12/22/2019
“Due to Bethel’s stand to obey and walk out the fulfillment of Matthew 10:8 pertaining to little Olive, more attention has been upon resurrection recently. Major news outlets have picked up the story. In turn, more attention has been upon myself and the DRT as well.
We are pretty used to hate mail and taunting, mockery, and even threats from modern day Pharisees, but this week it has kicked into overdrive. Everyday I get up to find new comments or emails or messages from these types of people.
The other day I was in the middle of trying to get a team to pray for a woman’s husband who had just died when people were bombing me with hateful messages. The woman’s husband was literally laying next to her in a garage and she was just waiting for someone to come pray. It was the worst moment of her life and she needed someone to stand in faith with her, and these people (95% of the time it is fellow Christians) were sending me messages, mocking me and resurrection. We can’t make promises that we can raise someone from the dead, but we sure can do our best to love on the person that just lost their spouse or child. We will be with them in their pain AND pray in faith for a miracle. So in the midst of attempting to administrate a team to go pray for this woman, other people were sending me the most awful messages. Super helpful. Super timely.
Sometimes in these messages people tell me I will burn in hell for what I am doing, other times they tell me I am a liar. Other times they say I am preying off of broken people, and somehow financially benefiting from their loss (I have no idea how one would do that, but ok). In more extreme cases, they threaten to come after those that I love. People do this all because we read Matthew 10:8 (and countless other scriptures) literally and try, just try, to walk it out.
The attacks aren’t even the hard part. The hardest part is entering into situations where someone has lost a loved one and allowing my heart to get involved, over and over and over. It guts me every time. But I have to do it because I refuse to let people walk out the worst moment of their life alone. I pray and sometimes people get a miracle. But many times they don’t and I am left holding the broken pieces of their life in my hands. I tried. I did my best. The only response is worship. Everything else is error.
I never, ever had anyone in church have a problem with me until I actually tried to walk out more than a moral lifestyle as a Christian. Once I decided the Christian life is a supernatural one, that is when and only when people began to disassociate from me, attack me, unfriend me, betray me, and stopped talking to me. The fact that I never had anyone attack me when I was in a lifestyle of sin and not living for God, but instantly had enemies when I began to do what the Bible says tells me that I am on the right track. Jesus never said it would be easy. Persecution isn’t an indicator that you got off track but that you finally found the narrow path.
I realize I am in good company, but after 12 years of this, trust me, you get tired of the religious backlash. You get quicker at blocking people or caring to quote scriptures that legitimize why you are doing what you are doing. You stop quoting scriptures because after hundreds of conversations with unbelieving believers you realize that your attackers don’t care to know verses anyways. Thus, everyday you get up and decide to exemplify love to people that want you to fail. Everyday you get up and choose to love your enemies. It is all so bewildering because you never actually viewed them as *your* enemy, but they view you as *their* enemy. You actually want to be their friend. Each time, you don’t know why they have such a problem with you and then remember it has nothing to do with you in the first place. They hate you because they hated Him first. And love is the answer.
I get up everyday aware that most of my family (not my wife and kids ) thinks I am legitimately nuts. My brother, that I love and look up to, literally thinks I am crazy. This is not easy to accept. It starts to make sense why Jesus was so abrasive when people came to Him and told Him that His family was outside and ready to take Him away because they thought He was nuts. His response made it clear that He considered “family” was defined not by blood but by who you serve. It sounds brutal but when you have been misunderstood and judged (being called crazy IS a judgement) by your own family, it grows tiresome.
When you have been called to the front lines, your heart cries out for a calling that is less controversial but in the end you know it was never up to you. And you agreed from the start to do what other people can’t and won’t do.
Most of the church doesn’t know what to do with me. In my hometown most of the pastors think I am a universalist (lol, Jesus is the only way, I am not a universalist) and when I go to community events in my town, they avoid talking to me like the plague. I feel like a l***r but at least Jesus hung out with l***rs! Even churches that walk in the spirit aren’t sure what to do with me. Teaching on resurrection doesn’t fill up conferences, and sadly, if your message doesn’t fill seats, you won’t be invited to the larger churches because they need to fill dem seats and make dat money! Thus, I generally don’t hear from churches until they have bad news: “Someone in our church died. Will you pray?”
If the gospel we walk out doesn’t make someone mad it isn’t the Gospel. This is true because we are promised persecution by both Jesus and Paul in the scriptures. This comforts my heart and reminds me that it is okay if people hate me or misunderstand me or curse me or mock me for what seems like no real reason at all.
Many people on my FB friends list know me and have stood behind me over the years. This is a small glimpse into what my life is like on a daily basis so that you can know how much your friendship, support, and love means to me. Some of you have stood and defended me publicly when I refused to defend myself. Some of you have sowed into us the very moment we needed money. Some of you have sent us words of encouragement moments after getting hate mail.
To say that we are grateful is not enough. You have been my family. You have been my friends. You have been the balm of healing on my heart.
Thank you.”
-Tyler Johnson, DRT Director
