
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/14/2004

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Bush vows to stay the course in Iraq, fulfill duty to spread freedom around the world
by Erin Curry
Date: April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

WASHINGTON (BP)--Citing a historic opportunity to change the world, President Bush said America must stay the course in Iraq because it's the right thing to do.

"We will succeed in Iraq," the president said during a nationally televised prime-time news conference April 13. "We're carrying out a decision that has already been made and will not change: Iraq will be a free, independent country, and America and the Middle East will be safer because of it. Our coalition has the means and the will to prevail. We serve the cause of liberty, and that is, always and everywhere, a cause worth serving."

Bush said as long as he is president, he will press for freedom because he believes so strongly in its power.

"I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom is not this country's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world," he said from the East Room of the White House. "And as the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom."

The president began the hour-long news conference with a 17-minute speech regarding the status of Iraq. He said most of the country is relatively stable, although terrorists from other countries have infiltrated Iraq to incite and organize attacks. He mentioned the illegal militia of a radical cleric named al-Sadr and said the violence that has erupted recently is a power grab by extreme and ruthless elements.

But the majority of Iraqis, Bush said, reject the violence and want to move forward with individual rights, independence and freedom.

"Iraq will either be a peaceful, democratic country, or it will again be a source of violence, a haven for terror and a threat to America and to the world," the president said.

Regarding the June 30 deadline to turn over control of the country to Iraqis, Bush said neither Iraqis nor Americans support an indefinite occupation. He said America is not an imperial power but is a liberating power with a limited and firm objective.

"They're not happy they're occupied," Bush said of the Iraqis. "I wouldn't be happy if I were occupied either. They do want us there to help with security, and that's why this transfer of sovereignty is an important signal to send, and it's why it's also important for them to hear we will stand with them until they become a free country."

Sovereignty, Bush said, involves more than a date and a ceremony. It requires Iraqis to assume responsibility for their own future, which will include holding elections for a national assembly no later than January 2005. That assembly will draft a new, permanent constitution which will be presented to the Iraqi people in a national referendum in October 2005, Bush said. The schedule approved by the Governing Council in Iraq also calls for Iraqis to elect a permanent government by December 2005, marking the completion of Iraq's transition from dictatorship to freedom.

The president said the recent surge in violence must not cause America to waver because a free Iraq will confirm to a watching world that America's word, once given, can be relied upon even in the toughest times.

"The violence we are seeing in Iraq is familiar," Bush said. "The terrorist who takes hostages or plants a roadside bomb near Baghdad is serving the same ideology of murder that kills innocent people on trains in Madrid and murders children on buses in Jerusalem and blows up a nightclub in Bali and cuts the throat of a young reporter for being a Jew.

"We've seen the same ideology of murder in the killing of 241 Marines in Beirut, the first attack on the World Trade Center, in the destruction of two embassies in Africa, in the attack on the USS Cole and in the merciless horror inflicted upon thousands of innocent men and women and children on September the 11th, 2001," Bush continued.

America has sent a powerful message to the terrorists as the shelter of the Taliban and training camps in Afghanistan have been destroyed, he said. Terrorists have lost an ally in Baghdad, and Libya has turned its back on terror. But as terrorists see the advance of freedom and reform in the greater Middle East, they will seek new tactics.

"A desperate enemy is also a dangerous enemy, and our work may become more difficult before it is finished," the president said. "No one can predict all the hazards that lie ahead or the costs they will bring. Yet, in this conflict, there is no safe alternative to resolute action."

The commander in chief said America honors the memory of those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom, and he prays that their families will find God's comfort in the midst of their grief.

"As I have said to those who have lost loved ones, we will finish the work of the fallen," he said.

The legacy the troops are leaving behind is a legacy of lasting importance, the president said, one that is based upon the belief that free societies are peaceful societies.
--30--
(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: STAY THE COURSE.


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Chaplain's service in Iraq abounds with faith & miracles
by Kelli Cottrell
Date: April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

NORFOLK, VA. (BP)--Sitting on the ramp of a military vehicle on the lawn of Saddam Hussein's presidential palace, Lance Corporal Jeff Guthrie's eyes welled with tears that streamed down his muddy face.

He had just stormed the gates of the palace in a gruesome fight with his fellow Marines and claimed victory.

Lt. Carey Cash, a chaplain with his battalion, saw Guthrie's distraught face and walked up to him.

Cash, in a new book, "A Table in the Presence" released April 7, takes his readers onto the hot, dusty, Iraq battlefield to learn how God worked miracles and answered prayers in individual lives of Marines like Guthrie.

"Sitting down on the grass in front of him, I asked what was wrong," Cash writes in the book, recalling a few life-changing moments spent with Guthrie. 

"'Sir ... I'm, I'm just so sorry,' he said, tears welling up in his tired eyes.

"'Sorry for what, Guthrie?' I had no idea what he was talking about.

"'It's just what I've done in my life. All I can think about is that I've just been through the worst experience of my life, and yet, God protected me through it all. But why did He do it? How could He do it after all the things -- the bad things -- I've done? I don't know what else to say, what else to feel. I'm just so sorry.'

"By now the tears were streaming down his face," Cash continues. "Guthrie's fellow Marines, all twenty of them who were seated around the same ramp, stopped everything. They were listening intently, watching everything. He and I could both feel their gaze, but it didn't matter. He was overcome. ...

"I was looking into the face of a man, who, for the first time in his life, was truly encountering the power of God. 'Jeff,' I said gently. 'Do you realize that God sent His Son Jesus for no other purpose than for forgiving all those things you or I have ever done wrong in life...?'

"He nodded. ...

"'Jeff, do you believe that God loves you and that He sent His Son Jesus to die for you?'

"'Yes, I do,' he said, his voice broken and trembling.

"'And do you want to experience the joy and peace of knowing that all your sins are completely and forever forgiven?'

"'I do,' he answered.

"'Then why don't you bow in prayer with me right here right now? Ask God to do just that -- to send His Son Jesus into your heart and life and cleanse you from all your sin and give to you the promise of heaven.'

"We bowed together as twenty watching Marines stared in disbelief.

"Our prayer together was brief, but it was rich with life and meaning. For there on the lawn of Saddam Hussein's Presidential Palace &#91;in Baghdad&#93;, Lance Corporal Jeff Guthrie, a man who had wandered the path of the prodigal son for years, who had avoided God because of his fear of what others might think, who had spent all he had searching for happiness, meaning, and fulfillment, bowed his head."

The next day, April 13, 2003, Cash baptized Guthrie in the palace.

Cash wrote, "... I baptized Jeff Guthrie, a new creation, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the waters of baptism poured over his head and onto the marble floors of the palace, the symbolism wasn't lost on anyone. Here we were in the inner chamber of a place known for oppression and tyranny, vice and unspeakable cruelty. Yet that Sacrament proclaimed to us all the greatest freedom and victory that a man can experience. There before our eyes, the courts of evil had become nothing less than the courts of the Lord. A place that had been known for the presence of darkness and treachery had become a place of the presence of God -- a table in the presence."

Cash walked around the palace grounds hearing of God's glory.

"The day after April 10, called the worst day of fighting by Oliver North, I listened to tough and gruff Marines recount how God had protected them," Cash, 33, a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas, wrote. "I'm usually the one talking, but that day I kept stumbling on men who wanted to tell me about how they experienced a miracle. Some of these men had never darkened a door of a church. But they knew God had been with them and no one could convince them otherwise. They had experienced miracles."

Before his tour was over, Cash had the privilege of baptizing 59 men in his battalion.

"I watched God use that environment to behold His Son," Cash told Baptist Press. "It was awesome."

On the eve of March 20, Cash met with the command staff for the last time before they took the first U.S. troops from the safety of their camp in Kuwait across the Iraq border at the beginning of the war.

"After all the training, all the physical conditioning hikes, all the strategy sessions, all the intelligence briefs, all the live-fire rifle ranges, it had come to this -- a decisive moment and a sincere prayer. We stood together in a circle, asking God for help, for strength and for courage," he wrote in the first chapter of the book. "As we bowed together on that afternoon, the ancient words of a familiar Psalm came into my mind:

"'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.... (Psalm 23).'"

Cash's book is named "A Table in the Presence" after the fifth verse of that Psalm, written by King David, a warrior himself in the Old Testament.

"The 'table' that David spoke about, the 'table' that David longed for in the presence of his enemies, was the table of God's presence," Cash wrote in the book. "It amounted to a feast of spiritual strength and friendship that no degree of danger and no amount of evil could infringe upon. We had been invited to a table hosted by God's empowering presence, to taste of the miraculous Power that only He could offer. Indeed, it was a most unexpected feast."

Cash said he feels he was called by God to sit at this table. He was the older of two children who grew up as "Navy brats." His father was a career Navy pilot who served in several wars and his father-in-law, an ordained Baptist minister and Navy chaplain, helped mold him into who he is today.

"I feel like trials in my life that strengthened my faith a few years prior to my entering the military really prepared me to be a chaplain," Cash said in a telephone interview from Norfolk, Va., where he moved in April to serve as chaplain on the USS San Jacinto. 

After graduating from Citadel College in South Carolina on a football scholarship, Cash was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He encountered God face to face during that time seeking to know Him better when he felt called to ministry. He entered seminary, served as pastor of a small church for two years and then with the help of a medical release from one of his doctors was accepted as a chaplain with the Navy. While serving at Camp Pendleton in California, Cash was called to overseas duty with the 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment.

When his battalion returned in June 2003 to Camp Pendleton, several trusted friends suggested that he write a book recounting the miracles he had witnessed in Iraq.

"I started thinking about what happened and it was like a fire in my bones," Cash, who admits the writing was therapy for him, told Baptist Press. "It became an issue of stewardship and obedience to write this.

"There are a few things I want people to know after reading this book," Cash continued. "As I wrote I reflected on where we were as a nation. It's our greatest time of upheaval and a lot of people are uncertain about life and their faith. If ever a generation needed God to show Himself to them, this is it. Performing these miracles shows God is still here, He is a rock no matter what and He is not constrained by evil. He chose the war events to demonstrate His power and glory. With the power He has to raise the dead and part the Red Sea, He can protect us. There is hope and security."

Cash also wants the collective church to know their work is not done.

"I want to send a clear message to not cease praying for our soldiers and their salvation and protection," said Cash, who felt the prayers of many church members who wrote him letters. "We need to be on our knees daily, like the church was a year ago praying the Psalms, protection and a shield around our soldiers so that righteousness will prevail."

Cash encourages churches to continue sending letters and packages to military personnel overseas.

"When the mail truck arrived, it was life to many soldiers to hear that someone was praying for angels to go ahead of them," Cash told Baptist Press.

Over half of the same men Cash served with last year in the 1st Battalion are now back in Fallujah, Iraq, where the fiercest battles have taken place and a number of Marines have been killed.

In the 230-page book, Cash details miracle after miracle experienced through the first days of fighting in Iraq. The first printing of 28,000 books sold out in the first two weeks available.

Among the instances he recounts:

-- One Marine was accidentally run over twice by a Humvee and walked away without a scratch or broken bone.

-- Another Humvee full of soldiers was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that should have killed them all but struck the backpack of a soldier that was filled with a sleeping bag and warming-mat balled up. Although the pack was destroyed, it saved the lives of several men that day.

-- Another soldier recounted a time when his life was spared as an Iraqi soldier looking straight at him and pointing his gun suddenly started waving at something frantically and ran. The Marine still doesn't know what the Iraqi saw or was afraid of, but believes God was in it. 

-- During the convoy to the presidential palace, one amphibious assault vehicle was hit by an enemy grenade in the front window. One soldier instantly radioed for help knowing someone had to be hurt. But after a few minutes of inspection no one inside the vehicle was harmed.

-- One lieutenant prayed for a direct hit with his last AT-4 missile in order to avoid the enemy turning their turret on them and killing 15 vulnerable Marines. God answered his prayer and saved all of the Marines.

-- Cash and his companion soldier got lost in the convoy formation three times because of wind storms that prevented them from seeing 10-15 feet ahead of them. But God showed them the way back.

-- Other vehicles in the middle of a long convoy to the presidential palace took a wrong turn and started doubling back on themselves. God used it to confuse the enemy and they were able to find their way back into formation.

Cash learned that God does not need a sanctuary of religious "things" for worship.

With a portable pulpit containing a cross, a goblet and communion bread, he moved from Humvee to AAV using a tailgate, an ammunition box or meal ration box as platforms for worship services.

He remembered one worship service during which 20 men gathered along the Tigris River with rifles in hand. As he finished the closing praying and began to say "Go in peace," a barrage of gunfire penetrated the air. It was a suicide attempt of seven Iraqi men in a truck ready to take out the Marine checkpoint.

"We all knew that something more than our own watchfulness, strength and courage was protecting and defending us from our enemy," Cash wrote in the book. 

One worship service Cash will never forget was with a young soldier who said he hadn't been to church in a while. "I'm from a Christian tradition that worships on Saturdays rather than Sundays," the soldier explained. "Since it's Saturday night, I was wondering if you and me, just the two of us, could do church together?"

Cash's heart melted.

"I quickly grabbed my Bible, pocket devotional, and red-lens flashlight, and the two of us, huddling together in the back of Dr. Trivedi's combat ambulance, worshiped God," Cash wrote. "As we bowed in prayer in that darkened and cramped compartment, my soul was flooded with the awareness that we might as well have been in the world's most beautiful cathedral. It didn't matter. There we were, only two of us, filthy -- neither of us had taken a shower in at least two weeks. We were turning the torn pages of a mud-stained Bible. The only light we had to guide our reading was the dim red glow of a flashlight the size of a pen. But for us that ambulance was holy ground because we were in the presence of God.

"I worshiped with filthy, bloody, scared soldiers who sang Amazing Grace and Lord, I Lift Your Name on High a cappella. Danger magnifies the presence of God. God seemed to be using the very chaos of war to provide stark contrast with the peace and assurance that He brings through His Son Jesus."

Cash, his wife, Charity, and their five children are committed to the military as their mission field, Cash told Baptist Press.

"The soldiers are our people group," said Cash, who hopes to author more books on different subjects relating to ministry. "We are commissioned by the North American Mission Board as home missionaries." 

He writes in his last chapter titled, "Semper Fidelis," "The truth is, whether we are infantrymen in Baghdad or civilians safe in our own hometowns, all of us need to claim this victory as our own, because in the end, we all face the same enemies. Fear, worry, doubt, discouragement, despair, temptation, the rising power of unbelief -- these things attack us constantly. They are often just as destructive, just as fierce, and just as unrelenting as evil men lurking in the streets of Baghdad. And if God can deliver an isolated, cut-off battalion of U.S. Marine surrounded by enemies, He can deliver us from the enemies that assail us in our daily lives.

"'Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies.'"
--30--
(BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: ENLISTING DIVINE HELP, NO MATTER THE ENVIRONMENT, PROPER PREPARATION, ‘A TABLE IN THE PRESENCE,’ and LT. CAREY CASH.




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A year after husband's death, Lyn Hyde returns to Philippines
by Shawn Hendricks
Date: April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

MANILA, Philippines (BP)--The night before a terrorist bomb took the life of Southern Baptist mission worker Bill Hyde, he told his wife he had great respect for single women living on the mission field. One year later, those words continue to comfort her.

Lyn Hyde returned to the Philippines in March to continue God's work among the Filipinos. Her husband and 20 others were killed March 4, 2003, when a bomb exploded in an airport at Davao City in the southern Philippines. 

Before the bombing, the Hydes had served there for 25 years. Since the tragedy, Lyn's new life has been difficult, but she knows the Philippines is where she needs to be. 

"&#91;On the day of the bombing&#93; my life blew up as if it were a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle," she wrote in a recent e-mail message from the field. "The Lord has not yet put them back together, but there has been progress."

"Although a terrorist bomb killed my husband," she said. "I knew it had not killed God's call on my life." 

A NEW ROLE

Lyn now works as a member of a missions mobilization team in a different area of the country. She's partnering with three other couples to challenge Filipino churches to send out and support their own missionaries. The team also provides training for those who answer God's call to go.

While learning the responsibilities of her new role, she also is leading a group of nationals through the "On Mission with God" study by Avery Willis and Henry Blackaby.

"My previous 25 years in the Philippines has equipped me for this new role," she said.

It's those previous years on the field with her husband that Lyn will always hold dear to her heart. She remembers the little things he'd do, like bringing her yellow roses from time to time, but most of all, she remembers his spiritual leadership.

"My most cherished memories of Bill are the morning prayer times we had together before starting each day," she said. "How I miss not having him to begin the day in that way."

HEALING AND GROWING

Lyn's year away from the field has helped her heal and grow spiritually. 

"It was a time for initial healing and a time for seeking the Lord's direction for my future," she said.

Lyn admitted she wondered if God wanted to send her back to the Philippines at all. She was torn between the place she had grown to love as her home and a new opportunity in a different country.

"I was having difficulty sleeping at night with my thoughts pulling me back and forth between two countries," she said. "I was fearful I would make a mistake in my decision." 

She prayed that the Lord would clearly show her where He needed her to go and asked Him to do it within a designated time. A few hours before the deadline, a missionary friend felt compelled to call her and told her, "Consider the stewardship of your 25 years in the Philippines." One of her leaders from the field said the same thing to her a few months earlier.

'A GREAT SENSE OF PEACE'

"When I heard those words again, a great sense of peace came over me," she said. "I knew without question that this was God's confirmation that He wanted me to return to the Philippines. I have not doubted my decision since that time."

She continues to draw strength from prayer, her hope in Christ and knowing that Bill has gone home to be with the Lord.

"In the midst of the challenges ... Bill is among the 'great cloud of witnesses' cheering me on." 
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Learn about missions outreach in the Philippines http://www.peopleteams.org/WPco.htm
Day of Prayer coming May 30
http://ime.imb.org/dayofprayer
(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: LYN HYDE.




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Reversal: Ky. lawmakers send marriage amendment to voters
by Michael Foust
Date: April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP)--Kentucky citizens will be voting on a constitutional marriage amendment this fall thanks to a dramatic reversal by the state's House Democrats.

The Kentucky Senate passed a state constitutional marriage amendment by a vote of 33-5 April 13, one day after the House passed an amendment by a vote of 85-11. Both votes came on the final two days of the legislative session. The amendment would protect traditional marriage by banning same-sex "marriage" and other forms of non-traditional marriage. 

Kentucky is the fourth state to send a marriage amendment to voters, following Georgia, Mississippi and Utah.

"Basically, the will of the people presided over the will of some liberal components of the Democratic caucus," Kent Ostrander, executive director of the Family Foundation of Kentucky, told Baptist Press.

Just a few weeks ago, the amendment appeared doomed.

On March 26 House Republicans staged a walkout during debate on a marriage amendment after Democrats, who control the House, refused to consider GOP changes. Republicans charged that Democrats had sabotaged the amendment by adding language limiting the judiciary's power. The new language had nothing to do with marriage and would be struck down before reaching voters, Republicans charged. With Republicans out of the room, the amendment failed.

Pressured by their constituents, House Democrats decided to vote again on the bill April 12, this time with the additional language removed.

"I've gotten 500 to 600 messages on this," Democratic Rep. Rob Wilkey said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The Family Foundation, a Lexington-based pro-family group, helped lead the effort to pressure legislators to reconsider the amendment. Ostrander said he encouraged pro-family citizens to write and e-mail their representative.

"Our understanding is that in recent history there has never been an outcry and a communication with the legislature on any issue like this one," he said. 

One Democrat, Paul Bather of Louisville, predicted that the amendment would be struck down in federal court.

The Herald-Leader reported that House Democrats met some two hours behind closed doors before the vote.

"I'm doing this for my church people, my Christians and all the people in my district," Democratic Rep. Hubie Collins, said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

In addition to banning non-traditional forms of marriage, the amendment apparently would also ban Vermont-type civil unions. The amendment states: "Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized."

Ostrander said the goal was not to ban same-sex "marriage" but to "protect marriage from any kind of redefinition." He said that traditional marriage, not same-sex "marriage," offers children true diversity.

"We have not been out to target gays and lesbians," he said. "... They offer the children sameness, and it reduces the word diversity simply to a campaign slogan designed to persuade adults to tolerate their practices. We believe a child needs to have every opportunity to have both a mother and a father, which we regard as true diversity."

Kentucky already has a law banning same-sex "marriage," although the issue is not addressed in the state constitution. An amendment would provide a protection against state court rulings.

A marriage amendment in Massachusetts would have prevented that state's high court from issuing is controversial ruling legalizing same-sex "marriage."
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For more information about the debate over same-sex "marriage," visit
<a href="http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage">http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage</a>

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Journal spotlights biblical preaching, includes Edwards sermon
by James Streicher
Date: April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--A previously unpublished sermon by noted 18th-century preacher Jonathan Edwards is among the articles in the newest edition of the Midwestern Journal of Theology.

Edwards’ sermon, edited by Michael McMullen, associate professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is one of many articles focusing on Christian preaching and leadership. The journal is published by the seminary.

“This journal links together articles on preaching the Word of God and some leadership issues in the church today,” said journal editor Terry Wilder, associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Midwestern Seminary. “Many times these topics are treated separately. However, this journal presents the importance of church leadership with the continual preaching of God’s Word.”

The journal also includes three articles on Christian preaching and leadership from David Larsen, professor emeritus of preaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. His articles refute the view that preaching is passé.

Midwestern Seminary President R. Philip Roberts discusses the Kansas City Declaration on Marriage; the article declares how God established the definition and morality of marriage, Wilder said. The journal includes a full copy of the declaration that was signed last November by Baptist and pro-family leaders.

Midwestern Seminary church music professor Lee Hinson contributes an article on the issues of church music and leadership.

In addition to Midwestern Seminary faculty members, other journal contributors include Kevin L. Smith, Martin Luther King Jr. fellow at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.; and W. Creighton Marlowe, academic dean of Tyndale Theological Seminary, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

“Leadership in the church and the preaching of the Word of God should go hand-in-hand,” Wilder said. “Unfortunately, many leaders today say that the preaching of the Word of God is obsolete and that church leaders need instead to come up with creative new possibilities for their congregations.”

Preview articles are available on the seminary’s website: www.mbts.edu.
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Subscription queries can be addressed to Terry Wilder at (816) 414-3780 or twilder@mbts.edu.



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FIRST-PERSON: ‘The Movie’ is ending –- now what?
by Don Whitney
Date: April 14, 2004 - Wednesday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Apparently, we are over the crest of the wave. It is a wave of interest unlike any I’ve seen. And unless the Lord is pleased to send another Great Awakening in this country, as He did on a handful of occasions in the 18th and 19th centuries, we may never see anything like this again.

We have recently lived through a time where the national conversation has included a great deal of interest not just in God -- for we have had much of that since Sept. 11 -- but in Jesus Christ. And the conversation has not been about Jesus in general, but the interest has been focused on something at the very center of the life and ministry of Jesus -- His sufferings and death on the cross.

It has been remarkable to turn on both network and cable television, both news and talk shows, and hear guests -- many of whom make no pretense to be Christians -- talking by the hour about the cross of Jesus. In restaurants and on airplanes, I have engaged strangers in conversation who would soon ask, “Have you seen ‘the movie’?” No explanation is necessary. We both know that “the movie” is Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ” and the source of all the current interest in the cross.

The attention given to this film has opened countless and unprecedented doors for the Gospel. More than a million copies of John Piper’s book, “The Passion of Jesus Christ,” were sold in six weeks. A brief article I wrote on “Ten Questions to Ask About The Passion” was reprinted by (of all things) a thoroughly secular, online glamour magazine that claims 1.5 million readers per month. “The movie” has generated so much buzz that even those who haven’t seen it have had serendipitous opportunities to talk about Jesus as never before.

But now, with the close of the Easter season and Gibson’s movie giving way to newer releases, it seems the wave of national interest in the cross has crested.

I hope our experience with The Passion has reminded us that the power of the crucifixion is not in a visual depiction, but in a verbal explanation. No image of the cross -- past, present or in the high-tech future -- can sufficiently communicate the meaning of the cross. Future filmmakers may someday create a three-dimensional experience where moviegoers enter into a holographic portrayal of the crucifixion. Viewers may feel the wind on Golgotha, smell the stench of unwashed soldiers and the blood of dying men all around them, and look from 10 feet away into the face of the actor portraying Jesus as he cries, “It is finished!”

But even then they will need the words of Scripture to explain what is finished and to reveal the significance of what they’ve seen.

Our prayers have rightly been that somehow “the movie” would result in many people trusting in Jesus to make them right with God. But as we pray and work toward this end, let’s remember how saving faith in Jesus is kindled. Faith does not come from seeing images of Christ. The Bible says, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The Gospel message of Jesus Christ does not require something to be seen, but it does require something to be understood. Unless a person hears (or reads) the reason for the cross -- that is, that Jesus died for the sins of others so that through faith in Him they could be right with God -- then understands and believes it, he is still under the wrath of God. Without this simple understanding and faith, no one is accepted by God, even though he believes that the cross of Christ is a historical fact and he is moved by every remembrance of it.

No one questions the power of images to arrest the attention, impress the memory and touch the emotions. Even unconverted people who’ve never read or heard a word of the Bible can be moved to tears by images of Jesus’ suffering. But words -- words of explanation from the Bible -- are necessary for people to comprehend and believe the reason why He suffered. What was true for the salvation of people in the Apostle Paul’s low-tech day is still true today: “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). 

So as The Passion of The Christ recedes from the theaters and headlines, as the national conversation turns to other subjects, and as Christians anticipate the release of the movie on video, let’s remember that the most powerful means of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ always has been -- and always will be -- men and women of God, filled with the Spirit of God, speaking the Word of God.
--30--
Don Whitney is associate professor of spiritual formation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including “How Can I Be Sure I'm a Christian?” (NavPress, 1994) and “Simplify Your Spiritual Life” (NavPress, 2003). This article and many others can be downloaded as a free bulletin insert at his website, www.SpiritualDisciplines.org.






