Dear Gate Keepers,

Last month I shared a few of the responses from WAVA’s online survey. There were 497 listeners who responded and there were so many tremendous comments that spoke of WAVA’s life-changing message that I wanted to pass more of them on to you:

“WAVA has changed my life, because it has caused a great awakening to God in my life. It has caused me to see God in ways I have never seen before.”

“I have been listening to WAVA for quite some time. It is my favorite station. In fact I love WAVA and tell all my friends. I attend Church of the Redeemer. I love Pastor Dale and Church of the Redeemer. I first heard Pastor Dale on WAVA.”

“The Pastoral teaching ministry programs of WAVA have enabled me to understand the Bible better than anything in my life.”

“I just started listening to your radio program because my husband rededicated his life to Christ and that’s all he listens to now.”

“Back in 1995 I was listening to Charles Stanley. He gave the invitation to salvation and I accepted it. Listening to WAVA has not only changed my life it has changed my eternity. ”

David Ruleman
Vice President / General Manager
WAVA, 105.1FM & 780AM

INJURY ATTORNEYS
Immediate Case Review

Contact Us at: (301) 340-8200 or by e-mail at
jgarza@garzanet.com

Greetings,

60 Minutes journalist Shana Alexander said, “Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.”

Mark Twain would agree. After London newspapers mistakenly
published his obituary, Twain said, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Perhaps that’s why he also said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

After Amelia Earhart’s disappearance over the Pacific in1937, an adoring nation grieved their loss. But soon they were outraged as rumors circulated that she had become the voice of Tokyo Rose.

But some rumors are actually true. That’s what Sam Brannan, editor of the California Star, found out the hard way in 1848.

Brannan had heard rumors that gold had been discovered at Sutter’s Mill, just 100 miles east of his San Francisco newspaper. Stories were told of nuggets the size of potatoes lying on the ground, gold dust blowing in the wind like confetti, peasants becoming filthy rich over night.

And Brennan didn’t believe it.

“HUMBUG!” he wrote in the Star’s headline, using the largest print available. “Nothing is that easy. Only fools would believe such a fanciful tale.”

But the rumors wouldn’t die.

And with each get-rich-quick story, the local economy changed. Traditional money was de-valued creating a seller's paradise...a meal for $250, a shovel for $500. And starry-eyed get-rich-quick hopefuls ran to the goldfields to stake their claim. Nothing could hold them back. Farms were deserted. Soldiers went AWOL. Jails were unguarded. Teachers abandoned their students.

But Brannan still had his doubts. So, in an effort to expose the hoax once and for all, he skeptically traveled to Sutter's Mill to investigate this fantasyland.

Sure enough, he too found gold.

Brannan quickly returned to San Francisco to spread the news, carrying bags of gold dust as undeniable evidence. He headlined the Star’s new edition, “Gold! Gold Is Found In The River.”

But that edition of the California Star was never published. Brannan's employees, after reading the typeset and seeing his stash of soft yellow metal, ran off to the goldfields to find their own fortune. And as a result the California Star ceased operation without ever telling the truth of California's gold rush bonanza.

Our world, and even some of our churches, are filled with Sam Brannans. Though they’ve heard the life-changing stories of countless men and women who’ve been transformed by the riches of God’s love, they doubt its authenticity even though they’ve never investigated it for themselves. “Grace doesn’t just happen!”

And that’s where we come in.

But the Brannans of the world are not easily convinced. In fact, reaching this group is the ultimate task...to give people the words they don’t want to hear, about a love they do not deserve, from a God they don’t want to believe.

But that’s always been the case for those called to deliver God’s remedy for man’s ills.

• Just ask Moses. He presented the Israelites with God’s personally autographed tablets of stone. And the people returned the gesture with hostility and unbelief.
• Just ask Jeremiah. He called on sinful Israel to repent. Yet he was the one banished from the temple and thrown down a well.
• Just ask Elijah. He was Wanted, Dead or Alive. The crime? The prophet had the gall to proclaim God’s word.
• Just ask John the Baptist. He confronted sinful Herod and paid the ultimate price.
• Just ask Paul. His message stirred riots wherever he spoke, sometimes even before he spoke.

Preaching’s price can be exceedingly high. That’s why Paul reminded his protégé to “Preach the Word.” Timothy, like many others, had found the alternatives much easier. But the alternatives have never been 100% pure gold, they’re only rumors. God’s word, however, is the real deal.

Ron Walters
Vice President of Church Relations
© Copyright 2009 by Ron Walters