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Why Don't We Believe What We Believe?

   

Hoping  to challenge his congregation's beliefs on poverty, a Mormon Bishop  transformed himself into a homeless man and loitered outside the church  before service started on a Sunday.  The Bishop adopted a disguise that  added mutton-chops, dark bags under his eyes and disfigured teeth. He  added a crutch, then leaning on the crutch waited outside the church to  see people’s responses. “What surprised me the most was the reaction of  indifference. The majority of the people just ignored me and went to  great lengths not to make eye contact and just walked right by me. I  also was told by several people to leave the property!"

But  those wishing the "homeless" man would leave the church were left  surprised and unsettled when a church assistant, who had been let in on  Musselman's disguise, informed the congregation that "this homeless man  would like to say a few words."

"The  congregation was beside themselves. Then I pulled my wig and glasses  off and with a loud gasp they were stunned." Some attendees reacted by  crying, while others said nothing, some came forward to apologize for  their indifference at the end of the service and announced what they  would do to atone for their actions. “We don't always have to give money  or even food, but if we act the way we say we believe, just smiling and  making eye contact and allowing them to have a little bit of dignity  can be enough," he said.

Why don’t we believe what we believe? Another similar story:

Churchgoers  were left shamed after they ignored a tramp who turned out to be their  minister in disguise. Rev. Derek Rigby sat on the porch to his church as  the congregation arrived for a Sunday service, hidden beneath a wig,  dirty and with scruffy clothes people just walked by. He then settled on  a pew in the church. None of the worshipers at the Methodist Church in  North Wales, even spoke to him or offered him any help.

The  51-year-old then took off his wig to reveal his true identity, before  delivering a sermon based on the failure of the disciples to recognize  Jesus Christ on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. Rev Rigby  said: "It was interesting to see the reaction from people - I was  totally ignored, totally. It showed that we don't recognize God at work  and in each other. I told my congregation they were a stingy lot!

How many of us call ourselves a “Christian”, yet we just don’t “do”  Christian?  All the people in these articles go to church, yet treat  people who don’t look like them with total disdain. Why? Why don’t we  believe what we believe? Why don’t churches believe what they believe or  do what they preach?

 A few local examples:

A  while back, one of the homeless people we see on Sundays told me that a  church van would pick them up at the Salvation Army in Tampa on Sunday  morning and take them to church. Once they got there, they were herded  to a section of the church and told to stay in the roped off area away  from the “regular” parishioners.  Is that how Jesus would treat these  people?

Kay’s Ministry was  told to stop feeding in a parking lot in Tampa a few years ago. I  called a local church and asked the pastor of the church if we could use  the steps of the church to feed the homeless for half an hour on Sunday  afternoons after we give the word. I was told by the pastor, "we don’t  want 'those' people around here!"  Is that what Jesus would say?

Recently  a homeless man who I’ve known for 3-4 years who’s been beaten up and  stabbed recently wanted to go to church Sunday morning. He was very  upset when we arrived that Sunday afternoon. He told me, as I went into  the church a parishioner told me you can’t come in! Granted he’s not the  cleanest looking man. He said to me, "I asked them why, and they said  you’re wearing jeans and a t-shirt. We’re not letting you in. Go to  another church!" He said,  "I'm coming in." They told him, "don’t do  this!" He told me he turned around and left. This man and I have had  numerous one-on-one talks about his life and as he says, “How terrible  my life is and I don’t know how much more I can take!” He’s mentioned to  me before he has no reason to live and has contemplated suicide. The  conversations we have are usually about how God still loves him. It’s  hard to convince people God loves them when people who call themselves  Godly people treat others in an unGodly manner. Sometimes we play God,  but we forget  God is God and we’re just servants!

A  fellow Christian told us a while back that Kay's Ministry is not  helping these homeless people at all. All your ministry is doing is  enabling them to stay down, you should just steer them to the diocese or  the government!” Jesus said, go make disciples of all nations. We need  to this as individuals.

 Why  don’t we believe what we believe? Why is it people who have absolutely  nothing in life, get rejected, ignored, stepped over and asked to leave  by us “Christians?” I include myself in this. If we call ourselves a  Christian then we should live our life as Jesus did, that means we  should be the same person in church, in the car, at work, on the golf  course or in the home. We really need to be the person we would be if  Jesus were to walk with us for one straight month side by side.

Unfortunately  it seems like “Christian beliefs” are actually becoming misguided and  inspired more by worldly religion than the Word of God. Being a  Christian means that you’re changed on the inside--not controlled by  others from the outside. It means that your heart has been changed by  the presence of God.  It means that you’re free to do His work where and  when you see fit. It doesn’t mean that you’re required to go to church,  required to pay tithes, required to be good or do anything in order to  stay a Christian. It means you desire to do those things because you've  been changed.

I  wonder what it’s going to look like when Jesus sits with each one of us  when we’re called home and He says, I want you to watch this DVD of  your life with me, but I want you to pay “very close attention” to how  you treated the least of my brothers. To be a Christian means to follow  Christ, to desire Him, to fellowship with Him, to live the moral life  requested by Him, and to bring glory to Him in your life. Christianity  is a people-building process. Build your people before your steeple. The  next time we all see someone who’s down on their luck, maybe we look  “at” them, and not “through” them. Then maybe we can see Jesus Christ  “IN” them!

“Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you!”

Thank you and God bless,

Charlie McGowan and the Kay’s Ministry Family

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