The Cost of Contending<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
By Jan Markell
http://www.olivetreeviews.org
 
 
Those of us who speak or write publicly do so knowing there will be a cost.  Somebody is always upset with us. But don't think this is being written to gain sympathy for "poor Jan."  My skin has gotten pretty thick.  Also, those of you who write uplifting e-mails and letters so outweigh the negative that the nasties pale in significance.  Even so, let me proceed.
 
Contending for the faith comes with a price. It can be losing ministry donations, being verbally maligned, being labeled, scoffed at, and much more.  As I share my own "contending negative experiences" in mini and brief form, I don't want to discourage anyone from standing for the truth.  Your reward may come later.
 
Last weekend on my radio show I did one hour on "Christian rock music."  My two guests were articulate, non-sensational, pretty non-judgmental, even though they believe Christian music with a heavy beat and a lot of noise is harmful spiritually and physically.  You can hear the program at this link http://www.olivetreeviews.org/radio/mp3/ 
 
I stated at the outset that I am fine with soft contemporary music and use it as bumper music on my program. Sometimes I get more inquiry as to the music than the substance of the program. You can order what I play at www.kolsimchamusic.org. But one of the guests has gotten thousands of e-mails from disheartened Christians who have had to come to church late, move on to other churches, or have quit church all over the music.
 
The other guest was told she was not saved because of her stand on loud contemporary music. Christian radio hosts have delighted in humiliating her on air to the point where station managers have sent letters of apology.
 
Many e-mails of support came in but others wrote to me and called my guests and me, "morons," "idiots," "dwellers in the dark ages," "unenlightened," "out of it," "uneducated," "archaic," and a lot more.  And they identified themselves as Christians.
 
Enough of that so let me move on.  Not long ago I commented on air about how troubled I am by the "religious Left" and particularly those who parade as "evangelicals."  Jim Wallis is one, and he recently visited the college I attended, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Bethel University in St. Paul, MN.  He got a standing ovation from the students when he told them to diminish their concern about abortion, gay marriage, abstinence, etc. Instead, he urged them to focus on poverty, AIDS, global warming, and other social gospel issues.
 
I then heard from a ministry supporter who told me the Provost of Bethel Seminary, a Dr. Eliason, wrote her and said, "Jan Markell is on air just to make a lot of money and be controversial."  I don't make a lot of money. As a matter of fact, my ministry spends about $150,000 a year to send out truth. We work very hard to raise those funds.  And I guess it is controversial to present truth. I called Eliason to invite him on air but the call was not returned.  If one is going to sling arrows, they should play fair.
 
This week I wrote a mass e-mail on "Kingdom Now/Dominion Theology." They basically teach that the church will make the world perfect.  We can have a kingdom without the King as the church will play that role. Then after 1000 years, Jesus will return to a spotless earth.  It is classic social gospel again to believe the church is so powerful that it can clean up all poverty, AIDS, global warming, etc. And it's arrogant and unreasonable.  Just watch the news if you can stand it.  We have airplanes flying into buildings because evil is waxing worse and worse just as the Bible prophesied in the latter years (II Tim. 3:13).
 
Believing in Dispensational Theology, that is, that Christ could return at any moment, has never kept those who believe as I do from going to the mission field to make the lives of the poor better.  To reject the social gospel is not an indication that Christians should do nothing to ease the world's ills!
 
But for writing a short article on this theology, I have once again been called, "a false teacher," "nuts," "crazy," "misleading," "deluded," "pathetic," and that I would have "scolded Wilbur Wilberforce for trying to stop slavery."  After all, I only care about saving souls. Such a crime!
 
Summing this up and apologizing for its length, I think the world is to know we are Christians by our love, not by our name-calling and insults towards one another.  Can't we be critical without being demoralizing? We can disagree with whatever the issue is without suggesting one has an IQ of an ice house in January?
 
We are in polarizing times.  Some people's beliefs today are intense. Just look at the political scene and its intensity a year and a half before the election.  I'm all for intensity because apathy today is running amok. So to those of you who take a stand, I say hooray but do so gently and not with a sword shining in your hand.
 
I will now go back to my e-mail and hope to not be further insulted.  But if I am, it is because I "contend for the faith" (Jude) and will not withhold the truth to those who are seeking it. Oh, and thanks for letting me sound off!  I'm just human enough to be a tiny bit hurt.