Pastors' Blog

If you’re claustrophobic, don’t read on. I’ll be the first to admit that the very thought of being trapped with 32 other men in a tiny 600 square foot chamber a half a mile underground . . . in pitch darkness inside the bowels of a collapsed mine . . . for seventeen days and nights . . . without any con- tact with the outside (above) world . . . is the stuff of nightmares! And yet when that small rescue drill bit bore 2200 feet down through the Chilean rock to where the 33 miners were trapped and opened up a six inch wide shaft to the men, the ecstatic cries of loved ones above and below ground could be heard around the world!

Piece by piece the trapped miners’ story has emerged up that life-giving shaft. When the gold and silver mine tunnel wall collapsed above them on august 5, the 33 miners scrambled to a rescue chamber carved long ago into the mine shaft. There under the leadership of 54 year old shift foreman, Luis Urzua, the men organized themselves around the desperate hope that rescue would one day come. Available food was quickly rationed: two spoonfuls of tuna, a bite of crackers, a morsel of peaches and a sip of milk for each miner—every other day (thus stretching their two-day emergency supply to 17 days)! usage of their helmet lamps, their only source of portable light, was conserved. A nearby backhoe enabled them to break through to a small water reservoir. And they waited. Seventeen long days and nights (continuous nights, really) until they were found. Oxygen is now being pumped into the mine, an intercom system has been established, letters and love notes have been exchanged with family members—but the miners have not yet been told that a rescue shaft wide enough to hoist them the half mile to the surface may take until Christmas to drill. NASA experts are offering advice as to how to preserve emotional and mental health in such cramped quarters for so long a wait (as in the International Space Station).

Thirty-three trapped survivors, whose hopes are pinned on a rescue from above—sounds like a reprise of the human story, doesn’t it? Trapped down the mine shaft of this planet, an entire race of survivors waiting out earth’s long dark night for deliverance. And yet, truth be known, most of the entrapped are either only vaguely aware of being trapped at all or have long ago given up any hope of any rescue at all.

It is for them—and for all of us, really—that on September 1 this campus begins a very special 40 days of Prayer rescue initiative. Our tools are simple: a Bible, a printed forty-day collection of Scripture promises, and a prayer card with the names of five lost (entrapped) people that we know. the only oth- er necessity is yours and my commitment every day for forty days to join with a prayer partner in reading a page from the 40 Days: Prayers and Devotions to Prepare for the Second Coming collection of promises and interceding before god on behalf of five people (each of us knows) who need Jesus. Every day. For forty days. Beginning September 1. And when the forty days are over, revival preacher Lee Venden will begin a nine evening revival series here at Pioneer for the campus and community. Forty days of prayer, nine nights of preaching— we believe the Spirit can transform it and us into a mighty rescue effort for Christ. And given the times, can you think of a more critical time for us to join heaven in attempting the rescue of those who are trapped in the dark? What if nobody had gone looking for the 33 Chilean miners?

What kind of people choose to work in Afghanistan? All summer long the press has debated the war in that land-locked Islamic kingdom. But with one stunning headline last weekend, the world was reminded of a radically different mission quietly advancing inside that war-ravaged nation—a humanitarian medical mission to the impoverished villages of the remote northern province of Nuristan.

Team leader Tom Little, an upstate New York optometrist, spent more than three decades in the country, mastering the Dari language, offering eye care to remote villages, all the while raising three daughters with his wife in the chaos of the capital Kabul. Tom Graham, 51, quit his Durango, Colorado, dental practice four years ago to work full time providing free dental care to poor children in Afghanistan and Nepal, distributing thousands of tooth brushes to grinning children whose smiles would never be the same again. Dan Terry, 64, had lived in the country since 1980 with his wife and three daughters, working among impoverished ethnic groups. Cheryl Becket, 32, a biologist and daughter of a Knoxville pastor, had spent the last six years in the country specializing in nutritional gardening and mother-child health. Karen Woo, 36, a surgeon, gave up her private clinic practice in London to work among the Afghans and was looking forward to her wedding back home the end of this month. In a blog post before setting off on their humanitarian mission two weeks ago, Woo wrote: “The expedition will require a lot of physical and mental resolve and will not be without risk, but ultimately, I believe that the provision of medical treatment is of fundamental importance and that the effort is worth it in order to assist those that need it most.”

As it turned out, the risk was fatal. Their two-week mission completed, these five aid workers and five other colleagues had stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch, when they were gunned down by ten masked Taliban warriors, who in a text message justified their killings because of the Christianity of the aid workers. In response, Dirk Fran, director of International Assistance Mission, the Kabul-based charity sponsoring the expedition, declared, “Our faith motivates and inspires us—but we do not proselytize,” noting that it was likely the aid workers were carrying personal Bibles in English and German but not in Afghan languages as the Taliban alleged (Associated Press on-line, August 9, 2010).

One cannot help but bow in admiration over the sacrificial lengths some professionals will go to for the sake of their calling and mission.

That’s certainly true when it comes to the profession of teaching. Standing on the sidelines (as I have the privilege of doing) in a community teeming with professional teachers—from crowded elementary classrooms to tiered university amphitheaters (in both the private and public sectors)—I have long admired the immense dedication of these men and women who have cheerfully and sacrificially invested their careers in shaping the next generation. The lengths that our faithful teachers go to in order to challenge a mind and touch a heart for Christ are astounding. And you can be sure they’ll be found with them, too—in their offices, beside their bedsides—their personal Bibles in their own languages.

Today we acknowledge our teachers and their Bibles—for it is in that combination that the mission of Christ is most powerfully lived out on earth, whether in Afghanistan or Berrien Springs. And for them and for that I am deeply grateful.

A few weeks ago the famed English astro-physicist, Stephen Hawking, certainly grabbed the headlines! On his new TV show, “Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking,” this brilliant scientist issued a warning that earth inhabitants ought to avoid making contact with intelligent aliens in the universe. You may recall that there have been numerous scientific efforts—such as the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)—that have attempted to communicate with intelligent life forms elsewhere in our universe. While thus far these attempts have not succeeded, Hawkings warned that such efforts could initiate an unwelcomed visit to Earth by extraterrestrials. “Hawkings speculated that such aliens would likely be nomads, living in ships after sucking their own planet dry of resources, and hopping from one interstellar refueling station to the next,” (according to www.physorg.com, a popular science website). “‘If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans,’” he speculated on his show. And with that the scientific community was abuzz, leading the Journal of Cosmology to compile dozens of responses from Hawking’s peers.
But what does it matter? Consider these reflections. First of all, I find it amazing that a bright 21st century mind believes that there are intelligent aliens out there somewhere who one day might visit us. While I’ve happened to believe that to be true all my life (after all, angels are classic extra-terrestrial intelligences, are they not?), to hear such a confession from one who works outside the faith community is refreshing, to say the least. Secondly, one could certainly suppose that sufficient “scientific” support for extra-terrestrial aliens would effectively condition humanity for the appearance one day of intelligent beings, purporting to have received our communiqués and now visiting our home planet in order to “assist” us in our own survival efforts (the BP oil spill could use some help!). Adding credence to the heretofore sci-fi craziness of backwoods UFO proponents could play into an intelligent mind’s strategy to one day dupe the human race. That notion is hardly any crazier than Hawking’s suggestion, is it?
So maybe all of this isn’t about craziness, but timeliness. Maybe it’s one more link in an anaconda-like chain that is tightening its squeeze on the human race. And maybe the intelligent aliens that the Bible calls angels—both good and evil angels—really are streaming unseen to Earth, hurriedly preparing this race for a final cosmic showdown between the forces of the fallen rebel angel and the forces of Christ, the Eternal—a blitzkrieg played out in the lives of all of us earth inhabitants.
Were that true, then the gathering in just a few hours in Atlanta of representatives and leaders of this global community of faith would be much more than just another quinquennial business session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. About such a business session back in 1901 this observation was made: “Who do you suppose has been among us since this Conference began? . . . Who has walked up and down the aisles of this Tabernacle?—The God of heaven and his angels. . . . They have been among us to work the works of God, to keep back the powers of darkness, that the work God designed should be done and should not be hindered. The angels of God have been working among us” (GCB 4-25-01). Intelligent extra-terrestrial visitors—unseen, unobserved—given the dramatically high stakes of this hour in history, will they not also be present in Atlanta? Then shall we not pray and pray and pray for God’s intervening guidance? For isn’t it now more than clear that intelligent minds far brighter than ours are laying plans for an endgame that may not be far away? Then O God, may “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Amen.

The USA Today headlines hanging on my hotel doorknob would catch anybody’s eye. In Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday to conduct the funeral of our dear neighbor and friend, June Bascom, I read the banner: “World of troubles for US: Obama returns to the White House facing crises on three fronts.” Beneath it in three parallel columns, each of these crises was further headlined and reported: the ongoing calamity of BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; the mounting tensions in the Korean peninsula; and the Israel-Palestine showdown over the thwarted Gaza aid flotilla this week. Three start-of-summer hot spots—beyond the usual fare of Afghanistan, Iraq, a struggling economy and another seismic temblor somewhere on earth—that are reminders of the nanosecond speed with which life keeps retrograding these days.
And for the church on earth? I wouldn’t classify it as “blinding speed,” but truth is our own community of faith is facing a sea change, as well. Theologically? Probably not, though I’m sure I could fill this blog with quotations from significant thinkers, who are concerned that the church faces unprecedented challenges to her core understanding of biblical truth. A sea change ecclesiastically? Probably not, though there are just as many voices calling for social and policy change in the church—from homosexuality, to racial and gender equality, to ordination polity, to financial distribution and apportionment (the list can be lengthy). It’s very possible, as well, that we will have to face a sea change in our missions and evangelistic strategies. The burgeoning culture of secularism that dominates both the West and the East calls for radical new evangelistic strategies that can engage a culture that still wants to belong long before it seeks to believe. And shall we not build new bridges to the Islamic world as well? Surely, the Spirit of God can unleash a fresh wind of new outside-the-box thinking and evangelizing, can’t he?
The point? In a world of such uncertain but dramatic flux, with a church that faces her own sea changes, it is more than the right time to call the community of faith to gather before God in earnest collective prayer. Here at the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University, we are doing just that. Sabbath, June 5, is designated as a special Day of Fasting and Prayer in this congregation and campus and community. A world to pray for, a church to pray for, each other to pray for—for this critical moment in history, shall we not claim the very promise of God? “‘Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me’” (Psalm 50:15 NKJV). Won’t you please join us in this Day of corporate calling upon Him?