what's that all about" moments. In my opinion it might work as a good witnessing tool in many places, but I don't think many of those places are in urban Canada.

Courageous was far and away the most popular movie this weekend in probably every Cineplex where it was shown. Number of people per showing was 145% higher than Dream House; 110% higher than 50/50; 87% higher than Dolphin Tale and 81% higher than Moneyball. The closest was The Lion King and Courageous still had 67% more people on average in every theater.

Posted by Royal 07/10/11