But don’t misunderstand my break with Ms. Coulter as anything
personal against her. I also do not
consider her a sister in Christ, so I don’t feel Jesus’ guidance on how to
approach an offending member of the body applies here (the article I’m referencing uses language that makes it clear she is outside the community ofbelievers). YES, I am judging. The break is really a need for me, as a
Christian whose journey has very much been one of leaving behind the heavy yoke
of legalism and embracing a spirit of sacrificial compassion, to don the
protective bio-suit from a more rampant disease infecting the church in the
United States.
This disease – like all viruses – has always persisted on the
countertops of our culture no matter how much disinfectant we may have at times
tried to apply to it. It is the bug of
nativist, racist, and miserly ‘America First’ sentiment. This concept of “taking care of Americans
first,” or, as Ms. Coulter prioritized, “converting one Hollywood producer,” is
100% contradictory to the teachings of Scripture.
Ms. Coulter calls Dr. Brantly “idiotic” for going to Liberia and
belittles him for not considering the needs first of the sick in Zavala County,
Texas. She tries to ridicule his work
overseas and that of countless other American missions as vain “heroism.” This is the EXACT SAME bitter, selfish
attitude that has infested so much of the conservative movement today. It is the same zombie-like animation that
drives so-called Christians onto overpasses in protest of accommodating these
Central American kids, gang members or not.
Christianity is call to complete and utter sacrifice on behalf
of the destitute – the sinner in his misery.
We as Americans have a tendency to want to modify this call. We believe we can address “root problems of
poverty.” We believe we can correct bad
behavior with rules or more border patrol guards. We believe we can motivate someone to change
by demonstrating perceived rewards.
Ms. Coulter specifically calls foolish the idea that a $2 million
plane flight home paid by a mission organization far exceeds any value Dr.
Brantly may have given on its behalf.
This is hardcore “economic Christianity,” where service on behalf of
Jesus is weighted. It is a disgusting
perversion of the cross.
In his powerful book, The
Insanity of God, missionary Nik Ripken (a pseudonym he uses to protect
Christians he knows in hostile nations) asks hard, gut-wrenching questions
about how God works in countries that truly seem cut off from his grace. Mr. Ripken saw this first hand as a relief
director in Somalia during the mid-Nineties, experiencing not only the abject
horror of life in that country after the world’s military and NGOs had abandoned
it, but also the tragic death of his son.
After years of God’s work to rebuild his faith after leaving
Somalia, Mr. Ripken was able to recall how he discovered the presence of Christ
in a place given over to Satan and a deranged humanity. He was walking through Mogadishu one day and
heard intensely beautiful singing. He
zeroed in on the music and found a young woman leading a group of orphans in a
crumbling building. The young woman had
lost her own children to starvation, but persisted in her love for Jesus by
ministering to some lost children.
A disease can't kill you if you’re already sacrificing
yourself!
