Spiritual Hunger:
Feeding the Hungry
Has one of your
children ever come to the kitchen while you are busy fixing dinner
and exclaimed, "Boy am I hungry! I hope the food is going to
be ready soon!"? You may get a chuckle out of this if that kid is
really a lumbering teen-age boy with a non-stop appetite who ate a
hearty lunch and has been snacking on goodies much of the time since
then. When he refers to "hunger" he certainly doesn't mean "starving
for nutrition." You can bet if you offered him a plate of beets to
"calm his hunger" while waiting for the steak and potatoes to be
done cooking, he'd likely exclaim he wasn't that hungry, and
could wait a little while longer.
A child who is
well-fed in a loving home seldom ever experiences the kind of hunger
that may be felt by those in less fortunate circumstances. There
really are people who go to bed physically hungry--some who even go
to bed starving--in many places in the world. Most of us realize
this.
But what we may not
realize is that there are people who really do go to bed
spiritually hungry—some who even go to bed spiritually
starving. And these people aren't all in far away places somewhere
around the world. Some are right in our own community, some are in
our own neighborhood, some may even be inside our own home.
God built into
mankind a hunger to get to know Him. As some have poetically
expressed it, "There is a God-shaped hole in your soul that can only
be filled by a relationship with Him." He sent prophets and teachers
to reveal Himself and His plans to mankind. He eventually sent His
Son as the ultimate revelation, and as the ultimate sacrifice to
redeem lost mankind to Himself. The Bible records what we need to
know to have that hunger satisfied and lead us into that fulfilling
relationship.
But for most
people, just owning a Bible doesn't satisfy that hunger. Something
is still missing.
Now an
angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road-- the
desert road-- that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he
started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an
important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to
worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading
the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to
that chariot and stay near it." Then Philip ran up to the
chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you
understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he
said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip
to come up and sit with him. (Acts 8:26-31)
The eunuch was
hungry to know more about God. But even with his great learning, he
could not clearly understand all that he read. He craved someone to
"explain" it to him. And if he had not already possessed some of the
Bible, he would have had to have someone bring it to him in the
first place. As Paul noted:
How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad
tidings of good things! (Rom 10:14-15)
It is clear in the
Bible that, although everyone can have access to the scriptures
themselves, God has provided "teachers" to assist others in hearing
about and understanding the things in those scriptures. The burden
on those who have this calling is great:
Not many of
you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know
that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1)
And the New
Testament contains a number of warnings about teachers (and
preachers, and people acting in the role of prophets and
apostles—those who would claim to be spokesmen for God in some way)
who do not have a calling from God at all.
But there
were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be
false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce
destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought
them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves. (2 Pet 2:1)
In the animal
kingdom, it is not the physically healthy and strong in herds and
flocks who are easy prey for the wolves. It is the very young, the
sick, the weak, and the hungry and starving who are easy pickings.
And it is those weak ones wandering off by themselves who are in the
most danger of all. An injured or sick dolphin that is with its
family "pod" is encircled by its healthy family members, and is kept
safe from the sharks and aided to the surface to breathe and so on
until it regains its strength. A weak dolphin off by itself is also
easy pickings for the ocean predators.
Thus it is in the
spiritual realm also. The false teachers that Peter spoke of are not
much of a danger to the spiritually healthy and strong and well-fed.
They are a danger to those who are young in the faith, those who
have been hurt by relationships within "religious" groups, those who
are wandering off by themselves confused. And they are particularly
a threat to those who are spiritually hungry.
Even Christians who
were strong in their faith once upon a time can become weakened and
hungry if they find themselves in a religious setting where their
needs for good spiritual food and for opportunities to build up
their "spiritual muscles" are not met. That food and exercise comes
in a number of ways: from formal teaching, from interacting with
others seeking to know God, from using one's own spiritual gifts to
build up the Body. An environment where any of these factors is
missing can lead to a spiritual hunger and weakness—which can leave
the weakened Christian as easy prey for false teachers and
spiritually harmful religious groups. An extreme example would be
the cult known as the "Moonies" which has long targeted lonely teens
and young adults, often run-aways, who are hungry for love and
fellowship and answers to their spiritual questions.
But one doesn't
need to be a confused teenager to be targeted and lured by harmful
religious movements, or attracted to and misled by false teachers
claiming to be coming in Jesus' name, but who were not called or
sent by Him. One only needs to be spiritually hungry. The companion
site to The Oasis, the Field
Guide to the Wild World of Religion, provides extensive
information about a wide variety of groups, movements, and
individual teachers which may present a threat to the spiritual
well-being of those who become enmeshed in their teachings and
activities. Particular attention is given to those teachers and
groups which may use spiritual abuse and/or deception to attract and
keep members.
Do you have friends
or family members who have become interested in or directly involved
with religious groups about which you have concerns? Would you like
to know how to help them avoid or escape such spiritually unhealthy
entanglements? If so, you need to realize that the situation likely
involves spiritual hunger of some sort. There are some needs that
are being met by the new involvement that were not being met
elsewhere. And thus any efforts of persuasion you attempt to use
that do not take into account that hunger and those needs will be
ineffective in the long run.
Here are seven
steps to helping the spiritually hungry who may be headed for
danger.
1.
Offer unconditional love
Sometimes people who get involved with
unhealthy religious groups can become a bit "unlovable" as they try
to force their newfound beliefs on others, or withdraw from family
and friends in order to pursue their "new love." They may be even
taught by their new religious teachers to "expect persecution" from
friends and family. And thus they may even become belligerent and
hostile for a time. If you truly wish to help them, you cannot allow
their "emotional distancing" affect your own attitude toward them.
Remember the example of the father of the Prodigal Son in Jesus'
parable, and communicate your unconditional love at all times.
2.
Don't use a frontal
assault
The parents of teenage daughters usually
discover for themselves this principle. A 14-year-old young woman
might "fall for" the town "Rebel Without a Cause." In this case, the
last thing that would dissuade her from her starry-eyed puppy love
for him would be for her parents to sit her down immediately and
rant at her about his horrible reputation and all the things they
disapprove of about him. She will immediately tune them out, and
begin defending him from their accusations by pointing out that they
just don't know "the real him" like she does. In the same way, a
person who has been studying, for instance, with the Jehovah's
Witnesses for many months may begin to be impressed with what they
are learning and with the warm welcome they have received at the
local Kingdom Hall. In this case, they are not going to listen to
the concerns of their loved ones if they are presented as a frontal
attack. Ranting at such a person that they are becoming "involved in
a cult" will fall on deaf ears.
3.
Listen more than you talk
You are not going to be able to discover
the nature of the underlying hunger and needs that your loved one
has that is attracting them to a potentially harmful group if you
are doing most of the talking. It may be very hard to hold your
tongue when they make statements you know to be either unbiblical or
irrational. But if they have already begun to "invest" themselves in
the new group (by devoting their time, energy, efforts, and even
finances in support of it) you will be ineffective in trying to
"reason" them out of their investment with just argumentation
regarding isolated tidbits of what they are beginning to believe.
The process of turning around their thinking is going to take time.
Your best investment in the early stages of dialogue with them is an
investment in listening to them. Asking calmly-worded questions that
are not confrontational or combative will provide you with
information on what is going on inside their mind and emotions. You
may be able to use this information … with God's guidance … to good
effect later.
4.
Pray for wisdom and
patience
God does not want any of His children
trapped in unhealthy spiritual environments. He loves your friend or
relative as much and more than you do. Yet He does give everyone
free will, and thus He will not prevent someone from going down a
dark path if that is their choice. He can, however, use you as a
tool to shine His Light down that path toward them and help them
return. But this can seldom be done instantaneously. It will take
time and wisdom and patience on your part to complete the task.
Those can come only from God.
5.
Do your homework
One of the greatest hindrances to the
efforts of many to help friends or relatives who are being lured by
spiritually unhealthy religious groups is lack of knowledge about
the group in question. Have you just vaguely heard that the Mormons
are labeled by some a "cult" and thus worry about your son or
daughter or neighbor who is studying with a pair of young Mormon
"elders" in their home? If you know nothing more than this vague
label, you will be totally ineffective at trying to reach your loved
one. Their personal experiences and the "hype" they have heard from
their newfound teachers will convince them that such labels are
unwarranted. Only solid facts will eventually be useful in
addressing the situation. For those who are considering involvement
in a new religious group, those who may have concerns about a
movement with which they have been involved, or those who may wish
to help friends or relatives avoid or escape spiritually harmful
religious groups, the profiles on the
Field Guide website
mentioned above contain just the sort of solid information that may
be helpful in establishing a dialogue with your loved one. Each
profile contains:
-
an overview of the history of the
group or teacher;
-
the chief claims made by them to
attract followers;
-
information that may lead the reader
to agree with the concerns expressed about the claims;
-
recognition of any positive
contributions of the teacher or group;
-
and documentation and
bibliographical material for those who wish to do more extensive
study on specific groups.
6.
Be ready always with an
answer, but wait for God's timing
Once you have done your homework, pray
again for God's guidance to know just when and how to use the
information that you have gleaned. The most effective way to share
information with your loved one about such groups as the Mormons and
Jehovah's Witnesses may be to plant at least some small seed of a
question about the policies, history, or teachings of the
organization for which you know, from your studies, the organization
is unable to provide an answer. Again, this will not work over
night, and you may need to plant small seed after small seed before
the person begins to have at least a small nagging doubt. But once
that small nagging doubt begins, it can be nourished.
7.
Be ready with a healthy
alternative answer to your loved one's spiritual hunger
Women who escape from abusive marriages
often find themselves soon attracted to another man who is just as
abusive. And thus they may find themselves in "serial" abusive
marriages, because they never stopped long enough to find out just
what was attracting them to the "wrong kind" of mate. In like
manner, a person weaned from one unhealthy religious group, perhaps
by circumstances beyond their control such as disfellowshipment, can
easily just find themselves quickly lured to an equally unhealthy
spiritual environment by the deceptive teachings of one more false
teacher. If you want to help your loved one in the long run, you
need to be spiritually healthy and strong yourself. And you need to
be part of creating a healthy, nourishing spiritual environment for
the spiritually hungry in your own community. This may be as simple
as a small home fellowship group of believers who meet in your
living room regularly to share their Faith and edify and encourage
one another. If you do not live near the person you are attempting
to help, then you will need to pray that God help you to help them
to find such an environment in their own area.
Spiritual hunger is really a hunger for
love—to know that one is loved by God
and by brothers and sisters in the Body.
We can all be a part of serving the Bread of Life to the hungry,
so that they are not tempted by the junk food—and in some cases
outright poison—
dished up by the many false teachers who have gone out into the
world.
Pam Dewey © 2006
oasis@chartermi.net
