Cancel Culture

I was thinking about all the things that had happened to me over the last 15 years yesterday morning, as I was taking Fiver on his early walk along the golf course near our home.  It’s been raining with sporadic thunder and lightning today, so we had to forgo our long trek and substitute it with a visit to our own backyard!

But yesterday was beautiful.  It was cool and crisp with bright blue skies and as such… well… it was just an overall wonderful fall day in Oklahoma.  As we trod along the path yesterday, I was mainly mulling over all the ways in which Piper’s and my faith was attacked in the midst of… negatively speaking… the roughest, most emotional and heart-wrenching time in our lives.  Yet on the positive side, it was also the most coordinated and well-prepared adventure in faith that we had ever embarked upon together!

Looking back, I can see how God had been preparing us for this fight for many years.  By the time we returned to our home town in northern California after attending Bible College in Oklahoma, we were totally focused on the logistics of our plan of faith… and even though we did not yet have all the specific facts of Piper’s situation… we knew enough to put all of our faith into God and Word.  We knew that what she was facing was without cure in modern science and that God and His directions to us was the ONLY plausible path that we could afford to follow.

To be perfectly honest, when the various attacks were leveled at us, they did nothing to move our stand of faith… and if anything, they worked to embolden our faith even more!  What they did do though, was to confuse and frustrate me as I was completely surprised when certain folks did not support us in our faith and in fact, tried their best to weaken… or better said, to destroy it!

My quiet thoughts and Fiver’s concentrated sniffing were suddenly broken on yesterday’s walk when out of nowhere it dawned on me and I blurted aloud, that… to use today’s newest buzz phrase… the devil was using unknowing pawns to try and CANCEL our Faith with the way they questioned how we felt that our faith was leading us, my every natural decision for Piper’s welfare, along with many false narratives about us, including the way we raised our family, handled our finances, and many more tales that were definitely not based in reality.

As I stood there and watched a distant golfer line up his tee-shot, I realized that the enemy of our faith was not just trying to steal or CANCEL our faith, but as it turned out, was also wanting to CANCEL our good name, our history, our successes in life and ministry as well as our legacy.  At one point a few years before Piper passed, I also noticed that some folks close to us had stopped asking about her, began to reference her as already gone and hardly ever even mention her name!  In retrospect yesterday, it was almost like the enemy was also attempting to CANCEL her very existence and memory!

I was reminded during my Bible Study time this morning that Jesus warned us of these kinds of assault when He declared in John 10:10 that “A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came so that my sheep will have life and so that they will have everything they need.” (God’s Word ©)  A quick look at the original meanings of the three descriptive adjectives in this verse shows that a more accurate translation of the thief’s job description would read, “A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy...” (The Passion Translation)

The more commonly used word translated “kill” actually means to, “sacrifice by fire, to slaughter” (Strong’s/Thayer’s) while the King James Dictionary informs us that “slaughter in the Bible usually denotes great destruction of life by violent means.”

With this information in hand, I am much more able to understand what was being leveled at us back then… and why!  It actually makes sense in that you and I as Christians are part of the family of God and the enemy of our faith likes for nothing better than to make a huge mess of our lives… to the point that what was once thought of as something beautiful is not only taken out… but done so in a terribly sadistic and gruesome way.

For me it was very visible.  I purposely have refrained from posting pictures of my Piper as the symptoms of the Alzheimer’s encroached upon her.  The word slaughter is an accurate term for the way her natural beauty was stolen from her as she went from a trim normal healthy, firm weight of 105 lbs to a barely existing 45lbs at the end.  I am thankful that God’s early on directions to me to saturate us in the Word, helped me to keep my eyes on the life of Christ in her and see past the outside and stay focused on the real Piper on the inside.

So, what’s the answer… the plan of action for you and me?  The answer is staying focused on, confident in and expectant of the Word of God working in, for and through you unto others.  It sounds easy… but takes commitment, effort and a want-to that is stronger than sleeping in for another hour, watching one more TV show, or reading that exciting novel instead of your Bible!

I’ve been in many people’s houses where a nice clean, new looking Bible was prominently displayed in the living room (my parents did that for awhile)… but to be honest… I’d be much more impressed if I saw a well-worn, torn and marked up one instead!  The other day I pulled out my not-so-old NIV Study Bible that I purposely purchased for use when I went to Bible College and I laughed when I noticed how old and worn it looked!  I spent a lot of money on that volume… and it was worth every penny! 

I’ve studied, marked up and worn out its pages enough that my heart knowledge of God’s Word within that book have helped me through many ferocious onslaughts of the enemy trying to CANCEL my faith or my life.  His CANCEL CULTURE mentality and tricks won’t work on me!

Can you say the same?  I hope so!

Keep having a good week while you’re EXPECTING God’s Best in your life!