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So two girls at my church decided a year and half ago to follow Jesus. No, not accept Christ into their hearts but to really read Matthew and not water it down. This lead them to live in the South Bronx. And not the safest street in the South Bronx but the most violent street in the county. The last census counted 15 white people in their neighborhood and none on their street. Ever.
So here are 2 beautiful NYU students not really having a clue about how to live like Jesus but knowing they want to be with the downtrodden, the marginalized, the poor. Their neighbor is a single mother with 7 kids. 4 of the kids are the sisters, who died awhile ago. She works two jobs to make ends meet and can't be home all the time.
So they do what they do best. Make salsa and cookies. And they would sit outside on the stoop and eat their food and share to anyone who passed by. Gangbangers, single mothers, whomever. They became known around the building and the security guards who worked there as the cookie girls.
The Treyside Blood control the neighborhood. But while the danger is very real every night coming home, they also come by to the girls place to get help studying, homework for the G.E.D., job prospects, anything to get out of the gangs and the only life they know. Contrary to popular belief, violence is not good for drug business and they don't really want to be in it. But these girls are bringing peace to their neighborhood. Just by baking cookies, reading stories to 7 kids when their mom can't come home, being a friend to the teens who have no other shoulder or role model they can see.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
In Australia, ranchers have thousands of acres and thousands of cattle. There had to be a way to keep the cattle free and yet within the ranch's boundaries. How do you keep cattle in only one land? Do you have the materials to build fences around your miles and miles of border? Even if you could, how do you patrol it?
Pharisees would build fences to keep the right cattle in, and the right cattle out. They had a dress code, circumcision, diet, behavior modifications,..etc. All these things to brand who was from the Jewish root and followed God, versus who was a Gentile.
Christians and churches have fences, boundary markers to tell who's in and who's out. We have behavioral codes, language, Friday night or behavioral do's and don'ts that distinguish one church Christian from another. We have churches in the past (Certainly not yours!) that have requested their young people cut their hair to an appropriate length so that God could use them more! We have people doing a million little cuts based on a person's sexual past, divorce rate, use of curse words, or even judgemental on being too broad or narrow-minded. (Including me).
Marketers get paid millions to tell us their products are the boundary markers and fences that make you one of the cattle that belong. You are from the herd of the Brooklyn hipster with your tight jeans and neck scarf. You are the surfer with your long hair and never been in shoes feet. If you drink Sprite, you'll quench your thirst more. If you're from New York, you'll like diet Coke and hate diet Pepsi.
You're so entrenched in these boundary markers and culture of the city, the church, the state, that you don't even realize you're part of it. Or maybe you do and just go along since life is comfortable.
A few ranchers thought a better idea than hammering down fences to keep their cattle in and other cattle out was to dig wells. Cattle never stray far from water and ranchers now knew where to always find their cattle. Jesus also gave us boundary markers. But he dug wells. By this they will know that you are my people. That you love one another. Please, put down the hammer. Love the social nerd, the stained lonely guy or woman who slept around, the people who culturally are on the outside of the marketing machine. Love the guy who can't stop saying fuck every other sentence. Love the guy who occasionally has to light up to make it sane through the day. Don't tell him/her that they should stop before they step into your community. Stop being appalled and start learning to see him as a person. May the way you love and your life be a living well that attracts everyone you come in contact with.
Dos, two beers, two Mexican beers Ray, the guy who sells me beers Me, the guy who drinks the beers Fa, a long long way to beer So, I think I'll have a beer La la la la la la la la (slurred) Tea, no thanks I'll have a beer And that brings us back to
So the person of subject in "The Cross & the Switchblade" just prophesied that an earth shattering calamity will strike New York very shortly and urging everyone to stock up on 30 days of food. This man is the founder of Times Square church and so actually has a lot more credibility than most.
As the reader, what is your first response? Is he just off his rocker? Has senility set in? Based on his status and authority should we move from New York to a safer harbor?
If this prophecy rings true, what will your response be? If it's false, what will your response be?
My opinion is that this doesn't seem to ring true. Or maybe I've been deaf and blind but I feel like we're doing a lot of good in New York so why would God want to destroy it? God loves New York. God's heart for New York is to save it, not destroy it. We're started a safe haven for sex-trafficking victims, we have done Reveal 2009, have starting loving people more and showing people money is not the identity of their lives. (not to mention the art, fashion, and great restaurants) But even if God does bring a "thousand fires", I believe that God would tell, even beg us to repent first before his wrath.
I don't believe it was very responsible for Wilkerson to deliver this message however well intentioned without seeking confirmation from other pastors in the city. If it was confirmed, then wouldn't a joint message be much stronger?
I believe nonetheless my role is to stand in the gap and be the intercessor for New York. Not that I am righteous but for the sake of His name, would he stay his hand. Look at the millions of people in New York and stay His hand. Or may His hand come down on me instead.
