God is love and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness on the day of judgement because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. I John 4:16-18 NRSV
There's an almost desperate need for prophetic voices to rise within some branches of the Christian church in the United States these days, particularly among Conservative Evangelicals, where the preaching from the pulpit, watered-down for decades by the intrusion of secular, right wing politics is replacing the gospel message with something that isn't able to keep Christian faithful, and has led many of them, including high profile leaders, away from the virtues that are at the very core of Christ's gospel message. There's an ideology that has developed that is based on right wing, secular political perspectives, not on anything in the gospel or in the Bible, which conservative Christians claim is the only authority for Christian theology, doctrine and practice.
One of the pastors invited to speak at Floyd's memorial service in Houston made reference to the passage I cited above in the Apostle John's first epistle to the church, noting that racism was rooted in "fear that casts out love."1 The Apostle says that "as he is, so are we in this world," and just prior to this passage, he says, "By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit (I John 4:13). This is not painting with a broad brush, by any means, but looking around, observing what is happening in our culture among some branches of the Christian church, there's a lot of chaos, confusion, and evidence of an intrusion of ungodliness, and not much perfect love.
While George Floyd's death helped to focus some attention on systemic racism, the Trump administration was igniting a controversy aimed at fanning the flames with a predictable tweet from the former failed President, attacking Critical Race Theory and calling it a "sickness that cannot be allowed to continue. Please report any sightings so we can quickly extinguish!" That was a dog whistle to hard line religious conservatives who promptly jumped up to demonize it and, in the process, undo any possible racial reconciliation or justice that might emerge as a result of George Floyd's murder by a racist cop.
Is the timing here a coincidence? Racism is a reality, embedded in Christian doctrine for centuries, particularly in America, where the Bible was used to justify the enslavement of Africans. Bring up racism in a white, conservative, Evangelical church, and suggest that it is a real problem and that racial reconciliation is a high priority ministry of the church and the result will be mostly silence, some of it hostile silence, some indifference with some hostility and anger. But you'll find volunteers ready to make phone calls and pay personal visits to school administrators at the mere suggestion that Critical Race Theory is being taught in your local school.
I'm not suggesting that the points of CRT be applied to the church. The Bible offers plenty of principles, practices and virtues which, if a Christian or a church determined to follow, would lead to racial reconciliation, the eradication of racism, a diverse church rather than a segregated one and unity of mission and purpose. And to their credit, there are Christians and churches who do make this choice and who do make a difference. But they're not the ones who have aligned themselves with a political party that is openly opposed to racial unity, promotes white supremacy and sends a racist message while attacking the free speech rights of CRT proponents. CRT exists as a theory with regard to racism in the vacuum created by the absence of conservative, white Christians ignoring their own scripture by allowing fear to prevent them from making a difference.
This is not the only example of the damage done to the church and its ministry because of the preoccupation of many conservative, Evangelical leaders, churches and denominations in their attempted use of conservative, right wing politics, and their selling out of loyalty that belongs to Christ to secular politicians who demand it as a condition of their bestowing political favors. The Trump administration created a humanitarian crisis at the border, intentionally using fear against refugees fleeing their homes in Central and South America because their families and lives were in danger. The inhumanity, deliberate fear created when children were taken from their parents as a border enforcement "tactic," and the refusal to consider these people as fellow human beings was one of the most un-American, and anti-Christian incidents in our history. But it has not deterred white, conservative, Evangelical Christian support for Trump.
They have exchanged their dependence on God's perfect love casting out fear, for political power that uses fear as a weapon.
Politics and Wealth, Replacing the Presence of God's Spirit in Churches, Results in Lack of Discernment and Failure of Mission and Purpose
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:4-5 NRSV
I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. You do not recognize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked." Revelation 3:15-17, NRSV
I'm using scripture passages from the Bible in making these points, because conservative, Evangelical Christians claim the Bible is the "sole authority for faith and practice" in the church, and because they claim it is without error, and infallible in its content.
These two passages from Revelation are from a narrative at the beginning of the book which records a vision of Christ experienced by the Apostle John during his imprisonment on the isle of Patmos. They are prophetic warnings of the intrusion of pagan practices and beliefs into each congregation, in advance of the first major persecution of Christianity under Nero. Seven churches are addressed with warnings about specific problems that the leaders needed to address.
In the first passage, the church at Ephesus had abandoned the love it had at first. The leaders of the church had aligned themselves with the local political influences for their own benefit and were compromising their doctrine, turning their loyalty away from the gospel of Christ and toward the politics of pagan civic leaders. In the second passage, the church at Laodicea had grown dependent on the wealth it had acquired, believing that monetary prosperity was equal to blessings from God. In both cases, the prophetic message noted these failures and warned the church's leaders to repent, or their church would cease to exist.
Bob Smeitana: Everything is Changing at the Same Time
Baptist News Global: DOJ Investigating Southern Baptist Sex Abuse Scandal
Churches and church leaders have become disengaged from the Spirit of God, and the "perfect love which casts out fear," and as the numbers of new converts drop dramatically, and church membership and attendance declines, they become more dependent on using their influence with right wing politicians to achieve what they are unable to do on their own. If they aren't connected to the "abiding presence of God's Holy Spirit," then they are also prone to fail when it comes to the virtues Christ preached as produced by the abiding presence of God, and they lose their testimony, or, as the vision of Christ informed John in Revelation, "their lampstand is removed."
The Catholic Church was rocked by a sexual abuse scandal among its clergy, revelations of the depth and breadth of it only now being revealed. The Southern Baptist Convention, whose leaders had been told for decades that sexual abuse among its pastors and church leadership was rampant, and which they appeared to ignore, deflecting reports with their polity of local church autonomy, back to local congregations, was finally forced by newspaper investigations by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News, to acknowledge it and do something about it. Pressure to conduct and investigation resulted in the discovery that denominational leaders had purposely attempted to cover up reports of abuse to avoid the bad publicity. The scope of the scandal in the denomination is massive. The cover-ups of what was reported to denominational leadership is now under criminal investigation by the DOJ.
But the SBC is not the only place where sexual abuse scandals are coming to light, along with financial scandals by leaders of prominent, well-known megachurches. It's happening all through the ranks of white, conservative, Evangelical Christian churches and denominations. Some para-church institutions, including universities, seminaries and outreach ministries, have amassed billions of dollars in assets, controlled by boards with very few members, or in churches where the pastor has a hand-picked few members who hold the governing power. The names are well known, and most of those caught up in scandals are also major players in right wing, Republican politics. Few of the more well known megachurches, and multi-campus churches, whose pastors are authors and podcasters and televangelists, have escaped scandal.
Adultery by pastors has been particularly pervasive. Should that be a surprise, given the loyalty they've shown to a former President who brags about the number of women with whom he has committed adultery against his three wives, two of which were also "the other woman"?
There are a few watchdogs, gathering facts, reporting them and trying to help those who have the desire to be sincere Christians hold leaders accountable. ( see Julie Roys: Reporting the Truth, Restoring the Church ) (Baptist News Global: Conversations that Matter). But in most cases, the tightly-wound control that these leaders have over the churches they pastor, and the ministries they lead means that the sincere Christians have no recourse but to leave. Millions have done so and are continuing to do so. Across the spectrum of churches, denominations and groups that can be identified as "Evangelical" by doctrine and practice, membership is down by almost 20% in a decade, as is attendance. The Southern Baptist Convention alone has lost 2.9 million members since a peak in 2005, and lost more than 400,000 in just the past year. That's not all due to COVID, though some have taken the opportunity of the pandemic to leave.
Ichabod Written Over the Door
There's a reference in the Old Testament book of Samuel to the son of Phineas, and grandson of Eli, the priest of Shiloh and spiritual leader of Israel, whose name was "Ichabod", which means, "inglorious," or "there is no glory." The child was named by his mother after hearing the news that his father and uncle, who were disobedient sons of the priest, Eli, had been killed in battle with the Philistines, who had captured the Ark of the Covenant. Eli, upon hearing this news, collapsed backward and died, and Phineas' wife went into labor, giving birth to her son.
According to the narrative in Samuel, God permitted this to occur because Eli's sons were disobedient, disrespectful to the priesthood, making themselves rich out of the offerings given by the people of Israel to support the priesthood, held by their father, and relying on belief in their own power as leaders in Israel, rather than following God's instructions for dealing with the surrounding pagan nations. So God's spirit departed, leaving them to fend for themselves, and the Philistines took advantage and swept in.
I believe there's a significant portion of the Christian church in America where God has spiritually written the word "Ichabod" over the door. The dependence on right wing political support has led to preaching from pulpits that integrates political posturing with Christian doctrine, to the point where many Christians can't distinguish between the gospel of Christ, and Republican talking points. They've bought into lies and deception, they overlook the immoral, unethical behavior of politicians, one in particular, who demands loyalty that they give to him, rather than to Christ. As a result, they are plagued by scandals and are unable to purge self-serving leaders who are stuffing their own pockets with contributions made by those who believe implicitly in them and sacrifice their own resources to give.
I believe that what we are seeing is the result of God having removed some lampstands. Prophetic voices, calling for repentance, are ignored, or punished by losing their ministry career, or get tired of trying and quit. Their house is desolate. Repentance will require denouncing any loyalty to anyone but Christ, and depending on the abiding presence of God, not on politicians and a political party.
1. Dr. Steve Wells, Pastor, South Main Baptist Church, Houston, Texas at the George Floyd Funeral Service, Fountain of Praise Church, Houston Texas June 9, 2020
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