Get It Right Mr. Schuller

Tonight I was watching Larry King Live who had Reverend Robert Schuller on to talk about the heroic witness of Ashley Smith, the lady who was a hostage and talked Brian Nichols into turning himself in. It is interesting that those who can write books called “The Purpose Driven Life” and their mentors cannot rightly account for the purposes of God. With his warm fuzz view of God, he says that God had nothing to do with the murders and the events that culminated in the apartment of Ashley Smith. The fact of the matter is this: in just 24 hours, the world was captivated by the rapant evil manifested in the muders done by Brian Nichols. Everyone was on edge, clinging to every news briefing on the next freak event. With every eye and every ear tuned in, the climax took place. What happend? A widowed woman, “randomly picked” spent seven hours in hostage sharing the Word of God with a murderer. She told him of his sin; she explained to him his need for getting honest and getting real with God and taking ownership for his sin. She spoke of Jesus. She bowed her knee to the Father time and time again, displaying her radical trust and unyeilding submission to the will of God. And in the end, the evil was overcome by the power of God’s Word and His witness. She was a mouthpiece of truth in the chaos and brought order through the proclamation of righteousness. It was not the power of M-16’s or militia or police and sheer might; it was the power of the voice of Almighty God that drove this man to surrender. The police chief said that the reason he turned himself in was because he was overwhelmed by force, that he had no place to go. I tell you, he was NOT overwhelmed by force of might, but trembling at the truth of God’s Word. It is the same word that was spoken to calm the sea and tame the winds, the same word that calls forth the dead from the grave, the same word that make changed lives.
Did God ordain the murders? Absolutely not. It is antithetical to his nature and his goodness. But he did allow them to happen. He was neither blind nor powerless to keep this evil from happening. He who is sovereign over all, including the will of every human being on the face of the earth, providentially rendered these occurances so that the ultimate outcome would to bring glory to Himself. So there was a purpsoe in the whole of events that occured this weekend. And this needs to be told. More than Brian Nichols, more than Ashley Smith, more than the deaths and the families involved (not to minimize the grief and pain they are experiencing), this weekend was all about the glory of God. God knew beforehand what was going to take place, and knew the outcome that would happen. He is being glorified through the testimony and faithful witness of His child. She did not know what was going to happen that night, but God prepared her for it. He was before this, in this, and worked through this to glorify Himself. Yes, it was an evil weekend, but God works all things after the counsel of His perfect will. No, we don’t understand it all, and we would be foolish as to explain God’s purposes away in attempt to conform to what our culture things is right. Yes, God was involved in every aspect of this weekend, and if your view of God is not big enough for God to be sovereign of both good and evil, your view is not a faithful, biblical view of God. And this is where Reverend Schuller got it wrong.
Did God cause the tsunami? Most would say absolutely not. But think about it. The same word that has so much power can tell the techtonic plates, “Shift!” And they shift in accordance to the word of His power. He tells the winds, “Roar!” And they roar. He tells the waves, “Roll!” And they roll. The devastation was colossal. But think about what the news is not reporting, and the purposes of the tsunami from a more theocentric perspective. Many of those killed in the tsunami were from a militant Islamic fundamentalist stance who have been murdering Christians for hundreds of years. The blood of the martyrs have been crying out for centuries for vengeance. Having left room for the wrath of God and entrusting themselves to Him who does justice, God says, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.” God has perfect control of all creation and can do as His wishes. He doesn’t consult with us, and it is arrogant to think he needs to. He doesn’t need to explain to grasshoppers what He providentially does. Yet, as a result of the tsunami, Christians are going into regions of the world that for 2000 years have been kept out. They are preaching the gospel to people groups who have never heard of Jesus. Delivering disaster relief and aid, Christian workers and missionaries are sharing the love of Christ to those who in their hate, murdering the previous generations of Christians. Isn’t this amazing? God is good, and in the midst of the turmoil and grief, God is bringing comfort and salvation to a region of the world oppressed by evil and in bondage to falsehood. Praise God from whom all blesings flow! Praise Him all creatures here below! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
God’s purposes are clear in His Word. He will work all things to glorify Himself, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth, to vindicate His name and His people through acts of justice and righteousness, and will ultimately in the end be feared by all. Truly, this is a great God, a great King to be feared above all Gods. Let the earth tremble before Him. Let all mouths be silenced at His sovereignty. And let God’s ministers and mouthpieces stand up and speak the whole truth of who God is and what He does. The tsunami and Brian Nichols are both in the palm of God’s hands as much as those who put Jesus on the cross were in the first century. Nothing is hidden from his sight. There is nothing that God cannot do, nothing that He does not know. Yet He does allow evil to exist, and has providential reasons for doing so. And we must wrestle with the events we see to understand God’s ways from a biblical and theocentric manner. This I am sad to say, won’t be on Larry King Live.