By Michael Barrick
March 12, 2001

GREENSBORO, NC (AgapePress) - If any Christian ministry or organization still has any questions whether they should accept government funding for their efforts, the recent troubles faced by Samaritan’s Purse should answer those questions.

The Boone, North Carolina-based ministry, which takes about five percent of its $134 million budget from the U.S. Agency for International Development, was criticized for -- quick, grab your heart -- sharing the Gospel with earthquake victims in El Salvador! Daring to do so, said a USAID spokesman, violated the First Amendment’s so-called call for the separation of church and state.

The problem started when a government relief worker complained, “They are hitting these people when they are the most vulnerable. It may not be pressure, but it sure is taking advantage of a period in people’s lives …” To which Franklin Graham, Chairman and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, replied, “This gives them hope. That’s the main thing -- to come into a community like this and give hope to the people that they can rebuild and get their lives back together. Most important, we want to give them eternal hope, and that’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

But, Graham has learned, you can’t do that when you take federal money. This finally proves, without a doubt, that Christian ministries devoted to sharing the Gospel have no business taking government money.

Agreeing to compromise the Gospel -- which any ministry will have to do if it takes the money -- reflects a lack of faith and creates an unholy alliance, because agreeing to not teach about the saving power of Jesus is agreeing to “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:5).

President Bush was correct when he said, “A compassionate society is one which recognizes the great power of faith. We in government must not fear faith-based programs … we must welcome faith-based programs.” I could not be more opposed however, to his proposal to fund, with federal dollars, those faith-based organizations. Why? Because if a ministry can’t share the Gospel, it has lost its purpose.

The unintended effect will be chilling. Under the President’s plan, ministries are prohibited from proselytizing (sharing the Gospel) if they accept the cash. I have been involved in several Christian ministries and have seen how easy it is to compromise the mission for contributions -- and that’s without a promised federal windfall.

In one such instance, I was the executive director of an evangelical rescue ministry. The people who founded it did so even though a similar ministry in the city already existed. Why? Because the first ministry had quit preaching the Gospel and had become nothing more than a church-financed social agency.

In short, the most important message one can ever hear -- the message of the Empty Tomb: not only that Jesus lived and died, but that Jesus died and lives -- was omitted so that jittery contributors would continue to support the programs meeting the physical needs of clients.

We at the fledgling ministry asked, “What’s the point?”

After all, the government has plenty of programs that meet the physical needs of people. We knew, that for any assistance to be lasting, meaningful -- and most importantly, life changing -- it had to include a clear Gospel message.

Surprisingly, our ministry was met with stiff resistance from the established mainline churches (from whence flowed the money). Do not be surprised then, that when this money starts flowing, that those ministries who don’t accept the money because they don’t want to be gagged, are marginalized. “Why are you all so intolerant?” will be the unstated -- perhaps even stated -- question.

The answer to such a question, of course, is simple: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

There is no question that there will be a political battle over this. Evangelical ministries, however, need not participate in the battle. They must remember they have but one message to share: The Empty Tomb.

This empty tomb is the source of hope for every Christian. It is the basis for the Christian’s faith. While the cross is commonly used to display the Christian’s faith, it is fitting, as we approach Holy Week, to remember that the victory over sin and death was not achieved on the cross, but was accomplished when the tomb was miraculously unsealed -- and the physical body of Jesus was brought back to life. All of the disciples were eyewitnesses to this event and testified to it, even though they knew they would be killed for saying so. Men do not give their lives for a lie, so we have confidence that the story of the empty tomb is true.

Through his death and resurrection, Jesus paid the price for our sins.

That is a message that cannot be compromised -- no matter how profitable it might be to do so.