Today, I visited the First Baptist Church of London. Sadly, I was the only white person there. The church, I believe, is one of the most beautiful churches in town and the only church in London with a gym. The choir pieces were beautiful and quite the blessing. Although the message was on love, there was a strong call for repentance and turning from sin, a balance missing in most churches. I was asked to come forward and lead in prayer but would have rather remained in the rear. I was again asked to return to preach, which is, indeed, a high privilege in my estimation. As I was sitting there, I came under conviction. Some people on here see me as a conservative, some even a radical conservative. But there, I was pondering my responsibility in the huge gulf betwixt the white church and black. It is my fault - and yours. I was on the Board of Administration of the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America from 1990 to 1994. It would be the counterpart to the National Council of Churches for Pentecostals, yet extremely conservative in doctrine to contrast the NCC. We had tried to get Black Pentecostals to join, but in the wisdom of the Chairman, we came to grips that it was just another attempt of white people to invite Black people to the party. So, in what now is called the Memphis Miracle, the PFNA voted to dissolve itself and become integrated as the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America in the meeting that year at Memphis. There we learned of the great hurt Black Evangelicals and Pentecostals felt at the absence of the white Pentecostals during the Civil Rights Movement. That stung. My father would preach Black preachers and he would preach in Black churches in the early 60s. We would go to their homes and had good fellowship. But gradually, with the increasing unrest, we grew apart. When I converted to Republicanism in 1964, one of the books I passed out was None Dare Call it Treason, an ultra-conservative book which included a picture of MLK in a supposed Communist meeting. I dont believe he was a Communist, but the Communists were for anything which would upset the apple cart in America. So, when I saw news reports of Civil Rights leaders being sprayed with fire hoses and Lester Mattoxs Ax Handle Brigade, in my spirit I knew that was wrong, but our excuse was that we could not align ourselves with Communists. But at Memphis, I learned how we hurt the Black church by not coming to their aid. I also learned that no longer could I excuse myself in saying, Its not my problem, my ancestors were too poor to own slaves. I dont mistreat anybody, or I have Black friends. In Memphis I learned that to see sin and do nothing is sin. I had sinned against God. It was one of the most painful changes God made in my life. Since, I have visited the Black churches in our small town about once a year. Little, I know, but one pastors wife told a daughter that, We love him. He visits us all the time. But its not enough. I was invited to speak at our citys city-wide racial reconciliation service. One person in the audience was overheard to say, Are you sure thats a white man speaking? I am also proud to have written and get passed, almost unanimously, an addition to our Statement of Faith: Racism. God created all men equal in value and imputed upon them dignity and the Imago Dei. One is never partially in the Image of God any more than one may be partially alive. Attempts to identify, treat, or view certain people or groups as lesser members of humankind are a blasphemous affront to our Creator. Racism in all its forms is sin, for it grounds the identity and security of human life in self rather than God, in creature rather than the Creator, apart from whom a human being has no identity or value. Self-indulgent pride in “race,” therefore, must be regarded as idolatry in one of its most ugly forms, an attempt to be like God. We believe prejudice to be an attempt to reverse the creative act of God and what God has valued, let no man devalue. Secondly, racism is an attempt to reverse the redemptive act of Christ. In Jesus Christ, God became a Man and so identified Himself fully with every member of the human family in whatever nation or culture they may be found. Jesus Christ has removed all barriers that stand between human beings, giving reconciliation through His cross. Thirdly, through the means of grace, God empowers and commands all Christians “to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against the soul,” including the sin of racism. (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6; Jn. 13:35, 15:12-13; Acts 17:24-26; 1 Cor. 1:13; Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 2:13-16; 1 Tim. 2:3-6; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 2:9-10) Last year, I was honored to give the 20th Anniversary devotion on racism to the Executive Committee of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America and heads of most the largest Pentecostal denominations. You can read that on their front page at pccna.org
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 18:39:11 +0000
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