Baptist News Global: Why American Christians Are Divided [Jeff Howard]
Baptist News Global: Leatherwood Quits Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Baptist News Global by Rodney Kennedy: Journey to the Valley of Cowards
"Can you imagine Jesus pausing his reading from the scroll of Isaiah to encourage his Jewish brethren to 'Hail Caesar'?" --Pastor Jeff Howard
Baptist News Global is, perhaps, the best news journal to be found among those still published by religious groups in the United States. It's the product of a merger between the Associated Baptist Press, an independent news agency in partnership with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and The Religious Herald, the news journal of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV), the oldest state Baptist group in Virginia, originally affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
These Baptists are at the opposite end of the spectrum, politically, theologically, doctrinally and in practice, from the conservative Evangelicals, including many of the more conservative Baptist groups like the Southern Baptist Convention and independent, fundamental Baptists, who have allowed a pseudo-Christian intrusion into their churches and denominations, the result of a mix of Fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christianity with the extremism of right wing politics.
They are distinguished by their remaining faithful to these core Baptist principles:
- Freedom of conscience, giving individuals the right to interpret the Bible and follow their own beliefs without coercion,
- Freedom of the church, with each gathered body of Christians independent and autonomous, and not governed by any external authority, ecclesiastical or political,
- Freedom of religion, which is the right to practice one's faith openly, without fear of persecution, and,
- Freedom of the ministry, in which preachers are free to preach and teach according to their own convictions and education, bringing them an understanding of the gospel, without interference from denominational hierarchies and from the state's authority.
Historically, Baptists were one of the stronger influences on the founders, particularly Jefferson and Madison, in advocating for religious liberty, including the separation of church and state, which made its way into the first amendment. Along with other groups and denominations of Christians, Baptists experienced explosive growth in the United States as a result of their emphasis on the practice of evangelism, which stems from the freedoms that form their core principles.
Christianity and the Pseudo-Christian MAGA Cult are Mutually Exclusive
Religious liberty was the key to explosive evangelistic growth for Baptists, and for virtually all other Christian denominations and churches in the United States. Keeping up with the growth by training and providing pastors and church leaders was difficult, especially along the western frontier. And for a denomination without a layer of ecclesiastical authority, the lack of educated ministers contributed to the problem of cultural influences affecting the accuracy of preaching and teaching.
For Baptists, one of the first major divisive issues in their theology, doctrine and practice was slavery. It's difficult, from this side of the issue, to imagine how it was possible for people to claim to be Christian, and at the same time, justify the cruelty, inhumanity and racism that characterized a practice as ungodly and anti-Christian as slavery. The first major split among Baptists in the United States occurred in 1845, when a group of Baptists from churches in the southern states met in the First Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia to withdraw from the Triennial Baptist Convention and form the Southern Baptist Convention over the former denomination's refusal to appoint slave owners to serve on the mission field.
And it took 150 years for the Southern Baptist Convention to formally adopt a resolution apologizing for their role in the enslavement of human beings. That's some powerful ignorance of the Christian gospel, and some powerful, evil hatred. Let's be crystal clear. It is not possible to exhibit any kind of Christian testimony indicating one's faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ through ownership of one human being by another. Belief in racial inferiority is a denial of the Christian gospel, and it is, according to I John 4, antichrist.
No wonder conservative Evangelicals like Southern Baptists, and their Pentecostal and Charismatic brethren, sidestep the basic theology of the scripture they claim is without error and infallible. They simply use their own experience, with prooftexts of bits of Bible text taken out of context, to validate their feelings. Jesus equated black slaves, along with every other race and ethnicity of people in the world, with "your neighbor." The words of Jesus, the principles he taught, and the example he set by his lifestyle are the standard by which any other part of the Bible must be interpreted.
Many conservative Evangelicals use the Calvinist idea of "predestination," to justify racist hatred, on the basis that God, who is all-knowing, possesses foreknowledge regarding which human beings will choose to follow him, and which ones will choose to be reprobate. Jesus never made that kind of distinction, even though recognizing that humans, created in God's image, have the free will to choose to either follow, or reject, the creator God of the universe. But, whether they have or haven't made the choice to follow Jesus and believe his divine person can save them from their sin, they still qualify for the love of Christians based on the fact that they are still our neighbor. Remember, the Samaritan was a pagan, but Jesus deliberately chose to make him the hero of the story.
And he made the two religious leaders in his parable the hypocrites.
Read through the articles that are linked above from Baptist News Global and the stark difference between these "covenant Baptists" and their counterparts among the highly politicized conservative Evangelical right is visible. The Christian gospel begins with the Beatitudes [Matthew 5:1-11], not the Ten Commandments. Jesus used his divine authority to establish the equality of the first and second commandments, when asked which one was the greatest. He declared that the second, which is to "love your neighbor as you love yourself," was equal to the first, "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." And he used a parable, known as the parable of the good Samaritan, to illustrate the point.
So the clearest public testimony of one's conversion to the Christian gospel, and of the practice of their faith is observing their treatment of other people, all of whom are equal in the eyes of God, is love for one's neighbor. Jesus used the character of the Samaritan in the parable, a man his Jewish audience would have despised because of his ethnicity and his pagan religion, to illustrate that he meant "neighbor" as "fellow human being."
I've heard this challenge issued by others, I'll put it here as well. Point to one thing, just one, a proposed policy or law, of the Trump administration that is a demonstration of one's love for their neighbor. Just one. Find something, anything, in the MAGA playbook that is consistent with any practice of a Christian principle. Just one. The problem is that Christianity is a lifestyle, based on a set of theological principles and doctrines that define its practice. The theology is systematic, the doctrines are all consistently aligned and the mission and purpose is clear. It rests on the belief that humanity is equal because every human being is created in the image of God.
There's been a fault line that has been visible, which has separated what I call "Covenant Christians," those whose theology, doctrine and Christian practice reflect the acknowledgement of Jesus as the criteria by which the Christian gospel is interpreted from scripture and practiced, from the intrusive influence of white, Christian nationalism that is based on legalistic fundamentalism combined with extremist right wing politics.
Proof? I John 4. The Apostle's words define the difference. He speaks authoritatively of what is required for a human being, created in the image of God, to be Christian, as opposed to being antichrist, and uses that exact word. He defines them simply, but thoroughly, enough that it's obvious. Christianity rests on the acknowledgement of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. A quick test of the spirits, as instructed by the Apostle, shows the pseudo-Christian MAGA cult doesn't pass that test.
It also doesn't appear to be a coincidence that cases of sexual abuse by pastors and church leaders seem to be soaring in those sections of conservative Evangelicalism that also embrace the extremist right wing politics of Trumpism, nor are some of their misogynystic practices excluding women from church leadership, or the fact that conservative Evangelicals are the single most segregated branch of Christianity in the United States. Find the fault line, and you'll find these kinds of moral issues on the right side of it. Of course, no one is perfect, but the Southern Baptist convention is having a terrible time resolving a sexual abuse crisis in its churches uncovered about five years ago by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. The atmosphere in most of the churches that have withdrawn from the convention doesn't tolerate that kind of behavior. It seems to sift out the personal kingdom builders and dictator pastors.
The old Baptist Triennial Convention, in Philadelphia, now exists as the American Baptist Churches USA. The other Baptist groups which have adopted a gospel-centered, rather than political centered approach are the Alliance of Baptists, a liberal group that separated from Southern Baptists during the early days of their "Conservative Resurgence," and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which includes many more mainstream congregations, mostly in the southern states. Though not monolithic, these groups represent a hard core of resistance to Christian nationalism. And whether those on the political left are inclined toward expression of Christian beliefs and practice, or keep their distance, there are places within these Baptist groups where a very articulate, well stated narrative accompanies their resistance to the pseudo-Christian kind of MAGA Trumpism that directly attacks and discredits that cult.
Warnings from Jude Verse 4
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 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Though I would not say these words are a prophecy of something specific, they are prophetic in that Jude, one of the twelve Apostles, likely a half brother to Jesus, recognized the danger of infiltration of false doctrine and theology into the church. There's no question that Christian nationalism, which in this country was largely the product of the ignorance that turned into anti-education bias among churches that were never reached by educated pastors and church leaders, and of the economic reliance and dependence on the subjugation of black people as slaves.
One of the most laughable assertions some conservative religious, political types have come up with is the thought that Trump is God's instrument being used to restore the United States to Christian revival and righteousness. Trump's been on the political scene since 2016, and there's not an inkling of religious revival on the horizon. Church attendance and membership is dropping like a stone in a well, as it has been for several decades now, and it's fairly apparent, from the policy they push, that "God" equals "money" in the MAGA cult. There's no emphasis on Christian morality.
The claim that God sometimes uses flawed individuals to achieve his will is not applicable on this side of the resurrection. And while those who like to compare Trump with King David try to make this point, the fact of the matter is that the biggest difference in this comparison is that David was repentant from his sins, and submissive to God, while Trump loudly proclaims that he has done nothing requiring God's forgiveness, and he does not submit to God's grace. There is no way God would ever use a morally bankrupt, sexual deviant, antichrist like that. That's just another sign of how far away from the Christian gospel Trump has taken himself and his followers.
According to his own narrative, Jesus has already established his Kingdom, a spiritual one, based on the practice of Christian faith through the values he preached and lived by. He never intended to establish a "theocratic" nation on earth, similar to the way in which the Old Covenant established. Salvation, which was what both of these kingdoms existed to provide, is quite different, needing neither the power and influence of the United States, or the leadership of a worldly demagogue like Trump.
Reading through John's epistle, it's clear that Trump meets the definition of antichrist.
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