What did you think of the high-wire act by Nik Wallenda? We have had a few days to digest this feat, so what are your thoughts? Did he tempt God? Pastor Paul Holt my partner here at FGGAM says, “We should never tempt God.” I could not watch it on TV. I got sick to my stomach, I kept asking the Lord, “Why is he doing this Lord?” I know his family has 200 years of heritage in high-wire acts….but…….Pastor Paul refers to the scriptures about tempting God and the temptation of Jesus. Pastor Joel Osteen, who has supported Wallenda during his preparation for his historic walk 1,500 feet above ground, was present with him and his family during the Discovery Channel live event. The pastor and best-selling author was asked by CNN’s Piers Morgan what he would have said if the Florida native had fallen to his death during the walk, as other high wire artists in his family have done during events.
“You as a pastor, there’s a man repeating over and over again, Jesus, pray, God, and so on,” said Morgan. “If he had fallen, what would you have said?”
“You know, I really didn’t think about it. I guess my thoughts were, Piers, that, you know he was doing what he loved to do. He felt like he is fulfilling his destiny of doing that,” said Osteen, who admitted that he was probably more nervous than Wallenda about the walk. “He comes from seven generations of it. Nik is a great guy. If he had fallen, I would have to cross the bridge when we got to it. It would have been tragic but we just focused on the fact that he made it through, and you know, we’re just happy for him.”
Osteen also revealed that he and the Wallenda family had prayed specifically for God to give him strength and skill and to draw out his gifts “to the full” during the high wire artist’s now famous Grand Canyon walk.
“He’s an extremely calm, peaceful person,” the Houston, Texas, pastor added. “He just believes he’s in the palm of God’s hand doing what he’s supposed to do. So he’s an amazing man, and we just prayed for peace and strength, though.”
Wallenda, who became the first person to walk across Niagara Falls via a high wire, told The Christian Post in an exclusive interview before his Grand Canyon feat that he has no fear about what he does, and instead “respects” his chosen profession.
As for criticism about him “testing God” by performing such dangerous acts, Wallenda told CP:
“If I was testing God, I’d walk out in the middle of an interstate in the rain while a car was coming at me at 70 miles an hour and say, ‘God, if you’re real the car will stop.’ I don’t believe God holds me on that wire in any way. I believe that God gave me a very unique ability to walk the wire and it’s up to me whether I want to train properly or whether I want to prepare for it.”
He added, “It’s my decision whether I want to get on that wire or not. And again, I don’t think God keeps me up there, but I definitely know where I’m going if I fall.”
Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/news/nik-wallendas-grand-canyon-walk-advertisement-for-power-of-prayer-christianity-98831/#4y8eoopKcUDwEgUQ.99
Prior to this event, I tended to agree with Brother Paul, and I still question it. Praise God it is between Nik and God, not God and I. I love his faith in God, but I would not have used the words “I don’t believe God holds me on that wire in any way.” I for one am glad that God holds me in His hand.
Isaiah 49:15-16 says – “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”
Whether or not Nik tempted God is not as much in question for me as “why does Nik do it?” How does this give God glory, and does it tempt young impressionable people to take risks God did not intend.
I don’t know Dewey. I think I may have just added more questions to your query. :)
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