Perspective on the JMU Hate-Preacher

I caught onto this viral news story about a "preacher of hate" who was "drowned out by a song of love" last week at James Madison University in Virginia. I decided it would make for a good discussion series for Spiritual Snacks' new YouTube Channel.  Links to the original story as well as other material that helped give me perspective on this situation are given at the bottom!

Part 1: Do Christians Sin?

The Burden of the LORD

I was, for the first time, a counselor at Camp Woodmen this year, and the experience has fostered some truly incredible changes in my attitude and behavior in the weeks since. One of the many great lessons for me was encouragement - about which I have so much more to say at some point - but encouragement also indirectly led me to what I now write about. After serving as a counselor for 7 days and putting every ounce of energy I could muster into maintaining the best and highest quality experience for each of my campers, I had done a lot of encouraging and had really seen the incredible power of it! But by the end of that time, I had extrapolated an even greater principle, of which encouragement is just a sub-heading.

This year at camp, I had something of an epiphany: I realized that I had many important things to say that God has wanted me to say for a long time. In particular, I had important things to say to the people who mean the most to me. How much I loved them and how much I appreciate the things they've done for me. How one person's example of faith had impacted me. How much I missed someone, and how I have failed them by not telling them this when they needed to hear it, but also how I'm ready to do better. How I've wanted to tell them this all along and even seriously thought about saying it before, but simply let those moments pass by unacknowledged. I came to refer to this need to tell these people these things as "the burden of the LORD," and I've spent a lot of time meditating on the gravity of that phrase.

Malachi 3:6 - "I, the LORD, Do Not Change"

God’s law is no exception to Malachi 3:6 – God does not change! Contrary to popular thought, Jesus did not come preaching a “new” religion of love. Instead, He came declaring that the Israelites had never truly embraced the love that God had commanded through the law and the prophets. This is clearly seen in the following passage from Zechariah:

Zechariah 7:9-11

 This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.' But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.