He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you. (Proverbs 9:7, 8)
In what world is it news when a man announces his Christian faith and leadership were only for the money and that he "faked it all the way?" In the Gray Lady's world where hypocrisy among pro-life Evangelicals is news fit to print because it somehow confirms their self-righteousness in promoting the slaughter of little ones and hating God.
My own father knew the elder Francis Schaeffer (they both attended Faith Seminary) and near the end of his life he became concerned about the anger and pride that characterized Franky's splenetic diatribes. So back in the early eighties, Dad wrote Franky a kind fatherly letter of admonishment. Franky never responded.
Years later, now, I'm in my late fifties and I realize how awful pride is and how very many nations, cities, churches, families, marriages, and men it destroys. It is the engine that drives that root of bitterness that corrupts many.
This is my way of saying that the real news about Franky is not that he's now confessing his whole life has been hypocrisy...
but that years ago he chose arrogance. And whoever tried to discipline his arrogance was on a fools' errand.
Pray for the soul of Franky Schaeffer, that God may break him to repentance.
Then stop parading your sons and daughters as paragons of virtue and musical skill and intellectual ability and prettiness and knowledge of Scripture--or more likely, Latin. You've made them little Franky Schaeffers and you've only got a few years left to correct your failure.
Often I tell young and older men that the book of Proverbs only has two categories of men, but those two categories aren't the men who need correction and the men who do not.
They're the men who are foolish and proud and therefore refuse correction and the men who receive it with grateful hearts and mend their ways.
(TB, w/thanks to DC)
