Our current theological literature, to my knowledge, does not seriously consider disease pathogens from a theological point of view—that is, are they the work of God or Satan? Much less does this literature ask the question, Does God mandate us to eliminate pathogens?
Posts filed under First 30
Rick Warren - The First Member of the RWI Board of Reference
By Brian Lowther
I'm very happy to report that Rick Warren has agreed to join our Board of Reference.
One of our first major goals is to establish a board of reference of respected individuals in the Christian community who both knew Ralph Winter and his heart for the unreached peoples of the world as well as those who also have an understanding of his last major initiative, that of founding the RWI.
We thought of Pastor Rick because, not only is he a very prominent name in the Evangelical world, but he has expressed his admiration for Winter many times over the years, culminating in his very heartfelt address at Winter's memorial service in May 2009.
Barbara Winter and I met with him briefly last Friday (March 18). Before I could finish my sentence inviting him to be on our board of reference he answered, "In a blink, absolutely without a doubt!" And then he gave me and Barb a big hug. I was caught off guard by his enthusiasm and friendliness.
Thank God for moments like this that serve to put some wind in our sails.
Why We are not Winning Very Many Educated People to Christ
By Brian Lowther
What distressed Ralph Winter about those who accepted disease and suffering as if it were from God’s hand was the way it profaned the true nature of God – i.e. loving, good, powerful, etc. Winter looked to the example of Jesus, who was deeply concerned about physical deformities, disease and suffering. Jesus was decidedly not in the business of inflicting people with pain or diseases to deepen their spiritual lives. In fact, if God is in that business, why did Jesus go around relieving people of pain and sickness? You can see why Winter agonized over the fact that for centuries much of the evil, suffering and violence in the world has been attributed to God. He was convinced that this was the reason we were not winning very many educated people to Christ. And he was convinced that if this notion continued, many of those millions of rural people and uneducated people we had recently won would eventually lose their faith just as they have in Europe and much of America.
Disease as Evidence of the Cosmic War
By Brian Lowther
Dr. Rendle Short comes tentatively to the conclusion that ‘the happenings in this world, in fact, and its moral disasters, its wars and wickedness, its physical catastrophes, and its sicknesses, may be part of a great warfare due to the interplay of forces such as we see in the book of Job, the malice of the devil in one hand and the restraints imposed by God on the other.’
Paul Tournier in A Doctor’s Casebook writes, ‘Doubtless there are many doctors who in their struggle against disease have had, like me, the feeling that they were confronting, not something passive, but a clever and resourceful enemy.’
Quoted from The Gospel of Mark: The New Daily Study Bible, edited by William Barclay
John Piper's Thoughts Related to the RWI
Quoting Piper: "In recent years Ralph Winter has waved another wartime flag. It's worth waving here. God may use it to send some of you in a direction of ministry you never thought was ministry. Winter has been calling our attention to the effects of sin and Satan at the microbiological level..."
The Island - a Fictional Narrative to Illustrate the Cosmic Conflict
By Brian Lowther
Imagine an island about the size of Cuba, with a population of about 3 million people, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the early 1950’s. It is a lush, green, tropical paradise with fertile farmland and many natural resources. It is a fairly modernized nation, with a very wise and just president who is universally adored by the people.
On the island, justice is swift and therefore there is a very low crime rate, very little corruption, and the murder rate is astoundingly zero. By all accounts, it is one of the best and safest places to live in the entire world.
One day, the president leaves on a fourteen-day diplomatic journey to negotiate trade agreements with some countries in Europe. The day after he leaves, in the early hours of the morning, a fire breaks out at the communications towers on the highest mountain of the island. All of the communications equipment is damaged or destroyed. Cutting off the island from the outside.
On the second day in the early hours of the morning a bomb hits a house in one of the villages and everyone inside is killed. Rescue workers, police officers and villagers gather round the scene to search through the wreckage. As they sift through debris, they find evidence that the bomb was sent from the president. On every piece of bomb shrapnel, they find the official presidential insignia. Every islander knows that only the president has access to this emblem, so the only explanation is that the president sent the bomb. By nightfall the island leaders determine that the people who lived in the house were spies. On the island, justice is swift and espionage is considered treason punishable by immediate death. This explains why the president bombed this home. All the islanders go to sleep that night with a sense of shock, but also comfort in the fact that crime does not go unpunished on their idyllic little island.
On the third day, in the early hours of the morning another bomb hits the island, and the next day, and again the next day, and each and every day for the next 10 days.
The official explanation changes from “These people deserved this,” to “Though we don’t know what reasons the president may have for this bombing, his record shows that he always works for the best interest of our island nation and its people. Because the communications towers have been destroyed, there is no way to contact him so it is likely that we will not know for sure until he returns. But we know that he is good, wise and just leader, and thus he must have a good reason.”
As the bombings get more arbitrary and kill so many seemingly innocent people, the islanders begin to question the motives of the president. Each day the leaders attempt to explain away his reasons, but eventually they too begin to question.
Some of the islanders become so angry about the bombings and so full of sorrow for their friends and family members that have been killed, that they turn on the president. These rebels decide that when the president returns, they will immediately arrest him and put him on trial.
For reasons unknown to the islanders, the president’s return is delayed. As the hours tick by—awaiting the president’s return—a skirmish breaks out between the rebels and the loyalists.
It isn’t long before the entire nation becomes embroiled in a civil war. As the fighting and chaos reaches a feverish pitch those that have boats flee the island as hastily as they can, running for their lives.
They race out into the open sea and when they have traveled just beyond the edge of island’s visibility, they come upon a huge enemy armada of battle ships.
In that moment of stark clarity they all realize that it wasn’t the president who was bombing their island. It was the enemy armada. Somehow this enemy force stole the presidential insignia and used it to engineer a brilliant sneak attack.
Summary
As John Eldredge points out his book Epic, "Most people live as though the story has no villain. And that makes life very confusing."
