A Guatemalan Miracle
Five years ago I was preaching in a South Carolina church, and I heard the word of God. The Holy Spirit filled the church, and every soul within, and the voice said, "There is plenty of spirit here without you. You need to go where the spirit is whispering, because the spirit wants to shout: praise be to the Lord!."
After praying on the matter, I decided to go to Guatemala, where Christianity is everywhere, but because the Catholic Church has had a religious monopoly for centuries, they had become lazy about exciting the congregation. They thought that church was a place where you dropped to your knees and closed your eyes to chant a solemn prayer, and I went to teach them that church is a place where you sing and dance.
For the first time in a long time, evangelicals were allowed to proselytize, and I learned that Guatemalans were eager for it, but there was something they desired even more than the style of a Reverend like myself. That something was affordable food.
Feeding the five thousand
So I went and told the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
—Matthew 14:13 of the Christian Bible. New International Version
I SANG [PLAY SERMON,FEEDING 5000]
The people then asked me, "Why doesn't the lord feed me, like he fed the five thousands?"
I replied, "You can't just sit around waiting for the lord to bring you food. Jesus is not a caterer. He is not a meals-on-wheels. You can't dial 1-800-give-me-free-food and expect Jesus to arrive at your door within 30 minutes or less."
Yes, Jesus, fed the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish, but these five thousand came to see him. You've got to make the first move. Jesus had tried to withdraw from society after John the Baptist was beheaded. He wanted a little space, to mourn in peace. But the crowds followed him. They wanted him so badly they wouldn't let him have his space. They came so eagerly in purpose, so focused on keeping up with him, that they forgot to bring food. That's when Jesus fed the five thousand.
Don't take no for an answer
And that's how Jesus wants us to pursue him. Our focus on acquiring his love should be resolute, so much so that the details of the earthly, sinful world just aren't a priority.
Is it lunchtime? Oh, I forgot to bring food, I was so focused on finding the lord. But I don't worry. He's always got fish and bread on-hand.
Was I betrayed by a spouse or a friend? Sorry, I didn't notice, cause as long as I have the lord I don't need no one else. When the lord is for you, who can be against you? Is my health failing in old age? Sorry, I've been too excited about coming one day closer to everlasting life that I didn't notice. Do your threats not scare me? Am I ignoring your gossip? Sorry. The earthly world just isn't my priority.
Jesus needed a little peace and quite, but the people followed him, and insisted on his teaching and his love. Likewise, we should love him so much that we don't take "no" for an answer. And yes, there are some things you can insist from your god. There aren't many of them, but his love and attention is one.
Did Jesus not answer your prayers today? That's okay. Sometimes the lord has his own thing he has to deal with. Follow him anyway. Insist on salvation. Is the lord not counting the hairs on your head like you think he should? Meet him halfway, and get a haircut. Or wash your hair. Maybe your hair is too greasy and dirty that the hair strands clump together? God can overcome all things, but he can choose not to, and a greasy head is a nasty thing to deal with. The lord wants to feed you with the blood of the lamb, but he isn't going to hunt you down. He doesn't need to, because it's so easy for you to find him. All you have to is say, "Jesus, save me."
Trust me, we play harder to get than the Lord!
Spoiled child, don't pack a lunch
And we must come to him knowing that he will give us all we need. You don't pack a lunch when you pursue Jesus, for that suggests you doubt his willingness or his ability to feed you. Jesus has already proven himself to you. He did it over 2,000 years ago. So when you chase after him do it with empty arms. Don't bring food. You can't bring your idol with you just in case you don't like what he preaches. You have to come to him with the resolute belief that he is all you need. And when you do this, he will provide.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink...Is not life more important than food? ... Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them
—Matthew 6:25.
When you go to the house of the lord, he always asks you to stay for dinner.
You have to come to Christ the Savior as a spoiled child—that's right, a spoiled rotten little punk—spoiled in the sense that you will receive that lovely blessing that God's children could not receive before the crucifixion.
[PLAY SERMON, RIGHT NOW]
SECOND KINGS, Verse 4: A famine in Israel. People are starving. People are dying. The prophet Elisha tells a servant to make a stew, but the only thing the servant could find to cook was a wild vine. A wild vine! And you think broccili is bad? That was the Old Testament. In the Old Testament God fed you a stew made of wild vines, while in the New Testament he fed you fish and bread. I don't want the vine, Lord, I want the bread. I don't want the vine, I want the fish. We are spoiled because we live after Christ's death. Jesus promised us bread, and fish. Jesus promised to spoil us. If you don't expect to be spoiled by the riches of the lamb's blood, can you really say that you are a believer?
Elisha was a holy man, indeed. Second Kings Verse 4: Elisha was able to feed a hundred people with twenty loaves of bread. Very impressive, Elisha, but Jesus fed five thousand with even less food. Good job, Elisha, but you were in an unfair contest from the start. We need to approach the lord like a kid approaches Christmas Eve: knowing that if you've been a good boy, a bounty awaits you. We need to come to church like a kid approaches the tree early on Christmas morning.
[PLAY SERMON,FEEDING 5000]
SECOND KINGS again, verse 6 this time. Another famine. The king of Israel makes a deal with a woman. First they would together eat the king's son. The next day they would eat her son. Again, we expect better, don't we. We are spoiled. Or, if we know the promise of the lord, we should feel spoiled, shouldn't we? The king didn't trust the Lord, he trusted this woman, and after they ate the king's son she sent her son into hiding so that he couldn't be killed and eaten.
Men, those women are tricky, aren't they? If they ever ask you to eat something, whether it be an apple or a human, think twice. Because men, we are in an unfair contest two, because women are smarter than us, aren't they?
The king trusted the wrong person, didn't he? He should have trusted God, but we can hardly blame him, for the Son of God had not yet allowed his own life to be taken so that ours could be preserved. The king didn't know better, but we do. We have the New Testament.
Again, all you have to do is come to the Lord yourself, with empty hands, believing fervently that God will fill your hands with food. You must come, and lie supine. Your trust me be complete. When that happens, the lord will prepare a banquet at your feet.
Expect the best, even in Guatemala
Expect the best out of our Lord. Don't expect just water to drink at a party. We learned from JOHN 2, that if Jesus is at a wedding party and you run out of wine, Jesus goes on a wine run. Well, he doesn't have to leave, he just changes the water into wine. And that's what Jesus in your life is like. He takes everything that is mundane and ordinary and makes it fantastic, exquisite.
And we sing ... [PLAY SERMON, TURN WATER INTO WINE]
All of this I had been telling the Guatemalans for five years, at least three times a week, crowds of 100, 200, 800, sometimes thousands of people—and you know what? They believed me! They had never heard an evangelical speak. They were skeptical of me at first, because sometimes us evangelicals sound too much like a salesman. But as they listened, between the words of this poor sinner, amidst this unrefined southern accent, they heard something much sweeter: the whisper of Jesus Christ himself.
I made them all kinds of wild promises that I myself worried would not come to be. I told them to put their trust in Christ, and they would eat better, get along with their spouses better, be happier. I could make that promise because I'm a spoiled rotten sinner who was saved and blessed by the ultimate sacrifice of the son's blood. I knew that if a poor sinner like me could be blessed, anybody could.
The Catholic Church started warning their congregations to beware of me. I was invading their territory, territory under their control for centuries, and I had the audacity to say that Jesus would bless them if they listened to an Evangelical instead of—or in addition to—the ritual mass. The Catholic Church said my wild promises would only disappoint them.
You know, we should never say, "I told you so." But I'm going to do so right now. Lord, forgive me, but I can't help it. The spirit is strong but the flesh is weak. Here it comes. I'm trying to stop it, I am. Oh, here it comes...I TOLD YOU SO!
The larger our congregations became, and I do not exaggerate here, the better people ate. Now, Jesus didn't come in the flesh to feed the crowds, but his blood filled the cracks and crevices of the agricultural landscape, and crops started growing healthy, stronger, in greater abundance, than ever before. Bigger heads of broccoli, and if you don't like broccili, higher corn yields. Bigger beans. Fruit grew in such ample quantities that there wasn't enough people to harvest it all. Even the cows were blessed, for grass grew greener, taller, and more lush. I was scared the cows would soon want to enter the church to be baptized.
People knew something was going on, when all of a sudden they could afford good food. And let me tell you something, giving people cheaper food does more for church attendance than a clever sermon! The whole country was a witness to the most miraculous event ever seen in their lives.
A miracle of a different sort
This was a miracle, the most beautiful miracle that I had ever seen. But as I would soon learn, the miracle was a little different than I at first thought it was. All of this food being produced was giving me a big head. I'd look at the mirror and say, Reverend Norwood, you'se a rain-maker! But then I looked at the rainfall data and found that wasn't the case. So then I thought it was supernatural—unexplainable (they say God works in mysterious ways, don't they?). But then I talked to farmers, and found out what was really going on.
At the same time Guatemala was opening itself up to Evangelical Christianity it was opening itself up to modern agricultural technologies. Most notably, nitrogen fertilizer. At the same time I was going around the country teaching the word of the Lord, the lord was working a different angle. The Lord said, "I'm gonna actually do something while Reverend Norwood is out there gibber-gabbing away. For the first time fertilizer companies started selling nitrogen fertilizer at a price ordinary farmers could afford.
It turned out that it was nitrogen that was holding the land back. There was plenty of rainfall in the clouds, plenty of carbon dioxide in the air, plenty of phosphorus, potassium, and zinc in the soil. But not much nitrogen. And when just a little was applied to the ground in a synthetic chemical form the plants jumped up and shouted: Hallelujah! Praise be to god!
Now I didn't want to believe this at first, because it seemed to cut me out of miracle, and I am a poor, arrogant sinner. Then I happened to be flying over a field of corn, going to bring the Lord to an area I hadn't visited in over two years. As the plane approached the runway I looked out the window onto a field of corn, where some of the corn plants were tall and some were almost dead. And there was a particular pattern to the tall plants, an unambiguous pattern that spelled out in capital letters, GLORY BE TO THE LORD!
Once I landed I went out looking for that field of corn. I just had to know what caused some plants to be healthy and some to be dying. I was hoping that the rainfall had happened to fall in just such a way to spell the letters out, for then I could have pointed to a true miracle. Instead, what I learned was that the farmer had walked out to the field with a tub of liquid nitrogen fertilizer and hand sprayer, and sprayed the words, GLORY BE TO THE LORD!
I was disappointed, but it was exactly what I needed. I needed humbling. We all need a kick in the butt every now and then, and boy I got one that day!
A Jewish gift
Then I started doing some more reading on this thing called synthetic or chemical nitrogen fertilizer, and I saw the hand of God. You know, Santa is a good guy, but the best presents don't come from Santa, but from the Jewish people. The Jews gave us one-third of the holy trinity: the Son of God himself. And the Jews gave us chemical nitrogen fertilizer.
You see, plants need nitrogen, and though the atmosphere is 80% nitrogen it is in a form plants can't eat. It's like taking fat man to a buffet but placing the food just out of his reach. Then a Mr. Fritz Haber, and Jew who converted to Christianity, learned how to use advanced chemistry and natural gas to yank that nitrogen out of the air and convert it to a form plants can use.
Before you think this a minor achievement, consider this: half of the nitrogen in your body can be traced back to a chemical nitrogen fertilizer plant, and without this chemical nitrogen fertilizer, we would be unable to feed 35% of the current world population.
In 1918 Fritz Haber would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for achieving this, but I tell you this, a much greater prize was awaiting him when he died in 1934.
From this I learned that God does indeed perform miracles, but his greatest miracle was the human mind. God had me and most of the Guatemalans fooled. We thought God had directly given them a miracle in the form of more food, just as direct as him feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, but the miracle was more profound than that. The lord, fed millions of people with only one human mind.
Organic fertilizer: a terrifying thought
Just last week I went on a tour of U.S. farms, one of them being organic farms. As they described what makes an organic farm different some of it made sense. No pesticides? Okay, I see some advantage in that. But I was shocked to learn that organic farms cannot use chemical nitrogen fertilizer. This wondrous gift, the organic community denies itself. When I asked why, they said that chemical fertilizer causes nutrient runoff and pollutes waters. When I asked what they use instead they said livestock manure, but then they got angry when I suggested that manure runs off the field and pollutes waters also.
And here's the most important part of this story. Since the time there were farmers in Guatemala they had used organic manure. Ten years ago, they used organic manure, but they still couldn't feed themselves. It was when the chemical fertilizers started coming to the country that their children were fed. The idea of a world without chemical nitrogen fertilizer, frankly, scares me as much as the devil.
Eventually I concluded that the organic community disapproves of chemical fertilizer because they consider it unnatural. I agree, it is unnatural. That's the point! You know what else is unnatural? Miracles! Should we reject miracles because, by definition, they are unnatural? Not this poor sinner. I'm gonna embrace every little miracle that comes my way.
I don't reject unnatural miracles because I'm a spoiled little child. I've been spoiled by a miracle over 2,000 years old, and all the miracles I've encountered in my short life. If miracles are unnatural, then I don't care for natural. And when the Lord hands me a few loaves and fish to feed millions of people I'm not going to drop the fish and bread on the ground because it's not certified organic. I'm gonna feed the people. And when they say, "Thank you, Reverend Norwood," I'm gonna reply, "Don't think me. Thank the lord...and Mr. Fritz Haber!"
