Fire In My Bones

An earthquake rattles Washington, D.C., and a fierce
storm ravages the East Coast. Is God speaking to us?

I’m not
a doomsday prophet, and I don’t believe every hurricane, earthquake or drought
is God’s judgment. But I did pause to ponder the significance of the freakish 5.8-magnitude quake that jolted the East Coast last week.
The White House was evacuated, the Washington Monument was
closed indefinitely because of cracks, and the National
Cathedral’s central tower was seriously damaged.

Does
anybody else find that slightly spooky?

Francis Chan’s book Erasing Hell is a
prophetic reminder that we can’t compromise the gospel.

California pastor Francis Chan is
one of my heroes, partly because he has given most of his book
royalites—reportedly $2 million—to charity. Another reason I admire him: He’s
written a new book about hell at a time when many Christians are questioning
the idea of eternal punishment. The guy has some chutzpah.

His new book Erasing Hell
(David C. Cook) is a direct response to Love Wins, the controversial
book by celebrity pastor Rob Bell of Michigan. While Bell’s book flirts with
universalism and suggests that a loving God would never send anyone to hell,
Chan’s message is blunt and biblical—yet without a hint of self-righteousness.

God has something sobering to say to us through the
death of this popular preacher.

Zachery
Tims’ story had a great beginning. As a young man he met Jesus and was saved
from a life of crime and drugs. He and his wife, Riva, moved from Baltimore to
Orlando, Fla., in 1996 to launch a church that aimed to restore families and pull
teens out of trouble. New Destiny Christian Center grew fast, mostly because of
Tims’ passionate preaching. He was soon a regular on Christian television.

But
things unraveled in 2009 when Tims was caught carrying on a yearlong affair
with a stripper he met in France. He admitted to an “indiscretion” and got a
few weeks of counseling, but he didn’t take serious time off for
rehabilitation. Riva divorced him for his infidelity. The billboards that once
featured photos of the happy couple were changed. By 2011 the roadside ads
featured a shot of Tims by himself, with this slogan: “A Family Church Meeting
Family Needs.”

Two elderly missionaries inspired me this week to
value character so I can finish well.

You’ve probably never heard of Hobert and
Marguerite Howard. They didn’t write best-selling books. They aren’t rich. They
don’t preach on television or pastor a megachurch. Fame was the farthest thing
from their minds when they both surrendered their lives to serve God on the
mission field.

In 1951 this Pentecostal couple boarded a
steamship and sailed for 50 days to India, where they built orphanages, schools
and churches and trained Christian leaders. This week the Howards officially
retired, and I had the privilege of attending a special reception to honor them
for 60 years of service.

Many young adults today are abandoning biblical
faith or mixing it with other religions. How should we respond?

Since the Wild Goose
Festival was held in North Carolina’s mountains, you might be tempted to think
it was a typical bluegrass festival. Think again. The organizers of this event,
which attracted 1,500 people in late June, say their quasi-Christian conference
“is going to grow into the largest, best run, most dynamic religious happening
in the U.S.”

If a slick-haired TV
evangelist had made such a pompous statement we would have rolled our eyes and
laughed the guy off the stage. But the founder of Wild Goose, a peace activist
from Northern Ireland named Gareth Higgins, is convinced his movement will
capture the hearts of young Americans who are questioning their evangelical
faith and exploring other options.

If you or someone you know is battling sexual
temptation, take these five steps toward GRACE.

This week my wife and I
ministered to a group of 115 Russian teenagers at a youth camp in Virginia.
Part of our job was to separate the guys and the girls and facilitate honest
(and sometimes awkward) discussions about sex, dating and guy/girl
relationships. They put their anonymous questions in a black box (“How do I
know if she’s the one for me?” or “Is it OK to use condoms?”), and we answered
while the kids giggled nervously.

I spoke to the guys on the
first night about what I call the Porn Monster, using the description of the
adulterous woman in Proverbs 7 as my text. In this passage the writer recounts
the sad story of a vulnerable young man who wanders into the wrong part of town
where a harlot seduces him. The story concludes with these haunting words: “Do
not let your heart turn aside to her ways … for many are the victims she has
cast down” (Prov. 7:25-26).

Her
“not guilty” verdict made a lot of people mad. But before we vent any more
anger we may need an attitude check.

Where
were you on July 5 when the Casey Anthony verdict was released? Just before the
2:15 p.m. announcement, I was in a restaurant in Orlando with my family—and our
waitress was so anxious to hear the outcome of the trial that she brought up
the topic after we ordered our lunch. Not since the 1995
O.J. Simpson trial have Americans invested so much emotional energy in a
courtroom drama.

Because
I live near Orlando where the trial was held, I’ve grown weary of the
never-ending local news coverage, which included stories on how much Casey was
allowed to spend on toiletries every week at the Orange County jail and how
long out-of-town visitors waited in line to get tickets to the trial. I
remember when 2-year-old Caylee Anthony went missing in 2008. I remember when
her decomposed remains were found six months later in some woods near her home. I
listened to the blur of reports about duct tape, the suspicious odor in the
trunk of the car, the chloroform, and her mother’s partying habits.

The church has had enough
spin, denial and closed-door settlements. Leaders must demonstrate humility and
repentance.

A few years ago a minister
in my city went through a divorce, and the messy details of the settlement
between the pastor and his wife were reported in our newspaper. But when the
divorce was finalized there was no public statement. The man’s wife disappeared
from the stage, her photo vanished from the church website and nothing further
was said. Zip. Nada. No comment.

The message: It’s none of your business what happened
between the pastor and his wife. He’s the anointed messenger of God. Just
follow him.

Don’t lose hope. God has
promised to answer when we persevere.

So you pray for something
for years and then you wake up one day, breathe a big sigh and say to yourself:
This is crazy. Nothing is happening. God
must not be listening.

Congratulations. If this
has been your experience you are not alone. You’ve been enrolled in the School
of Persevering Prayer, and it’s not a one-semester class. It’s a lifelong
journey designed to stretch your faith, develop your character, purify your
motives, test your patience and increase your capacity to know and experience
God’s amazing love.

In
a nation known for communist oppression, intimidation and religious legalism,
the Holy Spirit is sending a fresh wind of freedom.

Pentecost
is a national holiday in Romania, and I celebrated it last Monday with members
of Bucharest Christian Center, a growing congregation in the Romanian capital.
The church was founded by my friend Ioan Ceuta, 54, a brave Christian leader
who has served as president of the Assemblies of God since 1996. Like so many
Romanian pastors who lived through the communist era, Ceuta has walked through
fire and emerged stronger in his faith.

Ministry
was not easy for Ceuta and his wife, Emilia, during the dark days of Nicolae
Ceau?escu, the Romanian dictator who
ruled with an iron fist and built one of the world’s largest buildings (second
only to the Pentagon). Covert government informants strictly monitored all
pastors during Ceau?escu’s era. The
construction of church buildings was forbidden, frequency of meetings was
limited, and Bibles were blacklisted as “mystical literature.”