What About The Day After Easter? – From My Vault

The following is my syndicated column which appeared in print March 15, 2005. It is even more relevant today as it was then.
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It is nearly Easter. Soon children will hunt colored eggs and the candy sales will soar. To the folks of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), baby chicks and bunnies will be inhumanely conceived and sold as gifts.

Department stores will advertise the latest fashions – on sale of course. Church attendance will skyrocket for this one day, the pews being filled by both the faithful attendees and the two-timers – those who attend church two times a year, Christmas and Easter.

Preachers will either dust off familiar sermons from years past or they will study Scripture for a fresh one. There will be Easter plays, Easter cantatas, special Easter services, sunrise services and communion services.

But will there be a spirit-filled heart and a message of thankfulness that emanates from the soul of the preacher that God will use to touch, edify and convict the hearts of those sitting in the pews?

Will the pastor of the black church proclaim the wondrous grace of He who raised Him from the grave, in whose name we are instructed to pray? Or will he clap, sing and shout amen from a heart filled with bitterness and anger toward a people who owe him nothing and a country that has provided everyone opportunity?

Will that pastor encourage the congregants to give thanks to the risen Lord for bringing them out of their Egypt, i.e., the land of the Ashanti and Dahomi – to a land of opportunity and freedom? Will he remind his congregants that they cannot praise the risen Lord with bitterness in their hearts toward His good gifts – of which America (regardless of the Muslims who bought and sold their ancestors precursory to coming here) is chief, second only to salvation itself. I believe that Numbers chapter 11 and Exodus 1:13 and14 should be part of his “Praise God, He is risen” sermon, but I digress.

Will the mainline churches stop fooling themselves? Will their pastor’s remember that Scripture says God hates a liar? And that it was the Spirit of God that guided the inspiration of Scripture?

Let there be no doubt – it is a lie to teach that God doesn’t object to homosexuals in the pulpit of His church. It is a lie to preach God’s word supports the murder of innocent unborns. And it is a lie to preach the love of God condones marriage other than between one man and one woman. It can be argued, it can be spun, but, in the final analysis, He will not be mocked. The admonition of “Let him who hath ears to hear …” comes to mind.

Will the priest who violated the children he has taken an oath to protect and instruct meditate on the words of the Gospel he proclaims or will his words be interspersed with thoughts of a parishioner’s child he is planning to further violate after the service? Let the same be asked of the pastor involved in an extra-marital affair.

Will the justices of the high court be given preferential plaudits and platitudes from their pastors and church leaders, even as a majority of them tread God under foot – dictating and supporting provisions no reasonable person can abide?

Will the pastor pose for pictures with congressmen and senators who sow discord, support murder of the innocent, condone debauchery of every type, routinely lie and distort ad nauseam, or will he remember that the God he has sworn to serve is no respecter of persons?

It is true that America, today, in many respects can be likened to a locomotive speeding downhill without brakes. The question that must be answered is: “Are you, Mr. Pastor, the engineer who contributed to the brake’s failure?”

Preachers are called to preach and proclaim, pastors to shepherd and instruct. Not according to what they think is right, but according to Him who at one time they promised to serve.

America is without question a country that has lost its moral direction. The question that begs an answer is: “How much of that lost of direction is because the leaders of the church have lost theirs?” If the pastor doesn’t believe and embrace unconditionally He who has called him – can more be expected from the flock?

Easter Sunday services will come – but so will the day after. How many people, who awaken that following morning determined to enjoy a changed life, will be based upon how many pastors do their job.