Monthly Archives: May 2023

FREEDOM

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PART 1

Recently, I have been involved in working on some of my family’s genealogy.  As I have done this research, I am amazed at how people in the South were involved in the terrible institution of slavery.  If your family is from the South and you go back far enough you will find that some of them may have been slave-owners.  Today, most of us, both whites and even blacks, have no comprehension of the evils of slavery.  In my study, I have read many wills and slaves are passed by will just as a horse, a cow or a saddle.  This treatment of people is chilling.

One of the questions which I asked myself is whether you could be a slave-owner and still be a Christian.  Apparently, the answer is yes.  However, I think it must be difficult to die and stand before God at the judgment and justify yourself before God and 25 of your slaves on how you treated them.

The Jews knew what it was like to be in slavery and served Pharaoh as slaves until God brought them out into freedom under the hand of Moses.  Also at various times, Jews were sold as slaves and many were redeemed by other Jews.  So the Jews knew about slavery.  Nonetheless, they still practiced slavery.

In the New Testament, Paul instructed slaves to serve their masters as unto the Lord.  He also reminded slave-owners that they should treat their slaves fairly and that the slave-owner had a master in heaven.  There is even one book of the Bible written by Paul to a slave-owner, which is the book of Philemon.  In the church, there were both slaves and slave-owners.  All were expected to remember that there was no difference to God as to whether you were a slave or a slave-owner.  Amazingly, Christianity was a big enough tent that both slaves and slave-owners were both welcomed under the tent. 

To me, it is amazing that we as individuals have the ability to justify whatever we want to and then use Scripture to buttress our prejudices.   My studies show that the issue of slavery split many denominations.  Many Christians in the early years of our country became abolitionists and felt that slavery should be eradicated.  Unfortunately there were also many evangelicals who felt that the Bible not only permitted slavery but that it encouraged it.  Some Southern pastors taught that Blacks either had the Mark of Cain or the Curse of Ham (the son of Noah who looked on his father’s nakedness) and therefore they deserved to be enslaved.  Their theology supported the social norms and even encouraged the growth of slavery. 

I have recently been reading a couple of books showing how Southern Baptists have been captured by Southern social attitudes.  Both books are pretty good.  One is Churches in Cultural Captivity-A History of the Social Attitudes of Southern Baptist by John Lee Eighmy.  The other is At Ease in Zion-A Social History of Southern Baptist, 1865-1900 by Rufus B. Spain.  I was particularly interested in Spain’s book because I had taken a course by him on Religion in America back in the 60’s (the Dark Ages) when I was at Baylor.  Both make a good historical case about how evangelicals (especially the Baptists) had reflected the cultural norms of the time rather than adhering to Biblical mandates.

Although I certainly was not an activist, my understanding of the Bible was clear that God was racially blind so to speak.  To me I believed that Jesus actually loved all the children of the world regardless of color.  As I worked with kids in mission programs I worked in New Orleans with kids of all races.  In the course of doing this I ended up taking kids of all races into City Park in New Orleans and ended up with New Orleans police protecting us so to speak because I had evidently taken black kids to an area where they were not supposed to go.  Back in those days long ago, blacks generally sat in the back of buses and schools in New Orleans had not yet been integrated.  I know it is hard to believe.

As a ministerial student at Baylor I would sometimes preach at churches and openly support integration.  On occasion, this might offend some of the congregations.  Also I worked at Friday Night Missions with many of my friends,  including Janene, we dealt with people, especially children, of all races.  Later, Janene and I totally by accident ended up helping to integrate a large Baptist Church in Dallas.  It all happened again by accident.  As we were leaving church from the early service, a Black couple asked if they could attend this large church.  The church was all white.  Janene and I said “Why, not?”  So we turned around and took them into church and sat with them.  We later became friends with this couple.  The church later integrated.  Later for a long season, I left the Baptist church because of the attitudes (at least in Dallas (which admittedly was very conservative at the time) due to their intolerance of other races.

Pardon me for rambling, but frankly due to my age, as an elderly white male, I am presumed by a younger generation to be a bigot.  Honestly, I find this treatment to be offensive.  It is difficult for young people to understand what it is like to live in a completely different society and a different time.

God is no respecter of persons.  God looks on the heart.  People don’t have good hearts because they are white and bad hearts because they are of any other race.  The opposite is also true.  God looks on the heart. You are not somehow good because you are white or because you are black.   I suspect God is more sympathetic to those who are poor in this life and rich spiritually. 

The fact of the matter is that our calling is to become “slaves of God.”  Jesus Christ is our master.  I suspect that there is no absolute freedom.  If we choose not to be a slave to God, then we will be a slave to something else.  It may be to Satan, alcohol, drugs or sex.  The issue is whether you want to be a slave to someone who knows you, loves you and gave himself to you or do you want to be a slave to someone who doesn’t love you and wants to have power over you.  The other issue is whether you choose to be a slave (we are Christians freely choose to serve Christ) or alternatively is slavery imposed upon us.  Those of us who have friends or children enslaved by drugs know that this slavery is often imposed and those who are enslaved had no early idea that they were giving up everything to become a slave.  Satan likes to impose slavery upon his victims.

As you look at your life, ask what you have been a slave to.  Has it been to your family, to work, to success, to the approval of others or to something other than Jesus Christ.  Part of coming to Christ is to lay down your will.  That is what a slave does.  Only by becoming a slave to Christ can we become truly free.

In our next edition of Locusts and Honey we will discuss more about freedom and how we can become free in our lives and transition from living lives which are unproductive to lives which are productive and full of fruit.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE GOD OF ALL-INCLUSION

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My wife and I just completed watching the long-awaited coronation of Charles III.  We watched every second of the televised coverage by the BBC.  When we were through we made sure that we also watched the Royal Concert along with the Royal Family and Kermit the Frog.  As a person professionally trained in Medieval History, I loved seeing the ancient and medieval traditions involved in the ceremony and was quick to provide my wife Janene translations of all of the Latin hymns whether she wanted them or not.  Frankly the pageantry was glorious, and costumes and dress were amazing.  I must say, we loved every minute of it. The music is wonderful.  At least the King and I can agree upon that. In addition, even the pablum dished out by those behind the event and the commentators was delicious.  Every spoonful of this new age porridge tasted great.

 

The Coronation provided an unveiling of the new world religion of All-Inclusion.  It was a delicious cookie on the outside with a toxic but great tasting filling on the inside.  It was a concoction designed to leave you hungering for even more.  Within the context of ancient Christian traditions, it showcased the new All-Inclusive Christ.  All are welcome in this new religion regardless of background or belief.  The Chief Rabbi sits down at the long table of welcomeness along with Sikhs and Muslim Imams.  I am sure there are even places at the table for Buddhists and Wiccans as well.  After all, Jesus loves all people and all are welcome under the new enlarged tent of acceptance.

 

As people of all faiths mingle together in the spirit of gemṻtlichkeit, all people sit down together.  Female priests give prayers and people of all genders (Like Heinz, there are at least 47 varieties) play starring roles in this brave new religious world.  The often repeated “mantra” for this new religion is “diversity.”  You will hear this word repeated over and over.  Another word that is bandied about is the word “environmental” and “service.”  These words are used as talismans and you may employ the words without the fear of running into contradictions.  For instance, the King and his entourage can proclaim their love for the environment while creating unimaginable pollution on the Coronation Day.  They can laud service and proclaim the image of Christ washing the feet of the disciples while they are riding in a beautiful golden carriage without perceiving any consciousness of the contradiction and the irony between their pronouncements and their actions. 

 

And then there is the dress of the participants.  The prelates are dressed beautifully in gold and white, the guards are resplendent with their armor, plumes and medals and the guests are dressed beautifully shaming even the peacocks in their glory.  Even Katy Perry appeared to honor the king in a gold tin foil dress baring her soul.  At the same time, the Archbishop and others can speak and honor the simplicity of Christ, who I suspect was never dressed as beautifully as the lowest prelate attending the service.      Forgive the rant.  But shouldn’t someone who believes in Christ say something about the contradictions.  The problem is that those engaged in the coronation apparently do not even see that there are any contradictions at all.

 

The ancient structures of the coronation traditions had to be adjusted to fit the new religion much as a pair of pants has to be adjusted when you gain weight.  Charles could no longer be The Defender of THE FAITH.    Unfortunately, that term referred to the Christian Religion, which is much too excluding for our all-inclusive world.  The God of All-Inclusion demands that all be included under the tent.  Therefore, Charles had to morph the ancient title from “Defender of the Faith” to a more generic term of “Defender of Faith.”  He defends the generic concept that all have the right to believe whatever they want to believe.  By the way, the title “Defender of the Faith” ironically was a title awarded to Henry VIII by Pope Leo X.  (Henry VIII did not live up to the title and due to his need for another wife, split the Anglican Church from the Catholic Church).

 

In short, the modern demands for all-inclusiveness and diversity resulted in a train wreck between the greatly respected ancient traditions of Christianity and Kingdom with the demands of the new moral and religious environment.  To put it bluntly, those who came up with all of those great traditions ostensibly honored at the Coronation would be horrified at what they saw at Westminster Abbey.  The beauty of a Catholic bishop being included in the ceremony or an Islam cleric would have been, shall we say, “anathema” at coronations in the past especially to a denomination (Anglican) which grew out of the Reformation.   The inclusion of all clerics of all sexes and no sexes at all are now welcomed with open arms.  Libertines, celibates and every other sexual choice in between are also welcome under the new rainbow covered umbrella of love.    Almost everybody is welcome.

 

There is one group, however, who is not welcome.  The new moral lepers are those who commit the unpardonable sin of rejecting the new doctrines of all-inclusiveness and diversity.  These individuals are not called “heretics.” Instead they are called “bigots” because they have not seen the new way of inclusion and they do not walk in it.

 

The New World Religion has had to make a few adjustments to ancient Christian theology and to the Scriptures but otherwise is more than happy to be a “bedfellow “ with the Ancient Faith and Traditions.  New age theologians have not had much difficulty making necessary adjustments to accommodate what used to be considered “sin” and even transforming them into “virtues.”  With mental acuity they have found Scriptures to justify their new inclusive views and where they have no Scriptures, they simply cast doubts about the correctness of ancient Scriptures and their reliability.  In other words, Scripture is either twisted to make their point, and if it does not twist, then its veracity can be questioned or cast aside.  If the Old Testament and Paul do not accept the morality of homosexuality and instead consider it sin, then these parts of Scripture need further explanation or clarification or exclusion.

 

Most  Scripture is welcome in the New World Religion with some exceptions:

 

·        Any Scripture which implies that there is such a thing as sin.  There is no sin in the brave New World  except the sin of bigotry.

·        There is no judgment. God does not judge.  He/She/It only loves.  There is no sin (other than bigotry) and therefore no judgment is needed.  If there were “sin” then God would forgive it. God loves all without change. 

·        There is no need for repentance.  After all, there is nothing to repent from anyway.  Ancient doctrines of repentance are no longer needed.  This may come as some relief to the King and Queen as especially as it relates to the now forgotten Princess Diana.

·        There is no holiness.  Holiness would indicate an arbitrary standard and the all-inclusive God has no standards (other than punishment for bigotry or perhaps the original sin of being born a white, male Colonist).  Unfortunately, many of us who fall into this class of “undesirables” could only wish that we had a special “Trust” like King Charles which could redeem us from our shortcomings and act as a modern day Papal Indulgence.  But enough of my Medieval Humor.

 

In fact, certain statements by Jesus are “uncomfortable” in this new Enlightened World and are studiously avoided.   Some examples might be:

 

·        “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. –John 14:6

·        “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”—Matthew 16:24

·         “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”-Matthew 7:13-14

This new religion is inclusive.  Its way is broad.  All, regardless of belief, are invited to travel on this new religious super highway.  The advantages are that it is inclusive, wide and easy to walk on.  You will meet no pesky evangelicals or bigots on it.  You can walk without paying any tolls.  Negatives like the cross or repentance are not necessary.  The only problem is that this new super highway leads neither to God nor to heaven.  The kingdoms of this world offered to Christ at the Temptation still belong to the King of this World. 

 

The words of Psalms 2:3-4 remain true:  “The kings of the earth rise up and band together against the Lord and his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”  However David proclaims later in that Psalm…”the Lord scoffs at them.”

 

The Coronation of the King provided a wonderful platform for the unveiling of this New World Religion  starring the God of All-Inclusion and the All-Accepting Christ. This New World Religion with its All-Inclusive God will soon be coming to a location near you if it has not already.  But take heart, Christ will return and in the future “every knee shall bow” before him.  That is part of our hope and our inheritance.

DON’T HOLD ON

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As you get older, there is a tendency to hold on as we perceive that things are slipping away.  We fight against the relentless entropy of life.  All that we love appears to fall away.  The hair goes, the teeth fall out—you know the drill.  But it gets worse.  We lose the people that we love—people that we have cared about and who have given us love, wisdom, companionship and stability.

 

In addition, we hold on to the trophies that we (or those who we love) have accumulated in this life.  In one sense, a resume is a visible collection of our awards for hard-earned efforts and the trophies of those efforts.  These things are valuable but fade away before our very eyes.  We are like a person being shot off on a rocket into outer space watching that which we love grow dimmer and dimmer behind us.

 

Recently, I tried for the third time to clean out our garage by throwing away our deceased daughter’s karate trophies.  There were many of them.  Honestly, I could not do it.  Those trophies had been earned by her hard efforts and by ours.  She had drilled many hours.  Janene and I spent many hours in the dojo as she practiced and spent many week-ends watching as she participated in many tournaments and won awards.  She worked hard and it paid off.  She had numerous trophies where she had won by being best of all age groups from child to adult in Karate competitions.  The trophies represented her efforts and they also represented a lot of time which we spent together. 

 

So when it came time for the trophies to go after her death, I simply could not do it without the help of our oldest daughter, Julie.  I had carted the trophies around a long time and from house to house.  It seemed to me somehow that letting the trophies go was somewhat like letting Addi go—but then she had already gone and the trophies were not Addi.  She was, and is, much more important than old trophies falling apart from age.  By the way, Janene and I did keep a few of her medals and a photograph of her with her trophies because we do want to remember her accomplishments and pass down a few remembrances to other generations.

 

Janene and I have other trophies that we have not dealt with yet.  My aunt, Lois, was one of the first female attorneys in the State and after her death we kept her law degree hanging next to my law degree.  (Trophies from two generations).  Janene has the Medical Degree of Sanford Loftis, one of her relatives, who died as a Medical Missionary to China.  It is a valuable trophy which he left behind to follow Christ.

 

So it was not surprising that I found myself humming this morning an old song written by George Bennard in 1912 called “The Old Rugged Cross.”  The refrain of that old hymn goes:

 

               So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross

               Til my trophies, at last, I lay down

               I will cling to the old rugged Cross

               And exchange it someday for a crown.

 

Please, don’t get me wrong.  I understand well the need to hold on to some of the trophies that we have in life.  They are associated with great efforts and with loving memories.  But—don’t hold too tight.  Grief may be a place to visit, but it sickens those who reside there too long.  Ultimately, our God is a God of Hope and Life not of grief and despair.

 

An old friend of mine from my work days would often say:  “Remember, Ernie, hearses don’t have trailer-hitches.”  They don’t and there is no room in the coffin to take too much with you.  So, loosen up.  Don’t hold on so tightly.  God’s love will hold you and sustain you.  The spirit is small but indestructible and the Holy Spirit can never be taken from you.  Jesus told Mary and Martha that he was “The Life” and “The Resurrection,” and He meant it.

 

Paul wrote about all of this in 1 Cor. 7:29-31:

 

29 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

 

So, take a deep breath.  It is OK.  God loves you and will care for you.  Don’t hold on too tight.  You can’t take the trophies with you.  They will only hold you back.  Lighten up.  God has a destiny and a future for you and you are more than your trophies.