Witness

Every person is a witness to something.  That something is usually not an element but a compound which is to say a witness to more than one thing.  Sometimes one thing is so great in the public mind that any other thing about that individual is subjugated, much or little, in the story of the person – the message of the person.  At the time of this writing an entertainer, highly regarded for his talent as an actor and humorist for decades is now alleged to have been a sexual predator with numerous women who have emerged to accuse him of sexual abuse that may have followed drug induced events.  Suddenly the sponsorships, the regard for the man, the influence he exerted in addressing political issues related to race, have all declined.  No one questions his talent, but there is now a different context, a negative one, that will close his career and life – unless he can show that victims and witnesses are lying about experiences of recent decades.  The story of hypocrisy is a common one both in persons in secular and spiritual contexts.  This is likely seen as more heinous in the Christian community than in the secular in that the religious person is perceived as violating God’s participation in life, and the hypocrisy is seen as not only depreciating the person but God.  Because God refuses to be muddied in reality, the message of God from human beings can be muddied soiling the context of God to the secular public and offering sorrow and embarrassment to faithful Christians.  Violations of righteousness become serious matters even in secular public experience.

The pattern of broken wholeness in our lives is common.  For several years several Christian evangelists were popular radio and television speakers, pastors of mega-churches in some instances, and highly influential in the church, institutions and community.  They lost their way in diversions related to sex. or money, or politics, or other distractions contributing to a decline in the respect of the general society in their sacred work, perhaps genuine devotion.  When confronted with carnal events I am reminded that it is likely that Jesus permitted Judas to walk with the disciples and appear to offer fealty to him – so to inform the Bible student that the message he offered was not to be sullied by the thought and conduct of those who claimed to follow him without truly following him.  Educative for us, we have the disciple Peter in a lapsing moment at the fire doing a Judas-like act, but quickly recovering the following hours in penitence and forgiveness – to go on to lead the first century church.  Reading a dictionary of church history we find ample support for the argument that there were many Judas-like actors who contributed to doubt and withdrawal for many, the experience of Jesus Christ for their lives.   The image of Christ is crucified again in the mind.  For some persons the follow-up was registered in signs more evil than in their earlier lives.

The point here is that the preaching of the gospel is to be continued no matter who proclaims it.  Human weakness will not be our judge of a divine gift.  The gospel is a divine gift, true even if the devil preaches it.  We might even be better persuaded in some ways in which we develop our lives than if a devout Christian proclaims it.  Righteousness turns many persons away, likely if it is expressed without humility.  The arrogance of some persons, Christian or otherwise, is a turn-off, almost as effective as hypocrisy in turning persons away from the message of Christ – or of any other theme.  The acceptance of the gospel, or its rejection, for any reason is to be finally evaluated by God.  Human beings do not have enough information to make judgments for others.  That is cause enough for humility.  One of the secrets of God is affirmation.  Even his negative statements are reflective of affirmations.  Mixed cultures wrestle with that in identity as management becomes more complex.  Scripture argues for preaching the gospel.  It stands not only against its enemies, but those who distort it either by their lives or interpreting incorrectly its meaning and claims.  That gospel is to be lived, talked about, and offered in love – non-judgmentally in empathy for all persons.  To accomplish the purpose takes considerable time, effort, resources, prayer commitment, grace (humility), and some mastery of the gospel in experience and confidence of faith.  All of this is related to what we identify as the witness of Christ to the world.  It can be done, it must be done, and its success is managed by God, perhaps unknown to statistics.  When the institutional church is functioning as it should, the mission of witness is first objective for members.