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Introduction:
On August 3 I received an e-mail that simply said, “Dear
Preacher, Can you please send me scriptures on baptism and
salvation. My name Shae Adair (sic). I am trying to search this
out and am looking for help. Thanks so much.” Over the next week
and a half I had multiple e-mails and phone conversations with
Shea. I learned that she had a Southern Baptist background but had
been prompted by a friend to rethink her position on baptism. She
had a few questions, but was mostly concerned because her husband
was opposed to this study. The more convinced she became, the
angrier he got. He began by questioning her submission to him and
ultimately moved out, threatening to leave her permanently if she
was baptized for the remission of her sins. However, against all
odds, she was willing to follow through on her new conviction
anyway. On Saturday, August 18, she was traveling to Nashville and
wanted to know if we could meet face to face. Marita, the kids and
I met Shea at the building. After talking for a few minutes, she
said she wanted to be baptized. What rejoicing. It was wonderful.
We were all so happy for her. We watched the introductory video to
“Your First 10 Days as a Christian” and then sent her on her
way bidding her Godspeed, hoping her husband would settle down and
see reason after a few days and that she would connect with the
young lady with whom we had set up contact in Huntsville, AL and,
through her, connect with a congregation.
She called me at about 5:18 pm saying she was almost home
and wanted me to have a prayer with her since she was about to see
her husband. I did. Then I didn’t hear from her again. I began
to worry when I called her Sunday afternoon and didn’t get an
answer. Then, just before our Sunday evening assembly I tried to
contact her again. However, Shea did not answer the phone. Her
sister did. In the conversation she told me that Shea had told her
husband she had been baptized, he lost it and beat her up. I was
completely deflated. It was hard to even preach last Sunday night.
Later that evening, Stephanie called again to say Shea had lost
her baby and had so much damage internally she had to have a
complete hysterectomy, she was bleeding internally and they
couldn’t figure out why. On Monday, Shea was unconscious and
they weren’t sure which way things would go. I couldn’t
believe it. I was about to have met my first modern martyr. I
could only hope that some good would come out of it and her family
would be prompted to examine this faith for which Shea was willing
to be abandoned by her husband, hospitalized and possibly even
die.
However, some things were not adding up. A Huntsville
policeman could not find any information about the police report,
warrant or arrest of John Adair, the abusive husband. Further,
there was no record of Shea Adair being admitted to a hospital in
Huntsville or having surgery there. Something was not right. But
this was too unbelievable. Nobody could make this stuff up. There
must be a very simple reason for this. Tuesday morning, having
found out a specific hospital and intensive care unit, I traveled
to Huntsville, met up with a brother there and we scoured the
Surgical ICU of Huntsville Hospital. We were told that no Shea
Adair was admitted, there wasn’t anyone in the hospital under a
protected status and no one had come in on Sunday night with those
surgical procedures. No family was in the waiting area who would
respond to the page. Then we received the call from another
preacher who had experienced the exact same circumstance last year
and he knew of another congregation where it happened as well. The
woman he described matched perfectly the woman I had baptized. The
story, though slightly different, was a replica. It was too
similar to be ignored. As guilty as I felt even thinking it, I had
to admit, I had been duped and had passed the charade on to
others.
In the worst case scenario, there is an individual who
maliciously pranks churches, extorting our emotions and making
light of our faith and our own suffering. In the best case
scenario, there is an individual who suffers from an addictive
relationship disorder called Factitious Disorder. Those suffering
from this syndrome fake illnesses and sometimes even cause their
own illness without an obvious external gain such as money. The
goal is usually emotional, trying to gain support, sympathy and
attention or power from being able to control and manipulate an
authority figure. This condition can be caused by “personality
disorders; child abuse; the wish to repeat a satisfying childhood
relationship with a doctor; the desire to deceive or test
authority figures; and the wish to assume the role of patient and
be cared for.”[1]
Thus, we have either been preyed on by a malicious sinner or a
suffering addict. In either case, Shea, or whoever she really is,
needs our prayers now more than ever.
Despite the obvious deception, Shea has taught me some
things and, for that, I am thankful. I would like to share these
lessons, some positive and some negative, with you and then
briefly discuss where we need to go from here. Discussion: I.
Shea taught me about evangelism and fear. A.
If you are like me, we all hope for the person who just
drops out of the blue and is converted with almost no work at all.
We hope the prospects will come to us. All we have to do is offer
a nudge here and a nudge there and voila we have a new Christian.
Perhaps there really are some stories like that out there.
However, the reality is Jesus said, “Go therefore and make
disciples…” (Matthew
28:19). We wish it told the prospects, “Come and let us
make you disciples.” But it tells us to “Go.” Even if this
story with Shea had been true, she would have been one in a
million. We can’t baptize the one person in the world who comes
to us and then think we have done our job in evangelism. Shea has
reminded me. Our job is to GO. B.
Further, in II
Corinthians 5:11, Paul said, “Knowing the fear of the
Lord, we persuade others” (ESV). Regrettably, however, many
Christians tacitly say, “Knowing the fear of rejection, I keep
my mouth shut.” But an interesting phenomenon happened in this
story. The day and a half I thought the tragedy was true and I was
trying to spread the news far and wide I kept hearing a repeated
refrain. “I’ve never heard of anything like this happening.”
If I heard it once, I heard a thousand times. It dawned on me. Why
are so many of us afraid to talk to people about Jesus and His
gospel? The fact is, we have never heard of anything like this
ever happening in the U.S. (maybe other countries, but not here).
If we heard these kind of stories every other day, I could
understand our fear. However, we have never heard anything like
this and the one time we have heard it, it has turned out to be
false. Of what are we afraid? When we stand before God in judgment
and He asks why we didn’t “Go”, what will we say? “I’m
sorry, Lord, I was afraid they would call me a name.” “I’m
sorry Lord, I was afraid they wouldn’t invite me to the parties
anymore.” “I’m sorry Lord, I was afraid they wouldn’t let
me hang out with them anymore.” “I’m sorry Lord, I was
afraid they would say we thought we were the only ones going to
heaven.” How much water do we really think any of that will
hold? II.
Shea taught me to be more willing to be an example of
faith. A.
One question that gets asked over and again is how someone
could pull something like this off for any amount of time. I know
how it works. She is calling people and giving them a story they
want to believe. Because we wanted to believe it, she didn’t
have to convince us. She merely had to play along with what she
knew we wanted to believe. B.
We wanted to believe that someone in a denomination
actually studied their Bible for themselves. We wanted to believe
that in her study she learned we were right on baptism. I know we
didn’t necessarily want to believe her husband would abandon her
if she obeyed, but we wanted to believe there was someone with
enough conviction that she would obey God even with that threat. I
know we didn’t want to believe that she had been beaten so bad
that she had miscarried and now lay dying in a hospital because of
internal bleeding. However, we wanted to believe someone had such
strong faith she would stand by her faith no matter what happened. C.
That thought has struck me. We want to believe there really
is someone out there with that amount of faith who can be our
example. I wanted to believe that. While I was preaching last
Sunday night, I was already planning my sermon for today. It was
going to be about Shea and her faith, the modern day example of
faith under fire. I wanted that example. I wanted to believe that.
However, we found out that story was not to be believed. D.
Where will we then turn for our examples? How about to
ourselves? How about we build up our faith so much that we will
obey God no matter what happens? How about we grow so much in
faith that when we come under fire we stand out as an example of
conviction? Paul told Timothy to be an example in speech, conduct,
love, faith and purity (I
Timothy 4:12). I was easily taken in because I wanted to
believe Shea could be that example. Instead, I need to be that
example. We need to be that example. (No, I’m not saying we
should actively seek to be beaten or become martyrs. However, we
should be this example of faith to which brethren can look.) III.
Shea taught me we are not a denomination, but we are a
family. A.
We are an independent, autonomous, self-governing
congregation. As I
Peter 5:2 teaches we are independently governed by our own
elders who only have oversight within our congregation. We are not
in an association, denomination or governing relationship with any
other congregation anywhere. We have no boards, no legislatures,
no conventions, no conferences. Yet we know there are lots of
people all over the world who are doing the exact same thing we
are, serving God the same way and with the same goal to just do
what we find authorized in Scripture. When I wanted Christians to
pray for this woman, I did not call my Pastor, my bishop, my
cardinal or my convention representative to try to pass on the
information to all the other churches related to us. B.
I simply told Christians, who told Christians, who told
Christians, who told Christians and people were praying and asking
to help from Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia,
Arizona, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Washington, Rhode
Island, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, California,
Minnesota, Oregon, Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, up in
Canada and even all the way into Australia (the internet is an
amazing thing). These are merely the places I can say for certain.
I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if we tracked down people who were
praying for this situation in almost every state. Mark
10:29-30 says when we come into Christ’s kingdom we may
have to leave father, mother, brother and sister behind, but we
gain a hundredfold in brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. We
are not a denomination, but we are a family. IV.
Shea taught me why we need this family and why I’m glad
I’m part of it. A.
I feel very sorry for Shea. I almost feel more sorry for
Shea right now than I did when I thought she was lying in the
hospital having miscarried and possibly dying because her husband
beat her for her faith. Physical pain hardly compares to
emotional. I guess I could be wrong about whoever Shea really is,
but a common reason for this malady is the lack of a support
group. She likely has no one to be there for her when she needs a
shoulder to cry on. She has reported to me a huge family that is
very close and takes care of its own. However, folks in large
families who take care of their own don’t have to play these
games to feel loved. We have come in contact with a woman who
doesn’t know what it is like to be loved. She doesn’t really
know what it is like to know there is someone you can call and
lean on. She doesn’t know what it is really like to have a
safety net of people who are there to help here through the good
and bad times. B.
She doesn’t know what that feels like. But we do. Right
here within this congregation we have about 140 people to whom we
can turn. Colossians
2:2 talked about Christians having their hearts knit
together in love. That is what we have here within the Franklin
Church of Christ. At least that is what those of us who have
actually connected with other people here have. Further, Shea
expected us to have that. Really, in a sense, this whole bizarre
occurrence has been a backhanded compliment of churches of Christ,
even non-institutional churches who are constantly and falsely
labeled as unloving and uncaring. I don’t know if Shea has
targeted denominations as well or even institutional
congregations. However, I know she has picked three
non-institutional churches of Christ to become her source of
support and comfort. She wouldn’t target us if she didn’t
think she would receive love, sympathy and attention. C.
We don’t have to make up fantasy worlds to get
pseudo-love. We have our real world and our real church and we
have real love. I’m glad to be here and be part of it. V.
Where should we go from here? A.
Pursue
love anyway.
I
Thessalonians 4:9-10 tells us to grow in love more and
more. I am most concerned that this whole experience will harden
us to love. I think it is ironic that last Sunday evening, right
after we had been told we had a sister who had been beaten for her
faith, I happened to preach from the Parable of the Good
Samaritan. One of the points of that lesson was that we make
ourselves vulnerable and we take a risk when we love others. Last
Sunday and Monday, we loved. We had no idea who this woman was,
but we loved her. On Tuesday, that love was crumpled up and thrown
in our faces. It would be easy to pull back on our love for
people, especially Shea herself. But despite how people use,
misuse and abuse us, we need to love anyway. In fact, even Shea
needs our love more than ever. Perhaps if Shea had been able to
receive real love, she wouldn’t need to try to manufacture it by
lying to us. B.
Act
with mercy and compassion anyway.
When you have been taken for as many rides as I have, you start to
get a little cynical. Our response to people in need becomes,
“Get a job.” Our response to folks who want to cry on our
shoulder is, “Buck up. Get over it.” Our response to folks who
struggle spiritually is, “Grow up and quit being so weak.” Too
often we have acted with compassion and folks have taken advantage
of us. We need to act with mercy and compassion anyway. As Matthew
5:7 says, only the merciful and compassionate will receive
mercy and compassion. C.
Teach
the gospel anyway.
There are a lot of insincere people out there who really don’t
care what God’s word says. There are even people who treat it so
lightly that they will make light of our faith and toy with our
emotions. Sometimes, we might get so fed up and so convinced that
nobody wants to really hear the truth today that we just give up.
We, however, have to remember that our job is not to give the
increase. Our job is just to plant and water the seed (I
Corinthians 3:5-7). Therefore, whether we actually baptize
anyone ever again or not, we need to teach the gospel to as many
as we can anyway, no matter how they respond. Conclusion: On one level, I wish none of this had ever happened. On another, I’m glad it did. I’ve learned a lot from Shea. I hope we all can.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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