Church Spirit

My good friend and comrade, Dr. Rick Hyde, forwarded this to me this weekend. Since he is a blogger himself, I am honored he would pass this on to me, knowing my love for a good church sign.

He comments: (Hmm ... liquor at wedding receptions and revivals ... why not?) Since I don't imbibe ... I had to think on this one for a moment. My mind kept sticking on E.J. Daniels, a famed tent evangelist of yesteryear who has since gone on to glory.

Actually, this sign is a good illustration of the fact that "you know sometimes words have two meanings." At first blush, this sign appears to announce a revival featuring liquor. No doubt, a few head were rolling. (No pun intended!)

In reality, the sign is announcing a revival featuring Jack Daniels as the evangelist. Daniels happens to be from Louisiana, where he preaches a number of revivals around our state. Likely, he gets a lot of mileage out of his name as he travels.

The only spirit this Jack Daniels shares is the Holy Spirit.

Many Paths To Heaven?

The New York Times this morning ran an article which included this statement:

Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation[.]

These findings are troubling for those of us who accept Jesus' statement (John 14:7) that He is the only way to heaven. If one gets to heaven via majority opinion, then Jesus is just as good a way as any. If one takes the words of Jesus himself seriously, then public opinion is sadly mistaken.

Heaven is not filled by majority vote. I personally could wish it were true that there were many ways to heaven. I don't like to consider the alternative for those who reject Jesus Christ as the the only way to heaven. But if I accept the truth of scripture and the claims of Christ, there is no other alternative.

Jesus is not just another way to heaven. He is the ONLY way.

And this is not my opinion.

Billy Goats, Doctors, and Lawyers

I just finished a book about Dr. John R. Brinkley. Brinkley was known as the "goat gland doctor." He transplanted goat glands into male patients to restore male virility. The $750 operation was quite pricey in during the roaring twenties and the depressing thirties, but enough patients submitted to Brinkley's knife to make him a millionaire.

I was interested in the story because Brinkley was also an early radio pioneer. He built his first radio station in Milford, Kansas and used it prescribe medicine over the air (to his licensed pharmacies), and to share his folk wisdom as well as preach the gospel on Sundays. Brinkley became something of a folk hero.

Later, after being run out Kansas, he established a "borderblaster" radio station in Mexico across the river from Del Rio, Texas. Brinkley's station was so powerful that he could be heard at night anywhere in the United States. People living near the station could hear Brinkley's broadcasts over their fence wires and even their dental work. The directional transmitters emitted a green radiant glow at night. People venturing near his transmitter would find their hair standing on end. Unfortunate birds passing by could be electrocuted.  Later the Russians would monitor borderblaster transmissions to improve their English skills.

As a result of his borderblasting, Brinkley ran afoul of the FCC and the Mexican government. A shrewd man, he was able to pull political strings to stay on the air.

His eventual undoing came as he faced the wrath of Morris Fishbein ("Old Fishy," he called him) and the budding American Medical Association. Besides charging him as a quack, the AMA challenged his medical education, despite the fact that many other physicans of the time had even more questionable credentials than Brinkley.

One great sticking point for the AMA was Dr. Brinkley's advertising his medical services over the radio. It was then considered unethical for a doctor to advertise. Because of Brinkley's use of the airwaves to solicit clients for his "operations," he was prosecuted and hounded.

Frankly, I think things were better when doctors and lawyers did not advertise.

There was a time when attorneys as well as doctors would not use print or airwaves to hawk their services. Today, I can't pick up a phone book, turn on a radio, or look at a newspaper and not see doctors and lawyers offering themselves to the world. In the case of lawyers, big cash settlements are dangled before the potential client. One physician in our area incessantly offers his services on morning television as a weight loss surgeon. HIs name has become quite familiar across southwest Louisiana.

Now we have people who believe that if some accident occurs, someone needs to pay them and pay big. At the first sign of a toxic release of some gaseous substance from a plant in our area, ads appear the next day in our local paper. Other ads show satisfied clients flashing big checks at the camera as a result of money an attorney got for them as a result of a car accident.

These elements have helped create a subculture of entitlement, a belief that if I am injured or mistreated, someone must pay- in cash. The American public is also led to believe that a medical operation can help them lose weight and regain lost self esteem. I am not disputing these claims. I am just questioning the ethics of making them public.

Dr. Brinkley was a quack and I would never impugn the professional skills publicly of any doctor or lawyer. But promising people incredible outcomes with a simple operation or court case keeps the spirit of Dr. Brinkley alive.

Now Heal This

I saw the phrase on a billboard along one of our busy streets. With gasoline prices as they are, I ask myself, "Is this trip necessary?" I usually find a way to convince myself it is. I think that many of us will have to rethink how many of these excursions are necessary. Making phone calls is cheaper than gas. So are cards and letters. Even with the price of postage, the mailman can be an associate pastor.

Back to the sign. It is an advertisement for the local hospital. It is about to open a wound care center- something needed. People do get hurt. They do get wounded.

But their headline makes a commentary.

We want to be healed- and right now.

Never mind the time and inconvenience. Is there ever a good time to get sick or hurt? Is it ever convenient? Our lives get disrupted. We get impatient. We want to be healed, and right now.

The sign also implies that we can also "just get fixed." Heal me, please! I have learned that some wounds are never healed. The pain and infection may go away, but scars remain. Like Jacob in the Bible, we walk with a limp from then on.

I have walked with a bit of a limp on occasion since my fall from a ladder over 5 years ago. I'll never be the same. I can't run or exercise as vigorously. I have been taught as well to be more careful. "What in the cathairy where you doing on the ladder anyway?" I'm not as young as I once was. In some ways, I can be just as foolish.

We hold out great expectations. Just heal this, and I'll go on. Do it now, and I'll be fine afterward. The medical profession, ministers, counselors, and other helpers are often asked to do the impossible. "Fix me, doc."

People often can't be fixed. A physician friend of mine once admitted that doctors often throw prescriptions at a problem. People think that if you just give them a pill they'll be fine. My wife says that often doctors practice pharmacology and not medicine. It's because people have grown to expect more than they should, and the healing professionals have attempted to do in some cases what is impossible.

No wound heals instantaneously unless some miracle occurs. I haven't seen too many of those. Healing is process- often long and frustrating. I am called to be a healer- of spiritual and emotional wounds. I listen, I pray. Sometimes I do some good. But the truth is, I can heal no one. I can't heal myself.

But I know Someone who can. They have said that time heals all wounds. Not all. Some remain until death. Some wounds linger on past the death of a person. Some of us have wounded others and the wounds remain after we are gone. People come to me as a pastor and in effect say, "Now heal this" I'm sorry I can't. But I know Someone who can. But even He often leaves us with a limp- a reminder of a painful encounter. These are life changing experiences.

Great expectations. Great possibilities.

Hospitals, doctors, wound care specialists, pastors, counselors, helpers all do their part. But some things we have to live with. We will never be fully healed on this side of eternity.

The Bible promises full and complete healing for those in Christ on the other side. That is greatest expectation and possibility that I hold forth. Things will not always be as they are. In Heaven, they will get better. Heaven will heal all wounds.

Healing,

Dr. Dave

Recommitting

Yes, it's been a while.
Not much, how 'bout you?
- England Dan

I have been busy lately- funerals, church activities, and leadership, as well as the "routine." Is there such a thing for a pastor? I made a commitment to blog twice a week. I am recommitting. There has been plenty to write about- just seemingly so little time. I have a friend who always challenge me if I say, "I haven't had time." He says, "You have had time, you just haven't made it a priority. So I am making a fresh priority to write about Life and Ministry in Southwest Louisiana, my home, and my ministry setting.

Commitment is a scary word for many people. But it is a good thing. It makes us better people. It challenges us to get out of the comfortable rut and into where the action is.

I have returned.

Stay tuned.