The news about Billy Graham's grandson-pastor is still making the rounds in evangelical circles. In case you hadn't heard, the pastor of the largest and most famous PCA church (Presbyterian Church in America) had to step down because of his marital infidelity, and Christian bloggers are speculating that this latest evangelical scandal will bring the gospel and the Christian witness in America into further disrepute. My view is this: if you're truly called by God to believe in His Son as Lord and Savior, then disrepute of the gospel won't make any difference: you're still going to believe. I say this by way of personal experience, because I had to make the choice between Isaiah the Prophet and Martin Luther back in 1975. Back then I was a student at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, Billy Joel was playing the college campus circuit. He actually sang on campus at the invitation of the college when he hadn't yet become the big name he'd eventually become. And it here where he sang "Living Here in Allentown", probably for the first time.
And AT that same time, I came to faith in Christ by reading Isaiah's prophesy of Jesus in Isaiah 53 from the Jewish Bible. (I was Jewish.) I was amazed at the historical accuracy of a prediction that Isaiah made 700 years before Christ was born. But in that first week of my new faith, I discovered in the stacks of Muhlenberg's library and quite by accident, a pamphlet written by Martin Luther, the greatest Protestant Reformer in history entitled "On the Jews and Their Lies". The whole tone of the pamphlet was that of anger: Luther was outraged. Even reading it today in the English translation you can feel his emotion. He wanted the Jews of Germany quarantined. He wanted their homes and property taken from them. He wanted them housed in huge barns and that safe conduct travel privileges be taken from them. And he wanted certain of their religious instruction books that supposedly cursed Jesus and Mary to be burned. When I first read this pamphlet, I almost gave up being a Christian. For me, this was an offense and scandal far worse than that of some famous pastor cheating on his wife.
Since then, I've learned that the Judaism as practiced in Germany 500 years ago wasn't quite the same as is practiced today by most of the Jewish community. Today Jesus is generally regarded as a well-meaning but misguided preacher whom the early Christians elevated to deity status. Few rabbis today will say anything bad about Him, But 500 years ago, in a superstitious medieval culture of prejudice and fear from both Jews and Christians, Jews were already unpopular for their religion and Luther feared the wrath of God would come upon Germany if secret blasphemies against Christ and Mary were allowed by the German princes and governors. It was a grim and frightening time to live for anyone. The Church had split for the first time in peoples' memory. Muslim armies from the Ottoman Empire were at the gates of Vienna threatening to overwhelm all Christendom, and the plague was taking people out of this life indiscriminately, and no one knew how to stop it. It was commonly believed that the world was coming to an end very soon. Luther certainly believed that. But here's my point: I had just read Isaiah, a Jew who believed in the Jesus to come. And though I couldn't understand how Luther, a born-again Christian, could say the things he said, what Isaiah said spoke louder than Luther. Isaiah's entire chapter is an undeniable testimony of the true identity of the Messiah. And so I believed, and never once regretted that decision.
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LIVE call-in podcast Thurs. 06/25/15: "The Calling of Gideon". God called Gideon to be a mighty man of valor in his day, despite his inferiority complex and his lack of faith. He does the same today with those who call upon HIM. Listen through www.blogtalkradio.com/fougcrew or through www.scripturesdramatized.com
And AT that same time, I came to faith in Christ by reading Isaiah's prophesy of Jesus in Isaiah 53 from the Jewish Bible. (I was Jewish.) I was amazed at the historical accuracy of a prediction that Isaiah made 700 years before Christ was born. But in that first week of my new faith, I discovered in the stacks of Muhlenberg's library and quite by accident, a pamphlet written by Martin Luther, the greatest Protestant Reformer in history entitled "On the Jews and Their Lies". The whole tone of the pamphlet was that of anger: Luther was outraged. Even reading it today in the English translation you can feel his emotion. He wanted the Jews of Germany quarantined. He wanted their homes and property taken from them. He wanted them housed in huge barns and that safe conduct travel privileges be taken from them. And he wanted certain of their religious instruction books that supposedly cursed Jesus and Mary to be burned. When I first read this pamphlet, I almost gave up being a Christian. For me, this was an offense and scandal far worse than that of some famous pastor cheating on his wife.
Since then, I've learned that the Judaism as practiced in Germany 500 years ago wasn't quite the same as is practiced today by most of the Jewish community. Today Jesus is generally regarded as a well-meaning but misguided preacher whom the early Christians elevated to deity status. Few rabbis today will say anything bad about Him, But 500 years ago, in a superstitious medieval culture of prejudice and fear from both Jews and Christians, Jews were already unpopular for their religion and Luther feared the wrath of God would come upon Germany if secret blasphemies against Christ and Mary were allowed by the German princes and governors. It was a grim and frightening time to live for anyone. The Church had split for the first time in peoples' memory. Muslim armies from the Ottoman Empire were at the gates of Vienna threatening to overwhelm all Christendom, and the plague was taking people out of this life indiscriminately, and no one knew how to stop it. It was commonly believed that the world was coming to an end very soon. Luther certainly believed that. But here's my point: I had just read Isaiah, a Jew who believed in the Jesus to come. And though I couldn't understand how Luther, a born-again Christian, could say the things he said, what Isaiah said spoke louder than Luther. Isaiah's entire chapter is an undeniable testimony of the true identity of the Messiah. And so I believed, and never once regretted that decision.
____________________________________________________________
LIVE call-in podcast Thurs. 06/25/15: "The Calling of Gideon". God called Gideon to be a mighty man of valor in his day, despite his inferiority complex and his lack of faith. He does the same today with those who call upon HIM. Listen through www.blogtalkradio.com/fougcrew or through www.scripturesdramatized.com
