“Not for the Righteous” — Episode 9

A Praying Time

Chapter 25

After much prayer, Rev. Mitchell was led of the Lord to have a meeting with Pastor Remington. He and Pastor Ridley stepped into an elaborately furnished office decked with gold and royal blue drapes, gold-plated lamp stands, a rich mahogany desk with matching padded chairs, a leather couch, a mahogany center table with two matching side tables. Pastor Remington was watching the news on his flat screen television when they entered his office. He muted the television. Once seated, Rev. Mitchell shared with Pastor Remington his reason for visiting his church the previous Sunday and his reason for his meeting with him.

“I do thank you for worshiping with us,” Pastor Remington said. “I trust the services were a blessing to you.”

“I must say it was an interesting experience,” Rev. Mitchell said. “This was my first time sitting under the preaching of a prosperity gospel preacher. I don’t plan on keeping you long, so I’ll get to the point, Pastor Remington, and I hope you don’t take it wrong when I ask you this question: Deep down, do you really believe that accumulating riches will get a person into Heaven, or even allow them to have a close relationship with God?”

“Absolutely not! But I do believe that if we claim to be Christians we should be living in prosperity. I question a person’s faith when that person says he is a Christian, yet lives a hand-to-mouth existence. I just believe God wants us to live an abundant life.”

“But the Bible does say the poor you’re going to have with you always. It does not specify saved or unsaved; it just says ‘poor.’ Plus,” Rev. Mitchell added, “when the Bible talks about the abundant life or about a Christian being ‘rich’, it is referring to rich in faith, rich in the peace of God that passeth all understanding, rich in joy unspeakable, rich in contentment, rich in the fruit of the Spirit, and all of these riches are intangible. From my study of the Word of God, I can’t recall where it says once that after you become a Christian you will be rich. If that were the case, people would be coming in droves to get saved because everyone wants to be rich. In fact, we would not have to bring them the Gospel; they would be running to us for the Gospel.”

Pastor Remington thoughtfully nodded his head as Rev. Mitchell continued speaking.

“Now, if I were to ask you, what would I have to do to get saved, what would you tell me?” Rev. Mitchell asked.

“I would tell you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for all your sins,” Pastor Remington said without hesitation. “That involves confession of one’s sins and turning away from one’s sins.”

“My other question to you then is: Since you believe that — and that is biblical teaching — why aren’t you using the pulpit to preach that? That was God’s final mandate to us: to preach the Gospel of salvation and not a gospel of prosperity,” Rev. Mitchell said.

Pastor Ridley who had been listening piped in. “Speaking through Jeremiah, the Lord did say, ‘Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say: He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.’”

Pastor Remington, after a seemingly long silence, sighed. “You’re right, gentlemen. I admit: I know better. I know I ought to be preaching salvation messages for people to get saved. I know I ought to be preaching righteous living. I know I should not be placing such an emphasis on getting rich. I used to do it, but I caught so much hell from the devil and people who did not want to live right, I kind of eased off into the prosperity preaching — really for my own comfort. It’s less of a spiritual battle preaching ‘you ought to be rich as a Christian’ than it is preaching ‘salvation through none other than Jesus’ death on the cross’.”

“That’s true,” Rev. Mitchell and Pastor Ridley agreed.

“God has been trying to get my attention about it, but I’ve chosen to ignore Him. I guess I have become a preacher with itchy ears,” Pastor Remington said with a chuckle. “I do thank you both for stopping by and for boldly but humbly confronting me. Your stopping by only reaffirms what God has been telling me for some time now.”

After a few seconds in thought, Pastor Remington said, “With both of you as my witnesses, I recommit my life to God and I vow now to preach or at least present the Gospel at every service. Pray for me, brothers, as I apologize to the church family on next Sunday. I have been leading them astray.”

“We will,” both men said.

“Hold a minute,” Pastor Remington said. Picking up his remote control, he turned the volume up on the television. The reporter was giving an update on the latest about the hostages taken in Cameroon. “I’ve been trying to keep up with the martyrdom that has been happening to Christians world-wide. Bear with me.”

All three men listened.

“Such a tragedy,” Pastor Remington said. “They’re asking for $3 million dollars; the goverment has a few days to deliver. We haven’t heard anything from our president so far. I wonder what he is going to do about this matter.”

“It’s interesting that we’re here viewing this with you,” Pastor Ridley said. “I know Rev. Mitchell would rather my not saying what I am about to share with you especially since we did not come here to discuss this with you, but the youngest missionary, Ronald Mitchell, is Rev. Mitchell’s son.”

“What!”

“I don’t want you to think we came here to get money out of you, but the Lord led me to share this with you if for no other reason than to have you join us in prayer for their release. Rev. Mitchell had no idea I was going to make mention of this, and it was not on my mind to do so until now,” Pastor Ridley said.

“Brothers, think nothing of it. We’re brothers in Christ; we’re supposed to bear one another’s burdens. I detect nothing but sincerity and humility in both of you. If you came here just to get money out of me, you would have never rebuked me as strongly as you did,” Pastor Remington said. “You may have rebuked me once you got the money — if I did give it to you — but definitely not before. Now tell me about your son and what led him to go over to Cameroon.”

Rev. Mitchell shared his son’s mission work ending with his dual purpose for visiting Washington, D.C., which was to visit churches at random, and hopefully to speak with the president.

“I’m hoping to have a meeting with the president to plead my cause,” Rev. Mitchell said.

“You mentioned ‘getting the ball rolling’. Exactly what do you mean by that?”

“Until I hear from the president, I have to do what I can for my son. I sent an email to my secretary back in our home city of Binghamton and asked her to send it out in as many ways as possible to all the church members — old and new and to encourage them to forward it to their extended family, friends, and co-workers. We’ve sent it to all our preachers mailing list as well. As we’re speaking our plea is going out asking people to pray for their release and to give what they can financially towards their release,” Rev. Mitchell said. “I’m praying for a ripple effect to take place and that it will not stop until we get the $3 million dollars.”

Chapter 26

“Now I love that. I just love to see a person in a difficult situation try to help himself out of it rather than have his hand out,” Pastor Remington said. “Exactly what did your email say?”

“I can have my wife send you a copy,” Rev. Mitchell said pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “It explained to the recipients who I am and my relations with Ronald, what the terrorists are requesting, and how they can help while I try to get in touch with the president,” Rev. Mitchell said after getting off the phone with his wife. “I emphasized that time is of the essence.”

“Here’s what I’m going to do to help,” Pastor Remington said. “One, I’m going to have my secretary do what you did with your church family as far as sending the letter out to our church mailing list and encouraging them to pass it on. I’ll place my signature and a paragraph of endorsement with your letter. Two, on Wednesday night and on Sunday morning, I’m going to take up a special offering towards this worthy cause.”

Pastor Remington called in his secretary. “Rosemary, get Deacon Lexington on the phone please. Wait while I speak with him.”

In between talking with Deacon Lexington, Pastor Remington sought more information from Rev. Mitchell.

“Do you have a special account set aside for this money?” he asked.

“Ronald Mitchell Missions Fund,” Rev. Mitchell said.

“Are you set up for direct deposit?”

“Yes.”

Pastor Remington exchanged a few more words with Deacon Lexington then passed the phone over to his secretary. Between his secretary and Rev. Mitchell’s secretary, $25,000.00 was transferred into the Ronald Mitchell Missions Fund. “I know this is just pennies compared to what they are asking, but we know God can make up the difference,” Pastor Remington said to Rev. Mitchell.

“Hang on to that banking information,” he told his secretary. “You’ll need it for future use.”

As his secretary prepared to leave his office, Pastor Remington said, “Hold a second. Let me make one more call.”

“Hello, Al. I’m going to turn you over to Rosemary. Give her the info she needs to direct deposit $4000 from our personal account into a special account. I’ll tell you about it when I pick you up for lunch. Here’s Rosemary. Bye now.”

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Rev. Mitchell said.

“I believe Christians who have the wherewithal are obligated to help those who are in need of help, especially if those in need are Christians,” Pastor Remington said. “But if you really want to thank me, come lead my prayer services on Wednesday night. And accept my invitation to lunch today. I’ll go pick my wife up and meet you at your hotel.”

On their way to pick their wives up, Rev. Mitchell and Pastor Ridley had a hallelujah shouting time. “Any friend who’s going to open up his mouth and get me almost $30,000.00 in one fell swoop, is a friend for life,” Rev. Mitchell said with a laugh. “God is good!”

“Yes, my brother. Our God is better than good,” Pastor Ridley agreed.

_______________

President Mac Scholls and those working with him were in a state of anxiety at the latest reports about the terrorists.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to get them to release our citizens without the money,” President Scholls said.

“That’s not going to be easy, Mr. President. These people do not understand ‘peace talks.’ They are irrational; they do not understand reason. They aim to destroy Christians and anyone else who stands in their way.”

“There’s a live feed from the terrorists’ headquarters,” Michael Wallis said hurrying into the president’s office followed by Julie Agabayo, the president’s personal secretary. He turned on the big screen television mounted on the wall in the situation room. They all watched the airing of the horrifying beheading of another American: Mr. Peyton Howard.

The last instruction to Mr. Howard if he wanted to live was to deny his faith. Mr. Howard firmly said, “No, I cannot deny the One who died for me. Good bye, Beverly. I’ll see you in Heaven.” The other two hostages were forced to look on, the reporter said.

“They were supposed to keep those three men alive until we delivered the money,” the president said. “We contacted their headquarters; that was agreed on.”

“Like I have been trying to tell you, Mr. President, they have no sense of reasoning. You can’t expect people like that to keep their word,” Michael said.

“Today is not even over with yet,” President Scholls said.

“Mr. President, today is today no matter what time of day it is. And that is all that matters to them. One thing I give them credit for though,” Michael said, “and that is, when they make a move, it is with speed and precision. We are not dealing with fools here.”

“President Scholls,” Julie interrupted, “I have an urgent message from an Ernestine Mitchell, calling on behalf of her husband, Rev. C. L. Mitchell. I think you should return their call. They are the parents of Ronald Mitchell, the youngest of the men being held hostage. They are requesting an emergency meeting with you. In fact, they are already here in Washington, D.C.”

Chapter 27

“C. L., we’ve got to do something. Ronald may be next,” Ernestine said to her husband. “If they killed old Mr. Howard, I know they won’t hesitate to take Ronald’s life. We’ve got to get the money somehow. We can’t come up with that large amount by ourselves. I can’t believe he’s ignoring all the messages we’ve left.”

“Ernestine, calm down.” Rev. Mitchell said firmly. “Where is your faith? I need for you to be strong during this time. Our God is able. Were you able to get in touch with Rhonda?”

“Yes. She says she’s having much success as far as contacting the mega-pastors. Some have gone ahead and contributed to our cause. Others are waiting on their board to make a decision,” Ernestine said. “She says there’s been a lot of inquiry as word is getting around.”

“Pastor Ridley and I had similar results,” Rev. Mitchell said. He and Pastor Ridley had spent the past two days visiting area churches as the Lord led them — pleading their cause using Pastor Remington’s name and letter of recommendation. They planned on spending the upcoming days while stationary in the Washington, D. C. area visiting more churches.

“All we can do is pray and trust God,” Rev. Mitchell said embracing his wife. Giving her a kiss he said, “God is able . . . and if He chooses not to keep our son alive, He’ll give us the grace to handle it. How’s Dasani holding up?” he asked.

“She’s hanging in there. I’ve encouraged her to do what you’re encouraging me to do, and that is to pray.”

Rev. Mitchell and Pastor Ridley stepped up their personal prayer times as well as prayer times with their wives. Rev. Mitchell delivered a timely message on prayer to the members of the New Believer’s Community Church, one that revolutionized that church making them a true lighthouse in Washington, D.C.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I draw my message tonight from Matthew 24:6–14 which reads as follows:

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

“I’ve titled my message: A Praying Time. You may be wondering, why is this a praying time? Why do we need to pray more? Look around you. Listen to the news. You come home from a hard day’s work and all you want to do is unwind while you listen to, hopefully, some pleasant news. But instead what do you get? Robberies. Murders. Raping of old ladies. Drug dealings. Molestation of children. Beheading of Christians. Confusion among our young people. Chaos in our homes. Divorce. Never before have I heard of so many young people committing suicide. Men no longer want to marry women but rather want to marry other men. People are suing the church for taking biblical stands. There’s an increase in natural disasters. There are violent uprisings. There is an increase in terrorist activities. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a praying time.

“Jesus Christ warned us that these perilous days were going to come. He told us these days that would try men’s faith would come. And that is why He told us to ‘Pray without ceasing.’ If we had been praying without ceasing as He commanded us, then we would not be fainting at news of all the tragedies that are taking place all over the world and even in our own country. If Jesus Christ prayed, then don’t you think we should pray more?

“We are living in perilous times. And perilous times call for an increase in the prayers going up to our heavenly Father. Neither you nor I have the power to manage our lives successfully. We need God’s help and direction. I do not care how much Bible you know; I do not care how much Scripture you can quote; I do not care how many degrees you have attached to your name — you had better open your mouth and cry out to God.

“The main reason this is a praying time is because of the failure of the church in its mission. The church has failed in its fulfillment of the Great Commission as stated in Matthew 28:19–20 to ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen’. According to a German Christian minister, our churches have formed their own personal ‘Christian ghettoes’, where outsiders are looked upon askance. The people on the outside are scared to come in, and we are so ashamed we no longer feel comfortable bringing them in. But who will they go to? Who will bring them the living Bread — the Bread of Life — Jesus Christ — the only One who can bring salvation to them? Who? Definitely not the world.

“Our happy-go-lucky, watered-down Gospel cannot help anyone, but prayer can help everyone. We need to pray for each other. Our world is changing in very destructive ways, but you should not be alarmed because if you have been reading your Bible then you would have read that things are going to get worse as the time draws nearer for the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Christians, don’t worry anymore — just pray. Husbands and wives, just hang in there together a bit longer and just pray. Teenagers put away your rebellion and just pray. Let us form an intercessory wall that Satan and his demons cannot break down. Prayer can do anything because God can do everything! This is a praying time. Amen, somebody!”