It’s hard to understand why Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, will burn a Koran on September 11. After my 36 years of Bible study, three degrees from Bible-believing schools and 28 years of preaching in Bible-centered churches, it’s impossible for me to cite one instance in the life or teaching of Jesus Christ that could justify such an act.

Taking Pastor Jones at his word that he sees all Muslims as violent extremists who want to impose sharia law in the United States, it is still clear the New Testament teaches Christians to love even their enemies. When He said from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), Jesus showed consummate generosity to the people who spit on Him, mocked Him, beat Him and ultimately murdered Him.

Later, one of the first missionaries, Stephen, as he was stoned to death, prayed to God and said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:60)

The Apostle Paul instructed the Romans that when it comes to those who harm us, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21).

Following his service as a missionary abroad, surely Pastor Jones knows the Koran is more than the Holy Book of the Islamic religion. For most Muslims, the Koran represents a culture, a heritage, a people and even a language. Burning the Koran is not instructive, but insulting. It also says we don’t really believe the message we preach, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Surely Pastor Jones knows burning a Koran will not bring a Muslim to faith in Christ. Surely he knows insulting Muslims will not make Christians or our message more appealing to them. Certainly the pastor knows burning things belongs to groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis and, yes, terrorists.

If the pastor knows these things, then what could be his reason for doing something so contrary to Christ and the Gospel?

Burning a Koran is un-Christian, unkind and un-American. Pastor Jones and those who intend to aid and abet his intended act should confess their sinful attitudes and repent of them.

Only after the Pastor admits he is wrong will Muslims take seriously whatever else he may want to say to them.

Rob +

During a visit this week to my precious mother at the St. Francis nursing home in Buffalo, New York, I had an unexpected reunion with Beryl Kinney, the first person to clearly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with my twin brother, Paul, and me, when we were teenagers. She had come to visit Mom, too. Beryl was also the one to lead my mother to the stage at a conference center where the famed Dale Evans Rogers had just shared her testimony of faith in Christ. That night, in 1977, Mom gave her heart to the Lord.

Beryl is as vivacious in early 80’s as she was when Paul and I first met her 37 years ago. A devout Catholic, she is also one of the most multi-denominational Christians I’ve ever known. She’s as comfortable with Baptists as she is with Pentecostals, Presbyterians or Methodists. To Beryl, if you confess Jesus as Lord, you’re a member of the same family.

This generosity of spirit–that is, accepting and affirming all of God’s people–is what the word “ecumenical” means. I know it’s a bad word in some circles, but it never has been to me. As Beryl introduced my brother and me to Jesus, she also introduced us to His household–Christians of every label, tradition and style.

After making our public professions of faith in Christ at Emmanuel United Methodist Church, we learned quickly how to enjoy everything “the church” had to offer. We went to Sunday morning service with these original “Holy Rollers” and learned about John Wesley and his circuit riding preachers. We went to midnight mass at the local Jesuit university where we came to appreciate the majesty of God through liturgy, incense and Gregorian chants. On Sunday nights we learned the importance of Bible study at a little independent Baptist church–and we felt the power of the Holy Spirit at midweek service with an Assembly of God congregation.

All of this came together, though, at “Monday Night Prayer Group.” This gathering was an eclectic blend of Christians from nearly enough denominations to represent the whole alphabet. Along with the Catholics that hosted us, there were . . .

Adventists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Disciples, Episcopalians, Free Methodists, Holiness, Independents, Jews (Paul and I were two of them!), Lutherans, Mennonites, Orthodox, Presbyterians, Quakers, Reformed, Salvationists (of the Army brand, that is) and Wesleyans.

This is what the word “ecumenical” means. It comes from the Greek, oikoumenikós, the same word from which we get “economy.” It referred to the “household,” meaning everything that revolved around the functioning of a family within their domicile. Through Beryl’s role modeling, this is how we came to know the Body of Christ, as our brothers and sisters regardless of what label they wore.

Paul and I would later come to appreciate the importance of every member of God’s family through the most intense years of the pro-life movement. We were often in jail with Christians of every variety. When you’re in prison clothes, all you have is your love for the Lord and each other–no denominational membership cards allowed!

It’s this history that led my brother “back to Bethel” this weekend. After 33 years of being a Protestant Evangelical minister, Paul was ordained on Saturday as one of the few married priests in the Catholic church. It was a beautiful service, and the message preached by the visiting bishop, Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, Florida, would have been just as well received in any of the churches I routinely preach in as it was at St. Joseph’s in York, Pennsylvania, where the service took place.

“Fr. Paul” will continue the work he has always done through our sister organization, the National Pro-Life Center, as well as take up part-time pastoral duties at a largely Vietnamese parish in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Oh, and of course, he remains happily married to his wife of 33 years, Becky, and continues to be “the other kind of father” to his eight children.

God often takes us back to where we started our spiritual journeys. I’m very happy that my brother has found his Bethel in this new–well, make that old–place.

Rob +

Paul Schenck kneels to be ordained a priest.

This past Monday I received a great honor: I was officially recognized as “chaplain” of the Capitol Hill Executive Service Club, a unique private association that has met inside the US Capitol for almost 40 years. I’ve been a member for ten of those years, and I”m grateful to God for it.

The “Club,” as we affectionately know it, is made up of some of the most interesting–and I might add, kind and thoughtful–people in Washington. They are mostly retired now, but from distinguished careers in the White House, the Congress, the courts, and the military (we have both generals and admirals among us). Some made history–like our much beloved and late General Milnor Roberts, for whom, not long ago, I had the bitter-sweet honor of presiding at his funeral. General Roberts was a true American hero. He stormed the beaches Normandy, fought his way up a bluff under direct enemy fire, penetrated behind lines and went on the fight at the Battle of the Bulge. OK, I digress–but it’s easy to get carried away about this crowd!

Back to being named Chaplain . . .

Receiving this honor was humbling and long-awaited. I’ve come to love these folks with whom I have breakfast almost every Monday morning. They are people much like my late father. Though we do have newer and younger members, for the most part the demographic places the average member somewhere in the seventh and eighth decades of life. They came up at another time and at another place in the world–with strong values centered on duty, devotion and service. That’s a lot of experience–and knowledge–and I draw on it routinely.

As demonstrated by the wide array of speakers we host each week, our members not only have an insatiable thirst for more knowledge, they can effectively engage any subject. One week it will be a Supreme Court justice addressing some nuance of constitutional jurisprudence; the next week the chief engineer in charge of protecting spacecrafts from space debris. It may even be–well, a newly appointed chaplain talking about the importance of “body, soul and spirit.” (They were extraordinarily attentive during my acceptance speech on Monday!)

Of course, becoming the “official chaplain” to these very, very interesting and interested people leaves me with a big challenge. Pastors will always find the needs and demands of their congregations unique–but this one, well . . . it goes on ad infinitum!  Having said that, on Monday I told my new “parishioners” that come the beginning of each week, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else–or be anything else, but their chaplain.

“I’m grateful for what I’ve experienced on Capitol Hill,” I said. “For ministry moments with presidents, leaders of Congress and with Supreme Court justices. Yet, I’m equally grateful for having come to know each of you–and for the way you’ve invited me into your lives.”

I meant every word of it.

Just call me Chappy . . .

Rob +

Today the following notice appeared on the website for the Marriage Bureau of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia:

NOTE: Pursuant to the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, A18-248, effective March 3, 2010, same sex couples may apply for marriage licenses in the District of Columbia.

Yes, the notice is in red font. The color seems to highlight the alarming content. As of today, Wednesday, March 3, 2010, our country’s showcase city–the seat of American culture, politics and influence in the world–takes a huge step backward, to a morally primitive time. It is not “progress,” as the proponents of same-sex legal pairings assert; it is the opposite. It recalls a period in human history where sexual behavior was indiscreet, unbridled, animalistic and injurious.

The revelation of God’s moral law on Sinai and the subsequent charge to mothers and fathers to model and instruct their children in right and wrong behavior was the cure to an otherwise self-destructive impulse. Research has shown that the human drive towards sex is stronger than the drive for food–and it’s not terribly discriminating. A big part of “civilization” has to do with curbing, controlling and steering this “power” into positive, constructive and ethical directions.

I’ve been engaged for a long time in the conversation and debate on same-sex sexual relationships–and the attendant proposals for publicly sanctioning them with laws and certificates. The argument goes something like this, “There’s no difference between heterosexual and homosexual relationships, therefore gay and lesbian people should be allowed to express their love just like straight people do.” I agree–to a point.

Men should not only be allowed to love other men, but encouraged to do so. In fact, the Bible says this is the only way we can know for sure that we are “saved,” part of the redeemed; indeed, that we are Christians at all, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14) Obviously, the same is true for women. Love between men and men and women and women is part of the experience of knowing God, who is Himself “Love.” (See 1 John 4:7-11) However, this love of God, and by extension, this “love of the brethren,” is not expressed sexually. In fact, most love bonds do not–or at least should not–have a sexual component. Love for children, for example, is never to be expressed sexually. The same is true of love between siblings.

“Well, of course not!” I hear the celebrants of today’s same-sex marriage licensing saying. “Everyone knows that!” Well, not true. Sadly, there are plenty of people in the world–even in our own country–who don’t respect these moral boundaries on sex. Recent headlines bear that out. Sexual predation of children is on the rise and often includes unspeakably horrible acts, including torture and brutal murders. We think of these things as frightening aberrations, but that’s only true of human culture in the recent past. For example, in ancient times–in fact, in Bible times–pederasty and incest were rampant; inbreeding was practiced as a genetic purifier for royal family lines; and girls were routinely seized and held as sexual slaves by much older men.

Religious, moral and legal governors of sexual behavior are relatively recent innovations. They are only a few thousand to a few hundred years old, and there are plenty of places left in the world where they either remain unknown, non-practiced or are ignored. Just yesterday I sat in on a heart-breaking briefing on the current state of world-wide human trafficking, much of it driven by the sex-trade. My wife, Cheryl, is in training now to be a counselor to victims of child sexual abuse. She’ll tell you just how devastating and life-long these injuries are to soul, mind and body.

All this to say that human sexual behavior cannot be left to simple impulse. Human beings are built for a certain kind of sexual interaction. The body’s architecture alone makes that quite plain, but the soul and psyche even more so. Children are not built for sexual interaction with each other or with adults; and men are not built for sexual interaction with men, neither are women with women. And that grand result of God’s exquisite sexual design, the conception and bearing of children, can only happen between a male and female, wether through intercourse or in a test tube. It’s simple yet profound: It takes a daddy and a mommy to make a baby.

Let me remind everyone that there’s nothing new about what happened today at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Marriage Bureau. In fact, it’s very old. Thousands of years ago, the world at the base of Mount Sinai looked very much like Indiana Avenue, NW, the street outside the Marriage Bureau office. Actually, it was far worse. On the Day of Pentecost, when the Christian Church was born at Jerusalem, Greco-Roman athletes competed in the nude and engaged in homosexual acts to titillate insatiably wild crowds. Worse, Roman men of stature kept wives to sire children by, but young boys as sexual play toys. Temple prostitutes were used and abused as an act of worship.

It was into this kind of moral abandon that the Jews first taught God’s moral code and Christians later were called to evangelize. Both remain our challenge today. It was this kind of sin-sick, miserably wretched, often shockingly coarse and even frightening world that “God so loved,” and to which He “gave His only begotten son.” (John 3:16) This is the solution to the backsliding of human culture. It’s not to cower, shrink back, denounce or scold, but to love with the love of God; it’s to make known the Truth that alone can “set you free.” (John 8:32)

If there’s anything to be disappointed about today here in the Nation’s Capital, it’s that we thought human progress had come so far, but, in fact, it has regressed. Should that surprise us? The preacher in Ecclesiastes doesn’t think so: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) This is why the wise Apostle would later write to us, “[L]et us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9)

With the help of God, let us get on to the work at hand . . .

Rob +

Or is it intractable flexibility?

I started out leading prayer this morning outside Blair House, the site of today’s bi-partisian summit on health care reform convened by President Obama. Call me a blithe optimist or simply naive, but I monitored nearly every minute of it thinking, “Well, let’s give the two parties a chance. Let’s give the president a chance.” 6 hours and 22 minutes later, it seemed it ended like it began.

I will give the President high points for taking the time to let the two parties speak. He did hear them out–and he gave his opponents ample time to speak–and they spoke effectively. Of course, there’s a difference between “hearing” and “listening.” “Listen” means you accept, appreciate and heed what is said. The President and the leaders of Congress heard a lot today, but they don’t appear to have listened.

Both sides predictably had everything well well scripted and rehearsed–including the ending.That’s not cynical, it’s necessary. I’m glad the public conversation about health care has been re-ignited, but it seems the current proposals are still securely in place. That means should any of the present bills pass, there will be more abortion, this time made possible by tax dollars. There will also be government management of health insurance. I’m definitely not optimistic about that.

God told the prophet Ezekiel, “the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.” (Ezekiel 3:7) Even though the people would not listen to Ezekiel, he was no less responsible to deliver the message!

There’s still time for you to weigh in. Pray–then make calls to your representative and your two senators. Pastors: Tell your congressional delegation how many are in your congregation and what you hear them saying.

More to follow . . .

Rob +

Just got definite word the President will infringe on the sanctity of marriage and the family in tonight’s State of the Union address, when he asks Congress to repeal the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on homosexual behavior in the military. The proposal is a huge problem for morale and for the privacy of our men and women in uniform, not to mention for chaplains and even our relationship to other nations and cultures. Watch for my post on this after the State of the Union.

Rob +

Yesterday’s election of Scott Brown to the US Senate is rocking Washington, DC. It’s as if everyone here is dazed–Democrats and Republicans alike. Brown is an interesting study. Pro-abortion voices decry him as anti-choice and pro-life voices decry him as not pro-life enough, while gay groups denounce him as “homophobic” for not supporting same-sex marriage and pro-family groups thump him for advocating “civil unions.”

I’ve gotten a lot of E-mails on Senator-Elect Brown, including from a top sitting US Senator and top Christian leaders in Massachusetts and elsewhere. He is an interesting study. As far as I can tell, Sen. Brown is what 18th Century founder of the Methodist Church John Wesley called a “Bible Christian.” The best information I have is that the Brown family’s home church is New England Chapel in Franklin, MA. It’s in the network of new Christian Reformed Churches. That is, the congregation is contemporary in its culture and style, “Evangelical” in its ethos, and soft in its delivery of its message. At its core ,though, it’s old-time Calvinistic Reformed Christianity, which can be strict and severe. (See Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.) Still, Brown seems to define himself religiously. Among other things, he has a serious relationship to a community of Catholic nuns; definitely not typical of Christian Reformed.

Senator Brown’s pastor, Chris Mitchell , a graduate of the evangelically renowned Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where Billy Graham once chaired the board, seems like the kind of minister I generally keep company with and the church is very familiar in the way in conducts its ministries. (We posted a video of one of their recent baptismal services–check it out on our Faith and Action homepage.)

I’ll post more on Scott Brown and his faith. For now, I encourage you to pray for the senator-elect from the Bay State. He’ll need it–badly.

Rob +

“Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.” Genesis 25:8

Last week was a painful one for our family. My dad, Henry “Hank” Schenck, died at age 80 of complications related to his terminal cancer. My mother survives him along with my brother, Paul, (and me, of course) our two sisters, his older sister, and, his beloved 13 grandchildren.

My dad was diagnosed in April. Since then Paul and I have made innumerable trips to our native home of Buffalo, New York. We have helped consistently with everything from his visits to the renowned Roswell Park Cancer Institute, to taking care of his personal business, to searching for his favorite cream soda.

Dad, who quickly became immobile, and Mom, who lost her hearing some time ago and is wheelchair bound due to post-polio syndrome, entered the St. Francis nursing home four years ago. The care of the nuns and staff there has been extraordinary. Still, there has always been more to do, and it’s kept all four kids very busy and sometimes grandkids, too.

When it became obvious Dad had begun the dying process ten days ago, the family arrived in waves to say their good byes. The night before he passed into eternity, the whole family, except for two grandchildren, gathered in Mom and Dad’s room. We each paid tribute to him by kneeling next to his bed, saying our last words, and kissing him on the forehead. Two of the grandchildren sang to him. Then we blessed him in Hebrew and English.

The last hours were like a scene from the Bible. The Patriarch, now rendered silent and motionless, surrounded by his devoted wife of 53 years and their many descendents. Six hours later, with only my older sister and me holding his hands while my mother lay sleeping nearby, Dad left us without a struggle. He had made his peace with God, he was enveloped in the love of the family he adored, and the last words he heard were from an ancient prayer based on the Psalms of David that I read to him. I can’t imagine how it could have been better.

The title of this post has to do with a conversation I had with Dad on a particularly miserable day when he was told by his surgeon the cancer was inoperable. “Well, looks like I’m going to die,” he said in almost despondent resignation. “I just ask you to help me die with dignity.”

That last phrase has been stolen and tarnished by those who promote euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, but Dad wanted no such thing. He believed ardently in the sanctity of all human life, including his own. All he wanted was what was most valuable to him– our love, our prayers, and our companionship along the last stretch of his earthly journey.

We all took his entreaty seriously and did everything we could to ease his pilgrimage. We said everything we needed to say while he could still hear it. We hugged and kissed him more than we had throughout our entire lives. We prayed with and for him, and asked thousands of others to do the same.

I miss Dad terribly, but I know we fulfilled his last request, and there are no regrets. We did it for him and for Mom. We helped him die, and for that, I’m grateful to the God who received him.

Farewell, Dad. We’ll see you real soon.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

– Philippians 4:4-7

Cultural seismometers may go crazy today, but it doesn’t mean we all must dive under our beds. There is a way to stay on balance even when the earth beneath you is shifting—and it’s simpler than you may think . . .

It’s 3:45 AM and I am up, wide-awake and praying. No, not about the impending California State Supreme Court decision affecting marriage. Nor am I praying about President Obama’s pick for the next US Supreme Court, which he may announce today.

Instead, I’ve been praying for my father, Hank Schenck, who is dying of cancer. Oh, I’ll get around to praying for the other things, but Dad comes first. I tell you this because it’s helping me to keep things in proper perspective. There are the things that matter; and then there are the things that really matter.

When I was in Bible college preparing for the ministry, my mentors drove into me, “God first, family second, everything else third.”

Like so many things, I didn’t get the practical implementation of this quite right until only recently. Ask my now adult kids about the time I “allocated” to them during my early years of ministry. Back then I was sure it was plenty, given all the demands on my life, but it wasn’t—not by a long shot.

So, while today carries a potential double-whammy to one of the core institutions in human civilization and American culture (and I draw a critical distinction between the two), one thing remains immanently more important: Dad.

I say it again because a lot of people may be shaken up by what happens today: The California Supreme Court, representing the judicial branch of the largest state in our Union, may rule that a constitutional amendment by the people of that state is, well, unconstitutional. To my layman’s mind, that seems ludicrous, because the only way to change a constitution is by amendment. If the court strikes down this amendment, it will say two things: The California state constitution is immutable and seven judges are the only ones ever able to discern its meaning and application. That’s weird.

Should President Obama announce his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court today, it could signal a prospective federal justice sympathetic to such an outcome in California and receptive to a national challenge on the definition of marriage. (I know the President has affirmed that marriage is only for a man and woman, but his legal philosophy makes room for a different finding on that question once its examined by his judicial appointees.)

Notwithstanding the outcomes of all these machinations, one thing remains clear to me: God, family and everything else remains the order for today, tomorrow and forever. Even if I lived in some God-awful place, like Somalia, or North Korea, or Cuba, these would still be the right priorities for me.

Should Prop 8’s success go down in flames today, “God, Family, Then Everything Else,” will not only stand, it will become our “modus vivendi,” or way of living, in the midst of cultural tension. This is the way the early Christians transformed the Roman world, a cultural environment in far greater conflict with Biblical Truth than what we here experience now or may experience in the near future.

It was because of their love of God, love of one another and love for even their enemies, that the first generations of Christians were able to be salt and light. Many of their killers were converted in the end and whole empires embraced their message.

When I’m done praying for Dad this morning, I’ll pray for the rest of my family, friends and loved ones. Then I’ll pray for my enemies and the enemies of God’s people around the world. Then, I’ll pray for the California Supreme Court, the people of California, our President and his impending nominee for the High Court. Oh, and I’ll pray for our country and for countries around the world that are far worse off than our own.

That should keep me on balance—and get more done than if I spend a sleepless night fretting about all of this.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let us pray . . .

After a day of escalating criticism for Barack Obama’s choice of Rick Warren for the opening prayer at the Inauguration, I found myself wondering, Why is it OK for gay activist groups to say Rick Warren is wrong on his beliefs about same-sex marriage, but it is not OK for Rick Warren to say gay activist groups are wrong on their beliefs about same-sex marriage? In a truly inclusive society, all people get to speak their minds and be heard.

Then, again, maybe gay rights groups do not believe in a truly inclusive society after all. That would be OK, but why not come out and say it?