While our Scriptural belief in marriage between a man and a woman seems particularly offensive to [some officials and groups], we don’t believe this is the time or place to wage this debate. Samaritan’s Purse is a decidedly Christian private relief organization, funded almost entirely by individuals around the world who share our passion for providing aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution—and doing so in Jesus’ Name. It seems tone-deaf to be attacking our religious conviction about marriage at the very moment thousands of New Yorkers are fighting for their lives and dozens of Samaritan’s Purse workers are placing their lives at risk to provide critical medical care.
—Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse—
Key points: When the light of God’s love and grace shine, people who are unaccustomed to that light often “squint”; they may even overtly resist it. In this mix, the vessel dispensing God’s grace can and often does become the target of undeserved vitriol and hate. Christians must pray that God’s grace will warm people’s otherwise cold hearts and that they will supernaturally be enabled to see the truth the light reveals.
Over the past few months, the coronavirus pandemic has spread around the world and infected more than two million people. While some who contract the virus show no symptoms or exhibit only mild ones, others are ravaged by the disease. New York City has been especially hard hit in the United States. As of this writing (on April 18, 2020), New York State has recorded over 226,000 cases, including over 126,000 cases in New York City alone. Statewide, over 16,000 have died, and in New York City, more than 8,000. In New York City, over 33,000 are hospitalized due to COVID-19.
Hospitals in the Big Apple have been overrun. Against this backdrop, Samaritan’s Purse (SP), a Christian international relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, is serving the sick in New York City as well as the city at large. In late March, Samaritan’s Purse deployed a multi-tent field hospital in Central Park, across the street from the city’s Mt. Sinai Hospital. The field hospital itself and the state-of-the-art medical services rendered there truly are remarkable. Last time we highlighted a number of facts about the hospital you’ll not hear talked about on mainstream media outlets.
Not Everyone Is Pleased
Conventional wisdom would suggest that all New Yorkers would welcome Samaritan’s Purse and the SP field hospital to New York and to Central Park. Despite the help that SP is rendering and potentially the many lives that are being saved, some are very displeased—and they are vocal.
Samaritan’s Purse, you see, seeks to uphold biblical tenets, including biblical guidelines about sexuality and marriage. Thus, it is considered to be “anti-gay.”
From the beginning, York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would watch — even monitor — Samaritan’s Purse closely. (As we’ll see in a few moments, Mayor de Blasio isn’t the only politician voicing concern about Samaritan’s Purse.) Some were worried that the hospital might not treat all patients equally. Yet SP spokesman Ken Isaacs had what should have been some very reassuring words for these folks. He said any indications the charity treats some patients unequally are “simply inaccurate and false.” Isaacs added,
We really don’t care who you vote for. We don’t care what color you are. We don’t care who you’re married to or who you sleep with. We don’t care what you believe or who you prayed to or who you don’t pray to. Our patients are brought to us, and we have one consideration on who we treat and that’s need nothing else.
Do we help in Jesus’s name? Yeah, we have a religious belief in Christ, but that means that we help everybody equally. And we want to show them love because we believe Christ loves us and Christ loves them and we want them to know that.
Do we help in Jesus’s name? Yeah, we have a religious belief in Christ, but that means that we help everybody equally.
—Ken Isaacs, Samaritan’s Purse—
While Jane Meyer, a spokesperson for City Hall, emphasized the city’s expectation that Samaritan’s Purse, operating under an agreement with Mt. Sinai Hospital, would not discriminate, this wasn’t the main concern for everyone. For some, the angst ran deeper.
[S]ome New Yorkers said they were leery of receiving care from a fundamentalist group whose own members believe their sexual orientation is sinful.
“I don’t want to demonize people who are volunteering their time, but it is a concerning thing,” said Amy Martin, a Brooklyn resident and former nursing assistant.
“On the one hand, this is absolutely an all hands on deck situation,” she continued. “On the other hand, as an LGBT New Yorker, I would be hesitant to make that my first choice of care. I’d much rather be seen anywhere else.”
Finding Fault with Those Who Help
This is the kind of story we’re getting from mainstream news outlets, and it’s the kind of “gratitude” leftists are offering Samaritan’s Purse. The media won’t focus on the fact that the relief organization is helping people recover from the coronavirus, nor will they emphasize the reality that its volunteers are helping save people’s lives. They never will point to evidence the organization does not discriminate with regard to those it serves, apart from dutifully citing statements made by Samaritan’s Purse spokespersons. Instead, the narrative news outlets repeat is that the relief organization is discriminatory—even hateful. An article published on April 15 on nbcnews.com is titled “Opposition to Samaritan’s Purse Central Park field hospital grows.” Here’s part of what it said.
On Tuesday [April 14], a group of LGBTQ activists stood several yards away from the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital on the East Meadow lawn and blasted city and state officials and Mount Sinai Hospital for partnering with the evangelical humanitarian relief organization treating overflow patients suffering from the coronavirus.
Activists with the Reclaim Pride Coalition holding signs saying “help not hate” called out New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the leadership of Mount Sinai just across the park, for allowing the organization headed by evangelist Franklin Graham to treat New Yorkers while adhering to an anti-gay statement of faith.
“How was this group ever considered to bring their hatred and their vitriol into our city at a time of crisis when our people are fighting a pandemic?” asked Jay W. Walker, an activist with the Reclaim Pride Coalition.
Several days earlier, William Talen, a protestor and gay rights activist, was arrested on several counts. Directing his vitriol at Samaritan’s Purse, Talen allegedly shouted, “They have no business being in New York City. They are the virus.” He jumped over the barrier marking off the area reserved for the field hospital, failed to comply with orders to leave, and, according to NYPD Detective Kellyanne Ort, “proceeded to plant a flag on a pole into the ground.”
Talen’s Twitter handle is “Reverend Billy Talen.” On April 6, he posted this on Twitter.
Today I tried to deliver a rainbow flag to the Samaritans Purse field hospital in Central Park. Franklin Graham and his Lords Army are here with their homophobic racist hustle. Help not hate.
Plans for Expansion Shelved
Yet Samaritan’s Purse is all about rendering help. In response to the needs before them, Samaritan’s Purse and Mt. Sinai Hospital began considering the possibility of expanding the medical services Samaritan’s Purse is offering to the city in Central Park. The breaks were put on that idea, however:
Mount Sinai was prepared to expand the number of field hospital extensions earlier this month when it asked Samaritan’s Purse to extend help at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, on the West Side.
But The New York Times reported that plans to turn the cathedral into a field hospital were abruptly shelved, in part because the cathedral, affiliated with the Episcopal Church, did not realize that Samaritan’s Purse would be involved in the project.
The Episcopal Church, unlike Samaritan Purse, is the leading mainline denomination supporting LGBTQ people, the first in the United States to ordain an openly gay bishop and one of the leaders in special liturgies to marry LGBTQ people.
The scuttled plans for the cathedral hospital may also have fallen apart because of the slowing rate of hospitalizations.
Christians and Other Fair-Minded People Must Push Back
Of course, we can all be thankful for the slowdown in the hospitalization rate. But does anyone recognize how bizarre it is that as Samaritan’s Purse is serving the people of New York at a time of critical need and yet is being vilified? Yes, some understand this. In a piece appearing in the Independent Women’s Forum, Charlotte Hayes writes, “Monitoring Christians is possibly not the best use of New York officials’ time as this crisis deepens in New York.” This is an understatement.
Here I want to make several points, some of which I made earlier, in a previous post. In this post, of course, I will make application to the situation at hand and the principle players in it.
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- Samaritan’s Purse hates absolutely no one.
- Samaritan’s Purse discriminates against absolutely no one in terms of whom it helps. It serves everyone equally. If you have a critical need, those working for and with the organization will do everything they can to help you.
- Samaritan’s Purse is in New York to heal people—to provide care for the sick and to relieve health care workers in the US city hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The work of the SP field hospital has nothing to do with homosexuality. SP did not come to speak out against homosexuality or gay rights. In this sense, homosexuality is a non-issue; but leftists have made it an issue.
- The need is great. People are critically ill, and some are dying.
- The Samaritan’s Purse field hospital offers first class, state-of-the-art care. The quality of its services is excellent.
- The people of New York, by and large, are grateful to the organization Franklin Graham heads and are appreciate of the work it is doing.
- Hardline activists do not care about what people who disagree with them say.
- Nor do they care about how they say it.
- They care about what they believe. An individual or group must agree with them and even celebrate with them to avoid being accused of being hateful.
- Even so, the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman has not hurt gays or gay activists one bit. In fact, all of them came into this world as a result of heterosexual unions, and I dare say that probably the overwhelming majority of these were marital heterosexual unions.
- The beliefs of Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse should not surprise anyone. Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian organization. The moral and ethical convictions Graham and his relief ministry hold about marriage align with what Christians have believed for over 2,000 years (go here and here)—and what the Old Testament has taught for far longer.
- As a Christian ministry, Samaritan’s Purse has every right to expect and require that its employees, representatives, and volunteers agree with and uphold the beliefs of the organization.
- People, especially Christians, need to understand that SP’s beliefs about marriage are a part of the value system that serves as the bedrock foundation for SP’s existence in the first place. It is this same value system that compels it to serve people on the front lines in areas hard hit by disaster, illness, and other crises.
- The question arises: Who is really being hateful and intolerant here? It’s one thing to disagree with the Christian beliefs an organization like Samaritan’s Purse holds. We would expect that some would disagree with these beliefs, not only in New York, but just about anywhere in the country. Disagreement isn’t the problem.
- Remember Amy Martin? We heard from her earlier, in an article that highlighted that “some New Yorkers said they were leery of receiving care from a fundamentalist group whose own members believe their sexual orientation is sinful.” Amy said, “I don’t want to demonize people who are volunteering their time, but it is a concerning thing. On the one hand, this is absolutely an all hands on deck situation. On the other hand, as an LGBT New Yorker, I would be hesitant to make that my first choice of care. I’d much rather be seen anywhere else.” Amy’s response is significant. It reminds us of Jesus’ words in John 3:16-21. The topic of sin certainly does make people uncomfortable. That truth alone is instructive for us, but are we willing to listen to its implications? The light of truth blinds people who have lived and are living in darkness. Yet the point here is that Amy’s perspective represents another tier of disagreement, one that apparently understands the urgency of the situation but that also embraces a preference for not receiving care from the Christian relief organization. Amy has a right to hold this opinion, certainly. And while this level of disagreement isn’t all that problematic, one wonders how Amy and others like her would respond if they had tested positive for COVID-19 and the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital were the only available source of care. Would they turn down care at that point? Perhaps not; Amy said it would not be her “first choice.” Yet it bothers her to be treated, even for an unrelated issue, by those who disagree with her about some of the life choices she has made.
- Others, however, are beyond bothered. They apparently would be glad if SP would pack up and leave, even if it means that more people will get sick and that more people will die. The level of disagreement that is willing to sacrifice the health and lives of others is problematic. How selfish can people be? Mark it down. This isn’t just selfish. It is hateful. How ironic that SP is being accused of hate in this situation!
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In What Kind of a World Do We Want to Live?
These 16 items should give us pause. In what kind of a world do we wish to live? In particular, the last item on the list truly is breathtaking! We need to understand that we are headed toward a world in which Christian ideals are loathed so intensely that just holding to biblical tenets with regard to life, marriage, and religious liberty will disqualify a person or organization from giving people and communities life-affirming and life-saving services.1 This will be true even if and even when the quality of those services is stellar. Who, then, will be the loser? And who, in such a situation, will be the ones engaging in hate?
Christians and other fair-minded people must push back against this tyranny. Quite appropriately, Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse have issued a statement regarding the treatment they have received, merely for helping the people of New York in their time of need. You can read the entire statement here. It says in part,
We have watched daily press briefings by Governor Cuomo and others pleading for help and on April 1, in partnership with Mount Sinai Health System and in response to urgent calls for hospital beds, medical equipment and staff, Samaritan’s Purse erected a 14-tent, 68-bed emergency field hospital in Central Park, staffed by a team of more than 70 doctors, nurses and other medical personnel and relief specialists. This respiratory care unit, which includes 10 ICU beds equipped with ventilators has admitted 119 patients during our first two weeks of operation.
While so many have expressed their appreciation and support, sadly some New York officials and a special interest group have expressed concerns or outright opposition to the presence of Samaritan’s Purse and our field hospital in Central Park. They include:
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- Eight Democratic members of New York’s Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C.
- New York City Commission on Human Rights
- Reclaim Pride Coalition
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These groups share a common objection to the Statement of Faith which Samaritan’s Purse requires its employees to sign and generally asks its volunteers to support. While our Scriptural belief in marriage between a man and a woman seems particularly offensive to representatives of these three groups, we don’t believe this is the time or place to wage this debate. Samaritan’s Purse is a decidedly Christian private relief organization, funded almost entirely by individuals around the world who share our passion for providing aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution—and doing so in Jesus’ Name. It seems tone-deaf to be attacking our religious conviction about marriage at the very moment thousands of New Yorkers are fighting for their lives and dozens of Samaritan’s Purse workers are placing their lives at risk to provide critical medical care.…
It seems tone-deaf to be attacking our religious conviction about marriage at the very moment thousands of New Yorkers are fighting for their lives and dozens of Samaritan’s Purse workers are placing their lives at risk to provide critical medical care.
—Franklin Graham—
In a country that cherishes freedom of speech and religion we don’t object to opposition or criticism of our beliefs as a Christian organization. What we do object to is being harassed into diverting precious resources of time and energy and personnel away from serving COVID-19 patients in New York City in order to respond to demands for documents and other information from eight Democratic members of Congress, the Human Rights Commission and the Reclaim Pride Coalition—all while the death toll in New York continues to climb. If any of these groups had funded and erected their own emergency field hospitals to serve COVID-19 patients in Central Park, we would join what we believe would be most New Yorkers—and Americans—in applauding and praying for them, not harassing them.
What we do object to is being harassed into diverting precious resources of time and energy and personnel away from serving COVID-19 patients in New York City in order to respond to demands for documents and other information from eight Democratic members of Congress, the Human Rights Commission and the Reclaim Pride Coalition—all while the death toll in New York continues to climb.
—Franklin Graham—
What Can We Do?
What can we as Christians do in the face of this? I close by offering these recommendations.
First, be informed about what is going on around you and around the country with regard to opposition to Christianity and Christian teachings. Increasingly, politicians are becoming bolder in denouncing God and things that have any connection to God. Recently—on or around April 15—New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said this at a news conference.
Dr. Michael Brown has warned the governor about this. Remember, this is the same governor who said “that ‘extreme’ conservatives who oppose abortion and support gun rights have no place in his state.” It’s also the same governor who signed an abortion law a year and three months ago that, at the time (also go here), was the most extremely permissive abortion law in the nation. It allows for abortion up until and during the moment of birth! We must be aware that disrespect for life and marriage, as well as anti-Christian bias and bigotry, is increasing.
Second, pray. Pray for our country. We are in desperate need of repenting of our sins, turning to God, and experiencing a spiritual awakening. Near the end of the Family Talk broadcast in which Dr. Dobson interviewed Ken Isaacs, Dr. Dobson said this. I couldn’t agree more.
Third, financially support Samaritan’s Purse and other groups committed to God’s truth who serve on the front lines of what is happening in the culture and the world.
Fourth, speak up! German pastor and Christian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” He was right. Speak up against the harassment of Christians, including Samaritan’s Purse. Leftists are not just shooting themselves in the foot by opposing the work of Samaritan’s Purse and similar organizations; they’re also coming close to shooting themselves, and others, in the head! The freedom they use to criticize Christians and their values is placed in jeopardy by their very criticisms. We see this clearly in their opposition to the SP field hospital that is rendering much needed aid in New York, but it is becoming evident in other situations and places as well.
Fifth, we must participate in the political process. This means being an informed voter, but it means much more. It means knowing enough and having the wisdom to exercise discernment. It means understanding government’s job and limitations according to Scripture and helping others understand them as well. It means learning about the dangers of the social justice movement and speaking out against it (start here). And it means defending free enterprise capitalism against the noble-sounding rhetoric of socialism. And of course, it also means defending life, religious liberty, and man-woman marriage.
Sixth, share the gospel, and encourage people to place their faith in Christ. There are a lot of so-called “gods” competing for people’s allegiance today, including government. Only Christ can meet humanity’s deepest needs. Only He can give eternal life and eternal fulfillment.
Seventh, do as Samaritan’s Purse has done and seeks to do. Serve others in Jesus’ name—and be unashamed of your allegiance to Him in the process.
As we, with God’s help, do these things, we will make a positive difference. Moreover, as Dr. Dobson suggests, we may even see a spiritual awakening on a national level.
May it be so.
If that happens, it will be the best thing by far that will have arisen from the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
Copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Note:
1We’ve seen this already, as Christian adoption services in numerous places have been told they must place children with same-sex couples as well as married opposite-sex couples or shut down. Here is an early example.
top image credit: Samaritan’s Purse video on You Tube
image credit: Mayor Bill de Blasio
image credit: NYC skyline behind chainlink fence
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