Saturday shortly after noon, I filled up the dog bowl on the back porch with water and pitched dishes in the dishwasher so that I could head out with Melissa for a bite to eat and maybe a little shoe shopping. She’d spent the night with Keith and me in the country and we’d had a lazy Saturday morning over coffee and conversation. I’d set out my purse and keys and decided to wipe down the kitchen counter before we walked out the door. Just as I sprayed the cleaner and grabbed the dishtowel, Melissa walked in staring at the screen of her phone with the oddest expression.
“Mom, I don’t know if it’s true or not but I’m seeing references on Twitter to Rick and Kay Warren losing a son.”
She was ashen. My stomach flipped and, over the next few minutes as she read to me bits and pieces of breaking news, we feared the worst. I felt a hot sickness in my throat. My relationship with the Warrens is the same as most of yours. I have simply been served and led well by them. Although I had the joy of ministering to women on the Saddleback campus some years ago, my stay was brief and our schedules were wrapped entirely around the event. I have not had the opportunity to get to know the Warrens in the way that personal friends know one another but I always knew in my heart that I’d like them so much. We’re similar ages and in similar seasons with our families. Meanwhile, I have loved them and esteemed them in Christ as faithful and mighty servants of the living Lord Jesus Christ. And quite possibly, among the mightiest to ever serve this generation.
Within an hour of Melissa walking into the kitchen with those first pieces of news, someone very close to the Warren family confirmed the tragedy on Twitter. We were heartsick and not for media personalities or even public servants. We were heartsick for a family of real people with breakable hearts. And we wept. Many of you undoubtedly did as well.
An odd mix of feelings overtook me with increasing force through the afternoon and into the early evening. The sadder I got, the madder I got. Mad at an astonishing satanic force that stoops viciously and swoops in unscrupulously to attack children and to prey on their weaknesses as they grow up, shooting so relentlessly at one spot that they can barely get to their feet between arrows. I’ve been that child and many of you have, too. Madder still that the devil in all likelihood delights in nothing more than targeting the children and dearest loved ones of true servants of God. Nothing tries our faith like the suffering of our children. At the end of the day, our faith is what the devil is after most. Without it, it’s impossible to please God. This is why Paul could say with relief nearly palpable on the page of his final letter, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
We’ll all finally make it to our finish lines but the cliffhanger along the way will be this: will we keep our faith? That isn’t the same thing as keeping our salvation. I don’t believe my salvation is something I can give back. I received it by grace through faith from Christ Himself and my works don’t secure it no matter how my woes obscure it. His grip never loosens. Nothing can snatch us out of our Father’s hand. What’s at risk is our active belief in who God says He is, what He says He is like, and what He says He can do.
Is He good? Is He faithful?
So the enemy sets out to knock the feet of our faith out from under our walk. And there is nothing more effective toward that end than targeting the ones we love most on this planet.
I don’t say that to scare you. I say it because I believe it is the hair-raising truth. No, we are not abandoned here as victims on this damaged sod. We are not abandoned at all. Our God is with us. The Spirit of His Son is in us. We are more than conquerors through the One who loves us. We are not at the mercy of Satan. We are at the glorious, life-breathing mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, a mercy that leads, as Jude 21 says, to eternal life and will ultimately spill like a river into a sea of reality where no sufferings of our past will compare with the glory of our present. In the meantime, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world but make no mistake. This is a vicious world we’ve been left to serve. One God still loves or we would not still be here.
And then, in that mixture of emotions Saturday afternoon, I got madder and madder at the bullies in the Body of Christ. I thought how much it turns out that the Warrens have been through personally and, if they are like most leaders, all the while putting out fires and putting up with a bunch of trash-talk from people who would call the same Jesus Lord.
God help us. In the words of James, These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.
I don’t believe one of us here in this community thinks that leaders should be immune to questions, constructive criticism, and accountability. That’s not the kind of thing I’m talking about here. I’m talking about bullying. There are Scriptural means for going to a brother or sister to reason with them about matters we genuinely consider to be off base, misleading, or in error. You and I both know that much of what happens out there in public forums is the furthest thing from biblical.
It is slander.
I went on a walk through the woods Saturday late afternoon and did something I don’t often do. I cried angry tears. I got so mad that I could have hit somebody. I kept thinking how believers attack one another and sling stones at each other like the other can’t bruise or break. And all the while that person may be in so much personal pain that it’s nearly unbearable. I’m not transferring this to the Warrens. I do not know them personally. I’m telling you what I know to be true about most people out there. Most of us are in significant pain of some kind. That doesn’t mean defeat necessarily. It just means pain.
Life is hard enough without hatefulness rife in the Body of Christ. We are called to carry one another’s burdens, not pile relentlessly on top of them. We can still hold one another accountable. We can still ask questions. We can still disagree. But we can do it with respect.
I’m sick of the bullying. The mud-slinging and the meanness. I’m sick of careless, idle words thrown out there in the public square and professing believers in Christ standing on the necks of their own brothers and sisters to sound smart and superior. As if it’s not enough that we are surrounded in this culture by Christian haters, we’ve got to have our own hater-Christians. It’s insane.
When we turn people into caricatures, everything’s game. The moment we depersonalize them, our consciences harden and we can mock and slander at will and have a blast doing it. Snide blogs and tweets and Facebook posts about various leaders can also be effective ways to jump in their spotlight. Bullies aren’t just mean. They’re self-serving. They’re platform-hunting. They have to borrow one to perform.
No, I don’t think that saying all of this will change it much but some things still need to be said. Sometimes we need to speak up and call something wrong. There’s a bigger issue in the Body of Christ than immorality. It’s hatefulness. If the greatest priority Christ assigned to us was love, the gravest offender is hate.
Just about the time cynicism threatens to overwhelm us and turn us into the very people we can’t stand, genuine love – the real thing – erupts right here on this earth like concrete breaking open to a spring. Compassion and tremendous affection are pouring forth from the Body of Christ for the Warrens right now. It is right and it is lovely. We have been served well by them and have learned so much from them. To respond with expressions of love, comfort, and intercession is our honor and privilege. We must and we will.
But even now at the hardest moment of their lives the Warrens can teach something vital if we are willing to learn. Their heartbreak demonstrates what has always been true but has never been more profoundly overlooked: these who serve us publicly also suffer privately. They are not caricatures. They are not just personalities. They are people living on a painful planet with the rest of us.
The Warrens will come forth like gold. The enemy will not win. They will fight the good fight. They will finish the race. They will keep the faith.
I love the Body of Christ. I don’t want want to get cynical. I don’t want to sit around and hate the haters or I become one. But this morning I just want to say this. We can love each other better. Let’s do. People have enough hurt. Let’s be careful with one another.
Thank you!… A powerful reminder to love one another!
I would like to thank you for your blog, it was a true blessing. Your words spoke it all so wonderfully. I understand the mixed feeling that you spoke of. When I saw this Saturday my stomach sank too. Its hit me in a very personal way, do to my son of age seven in the last year has talked about killing himself, and how sad his heart feels so much (depression). When you raise your children in a wonderful loving church,and your family is very actively involved. As a parent serving in children’s ministry. The love of Christ is a everyday in your home, he is at the center of our family! Along with protecting them from harmful tv and games. Even in a faith based Christian school. You just don’t think this should be happening to your baby! It is such a helpless feeling as a parent and you do know who is attacking them, deceiving them, and twisting who they want to be. When you have a child with depressing, it is so painful to watch. I understand the fight they have put out and it is as if your child keeps being pulled under the water and you cant save them. Through medication and doctors it just keeps pulling them under. People want to say a person with depressing lacks God and that just is not always the truth. It is sometimes illness as MS is or cancer. My son my struggles in such a heart wrenching way, but then at a doctors office or playground he will start talking to random children about Jesus. Last week he saw a boy caring a Easter basket, and asked the boy do you know why we have Easter? This boy said candy and Easter bunny, then my son started to let him know about Jesus, he is truly invested in helping people understand the love of Christ. My heart hurts for their loss in such a way. Then for this family to be kicked while they are in such pain and suffering,it does make me mad too. It is wrong,thank you for standing boldly and speaking the truth. We all need to take a look at who is working against our love ones, attacking, and invading our families. Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.” My son was Baptized at age six and when our pastor talked to him about it before hand. His response was,”Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and it should have been me.” He did not sin, not once! To me that is very deep for a six year old. A year later he is having depression issues and speaking of killing himself in such bad ways, along with many other struggles like anger and rage, that we work through with patient love. I know how much they have had to been through for years with the fight to save your love one from the sorrows of depression. As sisters and brothers in Christ we need to bound together and support each other. Not by all means throw stones at one another. There is one thing I know and I tell myself when times are really heard… there will not be mental illness, or depression in heaven. God will take care of this evil attack and our love ones, He will be set them free. We will all be together with out the sadness, suffering, pain, and unkindness. I to know salvation is not something we loss, God is a loving God! 2 Corinthians 1:3 “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;” My prayers for comfort and strength are with the Warren family, my heart has such sorrow for them. Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” God bless you and your Spirit filled words of wisdom! Thank you again 🙂
Beth, you have always written so eloquently. This is no different. I often feel helpless when people hate on Christians but wonder how to respond. I feel angry and even more helpless when Christians hate. I feel like walking up to them and yanking off the Christian label they proudly wear to the disgrace
I love you, Beth. thank you.
Beth, Thanks so much for pouring your heart out on this. I was at an Anita Renfroe concert at our church when she told us to keep the Warrens in prayer. It is so true how the enemy wants our kids and families and our lives. We continue this long hard process of life, and things do get in the way. I continue to pray for the Warrens and what they are going through right this minute. Praying for anyone who has lost someone like this. This is a hard road for them. Thanks again for posting this today. I do believe we all needed to hear it.
My heart is broken for the Warren family, but God can use this very thing for good to bring people in a situation like this to Himself. I want to thank Rick and Kay Warren for being such a wonderful example of Christ to his congregation. My granddaughter and husband, Amber and David Gill, go to Saddleback, and I have seen such growth in their Christian life under the ministry of Rick and Kay Warren.
We had a pastor, some years ago, that went to Malawi, Africa, and spent 28 years as a missionary. They lost a 16 year old son tragically in a mountain climbing accident and had to leave him there when they came home. Our friend was later diagnosed as bipolar. They moved just down the street from us, and every year around the anniversary of their son’s death, our friend went into depression. One morning, he took his Bible and went out on their patio, marked a scripture, and put a gun under his chin and shot himself. I believe he died as a result of his illness, rather than a suicide. He was a precious man of God that served the Lord faithfully. God understands our heart, as he understood Matthews heart. May God give you strength for your journey. Love and Prayers, Catherine
Thank you for you heartfelt blog! I can’t imagine the insensitivity and bullying that is going on at a time like this! Love and compassion is key. This story touches my heart about the Warren’s loss. My daughter who is now 24 years, has been battling depression and anxiety since the age of 13, probably before that, but could identify what was going on. She did not want to be here, anymore, and this broke my heart, realizing how she was hurting. I wanted to hurt in her place. I wanted to take on her battle. Instead, God had another plan. Just this year, I encouraged her to go on this journey with me through Pastor Warrens purpose driven life small group bible study, and she did. She came under attack in the middle of the night, and the passages from the book, came to her. When talked to me the next day with tears in her eyes, and recounted this spiritual assault, she said that she told God that she wanted to live! She thought she would die from the pain that struck her, and had dripping with sweat. She did wake me, but she woke heaven. Inside, I was shaking, as I listened. She said that pastor Rick, said something the love of God being so complete, and so she repeated scriptures from the book. Everything subsided. My baby said, that there has always been something dark, inside her trying to take her life. That fear and darkness dissolved, and that she felt weight if it fall off of her. I don’t know Kay and Rick, but I know the love of God that inspired Him to write this book, again, and get through to my daughter is convinced of the absolute power of God that is available to her. This journey were are all on us about being loved and giving it away. May nothing but love, envelope the Warren family, during this time. So many more lives will be saved. My daughter was tearful when she read about the tragedy, and all I could tell that God’s love infinite. Dealing with depression, or anything as a public figure is a strain. We prayed for the family. God will make this assault on the body of Christ, in this particular family, count big time in the Kingdom. Beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for our heaviness. I know grief, and I know joy. May we give Pastor Rick and Kay time to heal, know the joy again. Peace and blessings, Felicia
have experienced this same journey with our daughter, she had been bullied in middle school, and shokingly thru some her education in a christian high school where a young man had not been on his med’. She struggles still and has a brilliant mind, was given a gift of language, but is not able to serve with these gifts at this time. I pray for her chains to be broken in Christ and she bloom where she is right now. God bless those who have hearts for christ but are sufferening themselves. Thank you for sharing these stories ladies…I am encouaged today thru you all.
Beth, Darling of God, Say it loud and proud. Spiritual warfare is becoming more and more evident as the days go by. But the good news is that we shall overcome. We have already overcome because He’s conquered the world. I love the Body of Christ too and I soo dearly wished we would all cling to Jesus and to each other everyday and especially the hard days. Are we not called the family of God?
We shall overcome. And the Warrens and everyone else dealing with pains and sorrows in the Body of Christ shall overcome.
My prayers are with them.
I could not love you more than I do this very second! You have been my teacher for some time now, and even though I do not actively participate in the blog every time something is posted, I read. Not only have you captivated everything in a concise and ‘right on’ manner you have touched my heart deeply. Not only is our world divided but I see more and more the body of believers divided and this should not be, no wonder some days i believe the enemy is winning, but your post reminded me he is not nor will he!!
Thank you for one of your very best writings ever! To God Be all the Glory and for every single person hurting and in pain or in loss may we be all that Christ has called us to be.
Thank you Beth for speaking the truth in love! May God grant us all more courage and humility.
Well said, Beth. When I was in my twenties, I lost my 25-year-old brother to suicide. It brought me to Christ, but I continued to be mentally ill for many years, battling anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Christ carried me through that time. Then, three years later, I lost my father to suicide as well. I did not think I would survive it. The loss of a loved-one to suicide is one of the most devastating experiences a person can live through, Christian or not. Again, Christ carried me. I am now a psychotherapist, treating those with suicidal ideation and depression. When I heard about Matthew Warren, like you I cried, and got angry…and when I heard others were blaming and criticizing them in this time of grief, I felt helpless and heartsick and wished I could do something to help. Well, I pray…that’s all I can do. But words need to be said, and you said them well. Thank you, Beth.
As I read this blog, I felt like God was answering the questions i have had lately about the lack of love among believers. I am a pastors’ daughter and my parents have recently been facing attacks from members of the church. A lot of people are of the belief that pastors are super-rich and immune to life’s daily challenges.As such, many refuse to tithe or give offerings, which has led to the ministry suffering tremendously. We as the Body of Christ need to repent of the disrespectful attitude that a lot of us have towards ou Pastors. The Bible says we shall be known to be children of God by our love. It’s time to start showing that love to our Pastors and to each other.
Perfectly and wonderfully expressed! Thank you!
Well put Beth.. This is something that needed to be said. God bless you for putting into words that I have thought for a long, long time but don’t have the gift to write it as you do. I pray that those of us who call ourselves children of the King of Kings will not only hear what you had to say but will put it into practice in their lives.. as you say there is enough of that kind of slander from the world but those in the Body of Christ need to build each other up in love. God Bless the Warren Family at this time especially.. may they feel the presence of our Wonderful Lord surrounding them. My heart aches for them. God’s richest blessing on you and your family as you continue to serve & teach.. keep up the good WORK.
Dear ones, I think you are all missing the point. It is not rebuke and admonishment that is needed or helpful here. Jesus wants to save the angry and disappointed ones within our gate, the hurting ones whose faith is shaky, the cradle Christians who do not yet understand that suffering is not a mark of disfavor or a sign of God’s weakness. They project their pain and anger on a family that preaches hope and yet whom God has called to suffer. They are thinking: “These people claim that God is able to do all things and that He is a loving God, but they have to suffer terrible loss just as I have. What kind of God is that? They offered me hope but look, they are not protected from pain, so they must be fools. They have misled me into thinking there was an escape from suffering, an end to pain. How dare they tell me such lies?” And out of their grief and disappointment, they hit out like angry toddlers hit their parents in a storm of mingled rage and trust that the parents will continue loving them despite their ugliest behavior. These angry people are really hitting out at God, at God-in-the-Warrens, because their hope has been destroyed. But please note that they haven’t turned away from God and become Wiccans…they stay in the conversation because they know the enduring love they seek is here somewhere. We must find it in ourselves to forgive these poor ones who can only cry tears of rage, and comfort them with a soft word to turn away their wrath. We are called to be compassionate to the “least of these.” Please love and pray for them; condemnation will not open any doors.
Thank you Beth. I’ve been living and walking in this type of behavior on a daily basis at work. My heart hurts yet I don’t know how to call it out and speak to it. How to reach out to a sister in Christ and beg her to stop. If you call it out you are the bully in their eyes. It’s a poison, a cancer and it kills. It kills the love that Christ calls us to. It wounds, it brings REAL pain. All the while it continues and the pretending to be Super Spiritual and Righteous continues. It makes my heart HURT! Thank you Mama Beth for being obedient to the Spirits call and calling us out. Please pray for me to respond in a Spirit of Grace and Love not in the spirit of an eye for an eye.
Thank you for speaking this truth!
Just a very awesome blog, extremely uplifting. Through your blog, God ministered to me. And because of you posting this, it set me free to see, that God has my situation.
All I can say this morning to that is AMEN & I’m thankful for faithful Christians like you & Pastor Rick Warren!! Thank you, Beth, for your honesty & boldness because it is through Christ that all Truth is revealed. Praying for this dear family!!!
Well said! How our God grieves over our petty and hateful behavior! I continue to lift the Warren family, and the body at Saddleback in prayer.
Amen …
Why do we Christians continue to give Christianity a bad name? Why are we SO IMMATURE when we have the Truth to tell us how to act, respond and live?!?!?!?
Why? The answer is our sin nature that can rise up in any and all of us at any given time when we leave our hearts unguarded to the great deceiver – Satan.
My heart breaks for the Warrens right now, but I know they will come out stronger and more able than ever to serve our Lord. I wait with great anticipation to see how God will use this tragedy for His Glory.
I was experience the cruel of Christian life as well in my deepest broken and painfull life as a believer. I call it my second dead. The world I know and ministries all point fingers and condemns. Thanks God for His grace that save me once more and give a new life.
But through that experience, now I come to know God more deep in personal. How Loving God is He and that His grace truly abound to every one who need it. And I believe as believer, we should be more and more like Christ who is loving and compassion. We should not adopt Satan character which is hate and condemn.
Truly sad to see Christian as a “little Christ” act opposite of Christ character.
Please do so remember that the reason of Jesus on the cross was LOVE!
So let us love more one another especially our brethren who grieve.
Thank you for these words. Evil things to happen. I lost a step son in a drunk driving accident a couple of years ago.
I Love the Warrens and Love You Too!! You both are very passionate about Christ and I certainly need that in my life. It’s a very good thing we have an eternity to look foward too.
BTW….about to finish up your Study on Revelation. It has been an eye opener.
God Bless You!
Thank you Beth,
satan has that hold on my son as well – depression is no joke. My spirit is so saddened and it’s so unsettling. I will keep praying for my son and all the other’s around the world – God gave us Eph 6 for a reason – I will put on my battle gear.
I pray your words would speak to someone today, as they have spoken to me. I feel the struggle that, to me, seems to spill over from the divisive political environment. May we not, from one side or the other, read and think, “yes, I hope *they* read this and take it to heart,” but rather let the Lord show us how and when we do this to others. We can be so smug and cocky, can’t we, when we think *we* are right and others are wrong. Oh God, have mercy on our souls!
God bless and comfort the Warren family in their time of need.
And God bless Beth and her family – may we continue to pray for all our leaders as we do not know what they are facing. Many have targets on them by the enemy.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Amen! Well articulated Beth!
Thank you for those heart felt words. Please be encouraged to keep speaking forth the truth in love.
“This is why Paul could say with relief nearly palpable on the page of his final letter, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.””
Thank you Beth for writing this. I do not know you or even heard of The Warren’s until I stumbled upon the news on Twitter, but their story so simimlar and yet so different to my own touched and saddened me. The quote I have repeated above may enable me to have the strength to return to church. So thank you.
Thank you for putting your heart to words, we all need to remember that we are made of clay and so are those on the Lead in the Body of Christ. My heartfelt condolences to all those who love the Warrens. May the God of comfort fill you with peace.
Beth, thank you so much for this. You have voiced what has become a growing concern for me: how easily we condemn others in the body of Christ across the internet.
Last week I read a flurry of blogs and subsequent comments condemning a well-known teacher for his position on women. While I don’t agree with him, I was astounded at how many were so quick to assassinate his character along with his biblical interpretation. This is a man that has been used by God to draw many closer to him. Over and over.
I’ve grieved at what the body of Christ has become. Jesus, in his prayer on the night he was arrested, prayed for his Church: “…that they may all be one…so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” The world will see God revealed in us as we love each other. Unfortunately, we are failing in that simple premise. We’d so rather love the world’s poor and oppressed than love our own brothers and sisters in Christ.
When I read of Rick’s tragedy, I knew exactly what would happen next. People would take the opportunity to blast a family who is simply trying to live out their calling. Why the hatred? Jealousy? Platform grabbing? I can’t think of one good motivation in trying to crush the wounded outside of self-serving ones.
We are all on the same team. When we allow pride and self-promotion to direct our actions, we are scoring points for the other team– giving Satan a foothold.
So glad you wrote this. I’m sharing it– every Christian needs to read it.
Thanks Beth, God bless you.
This is sinking in more and more since I heard it first. And the sorrow. And the helplessness. Depression is practically a sin in the christian community. Why is that? I mean for some it may be but even so the helplessness of another to witness it and the consequences. I know little of the warrens and haven’t even followed his work much. I only know I have a child and how sorrowful I would be.
Praying today.
Thanks for uplifting. ALways
Yes and yes. How horrible to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and have people poking sticks at you in the darkness…and then to realize it’s your fellow believers. So crushing. Thank you for boldly speaking the truth and encouraging the Warrens.
My prayers are with the Warren family and I thank you dearly for the beautiful words written from the heart. God’s heart grieves when we hurt one another as it is never His intent for us to slander each another…especially believers who know better. So very sad. And, the loss in the Warren family is a precious loss for the Body of Christ because our brother and sister are grieving. Thankfully, God will comfort and sustain them, bringing glory to His precious name. And, the Warren’s will continue to glorify Him in all they do to shine a light, because they know it is all for Jesus. I know, my seeking heart has grown through the teachings God has gifted the Warren’s with. I am reminded of those saints who have gone before, making the way for those who follow…and the Warren’s have surely made the way for others. Heb 12:1-2…Therefore, we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight or sin that ensnares us and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking into Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I thank Jesus for those who have impacted the Body of Christ in such a positive way that, despite trials of hurt, faith continues to be built upon the solid rock of Him alone. He is so very gracious to give us life and in the end that truly is the only thing that matters. I pray what divides the people under the veil of Jesus will end, and that which brings life will shine. My heart goes out to their family.
Blessings to your sweet ministry! I just love you.
Terry
Dear Beth
Your words are timely and true. Let us love one another as Christ loves us. We need to be more aware of our Brothers and Sisters in the body, reaching out in love and not criticism to support and allow them to lean on us when needed. Like the songs say…He aint heavy, he’s my brother.
Thanks and God bless
Beautifully said!
Thank you for posting this and loving the body of Christ enough to speak Truth. Social media does make others into caricatures but also gives the user a mask to hide behind making it infinitely easier to say things they wouldn’t dare say in person. These comments, posts, tweets should be used, as ALL we do, to the Glory of God!!! Unfortunately some have armed themselves with it to strip others of their dignity. I’m praying against that for the Warrens, for my children and for all of us…especially the body of Christ! Love you Beth!
I loved your closing.
“I don’t want to sit around and hate the haters or I become one. But this morning I just want to say this. We can love each other better. Let’s do. People have enough hurt. Let’s be careful with one another.”
This is true of seemingly everyone these days, Republicans, Democrats, Christians, athiests etc.
May your words bless you many times over.
God does what He does best, get’s the axe to the root of the tree! Well said words so needed and necessary as correction in what is going on in the Body of Christ, world-wide…in a time when we see leadership under attack as never before. We can agree “Life is fragile- handle with prayer.” Our hearts are so heavy over the tragic death of the Warren’s youngest son. Our sin has found us out – like the stoning of Stephen. Why do we stone our wounded? We are all a part of the body and we need to see and understand how far reaching our actions are to effect the whole of the Body of Christ either for good or for evil. God’s ways are not our ways and we need a deliverance to help us move out of our desperation and tendency toward judgmentalism…as was said in an earlier comment “hurt people hurt people…” Only Jesus can deliver us so that we can be used by God to shout His triumph to the housetops! “This God – His way is perfect, the promises of the LORD prove true.” How great and how good our God is! He reigns! The world and the church needs to hear this truth…”For this I will extol thee, O God, among the nations.” 2 Sam. 22:50. Every blessing we have comes from the Father of lights in whom there is no shadow of turning. Why do we shoot our wounded? We have seen the Pastor of a huge mega-church in Texas breakdown and renounce Jesus…will the blood cover sin? Beloved, mental illness is real and only the blood can wash away sin…nothing but the blood. Sin has come up from our bloodlines…all the way up from Adam. We so need God’s power of deliverance upon us all, that even though the sin of the Pharisee’s stoned Stephen and made him the first Christian martyr, that very blood cried out and through the Word of Christ and power of the Holy Spirit caused Saul of Tarsus to become the great and mighty Apostle Paul who gave us the glorious words of 1 Corinthians 13. It’s all about love…and the power of the blood. How we pray for the latter rain of the Holy Spirit…we are so needy, so thirsty and dry.
Amen!
Amen, Amen, Amen.
Beautifully stated and filled with Grace and Mercy. Thank you.
Amen!!!
Thank you Beth for these words of truth!
Thank you Beth
Stats show that over 26% of adults suffer from a “diagnosable mental disorder” in a given year. Most common mental disorders are:
Major Depression
Atypical Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Anti anxiety Disorder
Bipolar Disorder
General Anxiety Disorder
Panic Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder
Specific Phobias
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Stress Disorders
Dissociative Disorders (4)
Schizophrenia
Personality Disorders (10)
According to the Word of God …
What’s the problem?
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin”. (Romans 7:18-25 KJV)
What is Gods solution to this Sin problem?
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. (Isaiah 9:6 KJV)
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me FREE from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:1-6 KJV)
What is Gods purpose for His people?
“And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:27-29 KJV)
“(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls;)” (Romans 9:11 KJV)
Called to a Spirit Lead Life (not a purpose driven life)
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. … Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”. (Romans 8:8, 12-14 KJV)
I pray that somehow the Lord will use this very sad loss to this family to draw many to repentance and the forgiveness of sin and they would find TRUE deliverance, FREEDOM and HOPE that is in Christ alone! “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:8, 9 KJV)
Well said, thank you.
As a mom of a 19 year old son, our family has been through the painful journey of bipolar disorder for about 3 years now. There are no words to describe the pain families who deal with mental illness go through. It is a private pain because people do not understand it, including myself. When I heard that Matthew had been to the best physicians, counselors, taken medications, etc. and still was at the end of his rope, it deeply saddened me….that could be us. The only HOPE is Jesus Christ whom I pray my son never loses sight of and continues to grow in His faith through the ups and downs of this horrible disease. I pray that somehow through this terrible tragedy that the Warren’s are going through, the stigma of mental illness will be lessened. People hear about mental illness when they hear of shootings and terrible crimes. Matthew was described as a kind, compassionate young man and that is my son. Mental illness was foreign to me until a few years ago. It is of the devil…a terrible tool he uses to divide and cause despair on the deepest level. But, MY GOD IS GREATER and has shown himself to our family through the ups and downs of bipolar disorder. I am praying for the peace the passes all understanding to sustain the Warrens in this journey.
Amen Beth! Thank you for putting this into words! Keep speaking the Truth!