Trials and a Challenge to the Church

It has been a couple weeks since my last posting.  Last week I had the privilege of spending a week with three of my grandkids in Iowa.  I got some needed study time in the morning while they slept in, then had the afternoons and evenings to share with them.  Their mother, our daughter-in-law, has a severe form of MS and Barry, our son, and the kids were unable to continue caring for her and her special needs.  So, Carol was placed into a nursing home in early June.  Needless to say, the summer has been a different one for the entire family, but God has been answering prayers.  It was a joy just to get to spend time with the kids - lots of ladder golf, browsing at Barnes and Noble, shopping for school supplies, and reading.  Marlys will be down with them next week for a few days.  Sort of breaks the routine for them. 

Meanwhile, things continue in our world that need to be addressed.  I had at first thought I would not make any comment on the George Zimmerman trial held in Sanford, FL.  But I did follow it with great interest.  I have to be honest that, at the very beginning, I was concerned that Mr. Zimmerman would not get a fair trial.  There had been so much media publicity about the case that I wondered if an impartial jury could ever be found, especially in Sanford.  But as the trial began and continued, I was intrigued by the lack of a case the prosecution presented.  I must admit that I know very little about the law, but when the witnesses for the prosecution presented evidence that seemingly favored the defense, I was taken-back.  Then, as the trial was winding down and the prosecution team requested that the additional charge of manslaughter be added to the charges, and then attempted to add the charge of felony child abuse, I realized that even the prosecution team knew that the outcome would probably not be favorable to their side.  As the jury members have now indicated, although they had concerns for the death of Trayvon Martin, they had to follow the law, thus the verdict of acquittal. 

Now the nation is in an uproar.  Many don't like the verdict.  Many are now saying that the trial was a racial one - perhaps it was for I wonder if the media would have cared if Mr. Zimmerman had been a black.  I know the answer to that question because it happens almost daily in places like Chicago.  Or, would we have cared if Mr. Martin had been a white youth?  Probably not deserving of the airtime that the trial received.  Yes, there are questions that this trial should raise, such as, what are the limits to the authority that a neighborhood watch guard has?  But what I find disconcerting is the lack of a national voice by members of the black community regarding the known facts that 93% of black young people murdered in America today are murdered by other blacks.  Now that is a national tragedy that needs addressed.  That is the debate that needs to be presented.  Will this verdict in the George Zimmerman case prompt that dialogue?  I highly doubt it, I am saddened to say. 

The strife in Syria continues.  Now it seems that there is a civil war in the midst of a civil war as those factions fighting against the Assad Regime are now fighting also among themselves as to who will claim the power.  Some of the factions within the rebellion have been commandeered by Al Qaeda while others remain loyal to the initial desires to merely throw off an oppressive regime.  Such infighting allows those forces loyal to President Assad to regroup and to regain some of the ground lost in the past few months.  As one reporter related, "It now appears that President Assad is in a position to win the conflict." 

And the situation in Egypt continues to amaze me.  The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood - that group that appeared to have been the big winner in the 2011 "Arab Spring" and the overthrow of President Mubarak - now appears to have become the big loser in the 2013 "Arab Summer" (at least that is what I am calling it).  According to reports in today's newspaper, there are no representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood in the new government created by the Egyptian military.  Will this last?  And what will be America's role?  After all, we wholly endorsed the overthrow of President Mubarak and applauded the first democratic elections in Egypt that resulted in Mohammed Morsi becoming the new President.  Now he has been deposed by a decision of the Egyptian military leaders based upon strong demonstrations by Egyptians who demanded the ouster of President Morsi.  How fickle are the whims of men!  The people did not like the totalitarian dictates of President Mubarak, so demanded a change - democracy and freedom.  Now, two years later they rise up against the President they elected through a democratic process because they do not like the changes the Muslim Brotherhood was bringing about for Egypt. 

As I have thought about the Zimmerman trial and its outcome and the situation in Egypt, two passages of Scripture came to my mind.  The first is found in Isaiah 2:22 where the prophet writes, "Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils.  Of what account is he?"  Pretty amazing verse, don't you think?  Our confidence should be in God who never changes, not in the opinions of men who are as the shifting sands along the seashore.  The second text is found in John 2:24-25, which reads: "But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.  He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man."  The context for these verses is the account of the first cleansing of the Temple by Jesus.  Afterwards, Jesus did many miracles in Jerusalem that caused many to believe in Him.  But, Jesus knew that the minds of men are easily swayed and diverted.  Again, just a reminder that our anchor for our beliefs and convictions must be grounded in the Word of God, not in the fleeting opinions of men. 

There is an urgency for the Church today to get Dads and Grandpas into the Word.  There is an urgency for the Church to get Moms and Grandmas into the Word.  There is an urgency for the Church to get families into the Word of God.   Last Sunday I shared this passage in my message: It is among the final words of Paul to Timothy - "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15).  Friends, Timothy began his Bible training while an infant.  Perhaps he learned to read using the Bible.  Perhaps those conversations around the dinner table centered on the stories of Abraham, David, and the prophets.  Friends, there is an urgency to get our families back into the things of God.  I heard a statement this past week that alarmed me: If the Church fails to act now, only 2% of the children in our Sunday schools now will walk with the Lord in their adult lives - 2%!  The Church has failed the home!  The home has failed its children!  Oh what an accounting awaits us!  But there is still time - however, it is fleeting - to get back to the basics.  Friends, if your church is doing something significant in the area of helping families get back into the Word of God, where Dads and Grandpas are discipling their children and grandchildren, where aunts and uncles are getting involved with nieces and nephews, would you please let me know.  I would love to hear from you and I will be sharing with you what our church is doing in that area as well.  Working together we can make a difference with God's help.