Old Frank and the Gospel (A tongue in cheek article by Jim M. Roane, Ph.D.)

Frank is my imaginary next door neighbor. He lives next door or just down the street from most of us Christians. You know him. Maybe not by name, but you know him.

Frank smokes. And that annoys the dickens out of me; especially when the stench wafts it way across my otherwise pleasant patio. Frank also cusses and uses a lot of four letter words, including the “n” word, occasionally. So, needless to say, there is nothing politically correct about old Frank. He’s an old curmudgeon when it comes to neighborhood get togethers, too. So, to be quite honest with you, I would not invite him to the annual neighborhood potluck, if I didn’t feel obliged as a Christian gentleman.

Oh, well, enough of Frank; let’s talk about his wife, Jing Lin (I had to spell that one phonetically). She’s Chinese, or Japanese, or something—maybe Korean, I don’t know and have never bothered to ask. I tried talking to her once or twice. Couldn’t decipher one word of what the woman said—although, she did smile a lot, so I know she is friendly. I keep saying to myself, I wonder why these people don’t learn to speak English; then I remember my old tongue-tied aunt that spoke English that you would swear was German. So, I give her some slack. Not much though.

Then there are their kids. Ones an emo, vampire looking and all that crazy stuff. The other studies Chinese medicine and wants to practice acupuncture on me. (Un’t uh. I don’t think so!)

Oh, yeah, one other thing, old Frank’s little Shih Tzu prefers to fertilize my lawn rather than his. Hard as I try, however, I can’t seem to lure the little rascal away long enough to twist his ears really good and hard.

Well, I’m a preacher so I feel a certain amount of responsibility for old Frank—for his soul and all. Jing Lin is Buddhist or something, I heard. So, I’m not sure I hold out much hope for her since she has been in this country for 20 or 30 years, or so. And, if she hasn’t heard a good gospel message yet, she hasn’t been listening.

In any event, old Frank is typical in many respects to the spiritually disenfranchised. Well, not all are as grumpy as he is but none-the-less they are disenfranchised.

Why do I say that? I say that simply because he doesn’t know—that is, he doesn’t really know that he has a vote. He’s got a choice. He can exercise his God given rights as a person for whom Jesus died and accept his citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Frank and Jing Lin both have that right. Problem is, no one has effectively told them so. They do not know.

Now, let’s leave Frank and Jing Lin alone for a moment. What about the millions of others who have not heard of this inalienable right—the right to be citizens in God’s kingdom? What about them?

To give you a sense of the magnitude of this challenge, I have included a worldometer link in the right hand column of this newsletter for your perusal. Click onto to it and watch it to get a sense of the challenge we face. Look at the death statistics. Those people are gone. They have met their maker. Now, look at the birth statistics. That’s only part of the challenge. These are the ones that need to hear, or see the love of Christ demonstrated. These are the reachable ones. We can reach them with God’s love through acts of kindness by mirroring the love that God has for them.

Right now, Pakistan needs your help—which presents another challenge. How?

Well, one of the best ways I know is to show the love of Christ than to minister to those that have never had a fair chance to hear the Gospel or see the image of Christ mirrored through his disciples?

We can do that by providing medical and hygenic assistance. So, consider this your chance to inform yourself of the need then respond with loving concern.

The homeless and destitute need our positive response right now.  

Before I sign off, however,  I want you to know that I did try "witnessing" to old Frank sometime back, but got absolutely no where. So, about all I have left is my silent testimony which includes a lot of smiles and not fussing about his little Shih Tzu fertilizing my lawn. I do have hopes though of getting through someday.

During the meantime whisper a prayer or two for me and Old Frank.