Rarely do I watch Christian television programs. When I do, I get angry and embarrassed. I feel like I am watching “Begging for Dollars” or “Top My Testimony.” But I do pastor people whose lives have been changed by the gospel so imperfectly presented by many television evangelists. Their lives temper my generalized judgments and display the sovereignty of God.
Standing near me in the baptistry, she testified how her spiritual pilgrimage had led her from an antievangelical church to a ladies’ Bible study to praying to receive Christ with the host of “The 700 Club.” It was neither Pat Robertson’s theology nor his politics but the power of the Holy Spirit drawing her to believe that she, too, could know Christ.
At a luncheon, a businessman unsympathetic to evangelicalism startled me after I finished speaking apologetically about the recent TV scandals. “My mother-in-law left all her jewels to this TV evangelist,” he said. “The family was very angry. I told them—she did the right thing. For more than 15 years, the family seldom visited her, and her church never did. She looked forward every day to her hour with this TV evangelist. That was her time of inspiration. She had hope, joy, and was not afraid to die. He earned his pay!”
They lived together in the city far from our suburban church. Unmarried. Bisexual. Promiscuous. Addicted to alcohol and drugs. He visited our church at the invitation of a friend. She refused to attend. He accepted Christ. She did not. They separated over his desire for a changed life. Two years passed—I met them again. Married. Soon to be new parents. Free from addiction and immorality. Alone she had listened soberly to a TV evangelist preaching in a perspiring rage. Every sin he named she had committed. She prayed to the Christ who receives sinners, convinced that he would accept her. Their lives will never be the same.
At 82, she visited our church for the first time. “I want to be baptized,” she said trembling. We talked. “Have you ever been baptized?” I asked. “Why, no, Pastor! I’m not even saved. But I want to be.” In asking her how she became interested in becoming a Christian, she told me about the TV evangelist whose name she could not remember, who urged his audience to find a nearby church where someone could help them grow as Christians. She prayed for such a church. She drove through the neighborhood until she saw our building. That night I had the joy of watching her receive the Christ she sought. At 94, she still inspires everyone she meets with her vibrant faith.
Franchising Salvation
Ever since God first chose people to be his, those people have sought for some way to franchise salvation. Seldom have “the chosen” accepted taking the Good News outside traditional forums.
Yet the Good News really belongs to the disenfranchised. The blind beggar, the leper, the harlots, the fishermen, the tax collector, the demoniacs, the centurion, the common people, and the Gentiles—all heard the Good News outside the local franchise.
We make noble talk about reaching the unevangelized in America, but we are quite selective about the sinners we minister to. We like our sinners clean and acculturated to the importance of our style and traditions.
But a large and growing oral communication culture exists in America, and it does not fit nicely into our pews. Its members respond best to communications media that are narrative, oral, contemporary, and visual. They are suspicious of our traditions, for we resemble the Judaizers in our attempts to convert them. We regard their culture as secular and ours as so spiritual. Television is a natural entry point for the gospel into their lives. It gives them a private opportunity to hear the gospel.
An excellent case exists for convicting Christian television of many abuses. An even better case exists for indicting the church on those same charges. Merchandising, marketing, fund raising, immorality, fraud, and heresy have found great homes in Christian publishing, parachurch ministries, mission ministries, and the local church itself.
Those who mismanage funds with sinister motives have always existed in the church. They even existed right under the nose of Jesus Christ in the Twelve. We would do well to study how he illustrated that the sovereignty of God cannot be thwarted by such perversion. He is the Lord of the whole harvest, of both tares and wheat.
I do not intend to become a Christian TV groupie. But neither will I discount the place of television ministry. I know there are devoted men and women of God in broadcast ministries. I also know that the gospel—and neither the messenger nor the medium—is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
