Should We Fire God? – Trailer from Robbie Poff | Highland Films on Vimeo.
Maybe our world is violently spinning out of control and those of us with faith in God are just the last ones to get the memo. Maybe there really is no one in charge. Maybe we are like kids in the back of a car careening down the highway with no one at the wheel, frustrated at all the swerving but confidently telling ourselves that someone must really be up there. How could there not be? Maybe April 16, 2007, is and should be the final nail in a coffin full of them already: the final example of a God who either doesn’t exist or is so impotent at his job, he’s hardly worth following. — Excerpted from Should We Fire God?
Please feel free (and encouraged) to share this video with anyone that you think might resonate with the above quote. Whether they, or you, are like me; an apprentice of Jesus who has questions about the amount of suffering in our world, or are someone that is not a follower of Jesus but is curious about those answers. Anyone that you think reflects on these issues…share away! 
BTW – I forgot to ask Robbie to include the fact that the book will be out April 8, but is available for pre-orders on Amazon.com and other sites right now, is being offered for the Kindle and will be available as an audio book as well. Could you mention that when you share it?
If you are willing to post the video to your blog, facebook page…you name it. Help a brother out, eh?
Many, many thanks, props and spirit fingers to Robbie Poff at Highland Films for doing a fantastic job on the trailer. If you need, or would benefit, from video work but don’t have the capacity to do so…cannot recommend him highly enough.
I, like many who read this blog, have been angry this week. 
I have been angry at components of the Haitian government that have slowed the rescue efforts so many are risking their lives to be involved in.
I have been angry at myself for being able to do so little of value in the face of such suffering.
I have been angry that for every wonderful and miraculous rescue, there are probably twenty who aren’t.
I have been angry at how the death toll is guaranteed to continue to climb as lack of access to medicines, food and clean water will undoubtedly usher in who knows how many diseases.
I have been angry that child sex traffickers are using this as an opportunity to literally steal children and make them sex slaves.
I have been angry at God for not stopping this gigantic earthquake.
And I have been angry at Pat Robertson.
There are probably quite a few of us that became angry when we heard what he was quoted to have said. In such a time of anguish and desperation, the very suggestion that there is some communal Haitian fault for this — that they brought this on themselves — seems unconscionable. It seems cruel and wrong.
More than that, it is cruel and wrong.
Yes, I agree that God is sovereign, and as such has the capacity to do whatever he feels is best for our world. Yes, I agree that there are times when our very limited amount of insight can make it possible for us to totally miss the bigger picture that God, by necessity, works with all the time. Yes, I agree that there is a demonic realm that is very real and that can bring physical consequences.
But it is very hard for me to see how a God that would respond the way he has regarding the reconciliation of our world with himself, would seemingly karate-chop a major fault line in Haiti because of some vagely alleged, century old, decisions. A God that would take the penalty for all of the rebellion caused by humanity on himself. A God that would voluntarily decide to simultaneously experience the horrific pain of a Roman cross and the crushing weight of our cumulative rebellion – while also experiencing the sensation of watching his son be tortured and killed as an innocent – while also experiencing the pain of having to watch the whole thing unfold, all the while knowing that he could stop it, but knowing that he must not. I don’t think we can touch that level of suffering in our experience.
He took it all, voluntarily. So that we could be with him. Willingly. Lovingly.
A God like that doesn’t karate-chop fault lines.
I do believe that evil caused what happened. Our world has plenty of demonstrations of the evil the the scriptures point to being more than just a theological or philosophical construct. The greed that caused the Duvalier family to set back what could have been a much more advanced Haiti, by decades. Crushing poverty that forces people to simply exist and all but prevents them from thriving. Fear that helps to turn one person against another. That helps gangs, and not coalitions, be formed. And I believe that what we see everywhere on the social level is represented in the physical one. It would seem that even the creation, the planet, isn’t working in sync like it should – fault lines included. I don’t believe that earthquakes were ever the intention of God. I think that our relational brokenness with one another and the planet’s brokenness go hand in hand. We all await a re-creation.
But, ugggh, to the issue of my apology.
There is a part of me that has come to expect Pat and others to say what he did. Things that not only do not represent my view of how scripture reveals the character of God, but they even make my task of representing Christ in our world much more difficult. I have to deal with what they say more often than I would prefer. It is often assumed that their views represent mine, that because we both would share the label, Christian, we look at the world through the same lens. I have often said that it seems like I seem to walk into other peoples’ issues with God, I think views like what Pat shared, create a lot of those issues.
So, my heart has grown a bit cold to Pat and so many others. Granted, in my cluster of friends, church planters and thinkers, going after some of those guys is pretty common. We joke about them, roll our eyes, maybe mock them a bit.
But mouthing off wrongly about how he mouths off wrongly doesn’t seem to be the right way to go.
The reality is that Pat has done some good things over the years. The one I personally feel best about is Operation Blessing, a non-profit that has provided disaster and hunger relief for over 192 million people in over 90 countries, and in its history has provided over one billion dollars worth of goods and services.
The reality is, Operation Blessing has helped a lot of people. People have eaten as a result of Operation Blessing that wouldn’t have without it. Homes have been rebuilt. Those people matter.
So, that helps. At least me. At least some.
It helps me see him as more of a three dimensional person, not the cranky personality he seems to have become. It helps me see him as a man that has done some good and some bad, like me. And it makes me reflect a bit more on Romans, chapter two.
“But if you think … you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself… Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.” Rom 2.1,2 Message.
In this section of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, God is saying that all of us can claim the moral high ground, but it is rarely deserved. And even if we are actually on the right side of an issue, we cannot allow that to cause us to become arrogant. God sees through our charades, he sees our heart… This section doesn’t tell us we cannot talk about what is right and wrong in our world, it simply reminds us that while we do, remember that we are every bit as in need of God’s grace as anyone else.
It makes me think about me, making fun of Pat Robertson. I condemn myself. Yes, I think what he said was wrong. But I spoke out of anger, not to help him — but to have some fun at his expense.
Dang!
It doesn’t change the fact that his words were unthinkable. It doesn’t change the fact that any hope of Pat having a lasting semi-mainstream legacy seems to ride on someone from his inner-circle telling him in love that he needs to apologize and then to be quiet. He was irresponsible and his words were cruel.
But it reminds me that any of us are capable of the same thing.
No doubt, by we have all seen the horror unfold in Haiti. A 7.0 earthquake hit right on a fault line six miles underground and ten miles southwest of Port-au-Prince and has devastated
much of the country. Already 80% of Haitians live below the poverty line with 80% in abject poverty. If you have ever been to Haiti then you know much of the country’s infrastructure has been poorly constructed and is now decimated. The worst earthquake to hit the country in 200 years.
You may know some relief organizations that are working in the area or that can mobilize quickly. If you do, give to them, if not, here are some options that we know about. Please post in and add to our list.
American Red Cross — you can text HAITI to 90999 and your cell account will be billed $10
Project Esperanza — actually located in the Dominican Republic, but works extensively with Haitian orphans in the DR, will have useful connections on the ground.
Haiti Emergency Relief Organization –
Baptist Haiti Mission — 100% of donations go to the relief effort. The BHM hospital in Fermanthe, Haiti is the only hospital serving the surrounding mountain villages.
Here are some additional agencies that I ran across on Bread for the World, a group that I am just starting to learn about, but that I really like so far. I only have a minute to post this, so no hotlinks.
* Catholic Relief Services
* Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
* Church of the Brethren
* Church of the Nazarene
* Church World Service
* Covenant World Relief
* Episcopal Relief and Development
* International Orthodox Christian Charities
* Lutheran World Relief
* Presbyterian Church USA
* Reformed Church in America
* Salvation Army
* United Methodist Committee on Relief
* World Hope International
* World Relief
* World Vision
Please add to this list or give feedback on what is already listed.
God seems to have a very important place in his heart for widows, orphans…people that are in desperate positions. We are called to love them and help them. We simply must do this now.
Micah 6.8 tells us this. “… the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” This isn’t the whole story between us and God, but our care for those who need that care is a part we simply cannot afford to pass over.
Please do something, and post your ideas here for things that we can do as well.
Peace
Rick Warren, his name is synonomous with the Purpose Driven Movement, Saddleback Church, and so much more. According with wikipedia, (which we all know better than to question), a Barna research report in 2005 found that Warren’s 
book, The Purpose Driven Church, was the second most influential book on American pastors and ministers lives and ministries! Second!
Guess what was first.
Yup, this guy has had a massive impact on the evangelical landscape over the past 10 to 15 years. In my exhaustive research process (googled a few different things) I cannot find how many books have sold between the two of them. My guess? Lots.
Actually the sales number in the millions.
While there are people that disagree with his methods or his views (any public figure has that), there is very widespread agreement that he lives what he speaks. This is a guy has consistently supported other ministers, has refused to take any money for his continued work as pastor at Saddleback, and has been able to walk that fine line of being an assertive voice in our world, without ever taking himself too seriously. Maintaining that kind of honorable life is worthy of respect.
My first experience with him was just after the Tech shootings. He allowed me to come on his podcast with two pastors who had dealt firsthand with Hurrican Katrina, one pastor from Sri Lanka who had lived through the tsunami, Jimmie Davidson who pastors Highlands Fellowship and myself. He was kind and helpful and comforting actually. He didn’t water down my responsibilities or the responsibilities of the rest of [nlcf]’s team, but he also made it clear that we could do it in Christ’s power.
I haven’t spoken with him directly since then.
So when Jimmie passed my manuscript to David Chrzan, Rick’s chief of staff, I was hopeful, but not terribly. What I saw in them was more of the same from before. David and his team were incredibly kind and responsive to someone who really isn’t very important. They deal with leaders of countries and pastors by the millions. I am just a guy with a book I wrote.
But they took a look at the book and liked it! All I originally asked them for was an endorsement. A few sentences. That’s it. What they ended up doing was writing a foreword to the book. I was honored. Not just because it will really help the word to get out about the book (it will), but because they were so kind and down to earth with me.
That was the most moving part of the whole deal. I got to interact with a team of people that operate in the stratosphere of culture, but demonstrated that they are kind and humble people while they are up there.
Thanks to the whole team!
Their very gracious foreword follows… (more…)
“Jim, you have written a wonderful book! I am very, very proud of you!”
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