More Social Than Spiritual
Christianity can have wide differences. The Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ. The difference is so wide that to receive the one as good, pure and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt and wicked. I hate the corrupt slaveholding, women whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with its horrible inconsistencies that surround me. Fredrick Douglass April 28, 1845
THROUGHOUT the course of my brief life I’ve seen the greatest minds philosophize about YHWH. I’ve seen the greatest poets add color to Scriptures I’ve always seen in black or white. My faith was nurtured and cultivated in the Black church tradition (why do we place adjectives before Church?). Here I devoured the poetic preaching of E.V. Hill; I listened in silence as if thunder struck to the awe-inspiring exegesis of E.K. Bailey; the LORD has even been gracious enough to allow me to hear the prophetic fire himself—Charlie Dates. Post University I traveled North and camped out in the seminary realm for a season. I was pruned by the preaching of Paul Washer; I learned how to walk out my faith in confidence through the preaching of John Piper; my love for Jesus grew as I ate the fruit of Charles Spurgeon’s elocution. In the next season of my life, I sat at the feet of Godly mystics and had my feet washed by Desert Fathers. They taught me things I have no right to repeat lest the wolves become more deceptive.
I’ve seen the greatest poets add color to Scriptures I’ve always seen in black or white.
On my nomadic spiritual journey I’ve tasted and seen spiritual people talk more about God, than their experiences with Him. When I say experiences I don’t mean testimonies of God’s omniscient, omnipotent hand working for their good. No, I mean the burning bush experiences or prayers that softened hearts or a spirituality that transformed a city. These spiritual people claim to be preachers and teachers of the Holy Word, yet, they, like Moses appear to have only seen the land from afar. Hence, through deception and personality and talent they convince the sheep that they’ve tasted the honey and drank the milk. I wholly empathize with Douglass when he says, “My spirit wearies of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the ‘standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ,’ is a mystery which I leave others to penetrate.” These people claim, with sincerity, that they love my God and walk with Him. But, careful observation will reveal that their famous, lukewarm ministries never seem to remember that the greatest of these is love.
After decades that the above truth has been penned a brief glance will reveal, to our horror, the Christianity of this land has grown worse. In great ole ‘Merica, what do we see? Men and women whose youthful zeal for the Lord has sizzled out and frozen over in greed, selfishness, and pride. The tutelage in the Church is unrepentant, self-righteous, and more stubborn than Pharaoh. This tutelage overflows with doubt, but preaches a religion which raison d'être is faith. Their idol worship is laid bare for the world to see like Abasolm’s defiant insurrection against David. This people who preach and teach about the Jesus I know, see Him as an object that is meant to be studied, rather than a Person worth getting to know.
After decades that the above truth has been penned a brief glance will reveal, to our horror, the Christianity of this land has grown worse.
Consequently, my premise awakens the inevitable question, “Who is this Jesus that they preach and why do they preach?” Surely, they aren’t doing it for fame and money. Walter L. Strickland emphatically reminds us, “Evangelicals often presume that the task of theology is merely to comprehend God. But the goal of theology is wisdom—a lived demonstration of knowing God.” You see, the religion of Jesus teaches us that true disciples have matured to understand the law of love and fear of God as of a greater necessity than breathing. A revival will come but only after Christianity is no longer looked at as an esoteric philosophical idea; rather, it must be viewed as a spiritual religion which prerequisite is faith and this faith, demands we obey God and love others. Then we will be able to have a yeasty, revolutionary kind of love that will make Jesus rejoice. If, Fredrick Douglass were to come back I wonder what he would say. Maybe he would shave his head, tear his clothes, fast, and sit in silence and ashes like Job.
“Once a religion is stated in terms of dogma or intellection it can become the source of propaganda.”
