"It is 3 AM....and I was tossing and turning. A few minutes ago I reached for my iPhone....just to check the headlines....for it had been six hours. Trump apparently had finished speaking three hours ago....a little late because of the storms....the one headline had it that lightning had struck the Washington Monument. I had been praying all yesterday....and this is normal for Saturdays....that should it be God's will....that He would have mercy upon these men in our pulpits....and that the Holy Spirit would awaken them....in that they have not fulfilled their responsibilities to strengthen and warn the sheep of wolves in sheep's clothing! Had they heard or read Trump's words....in that this nation is the...."crowning achievement of human history?" If so....did they tremble?"
"But this is the one to whom I will look....he who is humble....and contrite in spirit....who trembles at my word." Isaiah 66:2 ESV
The above short post is from a month ago....after Trump finally gave his speech after the storms. I use the Latin noun....gravitas....occasionally. When our son was very young I tried to initiate him into the use of Latin words because they were so often used in important biblical doctrines. This past spring our nine year old grandson corrected me on the pronunciation of a Latin word. The definition of gravitas is....high seriousness.
I've related this humorous anecdote often. Billy Graham was speaking before a southern seminary....being given an honorary doctorate....he told a story of a man who went south on a hunting trip....and stayed at a hunting lodge.....and asked for a dog named Preacher....because he had heard that it was a good hunting dog. The owner of the lodge said...."Preacher? Preacher? No....we don't have a dog named Preacher"....on which the man said that he was sure that he heard that they had a good hunting dog named Preacher. The owner then remembered and said...."Oh yes....we did have a good dog named Preacher....but then someone came down here and called him Doctor.....and he ain't been a lick of good since!"
You see....Billy was being given the honorary title of Doctor. Everyone laughed. Billy Graham was a down-home....old-time religion type of preacher....but he had more gravitas than any preacher in America....or the world for that matter! everyone respected his words and his opinions. Today....with the passing of Graham and Sproul and MacArthur and many others.....we have no one in the church that could speak to America who has that....gravitas! I'm going to repeat that for the emphasis that it deserves....we have no one in the church that can speak to us with....gravitas....where everyone hears and at least listens!
Biden and Trump....and all of these preachers of renown leaving us and going back home....this is all God's judgement on America....and upon you....and upon me....for we in the church let all of this which has happened to us....happen....as we may have been vocal evangelicals....but we considered ourselves....exceptional....American Exceptionalism....and an exceptional church with giant congregations and podcasts and Christian cruises to every part of the world....and popular Christian entertainers....and ministers in the Oval Office....laying hands on the most powerful person in the world....but we were and are anything but exceptional....in fact we are Laodicean....thinking that we are rich....when we are destitute of discernment and wisdom!
What we need right now is a man of gravitas....to make news in America....not calling us to some worthless political election coming up....in fact calling us away from hoping in that election....and striking needed fear in us for what we have become....all of us....left and right and in-between!
For you see....we are as on a riverboat cruise right now....admiring God's creation as we slowly glide through the water....arranging deck chairs as they say....with Country or Christian or whatever type of music wafting throughout the ship....drowning out the roar of the great falls that are close.....of which the billowing mist alone should have had us rushing to the bow to see what it was!
It is time to tremble....and we need someone of note to tell us that....but we have no one....because God had given us such men for fifty years or more....and we ignored their warnings! Our pulpits need to stop comforting us and begin to warn us! There will be a need for comforting in the future!
