Reverend David Wilkerson

In 1959, in a small town in Pennsylvania, a young pastor saw an article in Life Magazine about teenage gang members who were on trial for murder in New York City. He was so moved by the wanton waste of life and the wasted futures of young men that he moved to these battleground streets and started Teen Challenge which continues to minister today to troubled youth. You may have come across the film The Cross And The Switchblade, made from the book of the same name, while flicking through television channels. Pat Boone played David Wilkerson and Eric Estrada the troubled gang leader Nicky Cruz who came to Christ. An hour ago, while checking the Internet news, I came across the report that Reverend Wilkerson had died in a car accident in Texas. I've mentioned his ministry a few times in these blogs. He once told a story of how, while ministering in New York City, he read an ad for an old classic sports car across the river in New Jersey. Thinking of how enjoyable it would be to restore this automobile, he purchased the car. On the ride back to the city that he originally came to save teens from lives of drugs and violence, and comfortably sitting back as he drove his new possession, his wife mentioned that she smelled something burning. David looked in the rear view mirror and his new automobile was on fire. His wife Gwen, who was seriously injured in this accident that took his life, looked at him and said something that I have never forgotten...David, do you think God is trying to tell you something? Wilkerson's ministry expanded and eventually while walking one night on Broadway, overcome by what America was becoming, he had another revelation. His ministry purchased a famous old Broadway theater and today eight thousand people of all ethnic backgrounds, rich and poor, diseased and healthy, attend worship and minister to those on the streets from Times Square Church. David Wilkerson's theology is Pentecostal. I came into the Christian faith in Pentecostalism. I have at least one hundred of Reverend Wilkerson's cassette tapes in my basement of which had no small influence upon me. David Wilkerson was something besides a Pentecostal. He was a modern day Puritan. We hear the term Puritanical often today, always in derision, and the accepted definition could not be further from the truth. The Puritan of old and the Puritan-minded today see the sovereignty of God in a way that much of modern evangelicalism can barely enunciate. After over fifty years of ministry, David Wilkerson today sees his Savior in perfect clarity, with the veil removed, as does every redeemed soul that was called home. Below is his last blog written. It is identical in essence to every message I had ever heard him preach and to every word of his that I read. The fact that it is on this same blog site makes me uneasy to even publish my drivel along with his.

To believe when all means fail is exceedingly pleasing to God and is most acceptable. Jesus said to Thomas, "you have believed because you have seen, but blessed are those that do believe and have not seen." (John 20:29). Blessed are those who believe when there is not evidence of an answer to prayer-who trust beyond hope when all means have failed. Someone has come to the place of hopelessness-the end of hope-the end of all means. A loved one is facing death and doctors give no hope. Death seems inevitable. Hope is gone. The miracle prayed for is not happening. That is when Satan's hordes come to attack your mind with fear, anger, overwhelming questions: "Where is your God now? You prayed until you had no tears left. You fasted. You stood on promises. You trusted." Blasphemous thoughts will be injected into your mind: "Prayer failed. Faith failed. Don't quit on God-just do not trust him anymore. It doesn't pay!" Even questioning God's existence will be injected into your mind. These have been devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks. To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights-and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, "I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will  make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident. It was no failure on your part. Hold fast. Let me embrace you in your hour of pain." Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. when all means fail-his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is nor other hope in this world.

My blogs from December 28, 2008 and January 25, 2009 are on the Puritans, and May 23, 2010 is one that mentions David Wilkerson. David's blog is http://www.davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/.

Who Is Ayn Rand

I had not read Atlas Shrugged in the early 1970s (my early 20s) because I was too busy reading Charles Reich's The Greening of America in between sips of beer at the Wooden Keg on Pitt's Oakland campus. If I had, I might have been a millionaire today, a Gordon Gekko! Thank goodness for cheap drafts, Charles Reich, Carlos Castaneda, Van Morrison, and Carole King. I still have not read completely through any of Ayn Rand's four novels but did, many decades ago, see the film The Fountainhead starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, the final scene of which still haunts me today where the two stars stare heavenward as they rise in the construction elevator of Cooper's budding skyscraper. Who is Ayn Rand??? She was born in Russia in 1905 and experienced, first hand, the Bolshevik takeover of human life and property. She came to America and was enamored by the silver screen ( I can relate to that) and wound up in Hollywood as a screenwriter and then author turned philosopher whose philosophy of Objectivism drew devotees including Alan Greenspan and has remained popular to this day. She died in 1982. They tried to make a movie of Atlas Shrugged for decades, finally accomplishing it recently in what could not be a more apropos time. I saw the film (first of a trilogy) this past week on a rainy day in Myrtle Beach. The small crowd (most families were filling the other theaters) applauded at its conclusion. If you do not see imminent catastrophe for America, or the world for that matter, or even the possibility thereof, you will probably find the film boring. If you do see dark tornado clouds moving fast over our heritage you will get your money's worth. It was well made and acted and it was good seeing a film that did not have the usual movie stars who hop from project to project. A 2009 cover story from Hank Hanegraaf's Christian Research Journal, which can be Googled easily (Was Ayn Rand Right, Jay W. Richards) captured the allure of Ayn Rand and the reason for criticism. Ayn Rand, as Richards relates, called greed a virtue. He wrote "Rand was a staunch defender of capitalism, but also an anti-Christian atheist who argued that capitalism was based on greed." Richards contends that "she missed the subtleties of capitalism." He brings Adam Smith into the equation and his 1776 classic work on economics The Wealth Of Nations and points out in detail how Smith admitted that "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Richards points out that "every time you wash your hands or look both ways before you cross a street, you're pursuing your self-interest-but neither activity is selfish." Richards second point concerning Smith is that "in a free market, each of us can pursue ends within our narrow sphere of competence and concern-our self interest- and yet an order will emerge that vastly exceeds anyone's deliberations." His third point from Adam Smith is that even if capitalism channels greed and "even if the butcher is selfish, he can't make you buy his meat. He has to offer you meat at a price you'll willingly buy." So "capitalism doesn't need greed" and Richards would say that it doesn't need Ayn Rand either. The author continues with, and I would agree, that Rand's appeal is because she "mercilessly skewered every leftist cliche'." That is what the American pubic is calling for, why the film is a success and why the audience applauded at the end. It's Rand's defense of capitalism, and not definition of capitalism that allures. Richards mentions a survey that I had heard of before where he writes "In a poll conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book Of The Month Club in the 1990s, Atlas Shrugged came in second behind the Bible as the most influential  book." Richards conclusion is that "her hatred of Marxism and collectivism led her to defend a caricature of capitalism more grotesque than anything Marx imagined." It was Ayn Rand's accurate critique of leftist economic philosophy that woke the author up many years previous. This critique by Ayn Rand's is her only contribution, but a contribution nonetheless. My only disagreement with Jay W. Richards' article is where he writes "Competition between entrepreneurs in a free economy thus becomes an altruistic competition, not because the entrepreneurs have warm and fuzzies in their hearts, or are unconcerned with personal wealth, but because they seek to meet the desires of others more than their competitors do." I agree with this statement but it stops short of seeing how a nation can in the beginning see desires and wants as food, raiment and a home, and then evolve into those desires and wants becoming 65" television screens, risk derivatives, Facebook and various other narcissistic pursuits, etc., etc..  Wall Street is as capable of distorting capitalism into a grotesque caricature as Ayn Rand. Her contribution is best acknowledged and then put aside for the number one influential book in that survey.

Buck Up, Special Dog!

It was quite a few years ago, maybe ten, while listening to Renewing Your Mind that R. C. Sproul dropped his guard for a moment and mentioned how some in the religious academic community had mockingly referred to him as Le folle (madman) Sproul or some similar disparagement.  A few years ago Rush Limbaugh had a similar weak moment although in his case thirty four million dollars a year may ease the pain somewhat. More recently South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, openly displayed discouragement to radio talk show host Roger Hedgecock in that he, at times, felt all alone in the Senate in fighting the forces arrayed against our nation. Hedgecock responded Buck up man...we (the people of the United States) got your back and DeMint continues today to lead the charge in that formerly august body. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum there is me, I get dejected and dispirited at times too. Day after day and year after year of sounding a warning can take it out of you. I have given up so much for so long! I could be clubbing a small white ball and then motoring up to it in a little cart to club it even further. I could take a wall out of my house, or call someone to do it anyway, to make room for a giant television to stare into the pores of Katie Couric. I could be working on my abs, assuming they are under there somewhere. I could be Kung Fu dancing with a room full of hot chicks who recently dropped 120 pounds. I could have the Pittsburgh Steeler logo tattooed on the back of my neck.  I could wander aimlessly around the Jersey Shore for the summer hoping to get into a  fight with Snookie. I could take Yoga and learn to touch the top of my head with the back of my thigh. I could take an interest in vampires..all of them except Hillary of course. I could learn how to tweet; for instance right now I'd write My stomach just growled from that half bag a tortilla chips and jar of salsa I just ate, and forget Barack Obama, I'd want to see Suzanne Somers' birth certificate. But no, I have chosen to forgo all these pleasures. For what? For monitoring a measly totalitarian takeover of the world! And I'm the only one! Oh poor poor me :(  On a more serious note, and truer to the intent of this particular blog entry, one does have to fight discouragement, for the calamity that we see coming is unparalleled in American history.  There is no satisfaction in later being able to say we told you so. Winston Churchill was fortunate in that after subjecting himself to criticism verging on ridicule as he warned against the Nazis, he was able to lead his government, and the world for some time, in bringing Adolph Hitler to that dark bunker in Berlin in April of 1945. It is difficult seeing one's country, that one loves, lose its purpose, its essence, and the security that it once had in its might as it distances itself from, and even blames, the One who bestowed all of these blessings upon it. Churchill, in the second volume of his history of the Second World War wrote of Britain's malaise as Hitler built his war machine "Official responsibility rested upon the government of the time. But moral responsibilities were more widely spread."  I have personally given decades to the demise of this nation through self indulgence. Churchill also wrote (I am reading this volume, Their Finest Hour, right now and have his words at hand) that the British people had a remarkable unity when war was waged against them, "because everyone realized how near were death and ruin." And in his speech to the nation on May 13, 1939 he said "without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realized; no survival for the British Empire...."  Fortunately for the British there were far less distractions and far fewer toys than we have today, and they had an even greater ally in the wings that had not yet evicted God from its schools and its halls of power. We have no such ally but we have something far greater in a God who is merciful as He is just but if we do not desire Him as our Lord and as our Savior, He is as swift in judgement as He is fair.  So the message to myself, from myself, in this blog is buck up Special Dog...for there is no other choice. The encouragement is in knowing that if we fall, even this will ultimately be to His glory, and if we rise it will be to the glory of His name alone!.

Absence Of Malice?

One legal definition of malice is "malice arises when an act which is inherently dangerous to human life is intentionally done so recklessly and wantonly as to manifest a mind utterly without regard for human life and social duty and deliberately bent on mischief."  Paul Newman received a Best Actor nomination for his work in 1981 on Sydney Pollack's Absence Of Malice. The screenplay was co-written by former newspaper editor Kurt Luedtke. The film is a critique of the newspaper business in its potential to essentially convict someone in the eye of the public by reporting damning information and inferring guilt when they may be doing so through such means as a leak from someone they deem knowledgeable enough to be passing on truth. In the case of Michael Gallagher, Newman's character in the film, it wasn't true. Gallagher's life was upended and the newspaper continued with its irresponsible reporting and more people were hurt. It's a very good film and I intend to add it to the favorite movie section of my profile. Twenty people have been killed...so far, some beheaded as a result of the burning of a Koran by a Florida pastor, and also as a result of the intent of malice from these murderers, from that same pastor in Florida, and from portions of the American mainstream media. The instigators of Afghanistan's riots intent was violence and they hope that this is only the beginning of bloody carnage beyond Afghanistan's border. The pastor's intent was malice towards those who do not believe as he does, and the intent of malice on the part of much of the media was through association, towards the Christian religion in America, and Conservative politics aligned with it. Was it news that one small congregation was going to burn a Koran? One can page through any one of our local newspapers today and find more newsworthy items that lose that newsworthiness when applied outside the confines of this tri-state area.  All three actors in this tragedy succeeded in their intent of malice. How many thousands...tens of thousands of Bibles have been confiscated and then burned throughout the years without even notice outside of Christian missions news? How many Christians are martyred or persecuted regularly on this earth? It would be utterly impossible for the media to report even a tiny percentage of the acts of toleration that Christians have had for those who do not even apply the same principles of ethics in their actions. So what do we do now? There will be more blind guides holding up a Bible in a country of over 300 million. I'm not saying that antics such as this be ignored but local media reporting it in the beginning would have been enough. It would also help if not only the media but our government would consider through introspection that they are doing more than defending peaceful Muslims of whom there are many but glorifying Islam, ignoring its abuses where the intent is to set the world, not a book, on fire, and actually encouraging the terrorist mind to conspire for more achievements in their inglorious plan to overwhelm the West. Sally Field, in her character of Megan Carter, at the end of the movie, contritely admitted to being very bad at her job and tried to distance her actions from the essence of her profession. The film gets its title, Absence Of Malice, from the defense the newspaper applied to itself before giving its incorrect report on Michael Gallagher, but it was the presence of irresponsibility that caused the pain. This pastor probably told himself that he was refusing to compromise in the defense of truth but the compromise was in his own judgement and Christian principles. The media has to give a certain amount of leeway in dealing with the Christian church in which the laws of probability alone predict that actions like that in Florida will occur, and we have to give the media a certain amount of leeway in making mistakes for this profession has as many ideologues and careless editors in it as the visible church has confused zealots.