There are many questions left unanswered in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death.

Beyond the particulars of bin Laden’s burial—the White House could release photos today—how will the demise of this terrorist mastermind impact the Middle East revolution, if at all? What does this mean for human rights? Is Pakistan really an ally or has the Muslim nation been playing both sides?

Charisma News turned to university thought leaders to get some answers to these and other lingering questions.

Thomas Gibson, professor of anthropology at the University of Rochester, has taught on Islam and global politics for the past decade in response to Sept. 11. He calls al-Qaida a decentralized network of “religiously inspired revolutionaries” who failed to achieve their objectives in their home countries. This network, he says, was kept alive by the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq because it made the U.S. appear as the greatest threat to ordinary Muslims rather than their own corrupt governments.

“Recent pro-democracy uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria have made both ‘U.S. imperialism’ and radical Islamic revolutionaries seem less relevant to ordinary people. It is now clear to most observers that Arab dictators have been using the threat of Islamic extremism as an excuse to extract resources from the U.S. to maintain their power,” Gibson says. “So-called terrorist groups in South Asia are a different matter, and many of them are, in fact, tactical fronts for the Pakistani military’s struggle with India.”

Gibson says there is good evidence that the Pakistani military has deliberately played both sides in the Afghan civil war to extract military resources from Washington. The fact that bin Laden’s villa in Abbotabad was just two miles from the Pakistani Military Academy and just 30 miles from the capital of Pakistan, he says, indicates that they have probably been using him as a bargaining chip for the past 10 years.

“The Obama administration may well use this as an opportunity to decrease its profile in the region, and Pakistan may turn to China, its other traditional ally in its confrontation with India,” Gibson says. “The Bush administration’s attempt to cast foreign policy as driven by a ‘Global War on Terror’ can perhaps be finally laid to rest along with Osama bin Laden.”

Mark Ensalaco, director of the Human Rights Studies Program at the University of Dayton, doesn’t expect bin Laden’s death to be the end—until senior clerics preach that blowing yourselves up in the name of martyrdom and Islam isn’t acceptable.

“Bin Laden is dead, but his movement is dying as well. Everywhere he preached his message has turned into a disaster for him,” says Ensalaco, author of “Middle Eastern Terrorism: From Black September to September 11.” “You see that in the pro-democracy movements in the Middle East. I would advise President Obama not to show the photos. That’s beneath us.”

Pete W. Moore, associate professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University, has a different take: The bin Laden killing is more important for politics in Washington, D.C., than events in the Middle East and wider Muslim world.

“Bin Laden and his organization were never a serious political or social force in the region, as assumed by leaders in Washington and the dwindling number of Arab autocrats and monarchs who today cling to power,” Moore says. “What gave his organization prominence was the claim by Washington and its allies that al-Qaida was behind so many threats to the U.S., the majority of which turned out not to be so. Sadly, that hype was used to justify deadly decisions to invade and bomb numerous countries, imprison and torture people and curb the rights of American citizens.”

 Evangelist targets outdoorsmen with adventurous gospel message.

Look around your typical church and
you’ll notice a common theme: There are more women than men. Evangelist
Jay Lowder, founder of Jay Lowder Harvest Ministries based in Wichita Falls, Texas, is working to get
more men saved—and attending church—through events that target big,
strong (and lost) outdoorsmen. Lowder partners with churches and
ministries to host his Adventure Weekend, which offers events for the
entire family but includes “manly” activities exclusively for the guys
on Saturday night.

“Most of these guys would never in a
million years walk through the door of a church unless it was [for] a
wedding or a funeral,” says Lowder, who carries some clout among hunters
since ESPN Outdoors published an article on his turkey-hunting skills. “These guys don’t realize that there is an actual motive behind all this.”

For the men-only event, a church parking
lot is transformed into an outdoor exhibition hall, complete with car
and motorcycle shows, trophy mounts, golf-equipment demonstrations,
sports clinics and hunting classes. Lowder gives away elk-hunting and
Canadian fly-fishing trips, expensive rods and reels, trained highbred
hunting dogs and more. The event concludes with a “beast feast” meal at
which Lowder presents the gospel in a low-key way through colorful
hunting and fishing lessons.

“I don’t just get up and preach John
3:16. I tell four stories about what I’ve learned while hunting and
fishing,” Lowder says. “I use terms like targets, decoys, blood trails and bad decisions to explain the gospel to men who aren’t familiar with the church—because those are terms they can understand.”

Indeed, Lowder’s analogies include
explaining how deer hunters follow blood trails. Sometimes, even if the
hunter makes a perfect hit, the deer runs. To find the deer, the hunter
has to follow the blood trail. Lowder ties that back to Christ by
explaining he’s on a blood trail that started 2,000 years ago. 

Likewise, the evangelist compares looking
through the scope of a gun—and how hunters use the cross as a measure
to make sure they are on track for the hit—to what Jesus did for all men
at the cross. Lowder says typically more than 200 men come to Christ
during an Adventure Weekend.

“Churches have become really good at
building country clubs where people look like us and dress like us and
think like us,” he says. “And we’re also good at getting folks from
other churches to move to our church because we have better music or a
bowling alley. But what we haven’t done is reach out to unchurched
people—men who have never heard the gospel.”

Lowder is working to grow the Adventure
Weekend outreach with corporate sponsorships from outdoor brands such as
Benelli, Beretta, Winchester and Remington. His vision is to pack civic
centers and build an environment in which men feel comfortable and
uninhibited so they will lay their machismo aside and receive Jesus.

“At these events, we’re seeing men
publicly stand and say they are lost and hurting,” Lowder says. “A lot
of these guys are very successful, but inside they feel their life
amounts to nothing. They hear this good news that everything they have
been looking for can be found at the cross. They recognize they need
this God-man named Jesus Christ, and they accept Him.”

A father to some, and a spiritual father to many more, David Wilkerson was buried on Monday afternoon in Tyler, Texas.

Funeral services were held for Wilkerson, who was killed in a head-on collision on April 27, at Rose Heights Church of God. About 800 people arrived from around the country to pay their last respects to Wilkerson. Nicky Cruz, David Shipley, Ron Luce, Robert Morris, and Jim Cymbala were among the many recognizable faces in the congregation.

“David was eulogized by family and friends as a great man,” says Steve Strang, founder and publisher of Charisma magazine. “Both his sons, Gary and Greg, as well as several others, honored him.” Strang attended the funeral and plans to publish a special report on Tuesday.

Gary revealed something prophetic his father told him just last week: Wilkerson thought Gwen, his wife, would outlive him.

Gwen was first diagnosed with cancer at age 32, according to the Assemblies of God (AG). Both of Wilkerson’s daughters, Debbie and Bonnie, are also cancer survivors. The AG reports Gwen and her daughters went through 16 surgeries and nine cancers. Wilkerson was right. Gwen outlived him. Gary told the congregation that his mother is expected to recover from the car accident that took his father’s life.

Carter Conlon, senior pastor of Times Square Church, the church Wilkerson founded in October 1987, said Wilkerson’s was a life well lived. “It’s hard to honor a great man,” Conlon said, sharing that Wilkerson didn’t see himself as a great man and was always shocked that God would use him.

Dallas Holm joined Wilkerson in his youth crusades in 1970. He traveled and ministered with Wilkerson for 10 years. He sang several songs at the service, including In Your Presence, I’ll Rise Again and Majesty.

Wilkerson’s younger brother, Don, who ran Teen Challenge for many years, told the church that he called Wilkerson “Brother Dave” like everyone else. He shared how people asked him over the years how he lived in his younger brother’s shadow. His reply: “David cast no shadow.” In other words, Wilkerson was humble and easy to work with.

Barry Meguiar, chairman of the board of World Challenge, the ministry Wilkerson founded in 1971, knew Wilkerson for 41 years. He called him the “most godly man he ever knew” and said he “walked closer to God than anyone I knew.”

Cruz was at Rose Heights Church of God for one reason: to say goodbye to his spiritual father. He told people that without Wilkerson he would “be in the pit of hell right now.” Cruz was one of the many gang members Wilkerson led to Christ during his ministry.

A burial followed the service. Wilkerson was buried in Lindale City Cemetery.

Strang contributed eye-witness accounts and quotes to this report.

The Cross and the Switchblade. It’s a best-selling book that may go down in Church history as David Wilkerson’s most memorable calling card.

The book tells the true story of Wilkerson’s outreach to New York teens trapped in a world of drugs and gangs, separate from Christ, without hope and without God in the world. Later turned into a movie, The Cross and the Switchblade includes the story of Nicky Cruz, a teen gang member whose life was dramatically transformed by Christ.

But Wilkerson didn’t write the book all alone. He depended on the steady hands of John and Elizabeth Sherrill. Since The Cross and the Switchblade was published in 1963 the Sherrills have written many books, but they will never forget their experience—or their friendship—with Wilkerson.

Charisma News caught up with John Sherrill to discuss some of his fondest memories with the founder of World Challenge. Those memories focus on Wilkerson’s humility and his prophetic insights into world events.

“David was very careful not to get into any of the areas where televangelists were raising huge amounts of money and then living in great style. He just didn’t do that,” says Sherrill. “Whenever we saw him he was in a suburban home. If he had some parts of his life that weren’t that way I didn’t know about them.”

Wilkerson did have one passion, though: old cars. Over the years, Wilkerson collected many old cars with his own money—not the ministry’s money. Sherrill tells the story of Wilkerson walking into his garage one day and deciding he shouldn’t own the vintage automobiles—and he immediately sold them.

“When David told me that story I thought, ‘If I had a passion for old cars and used my own money to buy them, I would be very reluctant to feel that there was more kingdom use for the money than John Sherrill’,” a lighthearted Sherrill admits. “It was a good insight into David’s personality.”

Another one of Sherrill’s favorite Wilkerson memories relates to the man of God’s prayer time. Wilkerson enjoyed reading the writings of the Church Fathers, like Augustine. Sherrill says the focus of Wilkerson’s personal prayer and study time is illustrative of his priorities.

Perhaps what Sherrill remembers most about his co-author was what he calls a strange ability to foresee the future. Sherrill points to the stock market crash of 1987, widely known as Black Monday, as one of may examples.

“David came out of his prayer time and said, “A crash is going to come today. I think I would like to go see what happens’,” Sherrill says. “So he down to Wall Street and the stock market crashed. It was very unusual. It was just something of his understanding of the sins of the world and the sins of our fathers. The swings in our stock market are indicative of greed or of fear. It had been greed and then suddenly overnight it just plunged into fear. David was there when it happened.”

Addictions of one type or another are practically a given for prison inmates worldwide.

“About 80 percent of people in prison wrestle with some sort of addiction: alcohol, drugs, whatever,” says Dr. David Schuringa, president of prison ministry at Crossroad Bible Institute (CBI). “In fact, a very high percentage of people in prison committed their crime while under the influence of some substance.”

CBI provides biblical training for prisoners across the globe, reaching out to them with Bible curriculum, discipleship and opportunity.

Recently, Schuringa wrote a series of articles on the poignant subject of addictions. There is a spot in a CBI quarterly magazine where Schuringa addresses students directly. Articles in the past have dealt with various issues that prisoners will face when they leave prison. Recent topics have included “Success in the Workplace” and “Success in the Family,” both of which gained enough response to be turned into full-fledged courses.

Schuringa’s articles have gotten some great feedback, but none so much as the recent series on addictions.

“I’ve been writing these articles [on addiction], and the response has just been unbelievable. I’ve never written anything that has received so much response,” says Schuringa. “It seems like it really hit a nerve.”

So many people responded to the issue that seemed to resonate so personally, that CBI decided to make a course out of this series too.

The new course “seeks to have a balanced and holistic approach,” Schuringa says, combining several elements to ensure full recovery. Addiction, Schuringa says, is a matter of the heart, mind and will. The program will address all three.

Matters of the heart are confronted first and foremost by a relationship with Jesus Christ in the new course. Students will be encouraged to fill the hole in their hearts with Christ rather than a substance or other addiction.

Matters of the mind are treated with a full mind transformation as Paul discusses in several books of the Bible.

Matters of the will cater to lifestyle changes. This area approaches the issue from a physical standpoint of healthy eating and other habits.

Our loss is heaven’s gain. That’s the general sentiment from Church leaders across denominations about David Wilkerson.

Wilkerson, founder of World Challenge Ministries, was killed last Wednesday in a car accident in Tyler, Texas. His family gathered for a private funeral there on Monday afternoon.

“The passion and purity modeled in Dave Wilkerson’s life characterize the highest standards God’s Word reveals for any Ephesians 4:11 role,” Dr. Jack Hayford, president of The Kings University, told Charisma News. “His steadfastness in his marriage, teaching and humility before God constitute those things I especially treasure at this time ‘remembering Dave’.”

David Cerullo, Chairman and CEO of Inspiration Ministries, agrees that America, and the world, has suffered a great loss in the passing of Wilkerson.

“In every society, the Lord raises up men of character as a prophetic voice to their generation. David Wilkerson was such a voice. His life and ministry radiated the compassion of God without compromising the Word of God. And his resolve to complete his mission never wavered,” Cerullo told Charisma News. “David Wilkerson was a pillar of the Christian faith, a lover of Jesus Christ and a man whose legacy will last into eternity. Barbara and I, and the entire Inspiration family join together to celebrate his life. Our prayers are with his wife, Gwen, and with the rest of the family, the Times Square Church community, World Challenge, and to all who grieve his passing.”

Doug Stringer, founder of Somebody Cares America, a non-profit group that mobilizes Christians into evangelism to transform communities, agrees that the Church lost a great prophetic voice with Wilkerson’s passing. Stringer says Wilkerson impacted his life profoundly.

“I remember the time many years ago that he told me to always weep between the porch and the altar for the those we ministered seek just a sermon or message from the Bible to preach, but weep for those to whom you preach,” Stringer recalls. “Lord, please restore us to the place you once called us. Lord, let not the volume of your authentic prophetic voices of years past only become a memory, but raise up voices of righteousness and truth in this generation.”

Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and the Hispanic National Association of Evangelicals, says Wilkerson’s life stood as an example of a man committed to biblical truth and righteousness.

“The Church lost a pastor and a prophet. His relationship with Nicky Cruz ignited outreach to the gang saturated segments of the Hispanic and urban communities,” Rodriguez says. “As a result, the barrios of America received the transformative message of redemption through Christ. His life and ministry demonstrate that the prophetic is greater than the pathetic, the Cross is more powerful than the switchblade and the blood triumphs over addiction. “

When reflecting on the legacies of Wilkerson and Osama Bin Laden, both of whom were killed around the same time, Paul Zink, pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship in Jacksonville, Fla., told Charisma News it seems ironic that one’s legacy and mission was to restore lives, while the other’s was to destroy them.

“When I was 11 years old living in Elkhart, Ind., my father was pastor of an Assembly of God church. He read the story of David Wilkinson going to New York City to involve himself in recapturing the streets from heroin addicts and gang violence by preaching the Gospel of life,” Zink says.

Zink remembers how the first graduating class from the Teen Challenge Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., came to his father’s church—the testimonies of the young male drug addicts changed his life forever. It was the first time he was ever moved upon by the Holy Spirit to give a sacrificial offering. He donated his bicycle and favorite jacket to the young men.  

 “David Wilkerson modeled the life of Jesus to our generation. I attribute, in part, his influence in my life to the call of God that I have followed for 45 years,” Zink says. “Now the baton is being passed to all those spiritual sons that he has touched for over half a century. Let his life be a beacon to lead us in the spreading of the Gospel. May God bless David Wilkinson’s family and Time’s Square Church as they carry on his legacy.”

When it comes to the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, Christian leaders hardly have a unified voice.

Indeed, while some are rejoicing in the spirit of Proverbs 11:10—When the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. But others are indignant that Christians aren’t leaning on the Matthew 5 edict to “love your enemies.”

Matthew Barnett, co-founder of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, tweeted this message to his followers: “Disappointed in the pastors who would not rejoice that a man similar to Hitler was removed last night.”

On the other hand, Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Mo., tweeted something altogether different: “If bin Laden’s death is seen as justice exercised by the sword of the state, fine. But Christians must not relish revenge.”

As Mark Rutland, president of Oral Roberts University, sees it, Christians are always a bit queasy about rejoicing over the death of anyone, but monstrous evil has at last been dealt with in the death of Bin Laden. 

“It is the responsibility of governments to protect their citizens and punish evil-doers.  What is interesting is the proximity of bin Laden’s death with David Wilkerson’s,” Rutland told Charisma News. “Bin Laden was a radical whose life was filled with hatred, violence and mass murder. Wilkerson was, in his own way, also a radical whose life was given to redemption, love and healing grace.”
 
Rick Bezet, senior pastor at New Life Church in Conway, Ariz., isn’t addressing whether it’s right or wrong to rejoice at the death one of America’s archenemies. Rather, he’s looking for the spiritual lesson—and he found it in the book of Galatians, which, as he points out, was authored by a former terrorist-turned-Christian named Paul.

“We are all dead without Christ and without our freedom. I thank God for a country that fights for freedom and that stands in the trenches in order that we may be free,” Bezet says. “Interestingly enough, Osama bin Laden lost his physical freedom 10 years ago when he was forced to be on the run daily in order that he may survive. Without freedom in Christ, we may be breathing, but with no life. May we never forsake the gift of life and the privilege of freedom, both physically and spiritually.”

John Stemberger, the attorney that represented Rifqa Bary—a young woman who ran away from her Ohio home in 2009 claiming her Muslim parents planned to murder her for following Christ—offers a reason why the rejoicing over bin Laden’s death may soon end: retaliation from the enemy.

“The death of Bin Laden is a decisive and strategic victory for the United States and the fine men and women who serve in our military forces,” Stemberger says. “The family and friends of 9/11 victims can all have a greater sense that justice has been done on the earth to the mastermind of one of our nation’s most horrific tragedies … While we celebrate this victory, we must continue to be vigilant because terrorism will continue to be a threat well into the future.”

On the 400th anniversary of the King James Version (KJV), Bible scholar Joel Hoffman is calling the celebrated Bible edition the “fool’s gold standard” of translation, saying “the King James Version is monumentally inaccurate.”

Although Hoffman says he likes the KJV, recognizing its value historically, politically and sentimentally,  he also suggests two reasons that the KJV is now inaccurate: First, English has changed over the past 400 years. That, he says, minimizes the value of some of the translations in the KJV.  Second, he argues that the science of translation has improved in the 400 years since the KJV was written, so modern translators are better able to understand and convey the ancient languages of the Bible. 

 In a blog posting, Hoffman compared the KJV to an ancient map, ending with the admonition that “those who would navigate the Bible solely with this 400-year-old translation journey in perils.”

Do you agree with Hoffman?

The Wilkerson family has more than 20 members in full-time ministry—and one of them is Rich Wilkerson, founder of Peacemakers, a non-profit social service organization, and senior pastor of Trinity Church in Miami. Wilkerson and his wife Robyn minister in the heart of Miami’s inner city at two campuses.

Although Wilkerson was a successful evangelist by Church standards, the 58-year-old pastor says he never felt truly successful until he started working with the disenfranchised—much like he watched “Cousin David” do since he was a youth.

Following in the footsteps of his cousin, David Wilkerson, he has presented the Gospel to more than 1.5 million students in over 1,600 public school campuses across the U.S. and Canada. He has ministered to youth and families through evangelism and local church ministry since 1973. And his weekly Peacemakers television broadcast deals with tough contemporary issues with the Word of God.

Charisma News caught up with Wilkerson before he gave his Miami megachurch the news of David’s sudden passing on Saturday night. Wilkerson shared fond memories of David, as well as moments that shaped his life and ministry.

“David had terrible ulcers when he was 28 or 29 years old. He would come down and stay at our home in Palm Beach for a week or two at a time. That’s when everyone thought the best thing you could do for an ulcer was to drink milk products and ice cream because it was soothing and creamy. David would only drink milkshakes or tomato soup or something like that because he was in so much pain,” Wilkerson recalls.

“David would stay in my sister’s room next to me and my sister would stay in our room. I would hear him in there weeping—not because he was in pain, though I’m sure he was. He was weeping for New York. As a young boy of eight years old that really stuck in my memory.”

Another thing that stuck in Wilkerson’s memory was the 16mm films David used to show in his dad’s Pentecostal church. Wilkerson was among the first to film so-called “shooting galleries” in New York, dilapidated homes where six or eight people gathered to shoot heroin into their veins. The films showed addicts making heroin, using a tourniquet to make their veins pop out, and sticking a syringe full of the drug into their arms.

When Rich was 12, his father took him to New York every summer to work with Wilkerson. He recalls ministry outreached on Fox Street in the Bronx.

“Ten thousand  people would live on that one square block. The tenement buildings were 25 stories high, or at least that’s what it seemed like,” Wilkerson says. “The police would rope off Fox Street on either end of the block and help David build stages and set up sound equipment. Then we would just work the tenement buildings all day, going room to room, to invite people to the meeting.”

At about 9 p.m. David would start the meeting. Wilkerson recalls how the street was jammed with people. Others would hang out of the tenement windows to hear the message of salvation. After a few testimonies of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, Wilkerson would start preaching.

“He wouldn’t preach long, but he would preach in your face the straight truth. Then he would tell the people if they wanted to accept Christ as their personal savior to step from where they were and come to the altar,” Wilkerson says. “The altar call would take about 30 minutes because people would come out of their apartment buildings down the fire escapes. The music would be playing and David would just wait and wait. There would just be hundreds and hundreds of people at the altar accepting Christ right in the middle of the street. That was imprinted on my mind.”

Wilkerson isn’t ashamed to admit that he lived for Wilkerson’s approval—even though he was not David’s son. Wilkerson was a cousin, but he felt more like a dearly loved nephew. Through the years, Wilkerson remembers times when David would reprove him, as well as  when he would get checks from David in the mail to support his ministry.

“David was a unique guy. He could go off on you because he felt that you needed to tow the line and there was just no messing around. But he would support your work,” Wilkerson says. “I would occasionally get a two- or three-lined note from him, and I really appreciated that. For our 10th anniversary here at Trinity in Miami we got the most wonderful letter from David and Gwen. When I found out he died, I decided to put that letter in safe deposit box because it is like gold to me.”

Wilkerson, founder of World Challenge Ministries, was killed last Wednesday in a car accident in East Texas on April 27. Wilkerson was killed in a head-on collision with a tractor trailer while traveling east on U.S. 175. Read more about Wilkerson’s life and ministry. The funeral is Monday afternoon in Tyler, Texas.

Many will remember David Wilkerson as a prophet. Now, the Lord is speaking prophetically with regard to the abrupt ending of his life—and the fruit it will bring to the kingdom of God.

“After hearing of David Wilkerson’s tragic death, I, like many, was deeply saddened,” says Cindy Jacobs, founder of Generals International. “However, as I prayed I distinctly heard these words from the Lord, ‘This seed that has been planted will result in a new generation of revivalists!’”

Jacobs’ prophetic word is scriptural. Jesus Himself said unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, Jesus said, it produces many seeds.

Wilkerson was killed suddenly in a head-on collision last Wednesday, but his legacy lives on through the many works he started. Now that he has gone home to be with the Lord, those whose lives he impacted have the opportunity to put their hand to the evangelistic plow he built and push it forward.

“God’s foot is on the accelerator pedal of revival,” Jacobs says. “A new anointing for evangelism is being poured out even now. The fields are white with harvest.”