Image courtesy of Samaritan's Purse[/caption] Posted on 08/07/2014 10:32:39 AM PDT by lifeofgrace
Image courtesy of Samaritan's Purse[/caption]
Ann Coulter makes her position clear in the title of her article: “EBOLA DOC'S CONDITION DOWNGRADED TO 'IDIOTIC’”. She ponders how Dr. Kent Brantly, whom she gives the moniker “the Ebola doctor” feels now that his trip to Liberia and subsequent care since contracting Ebola cost so much.
I don’t know if Coulter was simply trying to make a point by overshooting the mark, or if she really believes, as a Christian, that Dr. Brantly’s efforts in Liberia were wasted. It doesn’t matter though. What Coulter wrote is irrelevant.
Her point is, in her own words, “can't anyone serve Christ in America anymore?” Erick Erickson answered Coulter, without malice or outrage, in his Redstate post “Can Christ Not Spare One Man?” In this, Erick summed up our mission as Christians,
But Dr. Brantly, as do we all, goes where the Holy Spirit leads. I don’t think we should be in the business of questioning the motives or direction of any Christian led by the Lord to any corner of the Earth — particularly when the missionary is prepared to lay down his life for a stranger merely because Christ said, “Go ye therefore . . .”.Erick quoted Matthew 24:14. I think John 15:13 is also appropriate, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Dr. Brantly was fully prepared to lay down his life for the Liberians. Any why not? Liberia is a shining example of the power of God, where a vicious, brutal warlord who called himself General Butt Naked is now spreading the Gospel.
Liberia is a place that was torn by gang violence in a way and with an intensity beyond what Americans ever see, even in our most gore-soaked movies. Children wearing Jason-style Halloween masks were encouraged to kill and even eat human hearts. Now the Gospel is moving in Liberia and churches are growing and turning the country around.
Ebola is an evil disease, but God can call the humble anywhere in the world to serve His purpose.
Ann Coulter asks “what’s the point?”. This question exposes more about American Christianity than any attempt at an answer. For if a person of Coulter’s quality and caliber must ask the question, then surely we’ve all missed the point.
Here’s a different question: “why would any Christian seek to stay in America versus going where God is moving?”
America has more “Christianity” (in quotes) than any other country on earth. We have Gospel, 24/7. There are over 1,000 Christian radio stations, an entire format dedicated to serving Christians and spreading the Gospel, in the U.S. American Family Radio owns 159 stations, K-LOVE has 237, Moody has 293 affiliates. Salem (the owner of Redstate) owns 108, and Family Life Radio operates 38 stations.
There’s Christian TV and satellite networks, Christian Satellite Network, Daystar, Glorystar, Sky Angel, and the granddaddy of them all, Trinity Broadcasting Network. You can watch preaching, wall-to-wall, all day, all night, and fill your DVR with thousands of hours of preaching. But to what end? Where is the Gospel in the United States?
Coulter wrote a book titled Godless: The Church of Liberalism, which was a bestseller back in 2007. In it, she makes the point that liberal opinion amounts to a religious faith. It stands to reason that if the Christian faith is true, which Coulter believes, as I do, then it should stand toe to toe against other world views and expose its truth. But this is not, and has never been, the case in rich, developed countries.
Jesus spoke to John the Revelator in Revelation 3:
Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.Jesus also said to His disciples in Matthew 19:
Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.America is rich. America is powerful, and the Gospel is poured out on our society in great quantity. Yet it has little effect. There is no power, there is little to show for Christ’s glory here in America.
Jesus continues in Matthew 19:
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.Coulter chided Dr. Brantly for doing exactly what Christ commanded.
Right there in Texas, near where Dr. Brantly left his wife and children to fly to Liberia and get Ebola, is one of the poorest counties in the nation, Zavala County -- where he wouldn't have risked making his wife a widow and his children fatherless.And there’s where she, and we, miss the point. With God, all things are possible. All things doesn’t mean just the things we want to do, or the things that are in our little box of experience, or the things we think are safe, or the things we think make sense. All things means all things, as in everything God desires is possible, by definition.
God wanted a doctor in Liberia, where miracle after miracle is reported, and God’s love is poured out on the tenderest, poorest, most disease-ridden people there. But those people receive the Gospel eagerly, and turn their lives, and their nation, around from the brink of hell. Surely the gates of Hell cannot stand against the Church. Dr. Brantly answered the call and went, and yes, there was risk.
American Christians sit on our behinds, writing blog posts (yes, that’s me too), writing checks, lamenting that this country is becoming more and more Godless, while Africans send their church leaders to the U.S. to try to warn us and repair our fallen denominations like the Episcopal Church. What’s wrong with this picture?
Like Erick Erickson, I also fund missionaries. A midwestern redneck with a red beard living in a 99% Muslim country and preaching in jungles. A young couple raising their new baby in a war-torn 97% Muslim nation. A project to build 100 churches and Bible schools in an African country. A Bible college in Brazil. These are the places God is moving. Sometimes I think about going to those places, and I should go.
I used to think, like Coulter, that American Christians going to other countries for short stints was a form of “missionary tourism” where rich Americans could feel better by helping people in poor countries. I was wrong. This is not missionary tourism, it’s a peek at God’s heart.
Coulter’s statement “America is the most consequential nation on Earth, and in desperate need of God at the moment. If America falls, it will be a thousand years of darkness for the entire planet” is the quintessential example of American pride and lukewarmness. God is not American. God is not Republican. God is not conservative, Tea-Party, Libertarian, or Democrat.
God is King, Sovereign, Creator, and Supreme. He has no need of money, nor does he care about the $2 million it took to bring Dr. Brantly to Atlanta for treatment. It’s nothing to God. God cares more about the $1 that a Liberian puts in the offering at a roofless church because that represents the man’s entire monthly income, than all the money rich Americans donate to worthy organizations like Samaritan’s Purse (how do I know? Jesus said so in Mark chapter 12 and Luke chapter 21, read it).
Why would any American Christian want to stay in our lukewarm, overexposed, undervalued Gospel versus going where God is doing miracles?
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 2 Timothy 3:3-5This describes America as much as any place on earth. Sure, there’s evil in other places, but our deaf ears, rich lifestyle, and powerless godliness make ours especially hard to fight. Maybe we should all be more like Dr. Brantly, and listen to God’s call, take a few risks, and trust Him. People in countries like Nigeria, where confessing Christ can cost your life at the hands of Boko Haram, or Syria, where it can get you crucified by ISIS, or Iran, where you can spend years in a rat-infested prison, or Sudan, where you can be put to death, these are the ones who gain treasure in heaven.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. Hebrews 11:34-38Ann Coulter, and all of American Christianity, should not condemn or chide Dr. Kent Brantly, we should praise and support him. It’s men like him, servants, of whom the world is not worthy, who move God’s heart.
I have nothing against Ann Coulter. I’ve never met her, but I’ve been a fan and read her books. But I’d rather be like Kent Brantly. God bless him, and I believe He already has.
Excellent! Thank you.
Ann has been losing her audience for years as she moved left and supported Bishop Romney (the ex-missionary overseas, whose five sons have all served overseas as missionaries) for 7 years of his presidential running, and the gays and such, but this anti-Evangelical venting, will hurt her greatly.
She has ridiculed so much of the Christian mission and purpose.
“She has ridiculed so much of the Christian mission and purpose.”
I agree with you. She was insightful and made very good points earlier in her career. Her support of Romney, Christie and homosexuals were clearly off the mark.
With all that is wrong with America today she should be able to find something more useful to talk about. And why would she call a Christian missionary narcissistic?
When I was posting to you I had remembered that what some call Bishop Romney’s “spirit wife” (Ann Coulter), had skipped over that he and all of his sons, are all ex foreign missionaries, I love that oversight by her.
They didn’t work in Africa though, they like places like Bordeaux France, Leeds England, Australia, Santiago Chile, and Paris France.
The Dr. and the nurse work for Samaritan’s Purse. The donors are Christians who support missionary work by Christians. Like I said it is none of Coulters business.
I see your point. Another poster had said it is none of Ann Coulter’s business. She should not have questioned the doctors decision. I agree with that.
Good point.
There’s the 80/20 rule, unless your parish has 100% participation in activities (which would make it unique). Otherwise, 80% of the work is done by 20% of the members. I am not saying that all American Christians sit around on our behinds, but most of us are not going to Liberia or outside our own communities either.
“However, the author said American Christians sit on their behinds all day. That is anti-Christian.”
It’s not anti-Christian, unless you believe God is American, which I fervently state He is NOT. American Christians believe that America is the key to the Gospel. To say that criticism of American Christians is anti-Christian is exactly the prideful and lukewarm sentiment I was trying to expose.
“unless your parish has 100% participation in activities”
No participation is far less than that. I am talking about the people who I know. They work, they support their families and they help others in many ways.
They do not sit on their behinds all day.
I don't know of any American Christians who believe that “America is the key to the gospel.” Why would you even say something like that?
Dishonest criticism of Christians is anti-Christian. Nothing could be simpler. This is not constructive or helpful. It is dishonest and meant to slander good people.
And who are you to call sincere Christians prideful?
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
Matthew 7:1-5
Ann Coulter’s point is that someone should be trying to reach calloused, hard-hearted Americans, the Ebola Doctor was wrong. I agree that we should be trying hard to reach Americans.
The Ebola Doc, Ann, was earning us the right to get a hearing from those cynical Americans. And the man, himself, will definitely get a hearing from every unbeliever that I know. People like Dawkins are professional skeptics, making this livelihood at being on the atheists’ whos who lists.
But normal, everyday skeptics find Doc Ebola’s compassion worth listening to even if they do initially disagree with him.
She is disgusting and idiotic.
She is right and you, along with whome she attacks, are a pathological altruists.
These idiots are determined to "help" at all costs, no matter how much destruction is caused by their "compassion".
Then these goodie-goodie Christians maliciously attack and slander those who are more prudent.
Well, I am an Army veteran from a family of veterans, if that is what you mean.
I have been disagreeing with AC a lot lately, but I actually liked this week’s article. She makes a good point: can’t you find something in the USA, or even in your closest city, that tour Christian charity can help fix? How about trying to improve our culture/schools/media/politics/local leaders/ghettos? Rest assured you will get no glowing praise from the NY Times. And yes it will be unrewarded and unacknowledged. Sad but true. But... Isn’t that true Christian charity?
Brantly was doing what Jesus commanded us all to do. I certainly don't have his courage or his devotion to Christ. It is the kind of Christianity we should all strive for. To many of these Hard Hearted Americans, Kent Brantly is the only Bible they will ever read. And to many of us weaker vessels, he is someone to be emulated and a vessel we should be praying that we can someday be like.
Coulter's comments show that she is a shallow vessel if a vessel at all. More like an ash tray compared to the 50 gallon drum that Kent Brantly represents. I was rather shocked to read Coulter's comments. She writes books extolling the virtues of Christianity and then when someone actually lives up to those virtues, she questions their motives.
If we all truly had the kind of faith that Kent Brantly had, we would not lose any sleep over the possibility that the guy next to us on the plane has ebola. Brantly is in God's hands and not Ann Coulter's. But Ann Coulter apparently prefers to rest in Ann Coulter's hands rather than God's. That's a pretty normal state for the shallow vessels that occupy the pews in most of the churches in American these days. Perhaps Brantly can show us the way to become deeper vessels.
God's point is even simpler: go where He sends you.
Could we please remember this in a year or so when she’s all over the TV and radio telling us who should be president, etc.? Ive disliked this woman for years.
For at least seven years she has been pushing Bishop Romney, who did his missionary work in France, the Bordeaux region, while he was evading the draft at the same time his father was running to be president and lead the Vietnam war.
George (his father) did his missionary work in London.
Well said. I agree completely.
I said I did not agree with Ann Coulter’s point that Christians should not help those from other countries. But I did not feel her article deserved the name calling. I thought it was just a difference of opinion.
Then it was pointed out to me that Ann Coulter accused the doctor of being narcissistic. It was also pointed out that it was none of Ann Coulter’s business who the Doctor helps. That is between him and God.
I agree completely with them. Ann Coulter was way out of line to criticize the doctor the way she did. I learned from the intelligent people on FreeRepublic.
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