Rev. David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, founding pastor of the 8,000 member Times Square Church in New York City and author of the popular book “The Cross and the Switchblade”, was killed Wednesday in a car crash in Texas. He was 79.
His wife was also involved in the crash but as yet there is no news on her condition. Please pray for the Wilkerson family.
What a specter, what a horrible thing death is to most of us. We regard it as a terrible monster that is going to grip us. Death, we say, is the most terrible thing of all, the thing to avoid. No, says Christ, death is nothing but the door of entry to my Father’s house for his followers–‘In my Father’s house are many mansions.’
We tend to think of ourselves after death, do we not, as in some disembodied state in some great eternity where all is strange and terrible. But it is really to go home, if you are a child of God, if you are a brother or sister of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is not some terrible awful power, away in some distant eternity; he is your Father. He is one who loves you with a love you cannot imagine. Thank God for human love, but, my dear friends, our human love pales into insignificance and nothingness by the side of the love of God toward those who belong to him. ‘My Father’s house’ is a glorious home.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled (Crossway, 2009), 73
Update: A few minutes after posting this I received a message from a friend named Rodger, saying, “Wow how tragic. I will be eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for this man of God! My wife, my father and my sister all received Christ at one of his crusades many years ago.”
Clearly, God has used Brother Wilkerson tremendously over the years.
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It was a shock to read of the death of David Wilkerson. I was most blessed in 1989 to have worked with the Wilkerson Ministry in NYC as part of a mission’s trip. What impressed the most from that experience was in observing the serious yet gentle way of David Wilkerson which confirmed to me that greatness and humility can truly walk side by side. Brother Wilkerson has been the elder statesman of our generation for Paul’s triumphant herald in Romans 8: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
My name is Federico. I live in a small town named Campofranco, in Sicily, Italy. Wednesday 27 April, we have losted the major spiritual father of mondial Church, but will remain to us his sermons and his written. I’m very sad for brother Wilkerson’s death, a great God’s man. I’m very sad above all for the way of his death: for a stradal accident. I’m don’t believe still that he is really dead. But, also for the way of his death is happened he will be remembered. I believe that own Wednesday afternoon (in Italy), perhaps in the same moment when David Wilkerson died, I reflected on the person that could replace worthily David Wilkerson in the mondial Church. Coincidense? And, also now, I ask myself: will be there other God’s ministries as him in this and, if the Lord don’t will returns before, in the future generations? I says it not only to reference to his deep and special anointing in his sermons and books but also for his sincerity and spiritual opening. I have spent years to read his sermons and books. They have enriched my spiritual life. His sermons and books have revolutionize my life. I don’t know if still will exist preacher as him and with a story as his. He will miss to me and he will miss to all world Church: a God’s man that has left to us in inheritance a spiritual impact and a example like that very strong. (Federico Scifo, Sicily, Italy)
“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7)
MY E-MAIL: federico.scifo2004@libero.it
Il mio nome è Federico. Vivo a Campofranco, un paese in provincia di Caltanissetta.
Mercoledì 27 Aprile 2011 abbiamo perso (come dire?), il maggiore dei padri spirituali della chiesa mondiale, ma resteranno a noi i suoi scritti e le sue predicazioni. Sono molto triste per la morte del fratello David Wilkerson, un grande uomo di Dio. Né sono molto triste soprattutto per il modo di come questa sua morte sia avvenuta: per un incidente stradale. Ancora non riesco a credere che sia morto realmente. Ma, anche per il modo in cui la sua morte è avvenuta sarà sicuramente ricordato. Credo che proprio mercoledì pomeriggio (in Italia), forse nello stesso istante in cui David Wilkerson moriva, pensavo su chi sarebbe potuto essere un suo degno sostituto nella chiesa mondiale. Coincidenza? E, anche adesso mi chiedo: ci saranno altri ministri di Dio come lui in questa e, se non torna prima il Signore, nelle future generazioni? Dico questo non solo in riferimento alla sua profonda e particolare unzione sia nelle predicazioni che nei libri, ma anche per la sua sincerità ed apertura spirituale. Ho passato anni a leggere i suoi scritti. Hanno arricchito la mia vita spirituale. Le sue predicazioni ed i suoi libri hanno sconvolto la mia vita. Io non so’ se ci saranno ancora predicatori come lui e con una storia come la sua. Mi mancherà e mancherà a tutta la chiesa mondiale: un uomo di Dio che ha lasciato a noi in eredità un impatto spirituale ed un esempio così forti. (Federico Scifo)
“Ricordatevi dei vostri conduttori, i quali vi hanno annunziato la parola di Dio; e considerando quale sia stata la fine della loro vita, imitate la loro fede.” (Ebrei 13:7)
MIA E-MAIL: federico.scifo2004@libero.it