Faith Misplaced

The heart of this Sunday’s sermon at our church dealt with faith…and heroes.

Before we get started, let me ask you, who is your hero?

We’ll give you a chance to answer at the end of this message.

Our pastor raised the question to our congregation. He quoted the results of a poll of one thousand individuals. The lowest ranking hero on the list was Bill Clinton with 10 votes. Others included Michael Jordan, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., John Wayne, Mother Theresa and topping the list but with only 52 out of the one thousand votes, Jesus Christ.

That’s a good news and bad news answer.

Good news because God almighty was still ranked number one. Bad news because He registered only 5.2 percent of all answers in a land that claims a high double-digit number of citizens who believe in God.

The topics of human heroes and misplaced faith are recurring themes, these days. We saw another prime example just last weekend, when Israeli intelligence released to the Debka Files details of secret Palestinian papers captured during the fall of the Muslims’ quasi-seat of government, the Orient House.

We are told that one of the beloved ex-leaders of the Palestinian movement, Faisal Husseini, who passed away earlier this year in Kuwait of a heart attack, was in reality a real estate thief and cash embezzler. According to the paperwork, Husseini had pocketed and kept for himself $1.8 million dollars in donations from sources in the United Arab Emirates and Europe. The money was earmarked for Palestinian relief.

Allegedly, Husseini also forged documents giving him illegal control over Palestinian properties vacated by their owners at the start of the Israeli War for Independence in 1948. When Palestinians attempted to complain to Yassir Arafat about Husseini’s blatant thefts, the appeals fell on deaf ears.

Yet, Faisal Husseini was given a martyr’s funeral and was allowed the rare privilege of burial on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

I suspect if this same poll had been conducted throughout the Muslim world, Faisal Husseini might have been named to the list of heroes.

But he was bound to disappoint his followers because he was as fatally flawed by sin as any of us.

A hero is someone we can look up to. So, I ask the question again.

Who is your hero?

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

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