My Transparency With Racism (Intro 3- Part Series)

Audio of the article here:

 This is a continuation of my article I wrote in January on the poison of the Critical Race Theory, The Woke Church Movement, and Black Liberation Theology. This article should have been first because I give a little of my background in it. I have received some well-meaning criticism from my first article. That has hopefully helped me to clarify myself a little better. It is not my intention to conflate any culturally hot-button issues- especially the issue of race. When I said the BLT, WCM, and CRT are a trio of poisonous ideas let out into the church, I meant that and meant that it is dividing the body of Christ. I do mean these statements, and I have six primary reasons why I do.

However, before we get started, I would like to clarify my first article and speak on how society works out justice. A friend of mine read the article and encouraged me to clarify my view on social justice. Here is where I stand. The term social justice has been hijacked in the current cultural tide and has completely lost its Biblical meaning, so I want to briefly look at what the Scriptures tell us about injustice and justice. There are two types of justice. One type is injustice. The other is justice. Psalm 99:3 “The King’s strength also loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.” We see from the text that the Lord is the Just One. In the following texts, we are going to see who is unjust. Romans 3:10b-12, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together, they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” This text paints a picture of true injustice. Everyone is guilty. The only way injustice can be fixed in our society is through the Gospel. 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” I do not deny that justice needs to be applied to every society globally, but the only way it will be done is through the Gospel. It will not happen by the burden of white guilt, reparations, CRT,BLT, WCM, etc. 

Thank you to those who have reached out to me to give constructive criticism and encouragement to clarify where I stand! I am better for knowing you and spending time with you. We may not agree on every point, but thanks for helping me see your point.

 Here are my six reasons for my being so strong against CRT, BLT, and WCM: 

1. In the fall of 2018, there was a statement on Social Justice and the Gospel written by key leaders that I highly respect. The signing of this statement by twelve thousand people shows that this is enough of an issue for some evangelical leaders to make an official statement in writing. 

2. There was a Q&A panel discussion between Phil Johnson and Albert Mohler at the 2019 Shepherd’s Conference on the topic that became so heated that the video was taken off YouTube. You could hear that Phil Johnson and John MacArthur clearly disagreed with Albert Mohler, Mark Dever, and Ligon Duncan. 

3. This is fueling the heretical group called the Black Hebrew Israelites. 

4. This forces whites to take on the burden of white guilt for something they have been freed from because of the cross of Christ. They have the obligation of repentance forced on them for just being white.

 5. When we stand up for the justice of the unborn at our local city council, we are being shouted down by claims that we cannot defend black babies because we are not black. This became pronounced when we compared abortion to slavery. 

6. However, the biggest issue now is it has found its way out into the streets. In the last three outreaches I have been on, I was told multiply times by different blacks that I cannot speak to them about the Gospel because I am not black. 

Here are the three other articles I wrote on this issue Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3; please either read them or listen to catch you on my train of thought. Here are the quick definitions of the above abbreviations I used in this article and the last.

The Woke Church Movement (WCM) - Being enlightened to social injustice in America. A book you can read to find out more about this movement is Eric Mason’s book The Woke Church.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) - Critical race theory is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power (From page two of Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic).

Black Liberation Theology (BLT) - James Cone defines this term in his book which has the same title, “Rather it is a study of God’s liberating activity in the world, God’s activity in behalf of the oppressed.” (Found on page three of A Black Theology of Liberation).

In my first article, I brought up six points that WCM, CRT, and BLT promote or pervert. With these two points in this article, I want to show how they pervert our ability to destroy racism under the banner of the Gospel. 

The destruction of racism is what the advancement of God’s kingdom produces. 

As I said in the first article, racism lurks in every race of people. If we deny this, we deny how fallen man really is. I have seen racism from all different types of skin color. I will be transparent here to help the body of Christ strive for unity. 

During the Rodney King riots, I was in high school in a rural South Carolina town. I was in a school of eighty-five percent blacks, ten percent white, and five percent of the other minorities. I was a minority in my school. When they gave the verdict that they would let the men who beat Rodney King go free, my high school erupted. The next day when a group of us tried to enter the school, we were met by students with bats and guns saying that we were not bringing our white #$@@! in their school. 

This infuriated me. I found out that a march was coming on the outskirts of our little town, going toward our state capital protesting the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King. If you look at the video, it is clear that officers Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno are guilty of excessive force, but that was a million miles away from me in my teenage mind. Because of what happened to me, I wanted to retaliate with my own racial hatred, so I, with several others, lined the street as a group with a majority of black people marched by, some began yelling at them. I sat there in silence, knowing what I was standing for was wrong. I am transparent because I want to show how hate breeds hate and how hate produces nothing good in any of us. Only one person can change that in our hearts- Jesus. Twenty-one years ago, Jesus melted racial hatred from my life, and I don’t have it anymore. Praise Jesus!! 

As I have become more acquainted with CRT, WCM, and BLT, I see the potential that this will cause more racial tension and will not alleviate it. We don’t need philosophy; we need love spoken and in action in our communities. I want to reflect on the L.A. Riots of 1992 after the not guilty verdict of the four officers. Let’s look at the story within the story. 

Reginald Denny was a local truck driver in the L.A. area. He was driving his truck when he pulled up at the light and was pulled from his truck and brutally beaten. A brick hit his head with enough force to crack his skull in ninety-one places. The men that did this were getting payback from Rodney’s unjust verdict. Racism produced this scenario. This is a tragic event of the sin of the officers breeding the sin of the men who beat Reginald, but here comes the silver lining. Bobby Green, Lei Yuille, Titus Murphy, and Terri Barnett put Reginald back in his truck and drove him to the local hospital. These men and women saved his life. Reginald is alive today because these black men and women broke the cultural norm. 

The Critical Race Theory did not change my heart or motivate these people to help Reginald. The Woke Church Movement did not change my heart or encourage these people to help Reginald. White or black theology did not change my heart or motivate these people to help Reginald. Jesus changed my heart. I don’t know if Bobby, Lei, Titus, or Terri know Christ, but I do know that they loved their neighbor as they loved themselves at that moment. This is what the world needs, not theories, movements, or race theologies. 

One of the things that CRT, WCM, and BLT will produce is white guilt. I will refuse to let it rob me of my position and power found in the cross. If you support any of these three, you are holding- even if indirectly- something over your brother’s head that Christ has forgiven. Let’s all learn from the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:30-34 

But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed. (NIV) 

The most overlooked characters in the parable drama are the other servants of the master. Did they remain silent when the unforgiving servant demanded that the other servant pay him the fifty dollars back after he was forgiven one million? They did not remain passively silent! They spoke up when they saw that forgiveness should have been extended and was not. They were motivated to act because they heard of the mercy extended to that servant, yet he did not demonstrate the same. 

I plead don’t sit by passively on this issue, Christian. Let’s remind each other how much we have been forgiven in Christ and are one in Christ. Galatians 3:28 states, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (NIV) 

These poisonous three rob people of their position and the power found in the cross to forgive and set people free from the condemnation of sin. 

Our position is forgiven. We owe no one anything but the love and grace that Christ Jesus has given us. This forgiveness is a perpetual fountain that will never run dry that comes from the love and grace of God; therefore, we have an unlimited supply. Read what John 8:36 states, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (NIV) 

This verse does not say to segregate under skin color; instead, it unites us under the banner of Christ. Listen to what Paul states in Romans 12:5 where God’s Word says, “so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” 

We belong to each other. Let’s allow the cross to give us the lens we need to see Christ’s church in that light. I truly believe the WCM, CRT, and BLT are slowly dismantling the power found in the cross to forgive because everything is becoming black or white. 

The power of forgiveness continually reminds us every day that we are free from the condemnation of sin. I hope that my attempt in this article has shown you the deeply concerning divide that is beginning to happen. Don’t sit as the divide deepens, but stand up and refuse to let it happen on your watch. 

The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel is a real document you can read. We have experienced the wake of WCM, CRT, and BLT on the streets of Raleigh and Durham, NC. Just talk with us about it. The Q&A session at the Shepherd’s Conference happened, and it shows there is disagreement on the Gospel and social justice within the leadership of Evangelicalism in America. You can see one of our YouTube videos where the young lady gets shouted down for representing black children in the womb. I hope my being transparent about my teenage years shows what goes on in the human heart, and the story of the L.A. Riots and the Rodney King verdict would remind us how much we are all in need of the power of the cross. One more article will be posted in April dealing with the last two issues that I think WCM, CRT, and BLT cause. Until then, go out and proclaim the Gospel to see a life transformed by forgiveness.