AMERICAN CHURCH LEADERSHIP ABANDONS TERRI

 

 

 

Coach Dave Daubenmire
March 29, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." -� William Shakespeare

I�ve about had it with Christianity, especially our �leaders�.

All bark and no bite...

A woman is being starved to death in Florida, and what is the response of our pastors?

Blah, blah, blah. Talk, Talk, Talk. Full of sound, no fury�.

�Call your congressmen.� �Email your Senator�. �Call Governor Bush� �Throw out the liberal judges�. �Sign our on-line petition� �Pray�

Blah, blah, blah.

Aren�t you glad Patrick Henry didn�t just sign an on-line petition?

As we look back over the crumbling culture in the last generation, the church could claim ignorance. We hadn�t yet come to understand judicial tyranny, and the way that the courts were undermining the culture. We didn�t understand that the courts had been hi-jacked, and that judges were creating laws that the people would never support if given the vote.

In 1962 prayer was removed from America�s schools.

The Bible was removed from our schools in 1963.

The right to kill unborn children was legalized in 1973.

The Supreme Court stripped the 10 Commandments off of the school walls in 1980.

Sodomy was legalized in 2003.

Since the above decisions were handed down by the U.S Supreme Court, the American Christian Church has spent a generation trying to reclaim the turf we surrendered when we chose not to fight. �How could we allow that to happen� I have often heard Christians ask.

But today it is a different story. Our Christian leaders scream about �judicial tyranny� and the sanctity of marriage. In eleven states Christians rose up and passed legislation to protect marriage, lead for the most part by America�s pastors. Our eyes our open, we see the enemy. We understand the price.

Meanwhile, our leaders fiddle while Terri burns. The Roe v Wade of Euthanasia is being decided in a court room in Pinellas County, Fla. We have a chance, as the old cowboys used to say, �to head them off at the pass�. We can�t claim ignorance this time. It is all over the news. �Death with dignity� is about to be legalized, unleashing a tsunami of mercy killings across this land.

�Hmmmm, didn�t Dad once mentioned that he didn�t want to live like that� goes the refrain as the children salivate at their father�s hefty bank account.

Where is the church?

The eyes of the world are on Pinellas Florida. The media is giving around-the-clock coverage. What a chance to stand up for Christ.

I�ve just returned from a week outside the Woodside Hospice where Terri is being killed. On Tuesday I was arrested with a group of brave Christians for trying to give this dying woman a drink of water.

�Zealot�, observers called us. �Radical�, characterized the news reports. �A traveling Christian road-show� CBS News called those of us who took Christ�s admonition in Matt. 25:35 seriously�.when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink But the unkindest cut of all came from the pastors, the �professional� Christians.

�An embarrassment to Jesus�, they said. �They make Christians look bad�.

What they don�t understand is that their silence created the Christian road show. Don�t they see, that I had to go because they wouldn�t?

Who is Coach Dave Daubenmire? Who cares what I have to say? What if Jerry Falwell had been arrested?

Our �leaders� make me sick.

Rick Warren is all over the news. Purpose Driven Life is now the darling of the media. He�s on Larry King, and all the cable news shows, smiling all the way to the bank. Why didn�t he go and speak for Christ? Couldn�t he impact America more for Christ than a former high school football coach?

Hey Pastor Warren. Looking for some purpose in your life? How about laying down your life for Terri Schiavo? Why aren�t you in Florida protecting the �least of thy brethren�? Draw a crowd, help bring pressure to bear on our pro-life Republican friends. How about a book called Purpose Driven Death?

Hey Benny Hinn. How about coming to Pinellas Park and leading a healing revival. Can you imagine the numbers you could draw to Florida?

Where are Pat Robertson, Richard Land, T.D. Jakes, John MacArthur, and Rev. Jesse Jackson? Where are the nation�s Promise Keepers�.am I my brother�s keeper, Promise Keeper?

Everyone is crying for President Bush or Governor Bush to go to the hospice. �Come on Bushes, don�t let us down�, they cry. �We are the one�s who put you in office�. �Please do what we elected you to do.�

Let me ask you a question. If Billy Graham, or Franklin Graham, or Robert Schuller, or D. James Kennedy don�t think Terri�s life was worth the trip, why should we expect the Bush brothers to do what the big name Christian leaders won�t?

Isaiah 56:10-12 Israel�s watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

A friend of mine nailed it. �Coach�, he said. �Christians aren�t afraid to die for Christ�.they just don�t want to lose their stuff.�

As the silver-tongued preachers sell their books, and promote their tapes, death, as Michael Schiavo�s attorney told us, makes Terri look �more beautiful than I have ever seen her�. Death is more beautiful than life. Go figure.

It is too late now. Terri Schiavo is just the first. Many will die in silence because of the cowardice of our Christian leadership. Dumb dogs�.afraid to bark.

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

America has enough preachers. What we need are leaders.

Where is today�s Martin Luther?

� 2005 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved