Benham Brothers Stress Importance of Connecting with God

JESUS IS THE GLUE
In 2015, David and Jason participated in the K-Love Awards in Nashville, TN.  While everyone was rushing to meet all the famous musicians, the Benham twins made their way to Louie Giglio.  In one of his messages, Louie mentioned a time when a molecular biologist shook his hand after a sermon.  The man was an expert in the cellular structure of the body and told Louie to finish his book series on a little unknown cell adhesion molecule in the body called laminin.  The biologist told Louie, “It’s literally the glue that holds our bodies together!” Not only that, the cellular expert told Louie to Google the image of laminin.  Louie was so impressed with this information that he looked it up online and was blown away when he saw the structure.  It was in the shape of a CROSS! “Every single one of us is held together by a cross-shaped molecule that points directly to Jesus,” says Jason.  “Christ has always been there.  He is our ultimate connector.  Without the cross, our body, our life, the whole world falls apart.” David and Jason believe that the only appropriate response to this kind of mind-blowing love God has for us is to our part and share the good news with others.

BRIDGING THE GAP
One morning while Jason was praying, he felt the Lord say, Stand in the gap. At first he thought it was a memory of the voices from friends telling him and David to write a book on that topic.  But the thought persisted and Jason knew it was the Holy Spirit.  He remembered a verse in Ezekiel 22:30 God is looking for people who will stand strong for Him.  “We live in a time when the fundamental truths undergirding society are being redefined at a breakneck speed,” he says.  “Many people are doing what is right in their own eyes which results in frustration and disconnection which leaves them feeling empty.”  The Benhams believe that if there were ever a time for Christians to step up and stand in the gap, bringing hope to the hopeless, now is that time.

As Jason continued to wait on the Lord, a thought to recite the Lord’s Prayer popped in his head.  Our Father who art in heaven hallowed by your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Jason felt the Lord tell him to stop and meditate on that: on earth as it is in heaven.  He says there is a divine disconnect between heaven and earth, a spiritual gap between God and man.  “And He taught us to pray to be reconnected.”  The more Jason thought about it, the more he realized God wants us to participate in His reconnection process between heaven and earth.

RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT
“If you look at traffic, people are driving whatever car they want to drive,” says David.  “Can you imagine what would happen to traffic if just 5% of the drivers in this city decided green meant stop and red meant go?”  That is what is happening in our culture.  “Our bedrock foundational values are being redefined by the radical left,” says David.  “It’s difficult to navigate these conversations. So how do we bridge the gap?”  Our primary role as believers is to love people as we reveal to them the truth that sets us free.  “We are also called to stand in the cultural gap by connecting God’s truth to a disconnected culture,” says David.

After the brothers got fired from HGTV, a man sent a private message to them on Facebook.  “The venom this man spewed turned our stomachs,” says Jason.  Within seconds, the Holy Spirit reminded the twins of their brokenness. “Our hearts broke for this man because we were reminded of our own past sin issues and how merciful God was with us,” says Jason.  They decided to engage in conversation with him and ultimately found out that the man was a Chicago Cubs fan.  Prompted by the Lord, the brothers got him two front row tickets at Wrigley Field.  A few days later, they got a message from the man thanking them for the tickets.  He told them he decided to leave his lifestyle and turn back to God. Once when they were flying, a woman sat between Jason and David on the plane. David had his Bible out to study before take-off.  The woman said without prompting, “I just want you to know I’m a flaming liberal feminist who probably thinks nothing like you.” 

“I couldn’t stop thinking about what in her life would cause her to be so confrontational,” says David. He engaged in conversation with her and eventually she said her son was struggling with depression and anxiety and it was weighing heavily on her.  David felt the Lord tell him to share Psalm 139 with her. He asked the woman if he could read it to her and she said yes.  In the middle of his reading, David says she started to cry.  “God was speaking directly to her, more than any words I could have formed on my own!  God was connecting with her…and it was surreal to watch the Lord move so profoundly.”

The Benhams believe it takes boldness to connect others to God, but boldness alone won’t get the job done.  “Boldness apart from brokenness makes a bully,” says Jason.  “Brokenness apart from boldness makes a bystander.  When you’re bold AND broken, you become a bridge.”  By standing in the gap for God with a heart of compassion for others, you become the answer to Christ’s prayer: on earth as it is in heaven.

A LEGACY OF LOVE
David and Jason’s dad was a preacher and they gave their lives to the Lord at the age of 12.  Their father, Flip, later struck up a friendship with Normal McCorvey (Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade).  Norma had gone public with her identity in the hopes of gaining some notoriety and make money.  She had been battling addictions and at the time, she had a lesbian partner.  Norma had been pregnant three times through relationships with men.  When Harper Collins offered her a publishing contract to write a book about herself, Norma jumped at the chance.  After the book was released, Flip went to see her at her book signing.  During her speech, he shouted, “Norma McCorvey, you should be ashamed of yourself.  You are responsible for the deaths of 35 million babies!  How dare you desecrate their blood by selling a book!”  Norma was visibly shaken but his words pierced her heart.  “When I saw that, it crushed me,” their dad said.  “I felt really bad.”  Months later, Flip set up his ministry office next door to an abortion clinic and had no idea that Norma worked there.  They took smoke breaks together and talked about many things.  Over time, he gained Norma’s trust and he apologized for his outburst at her book signing.  Norma began to cry.  From that day on, their relationship transformed and Flip was able to share about Jesus.  A few months later, Norma went to church and gave her life to the Lord.  Because she didn’t have a church, their dad baptized Norma in a friend’s backyard pool!