blurring the focus on the family
I grew up in the shadow of men such as Franklin Graham and James Dobson. Focus on the Family was revered by my family; Adventures in Odyssey provided great entertainment on long road trips. Every fall, I would make my way to the Dollar General and buy an assorted array of tchotchkes to put into old shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.
But the Spirit of the Living God smashed this all to pieces.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26
The focus is, and always shall be on Him and through Him to the Father!
As my view has shifted, I have come to see that Graham and Dobson have carried forward a grave injustice – limiting the cause of the gospel for others and perpetuating the work of the enemy. I do not call them to repentance because I do not believe that they are brothers in Christ, but by the very fact that they claim to be. I speak this:
- Repent of spreading fear of Islam instead of loving our neighbors
- Repent of not listening to and mourning with black brothers and sisters – instead defending the mantle of systemic racism
- Repent for perpetuating generalizations and lies of the LBTQ+ community that will lead to more harm
- Repent for your silence on the need to be stewards of Creation
- Repent of being fearful of the ‘other’ and the ‘different’
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Tim 1:7