Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries, Tennessee

Redemption in Appalachia

We are playing a very small role in redemptive disaster relief efforts in East Tennessee and Western NC. At this point, our focus has been on partnering with other ministries to get much-needed supplies into underserved areas.

Temperatures are dropping fast in Appalachia and the acute risk of hyperthermia for people rendered homeless by Helene is real. Yesterday, we partnered with Harvest Time Encounters and three other ministries to deliver a twenty-foot Uhaul truck full of cold weather supplies to Banner Elk, NC, a community with a large and now homeless Hispanic migrant population numbering at least one hundred men and women and children. If that last statement spikes your blood pressure,

Bear with me…

I realize there is a narrative stating that FEMA isn’t helping in Helene relief efforts because all the money has been spent on illegal migrants. If so, there are profound legal and constitutional issues at stake. However, the word on the ground here is that these people do not qualify for government assistance, including FEMA. As for us, we are Christians. God’s kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36  We are in the world but not of it. John 17:16 In the meantime, we have a mandate from God regarding the sojourner.

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 

Deuteronomy 10:18-19

Having served as missionaries in Honduras and become homeless due to a landslide, see Making Sense of Calamity, we can empathize with the sojourner. We can also assure you that the migrants that so many Americans are encouraged to despise are just as much or more victims of the current political situation as American citizens in the USA. Beginning in 2020, Latin American news, especially CNN, encouraged people to venture across the border with the assurance that they would be welcomed with an abundance of opportunities to improve their way of life. Were they used as political pawns? Perhaps. In any case, the caravans began. Too often, these people are framed as terrorists and criminals. In truth, there are terrorists and criminals in every people group. One sure way to turn regular hard-working people into so-called “terrorists” is to marginalize and persecute them. That’s what happened to Honduran and Salvadoran migrants during the late 1980’s and early 90’s the fruit of which was and is Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.

Most of these people simply want to make ten dollars per hour instead of ten dollars per day.

In any case, human beings created in the image of God are currently at risk for freezing to death in Appalachia. Let me ask you a question.

What would Jesus have us do?

“America is God’s country!” you say.  True. So is the rest of His creation.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation (people group) anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 

Acts 10:34-35

Media Noise

Unfortunately, just as nature abhors a vacuum, the American mind abhors an unanswered question. Many today can not cope with the tension of not knowing. Hence any answer may be regarded as better than none. As is the case in much of the USA, rumors and conspiracies abound in Appalachia. That’s not to say that none are valid. As one senator whose name escapes me recently said, “We need new conspiracy theories because all of the old ones have already come true.” Even so, we have yet to encounter any militia, looters, or FEMA. All we’ve seen are compassionate, hard-working people representing exactly what America is supposed to be.

Banner Elk

“It takes a village”

is an understatement when it comes to disaster relief. We had all sorts of skilled and talented people who could have planned and built a city. Leon and Paula from Harvest Time Encounters initially organized the trip. Then Leon had to go to Uganda and realized he couldn’t make it back from NC in the required time frame. They knew we’d already been making runs to NC and they asked us to make the trip for them. Of course we said,

“Yes!”

Leon and Paula

We also had Musy and Laura. There are a lot of things I could say about these two. But suffice it to say that they are organizational “Git-er done” pros.

Laura is in the middle next to us, and Musy is to her left.

We had the entire warehouse staff at two distribution centers helping as well.

That being said, anyone who has been on the mission field, knows that chaos always abounds. Some people blame the devil.

I think it’s a testimony of God’s glory and sovereignty in the context of human foolishness and frailty.

It took all of the veteran missionaries and administrative experts two full days to coordinate gather, load, and transport sleeping bags, tents, heaters, propane, gasoline, generators, winter clothing, and food for people camping in freezing weather with none of the above. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Everyone one with overseas missions experience kept asking,

“why is this so hard to do in America?”

We were ready to go when Elizabeth, our contact person on the ground in Banner Elk said the guy who owned the hangar where she was receiving donations needed his hangar back. She could not receive any more donations until she found a new location. The donation distribution center refused to load us up without a verified contact person and delivery location. It looked like the trip was a bust. Then Musy remembered an old friend and learned he is now pastoring in Western North Carolina. As it turned out, he is in Boone, NC, just outside Banner Elk. She called him and he told her about a displaced Hispanic community at risk of freezing to death. He was “headed there now with peanut butter sandwiches”. Little did we know he was also meeting with a lady named Sherry in Banner Elk.

Scott and Becky Lycan Antioch Community Church

The next day we started afresh with Pastor Scott as a new contact. Only now, I guess we looked pretty flaky. Those in charge at the distribution center seemed reluctant to take us seriously. So we left and went to another center. Just as the second center was getting ready to supply us, the first center called back, apologized, and said they were “ready to load us up”. As we learned later, the request we had been trying to fill the entire time was originally from the same Sherry in Banner Elk. It had come in three days earlier and evidently had been misplaced. So, we returned to the first center while Musy and Laura stayed behind to fill their pickup truck with as many relevant supplies as they could get. The plan was to add it to our Uhaul load.

“I doubt they will fill our truck. We’ll have room for what you can get.” I told them.

Boy, was I wrong! The first center had pallets of supplies ready to pack our truck to the proverbial gills. They had some of every item requested. We’d gone from severe miscommunication and not having enough stuff to having too much stuff to fit in our truck. That’s when Pastor Bill showed up.

“I can take a load in my truck.” He said.

Bill had no agenda of his own that day. In fact he’d just finished asking the Lord what he was supposed to do when he laid eyes on us and overheard my frustration.

Sometimes we just need to abide in Prov 3:5-8 and get out of God’s way.

We did. God directed our path and did what the expert humans could not. That said, anyone can load a truck and drive it somewhere. We are not heroes.

Meet the heroes.

Bruce and Jeff

Pastor Scott was tied up when we arrived in Banner Elk. So he sent two fire chiefs from Fort Worth, Texas. Bruce  (left), is retired. Jeff is still active. Bruce told me Jeff is one of the top disaster response experts in the country. They’d been chainsawing all day and we could tell they were exhausted when we met up at four in the afternoon. The two men attend the same church in Texas and are in Banner Elk, volunteering for another week.

They were there to help us unload.

There was lots of emotion when we arrived. Some were thanking Jesus for the volume of supplies that we brought. Others were freaking out because they didn’t know where to put it. Everyone began brainstorming. Or should I say “storming”? We unloaded in one area then reloaded and unloaded…. That’s when  Jeff said,

“Stop!”

“I think there might be a warehouse we can use.”

He consulted the General in charge. For the record, she’s not really a General. But she is a veteran.

Sherry Trice

Sherry Trice is the quintessential Appalachian woman and resident of Banner Elk. Sweet as a kitten or a Pit Bull depending on who she is addressing, she comes from a long line of Appalachians with “ministries” of serving. She said that when she first looked out upon the resulting devastation caused by Helene, she distinctly heard,

“You serve here.”

I’m not sure if she knew who was talking, but she obeyed. She is coordinating much, if not most, of the relief efforts in Banner Elk. “If we have the money and resources, people with time to spare can get it done,”  she said. If there is one thing that Appalachian’s embody, it is a spirit of mental toughness, endurance, and selflessness. These are the original “Git-er done!” people. Many who have lost everything are more concerned with their neighbors than they are with themselves. “Don’t worry about me. Give it to someone who needs it more.” is a common response.  Sherry says she wants nothing to do with the church, she only wants the church people. We get it. I met Jesus at the barrel of a shotgun over two decades ago. I’ve been working out my theological errors ever since. As we were leaving, Sherry declared more than asked, “You’re coming back next week!” “Maybe,” I replied. “A man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps.” Sherry immediately looked up to the sky and proclaimed,

“I need them to come back next week!”

Cathy and I really like this lady.

Lord willing we’ll be back.

There was a fair amount of temptation to become offended along the way. We could debate who to blame, in the spiritual and the natural realms ad infinitum. I asked Jeff why things get so crazy and disorganized when Christians respond to dire needs. “It’s because everyone just jumps in and starts doing.”, he replied. This morning in our devotions Cathy and I discussed how Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. We suspect that God is teaching us all something about that. He’s teaching us a lot of things. The impetus and urgency that drove this trip was a rumor that fifteen people had died of hyperthermia in Banner Elk. It went viral on social media. The local news debunked it. No one we met in Banner Elk said otherwise. Still, the risk of freezing to death is increasingly real. At the end of the day, God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Our job is to love God. If it works out, it’s because He did it. Period! He did. Another important point is that while none of us desires the pressure that is tribulation, sometimes tribulation is required if redemption is to be found within the only hope that does not disappoint. Rom 5:3-5 Quite often redemption involves the stripping that Cathy and I so often talk about.

Finally, Cathy repeatedly heard the word  “contingency” the other night and during her morning prayer time.

Continigency
provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.

Oxford Dictionary

Maybe ponder that.

Anyway, now that you know the backstory, here’s a two-minute snippet that makes two days of abject chaos and confusion look smooth and easy. Pay special attention to the song as it describes the true spirit and disposition of everyone involved.

MARANATHA!

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Getting Through the Gate

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

Rom 9:13

Romans 9 is key to the formation of the doctrine of predestination espoused by John Calvin in 1536. Arminianism is the response to Calvin’s doctrine of predestination framed by Jacob Arminius in 1610. The primary difference between the two is in their Soteriology. Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of Salvation.

Calvin said that man has no role or power in choosing to be saved. God chooses whom He will choose and rejects whom He will reject. The chosen are the elect and can not resist salvation once they hear the gospel. Once they are saved they are always saved.

Arminius said that man has free will and the power to decide whether or not He is saved. God desires that all men be saved 1 Tim 2:4  God has foreknowledge of who will be saved. But He does not force anyone to come to Him against their will. Free will reigns supreme, therefore man can accept the gift of salvation and then later reject it.

Now, you might say, and rightly so, that Calvin and Arminius are not in the Bible. Yet every Christian denomination that does not represent outright heresy leans towards Calvinismism or Arminianism – predestination or free will.

Take a moment and consider which way you instinctively lean. How did you come to know Jesus? Did you choose Him or did He choose you? What made you believe the gospel? Did someone argue you into it? Or did something just seem to click into place and you suddenly believed? Before you answer consider this. Suppose every one of your thoughts, decisions and actions were predetermined by God.

How would you know?

What does scripture say?

Paul begins Romans 9 with a lamentation. He says he wished he were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers, to whom belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, the patriarchs. It was from them that Jesus came. It may be worthy to note, especially here, that accursed is the same word Paul used in Galatians 1:8-9 regarding anyone preaching a different gospel than the one they have heard. Accursed means going to hell. This lends greater weight to his admonition not to go beyond what is written. 1 Cor 4:6. The word of God is not something to toy with or take lightly as so many charasmatics do.

Paul is grieving that so many of his Jewish brothers who seemingly should be saved are not saved. He might have wished he could go to hell in thier place. Yet his wishing had no effect.

Think about that.

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,

Romans 9:6-10

Paul continues

though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Romans 9:11-13

God told Jeremiah,“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 God knew Jeremiah and by extension us before we were in the womb. Some might wonder, albeit philosophically; did Jacob and Esau act in ways before they were born that predetermined their status before the womb? Did we? Paul clearly answers that it was not because of works but because of him who calls she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

It seems that Calvin might have a point.

All that being said, it occurs to me that while God knew them, the Bible does not say that Jeremiah, Jacob, and Esau knew God. Could it be that our only purpose on earth is to know God? If so then it follows that the entire work of God is to believe in the one He has sent. John 6:29  Thats it! Solomon who wrote the ultimate “been there, had that, done that” book of Ecclesiasties concluded the same.

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Ecclesiasties 12:14

Of course we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10. Arminians might imagine God needs our works to complete His plan. Calvinists would say He does not. We simply have the privilege of coming along for the ride. Speaking of Ephesians 2, exactly how much free will are dead people able to exert? 

Paul continues to affirm the doctrine of predestination by quoting Exodus 33:19 and Exodus 9:16. A common argument among Arminians is that God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharoah first chose to harden it himself. Yet God told Moses beforehand that He would harden it so that Pharaoh would not let the people go. Exodus 4:21 Still, an argument previously put forth by me is that the “hardening” was more akin to a “giving up” or “giving over” to sin as described in Romans 1:24-28. If we insist on sinning, God allows us to go the way we desire. That may be true in the context of Romans 1. As it turns out I was wrong. The hardening – chazaq– of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 4 means exactly that. God, not Pharaoh, chose to harden Pharaoh’s heart because that is the prerogative of a Sovereign, omniscient, and omnipotent God. Argue with the Potter if you will.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Romans 9:20

So many today presume to know and declare the plan purposes of God. Some do it propheticly. Others make philosophical assertions. Meanwhile, His word declares.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecc 3:11

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

God doesn’t want us to know what He is doing and why. He wants us to know Him.

Of course, Paul is not debating Calvin versus Arminius here. He is laying a foundation for explaining the relationship between Israel and the gentile church in the context of His perfect sovereign will. Israel is not Israel because they were superior. Israel is Israel because God, in His sovereignty, chose Jacob to become Israel before he was in the womb. Gen 32 The same principle is applied to the gentile church. Paul paraphrases the prophetic declaration from Hosea 2:23

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
    and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

Romans 9:25-26

Hosea was told to marry and remain faithful to a prostitute who remained a prostitute. The prostitute represents Israel, and as we will see, us, the church.

Paul concludes with a prophetic reference to about Jesus in Isaiah 8 and Isaiah 28:16.

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Romans 9:33

As I said, I’ve always tended toward Arminianism. I preached the gospel to sell Jesus. I did good works in hope that people would see Jesus in me and “accept Him.”  Anyone will believe if I can just make a good enough case – offer an apologetic defense that is solid enough. Aside from illustrating the futility of ideas that counter biblical claims, I don’t think that debate has ever worked. Not even once. Roland Baker who is a Calvinist, recently posted the following.

When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this… One week-night, … the thought struck me, “How did you come to be a Christian?” I sought the Lord. “But how did you come to seek the Lord?” The truth flashed across my mind in a moment – I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him.I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray?
I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, “I ascribe my change wholly to God”

-Spurgeon Carry The Light-

If I am honest the same truth applies to me. I didn’t come to Jesus of my own free will. Heck! I was trying my very best to reject Him and die. He saved me despite me. Not because of me. It occurs to me that the driving force behind Arminianism might be the very self that Jesus commands us to deny as a first step in becoming His disciple. Mat 16:24 Here in the charismatic I-dentity culture, we can not fathom that the imagined exaltation of the almighty “I” in His eyes might be the problem instead of the solution it is proported to be.  If indeed I am in Christ Jesus, then I am a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17  I am also dead. Col 3:3. Becoming a new creation is not an invitation to shift my focus from Him to my I-dentity. Today, I am more convinced than ever that my sole purpose on earth is to know HIM and deny the little “i”. Less of me. More of HIM is key. I will be eternally grateful to be nothing here on earth if I can simply pass through the gates of heaven into His Holy presence for eternity.

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries

Making Sense of Calamity

Pondering Sovereignty and Priorities

As the reality of loss from Hurricane Helene begins to settle in and among those directly affected, we are still learning from our own similar experience in Honduras.

Those who know us are aware that Cathy and I survived a landslide caused by Cat 5 Hurricane Iota on November 20th, 2020. It came just ten days after Cat 4 Eta.

Cathy barely dodged this.

The photo above was the first landslide that happened at 3:30 pm. Cathy had just opened the gate and narrowly escaped being buried alive. The effects on the Honduran survivors were beyond what most people can imagine. Landslides were the number one cause of death during both storms.

Eta and Iota survivors in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, set up camp on the median of the highway.

I wrote about the revelations gleaned from wrestling with God’s isolation during COVID-19, the loss of everything but our lives, followed by suddenly becoming homeless in a third-world country. The first was that God had miraculously preserved both our lives.

The large stone is were my head would have been in our bed. The smaller one represents Cathy’s.

The second revelation is that preservation is often attended by a stripping.

The story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32 has always been one of my favorites.   It was during our morning devotions the other day that the word “preserved” emerged again in verse 30. I’d never really noticed it before. We looked it up and found the original Hebrew word is “Natsal” – to “deliver, rescue and save.“Natsal” also means to “plunder” and “strip”.

Maranatha ( ) Maranatha

We had been stripped of all our worldly possessions and memorabilia.

And yet a strange supernatural peace enveloped us as well as an even stronger bond between us as husband and wife. That bond and peace remain with us now.

Maranatha ( ) Maranatha

We felt instantly closer and more intimate with the Lord than at any other point in our walk with the Him. Meanwhile, the people in our village descended on the ruins, digging out whatever they could find.

A group of women washed the mud out of Cathy’s clothes. It was a genuine act of love from the people whom we had come to love and serve and live among. We were so very grateful.

“How do I tell them?” Cathy asked? 

“Tell them what?” I inquired.

“I don’t want any of it.” She replied.

Something had happened within us individually and as a couple. Granted, we’d surrendered a lot when we left for the mission field. Only now did we truly recognize the proverbial ball, and chain of materialism that drags so many of us down, and the freedom of having it removed. That included twenty thousand dollars worth of photography and video equipment that supported my path and passion for the mission field. In a moment God whispered,

“You’re done!”

Long story short, Cathy gave all her clothes to the village women.

Cathy’s birthday came two days after the landslide. I had nothing to give her so I wrote The Most Incredible Woman and reflected on what a gift from God she was and is to me. This amazing woman never batted an eyelash as we continued our mission.

The featured image in the title of this post is from the before and after video God is Good Testimony. It is a reminder of how precious she is to me and how precarious and short-lived is our existence on earth. At least one hundred people died that day in a country about the size of Tennessee. Only the Lord knows how many just lost their lives in similar circumstances here in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Many more have lost property and generations’ worth of history and family heirlooms. Lots of people have come to dig and rescue homes and possessions from mud and mold. Still, I think God, who is sovereign, omnipotent, and omniscient, is doing something different than many realize. I think He is asking questions that expose the true condition of our hearts. What really matters? Where is our treasure truly laid up? Are we dependent upon Him or the contemporary Golden Calf known as materialism?

To whom do we assign the most power in our minds? Do we believe that “if God is with us, then who can be against us”? Rom 8:31-39 Or do we believe the devil is so powerful that he can override the will of God? Do we believe the word of God? Or do we think that God thinks, feels, and acts like us? Isaiah 55:8-9

We are doing what the Lord calls us to do amid the current earthly crisis. Hopefully, those reading this are doing the same. Those called to dig in the mud should dig in the mud. Those called to clean mud from memorabilia should clean. Those called sit with victims and listen should listen. Those managing and transporting donations should continue until the Lord says otherwise. Just don’t assume that you know why He has called you to do it. Consider the possibility that He might be highlighting our proverbial golden calves – the fragility, vanity, and utter futility of all that is carnal. 

It’s been ten years since we produced the video above. As time went on we found ways to get people out of the dump. We had opportunities for jobs, housing and school for thier children. Not one ever accepted the offer. They were too attached to thier recyclable bottles and metal and whatever else they thought they had and could not part with. That’s when the Lord said,

“that’s you son!”

At some point in eternity even the wealthiest believer among us will see thier money, mansions and jewelry and cars for what they were.

It’s just my opinion and maybe my interpretation of scripture, but I think there are going to be a lot more opportunities to reflect on what I have written here. A lot of circumstances will require a paradigm shift, especially in areas where we have taken things for granted. I think a lot of us are going to realize that much of what we once considered indispensable amounted to junk in the dump. Sometimes the greatest blessings are only found in brokenness.

That being said, this is an Ezekiel 33:1-6 alarm. This storm is but a trailer of what is to come. Roll your eyes if you will. Ten years ago we would have rolled our eyes as well. Our perspective has changed with experience. We have found so many of the things that we once prayed against were in fact, the testing of our faith that we finally learned to count as joy. James 1:2-4 Consider this as a seed – a call to prepare our hearts and minds. As for these tents of flesh in which we currently reside, understand the difference between wants and needs. The stripping must come with our eternal preservation. Be sure you know that through it all Jesus is still on the throne. He has already won.

Maranatha