Not long ago, Deena and I watched a church service online from a nondenominational church we once attended when we lived in Texas. The church, located in McKinney, TX is called Christ Fellowship. It’s a good, praise-oriented church with a solid, Gospel message and even Lutherans like myself can be comfortable there. They have awesome community outreach programs (including a prison ministry) and you’ll find all sorts of people from every walk of life at their services. Also noteworthy is that, as far as we can tell, this church is not caught up in the partisan fever and frenzy that affects far too many evangelical congregations in America today. To Christ Fellowship, church is about Jesus Christ and redemption, and not about fermenting sedition or sending republicans to Congress. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:2: “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Corinth had all sorts of secular and religious factions just as we have here in the U.S. today, but Paul did not want to derailed by their grievances. At Christ Fellowship, we heard nothing about politics or civil disobedience, or building walls or second amendment rights. It was very refreshing. We did hear a message on that occasion about being stranded in snow, however.
On that occasion, the sermon was delivered by an elder named Neal Mackey who was filling in for the pastor. Neal gets credit for most of the substance in this post, though I may have “corrupted” his message here and there–particularly towards the end–with thoughts of my own. Here is how he began his sermon.
The Great White North
Neal relates how he grew up in the Northern Tier of the U.S., very close to Canada. Between his boreal latitude and the weather effects of the Great Lakes, he described winters which were and are particularly harsh, with many blizzards each year. Driving in blizzard conditions–if you absolutely must–involves more than the skillful handling of your vehicle. You are also at the mercy of reckless or inexperienced drivers around you. Your car must be in excellent operating condition; your gas tank must be full or almost full; you must have emergency supplies such as water, medicine and blankets with you, and your cell phone must be fully charged (assuming you can receive a signal) just to name a few considerations. Then, too, you must be prepared for impassable conditions where your vision is compromised, such as by blinding snow.
Most of us have driven in rain that falls so hard we cannot see to drive. Or in dust storms. We must pull over off the road. The same is true with fog. We’ve all read about twenty, forty, even one hundred vehicle pile-ups on interstate highways from chain reaction collisions involving tractor trailers, cars and campers. But pulling off the road in a blizzard, with or without drifting snow, even for ten minutes might keep you from returning to the firm surface of the road when your vision returns. In fact, you might not even be able to see the road–where it begins, where it ends–and whatever hazards lie under the snow or off the shoulders of the road.
And you might be in the middle of nowhere with no other cars in sight, and the daylight might be waning.
Stranded: Think before you act!
Some motorists become impatient or are tempted to abandon their stuck or stalled car and search for help. Anyone who lives in that part of the country understands the fatal folly of being out, unprotected in the elements, especially during a blinding blizzard. You start to panic, you wind up walking in circles, or break a leg falling over a log or plunge into a snow-covered creek bed. Your body shivers in a vain attempt to generate warmth. Your toes and fingers become numb. Add disorientation to your blindness. At that point, you likely have only a few hours to live before dying from hypothermia. As the poetess once said: “First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –”
It is possible in some scenarios that your body won’t be found for many months. Snow covers your tracks, so you can’t be easily located. Or, perhaps you are stranded in a area that presents a danger to rescuers who might try to search. Falling into a river might carry your body many miles downstream from where you left the road. Hungry predators such as wolves and bears are known to attack injured or stranded individuals. At some point often determined by temperature and time, a search ends with an effort to recover any human remains.
So much for the practical advice. Now, let’s go to a spiritual application of what I’ve discussed.
My personal spiritual spin on this story
I read a lot of tweets from Christians asking for others in the Church to pray for them. Some tweets deal with illness in families, people looking for work, etc. Then, there are tweets that come from believers who feel lost, abandoned by God and man. Or, maybe they are spiritually disoriented? Impatient? Caught in a metaphorical or metaphysical blizzard, where they can no longer see clearly, while trapped in a situation which imperils their very well-being. What they do next is of great importance to their spiritual survival.
My advice to them is first to “stay in your car.” Stand fast! Whether you are a soldier or a professional gambler, if you have no clear options or path before you, you know that your best course of action is to hold pat. In medicine, the cardinal rule is “first do no harm.” Whatever you do, don’t make things worse for your patient than they already are.
Your car in this story may represent your family, your circle of Christian friends, your local church your comfort zone or something else. You may “feel” misunderstood, unappreciated, at home or at church, but unless you are in some sort of imminent physical danger from a predator or felon, you are probably better off in familiar and familial surroundings for now. And many unpleasant circumstances can actually be learning experiences for Christians, because Jesus Christ our Savior and role model was Himself rejected, scorned, misunderstood, and ultimately betrayed.
Fight those feelings!
I remember reading as a young Christian back in 1968 or 1969 about some person my age who wandered into Death Valley to “fast and pray” according to his obituary. At some point much later, his body was found. This person was also a young Christian whose “gut” or heart or spirit led him to his doom. God’s Word would doubtlessly have advised him otherwise, but he apparently wasn’t spiritually fed adequately or counseled properly and he perished. For what purpose and to what end? People like this often respond to subjective “feelings” rather than the meat of the Word. They trust in untested hunches rather than the firm foundation of Scripture.
A caveat
Those of you who have read any number of posts in my blog understand that I believe that the gift of prophecy is still valid in the Church today. But when I hear or read a prophecy, I do not equate it with something from the Bible that Daniel or the Apostle John wrote. In my experience, Christian prophecy is most often a private revelation or a word intended for someone else. And there are sadly many false prophets in the world today. Notice I use the word “Christian” as an adjective, because the god of this world uses people to prophesize his message, and sometimes Christians can be confused about who is saying what. As Calvin Miller once said, sometimes the pieces on a chessboard all look alike, and the only way you can tell one player’s pieces from his opponent’s is the color of the square the pieces are standing on. So, if someone provides you with a supernatural message or piece of advice, be sure to test the spirit (I John 4:1ff.)
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
See also 2 Timothy 4:3. Incidentally, in the above passage, John tells us to “test” as in “challenge” or “approve” the spirit speaking to us. Implicit in this verse and the verses that immediately follow is the point that any unusual or novel teaching1 as well as any special revelation (prophecy) needs to be carefully scrutinized, regardless of who says it (a complete stranger, a television personality, even your pastor, et al.) Why? Take the subject of divine healing. God can and does heal people. But, again in my experience, many are unfortunately not healed. We don’t know why. People don’t heal each other or themselves. God does! You can’t fake it. You can blame the sick person as some do for a lack of faith; blame the people around him or her for not praying hard enough, or you can pretend they are healed when they clearly are not. But this is the time for common sense. Many diabetic children of Christian parents have needlessly died over the last half century in American and elsewhere because another Christian foolishly told the family to disregard their doctor’s instructions and trash their child’s insulin, perhaps as a sign of faith that their child no longer needed it? Or, perhaps to “prove” their faith (at the expense of their child’s life?)
Things that make you go blind: Unbelief
There are many things that can blind us, temporarily or permanently.
Unbelief can blind you. Again, from Paul:
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose unbelieving minds the god of this world hath blinded, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Sin blinds us as well.”
II Corinthians 4:3, 4.
You may be a believer now, but we know from Scripture and real life that people sometimes fall away from their faith.2 Obviously, people who reject the Gospel message are unbelievers, but when we sin, occasionally over time unconfessed sin has a corrosive effect on our belief. Pretty soon we may doubt who Jesus is and what He’s done for us.
Things that make you go blind: Pride
Society teaches us to be proud. We teach small children to take pride in their school work, later requiring them to take pride in their personal appearance, how they maintain their room, how they pursue their careers. But there is a downside to pride as well. The root of the word (prud, Fr.) also means arrogant and haughty.
Pride and arrogance can hide a narcissistic personality disorder according to some sources:
“Narcissistic personality disorder is one of a group of conditions called dramatic personality disorders. People with these disorders have intense, unstable emotions, and a distorted self-image. Narcissistic personality disorder is further characterized by an abnormal love of self, an exaggerated sense of superiority and importance, and a preoccupation with success and power. However, these attitudes and behaviors do not reflect true self-confidence. Instead, the attitudes conceal a deep sense of insecurity and a fragile self-esteem. People with this personality disorder also tend to set unrealistic goals.”
When people with anorexia peer in a mirror, often do not see themselves as they really are–gravely emaciated. They see themselves as needing to shed even a few more pounds. If you can no longer see yourself as you truly are, how can you realistically see who Jesus is. People with narcissistic personality disorders and other similar psychological issues have been blinded to both physical and spiritual realities dealing with the true meaning in life, what is important and what is not, what is eternal and what is perishing, and whether God truly loves people or indifferently condemns them to Hell. I’ve met many well-known movie personalities and I’ve never failed to be amazed at how insecure they often are. More than a few need the constant adoration and acclaim of others in order to feel good about themselves.
Things that make you go blind: Trying too hard to be cool
This is true of many people of all ages, but especially youth. Everyone wants some sort of shtick, or thing to set them apart from others. Right now, as far as youth go, cool is dressing differently (remember the Goth period several decades ago), flaming hair colors and styles, selfies (or course) as well as tats, Tik Tok and tank tops. Several years ago, it might have been vaping, and today smoking bud is probably “up there” now as well.
Among other age groups, cool may be “wokeness.” However, being “woke” actually can be a good thing as I wrote about earlier, but it can also be tired and overused. Partisan politics can also blind you from spiritual truths, especially if the political path you are on leads you away from the Word of God. So can materialism, greed, adultery and so on.
Afterword
So, there are many things that can cause us to blindly lose our way. And demons, like wolves and bear, lurk not very far away looking for a chance to attack us when we are most vulnerable. Don’t be blinded. Stay in your car and wait for God to open a path for you.
Footnotes
1 There is a fundamental difference between Christian doctrine and Christian dogma. Every Christian must share the same doctrine. If your church cannot confess at least the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed, then you probably are not attending a Christian church. Dogma are differences between denominations, such as whether baptism and communion are considered an ordinance or a sacrament, and how water in baptism is administered (i.e., immersion, pouring or sprinkling.) These are secondary things when contrasted with the primary things.
2I personally believe in eternal security, but see I Corinthians 5:5.