The Scourge Of Racism
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On this Lord’s Day and occasion of solemn remembrance for the lives lost during the murderous events of 2001, I reflect and as the Lord’s servant, soberly continue calling for repentance and revival in the churches. While not all of those that died that day were professing Christians, the national religious response in the aftermath was decidedly Christian in sight and sound as services were held at the National Cathedral (the closest thing in the culture to an official church) and churches around the nation. In one of only a few times in American history to that point, the nation was blindsided by evil and Christianity as the culture’s primary religion was looked to for comfort.
For a few weeks attendance in the nation’s churches was up as has been typical historically in times of crisis. Comforted by sermons extolling the love, care and compassion of God along with the familiar music and traditional rituals of the respective church services, the largely professing, cultural American Christians quickly returned to their usual routines as many researchers noted at the time.1 Since then, the same researchers are reporting a continuing slide in religious participation by Americans. As I write, many especially conservative evangelical Christians decry this and are bemoaning the departure of America away from its religious roots as a “Christian nation.”
The descriptor of America as a “Christian nation” is strongly held by such persons because generically speaking, Christianity has been the dominant religion of the nation by pure number of professing adherents since its inception. Early explorers hailed from European nations where Christianity was the dominant religion and the colonists that followed declared themselves Christian in name if not fully in practice. Indeed, many from the various Protestant sects fled Europe to escape from murderous persecution by fellow Protestants, Catholic and State church authorities. They sought freedom to practice their beliefs and convictions of conscience without consequence.
Though there had been no idyllic precedent in Europe after many noble tries over the centuries, some idealists did hope to set up a Christian land in the New World. As I wrote in my September 4, 2016 post, Christianity The Religion American Style in this same category, the United States of America arose from the large moral and ethical influence of the real and counterfeit forms of Christianity among a number of heady political and social ideas of the time. In spite of badly missing the biblical mark by for example, racially redefining “neighbor” as “whites only” in sinfully showing partiality (Luke 10:25-37; James 2:1-13), the influence of Christianity as its dominant religion helped shape America’s culture through the mid-twentieth century.
America’s entrepreneurial, “can do” spirit and valuing of hard work to build something up out of nothing can be directly traced back to those early colonists and the Protestant work ethic. The concern for rights and justice embodied in the founding documents clearly acknowledge and declare they flow from a Creator; the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. From that Bible too, proper social behavior, the concept of fair play and concern for the poor, widow and orphan had been drawn. Religious zeal wrapped in cultural arrogance by some among professing Christians, led to America being of the greatest missionary sending and supporting nations in Christian history.
Truly, America became great reaching its pinnacle with the victory of World War II because of its initial tip of the hat to God, noble, though selective attempt to live out the Bible’s moral and ethical precepts and doing of commendable works in human strength. However, even with a continuing respectful tip of the hat to God, full adherence to the Bible’s morality and ethics (if this were possible) and doing works, the nation was surely going to come to where it is now spiritually which is far from anything like “Christian.” For every faithful Christian knows just acknowledging God, morality, ethics and works are not what biblical and real Christianity is all about first, but salvation from sin leading to reconciliation with God, spiritual regeneration and eternal life (Romans 5:6-11; Titus 3:3-8)!
For God as sovereign Judge has declared His verdict of condemnation on all mankind that we are sinners unable to perfectly keep and be justified by His law which embodies His holy will and just demands of us (Romans 3:9-20). But He in love and by grace has provided righteousness for us through repentance and faith alone in the Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ because even at our human best, we miss God’s standard of perfection (Romans 3:21-31). If every citizen to a man genuinely came to Christ for salvation, reconciliation with God, spiritual regeneration and eternal life then and only then might America lay claim to being a “Christian nation.” The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Google “post 9 11 church attendance” and among others, read the Fox News article citing Barna Research findings.
I join with all laborers that can in taking an extra day off from my labor on Labor Day. For me (and I hope all faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ), the day is also a time to thank God for work and very important secondly, work that is exceedingly meaningful, rewarding and a blessing beyond words! This is so for me in spite of the intense spiritual warfare I regularly face in the Lord’s causes to include crying out to the churches that outwardly profess to belong to Him, but that resist His Scripture rooted call to repentance through me and others as though we as His messengers are the enemy rather than Satan (James 4:1-10; 1 Peter 5:8-9).
Since the same spirit of religion is involved, Christianity as a religion of men in America is no different than what it has been since it came forth not long after the passing of the Lord’s apostles. Brought to the “New World” in all of its many varied expressions, but uniformly legalistic1 dogmas by Europeans beginning in the late 15th century, the major distinctive of real and counterfeit Christianity was the political and related cultural context both developed in. After the 1783 end of the Revolutionary War for independence in what was now the United States of America, both types of Christianity evolved for the first time in a democratic republic rather than under human monarchy.
While purposeful steps were taken by the nation’s founders to protect its predominant Christian religion from government meddling, as evidenced by history, most professing Christians in their churches took no serious similar steps to guard themselves against freely adopting the secular political, economic, social and cultural ways of the society. Initially, since a basic faith in the existence of Christianity’s God and its moral and ethical system held dominating influence in the new nation, the dangers of cultural conditioning were clearly not considered a major issue. In fact, the secular and religious components of society as I have written in other places worked very well together.2
In the wake of God initiated revivals, the secular and religious components of early America worked so well together clergy were urged to bring their unique skill set to bear in government proceedings with prayers, exhortations and Bible readings. Settled down in and foundational to the fabric of the young nation, Christianity the religion of men easily blended in alongside of that which was real because so many of the majority white citizens were nominal in their faith and undiscerning or simply chose to look the other way in silence as such evils as slavery with all of its immoral abuses were deemed acceptable to God by corrupting Scripture. Civil War revealed the true divine stance.
While most churches aligned with the mother Roman Catholic Church or bodies in their countries of origin retained their authority and organizational structures and doctrinal systems in America, they with emerging Protestant groups such as the Baptists wholeheartedly embraced the democratic spirit of the new nation and reveled in self-governance. Blacks as slaves and later freedmen adopted some of all the ecclesiastical patterns displayed by their oppressors. So ingrained in the Christian black psyche that everything white is right and superior, to this hour many uncritically cling to the unbiblical religious tenets, covenants, creeds, practices and ways of their former masters.
Many black churchmen as proud American, independent, Christian religionists in their own segregated houses have kept for themselves their former masters' proclivity to corrupt Scripture to justify sin. As a result, Jesus Christ is not Lord over an American church, but only a relative few churches that actually submit to His authority, Word and priorities in the Spirit’s power! Blinded by Satan as his captives and in deafness hardened into their sinful ways, God’s call to repentance and revival through me and other prophets to American religionists largely go unheeded. Indeed, after much labor preaching God’s uncompromised Word through media and in person among the churches in obedience since 1985, I have seen little positive response and mostly hostility.
While the Lord is pleased with His faithful remnant as it were, those religionist churches not dying in judgment holding onto their own form of Christianity are well on their way despite evil attempts at survival through carnal self-effort, worldly compromise, marketing and success models. It is late; a post-Christian America is not just statistical conjecture, but reality! Nevertheless, I continue to cry out as the God of mercy (Ezekiel 33:10-11; 2 Peter 3:9) who called me has commanded because the results belong to Him and there is still hope for some due to His success with a proud religionist recorded in His Word (Acts 26:1-23). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Having been accused of legalism many times for calling Christians and churches to obey God’s Word as it is written, it is important here to note that these groups as true
legalists were ready to kill to defend their humanly devised systems of theology and distorted appropriations of the Old Testament Law along with extreme and rigid rules of conduct based on it. Faithful Christians easily discern what is to be literally obeyed from the heart in God’s Word as led by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 5:17-20; John 14:15-18; Romans 10:1-4; 1 Corinthians 14:33-37; Galatians 2:11-3:14, 5:16-25).
2 See for example, my December 2014 reposts, Culturally Conditioning The Faith, Part 1 and 2. Also, read the and multi-part 2003-2004 Journals, The White Man’s Reli-
gion and The Black Man’s Religions at https://fromslaverytovictory.org/Journal-Archives.
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