The Walls Conservative Evangelicals Have Built That Caused the March on Washington in 1963 Are Still Standing

Baptist News Global: Author Rick Pidcock Provides Insights into White, Evangelical Perspectives on Race 

In The Signal Press, I've frequently referenced a verse in the small, but powerful New Testament book of Jude.  Jude is not a common text among most conservative Evangelical preachers, especially those who don't necessarily use the Common Lexionary or the Christian calendar in their planning of sermons.  It's verse 4 which I have frequently cited as a prophetic word, especially for those who are blending far right wing politics with conservative Evangelicalism in both its Pentecostal and Fundamentalist forms. 

For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jude v. 4, NRSV

These words had a specific application to a church not long after the time of Jesus.  In its early days, the church was subject to intrusion by pagan philosophy and false doctrine, in some cases having to rely on short epistles providing guidance and direction from the Apostles, like Jude, while they were becoming more familiar with the Christian gospel.  So these words are not a specific "prophecy" for today, as some Christians believe about parts of the Bible, but they are "prophetic" in that they resonate with much of what has happened in many churches where far right wing politics have become indistinguishable from church doctrine and theology.  

Certain intruders have stolen in among today's conservative Evangelical churches, replacing sound doctrine and theology with right wing political rhetoric, turning churches into cults with a political mission and purpose and in some cases, replacing Jesus with loyalty to a political "savior" which completely subverts the Christian gospel.  Fear, says Rick Pidcock, the author of the piece linked at the top of this article from Baptist News Global, fear of change is the underlying motivation, while opposition to change, especially from a hard line Calvinist approach, represents God to the far right.  

These are blemishes on your love feasts, says the Apostle Jude, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves.  They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wamdering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.  Jude 12-13

These words of Jude resonate with me as I relate them to the far right wing politics of our time.  It is such an apt description of the far right, that I almost marvel that the ink is dry on the page, and that Jude is an ancient apostle, and not a columnist or editorial writer for a progressive Christian publication like Baptist News Global.  

These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.  Jude 15

It's hard to believe this was written in the late first century and not right after a Trump rally.  

I'll stop here, and point you to Rick Pidcock's piece in Baptist News Global.  It's an eye opener.