While driving yesterday I listened to a small snippet of Mueller's testimony to Congress. I heard one Republican and one Democrat ask questions, and that was about all I could take. This evening on the news I listened to their take on the testimony. It appears to me what I thought since the report was made public is correct. Mueller's report was written in a way that would allow both sides to claim victory. The president claims that it makes clear that he is completely innocent of all charges while his enemies are certain that there is information within that report that will make impeachment possible. In the end the American people have what we always have when the government involves itself in almost anything, a complete waste of time and millions of dollars, both of which could have been better used to do something that would actually benefit people.
Frankly, I am disgusted by both sides over this entire issue. The Democrats will continue their search-and-destroy mission until the election, knowing that impeachment will never happen, but hoping that it will win them enough votes to win the next election. The president and his supporters will continue to claim victory and charge the Democrats with being on a witch-hunt. Neither side will give in, and neither side will make any effort to work together to address real issues facing the people of our nation. It's all about winning elections, and lining their pockets with money. By straddling the fence with his report, Mueller made both sides feel good and gave them ammunition for the next election, but accomplished nothing of real value.
Unfortunately, we see this too often in ministry, both in the local church and in denominational work as well. The apostle Paul warned young Timothy there would come a time when people would have itching ears that would seek out teachers who would teach warm, comforting fables rather than the Word of God (2 Tim. 4: 3-4). Such people have always been around, but they are certainly found in many of our churches today. Many pastors have told me they could not preach on certain topics in their church or they would lose their jobs. These fence-straddlers might keep their jobs, but they are feeding their congregations poison that will destroy them spiritually.
Denominations can be guilty of this as well. They avoid certain topics as long as they can, and when they can avoid them no longer they try to find a compromise that will satisfy everyone in the hopes of losing no one. Their compromise often does the opposite. It frustrates everyone, and people and churches still leave.
Many years ago the church I pastored had a youth minister who decided to have a youth revival. He rented a tent we put up on the church property and invited a couple of his seminary classmates to help with the revival. One evening they put on a skit. One of the adults in the church was sitting on the back of a chair representing a fence. He was undecided whether or not to become a Christian. Our youth minister played the role of Satan who kept offering him all the pleasures the world had to offer if he would not become a Christian. One of the young minister's friends played the role of Jesus, and all he said throughout the skit was "I love you" with his arms outstretched. After three turns by the devil and Jesus to persuade the man to choose which one to follow, the man on the fence said, "I think I'll just stay on the fence." When he said that the individual playing Satan put his arm around him and said, "That's good because I own the fence." When he said that the hair on my arms stood straight up and I almost came out of my seat!
It's true. Satan does own the fence. When we compromise the Word of God, when we fail to proclaim the truths found in Scripture we are playing right in the devil's hands. When we refuse to take a stand on moral issues trying to placate both sides we are straddling the fence and doing the devil's work. Satan's first temptation to mankind was to cause them to doubt what God had told them, and when we stray from God's Word we are also creating doubt in people's minds.
The church needs ministers who will preach the Word of God boldly and with authority. Billy Graham was never afraid to proclaim "The Bible says...." when he preached, and people's lives were changed. We need that same boldness in our pulpits today. We don't need people who want to straddle the fence leading our churches and denominations; we need ministers who believe something, who stand for something and aren't afraid to preach with Word of God without apology.
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