“Dead Faith”

“If a brother and sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” James 2:15-17

We knew of a pastor of a great big church, who was a big “faith preacher.” He was very “blessed indeed.” Years ago, we were living in another area of Haiti. We were really struggling to buy food to feed the children in our old orphanage. This big “faith pastor” called us and wanted to stay in our home and conduct a Haitian pastor’s seminar on “money and riches!”

At that time, we were so poor ourselves that our orphanage had a refrigerator that didn’t even have a door! When he came to visit us, we wanted him to “see the poor.” We wanted to “take him away” from his luxury for just a few days so that he could see what was happening not far from the U.S. When we told him we wanted him to see our little orphanage, he said, “I didn’t come here to see your orphanage. I didn’t come here to see the poor. I came here to preach faith! I’m going to preach on money and riches.” It really hurt my heart because he didn’t even want to “see” the poor.

 He conducted his seminars and went back home, grumbling about everything. One day, I had to go to a really remote village, by four-wheel-drive and by mule…Bobby had to stay behind and take care of some business. While I was gone, the pastor called and said, “Bobby, how’s everything? Where is Sherry?” Bobby said, “she had to go to the mountains, and where she was going, she had to take a mule.” The pastor said, “Well, my wife is driving a Mercedes Benz and I’m driving a Cadillac! I guess we know who is blessed!”

That pastor no longer has his big church and has had many problems in his life. When he was able, he did not even want to “look at the poor.” He never wanted to leave even a small offering for food… He had the “opportunity” to bless the poor, but he failed. His faith was “without works,” because it was “dead faith.” Today, let’s show the Lord our faith with our works! Blessings will come!!! Have a great day! Sherry