Scarlet-To-Snow -- AA17

Pulpit Socialism In Black Churches

September 15, 2002

Saints of God, as Christians, you are supposed to know who God is and what He is all about, but it is highly unlikely that you are aware of the “Social Action/Black Liberation Theology/Black Empowerment” gospel that is God’s competitor in black churches. Social Action, Black Liberation Theology, Black-Empowerment – label it what you will, but the concept is the same. The preaching of race, politics, and power as liberating the soul is apostasy and is so because it negates Biblical truth as being the true liberator of souls. This is not the Christian Gospel for the reason that for it protests, boycotts, demonstrates, and pushes for legislation to change men’s hearts toward black people, when only God can genuinely change the hearts of people. Laws on the books can’t do it!

The modern-day label, Black-Empowerment, even though it doesn’t protest, boycott, demonstrate, or push for legislation for blacks to be treated fairly, it instead reaches out to the community by providing job training, job placement services, senior citizens homes, credit unions, food co-ops, low- to moderate-income housing, supermarkets, health clinics, day care centers, small business startup, alcohol and drug counseling, soup kitchens, food pantries, legal aid, etc. This is decent but it’s pushing socialism from the pulpit. Different label, yes, but all of the activist gospels have the same intent and purpose, and that is: eliminating the denigration of blacks to second class citizens in this country. This point forward, the activist gospel labels will come under the banner of “Pulpit Socialism.”

Pulpit Socialism is prioritized highly in black churches – God forbid, it is way up there in importance. It heavily emphasizes social deficits in the black community instead of placing heavy emphasis on the redeeming of souls in the black community. It is pure politics aimed at legislating deliverance of black people from poverty, oppression, injustice, prejudice, and black-on-black crime. It’s politicking inside the Church of Jesus Christ. Some proponents even go so far as to threaten to take all their money out of white banks so as to get the banks to cease discriminating against blacks seeking loans and mortgages. This is not Christianity! This isn’t the unction of the Holy Ghost!

In July of this year, the neo-Pentecostal Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, drew in attendance around 20,000 black-American Baptist, Methodist, and other represented denominations. In the eyes of other traditional black churches, member churches of this spirit-filled/neo-Pentecostal movement are moving away from making black community social issues high on the agenda. Instead, these member churches are now consumed with “anointed preaching,” “spirit-filled praise and worship,” and “community outreach programs.” This simply has not gone over well with traditional black churches that see the mission of the black church as that of changing social systems rather than spiritual transformation of black people. One minister, Reverend Vernon Dobson, who is obviously against this spiritual phenomenon, put it this way:

“My fear is that somebody will get the wrong message and see church [spirit-filled] as celebrating rather than serving” (“Traditional Black Churches Embrace ‘Neo-Pentecostalism.’” Charisma Online, August 26, 2002).

My dear man, Church is celebrating! Christians have a lot to celebrate about – day-in and day-out, and going before The Lord is having a good time – it is joy – excitement, it is thanksgiving for His death, burial, resurrection, His Word, His Holy Spirit, His grace, His mercy, and loving-kindness. Besides, in His presence there should be nothing lackluster or uninspiring unless one is being convicted of sin before Him. That’s what Church is; not, “We Shall Overcome” and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘round.” Church is celebrating! The neo-Pentecostal movement is on target in what they are doing spiritually, but the problem lies with it’s carrying on Pulpit Socialism under the label of Black-Empowerment.

The neo-Pentecostal church leaders seemingly are engaged in soul redemption, but what good is that effort if that soul cannot reach “mountain-moving” faith in God because when he is in need, he simply goes to the various socially developed programs (via Black-Empowerment) for help and the need is taken care of. As a consequence, the neo-Pentecostal movement, coupled with Pulpit Socialism is still a hindrance to black Christians and the black community, and they are back to square one, and this is not God.

This All Started….

With the willingness of black preachers in the north to deal with problems of slavery and black injustice, they preached comfort and hope to strengthen the people to continue in the struggle against slavery until the black brothers and sisters were freed. Most of these preachers had been slaves themselves. This has continued throughout the centuries – black people looking to church leaders as nourishment while they are brought low through social oppression.

To this day, the black church is attempting to generate a community where social oppression does not exist, but that’s not their calling – not their mission, and never has been. To generate a community where spiritual oppression does not exist – yes, that the church is called to do but through spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to both black and white people. The black church is not on a social mission to eradicate social injustices. The fact of the matter is: The Church of Jesus Christ is not called to be political agitators, but to be soul winners; not called to preach a black gospel to black people, but to evangelize the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. Pulpit Socialism, designed to liberate black people from poverty, oppression, prejudice, and black-on-black crime, makes Jesus Christ a racist – a respecter of person, when in fact He is not and can never be a racist or a respecter of person.

The Oppressed And The Oppressor

Generally, people are oppressed because of (1) corruption/sin in their lives; (2) if not for that reason alone, it’s because God is trying to draw them into a closer and holier walk with Him; or (3) He is using them as a battle ax to break in pieces the arrogant people of the world who look upon them as being lesser human beings; or (4) a combination of all of the above. There is much sin in the black community. Yes, there are a lot of church-going black people, and a lot of the smelliest sin is in those churches. Sexual immorality and blatant homosexuality (preaching, in the choir, playing the piano) is in the black church. Also in the community is irreverence toward God, reverse racism, gluttony, drugs and alcohol abuse, to name a few. This is not to say that it is more prevalent in the black community, but when one’s eyes are fixed on how he’s being treated out in the world and how to rectify it, a real relationship with God moves into second place and sin abounds.

The black church and the black community needs to humble themselves and remain in that position so that God will always hear their cry and give them the desires of their heart – act on their behalf for justice. The Lord will deal with their oppressors and bring about their deliverance from the social prejudices perpetrated against them. Rest assured, justice will not overtake the black community until holiness abounds.

“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble” (Psalm 9:9).

When a race of people, or any person is socially oppressed, God, with His mighty long arm, should be their refuge. Before God can be anyone’s refuge or defense, they must first be His people who lean on Him – put their trust in Him, and make known His deeds to mankind. It is then that He, their security, will not forget their cry. God is the comforter of the oppressed and He works through mankind to set them free. In His timing, He will consider the suffering of His people and have mercy upon them and deliver them, but that does not mean He is always sending a black preacher to the rescue.

The task of the black preacher is to be the “burden-bearer.” By being the burden-bearer he is called to much prayer and fasting which lets the oppressed go free (Isaiah 58:6), and real soon will the real Jesus, who is their escape hatch from social ills, manifest His lovingkindness toward them. The black preacher is to feed the sheep and bring them to genuine holiness and righteousness before The Lord and it is in that way that the black preacher and the church are used as the economic liberator of black people. Please, don’t misunderstand what was just said. The black preacher and the black church are used by God as the economic liberator for black communities, but not as in the pulpit socialist gospel for eliminating poverty, oppression, injustice, prejudice, and black-on-black crime, but as in teaching people about the goodness of God, living holy, and having 100 percent faith/trust in Him. One-hundred percent faith/trust in The Lord is faith immovable with the end result of Him showing His hand as Lord God Jehovah their provider and their peace, who alone can and will bring them to “possess the land.” Dear Saints, there is a distinct difference between “Black-Empowerment” and “possessing the land.” The pulpit socialist gospel of modern-day Black-Empowerment is trusting in the arms of man – “collective clout”’ and possessing the land is trusting in God and awaiting His mighty hand to move, no matter what the size of the problem. The preacher has a mighty big job to do, along with his congregants, and it will not happen overnight.

As the life of the oppressed is turned upside down, so will the life of the oppressor be turned upside down once the oppressed is free. Judgment comes to the oppressor, whether they be a group of people or an individual. Oppressed, oppressor – it boils down to them both being disobedient in some way or another previous to the onset of oppression, but know that pure-hearted people are never used by God to oppress another.

Jesus, His Church, And The Indigent

Jesus was most concerned about the poor – spiritually and physically deprived, and He expects His Church to be likewise. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a church having a soup kitchen and a food pantry as long as the funds are not from a government grant, but are coming from the money paid through tithing and offering. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a church having a counseling center as long as…

· social-psychology is not incorporated into the counseling;

· the counselors are Born Again, Spirit-filled Christians who are grounded in the Word of God and basing their counsel on that alone;

· the counselors are prayer warriors who will intercede before God for those being counseled; and

· the counselors will pray the prayer of deliverance over those who are bound by Satan.

Jesus did these things and expects His Church to do likewise. Miracles should be coming out of the churches that preach the Gospel, via feeding the poor and counseling troubled people – counseling and praying for the sick. Miracles should be commonplace in these churches but they are not. They are not commonplace because Church leaders don’t “dig in” for the long haul – a deeper walk with Jesus, thus leading the congregants and the community down that same path. Jesus said, and He meant it:

“Veryily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12).

Sad to report that the black preachers are not at this place, and they are not because:

1. it takes utmost faith in God and His Word;

2. it takes belief in the heart that the book of Acts is for today;

3. it takes looking to God for everything, and not trusting in the arms of man/Federal government, and the Supreme Court;

4. it takes walking in “Spirit and truth,” which requires Holy Ghost baptism that is evidenced by speaking in tongues as the prerequisite;

5. it takes much prayer and fasting;

6. it takes being broken and obedient; and

7. it takes being meek, humble, and lowly before The Lord and mankind.

Those seven things are hard-hitting – they require sacrificing much. It doesn’t end there because the Church leaders are now fully equipped to:

“Go ye into all the world [black community], and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

As the Apostles said and did, the black preachers must say and do:

“…we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

And----NOT TO PULPIT SOCIALISM

because in the church and the community, the job of the preachers and church leaders is to:

“…open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me [Jesus]” (Acts 26:18).

With this, who in the black church and the black community, from the preacher on down, will be submerged in the sea of self-pity, believing they are owed something for nothing they’ve done because their ancestors were brought here as slaves and they are discriminated against because of their black skin? With this, who in the black church and the community, from the preacher on down, will allow themselves to be taken out of God’s will by being spiritually side-tracked, fighting for legislation to change the way white people treat them because of their black skin?

Dear brothers and sisters in The Lord, God did not call the black preacher to get involved in civil rights and the physical things of this world. God alone is the answer to the social ills that the black community is faced with this day. G-o-d alone! He is the answer for social, economic, educational, and racial intolerance through His Word; through His lovingkindness preached through the preacher, and this is not the preacher engaging in social and civic activities. The knees, Reverend! Get down on those knees with your hands lifted up toward Heaven and cry out to God on behalf of the black people. That’s God’s will – and that’s a far cry from what you perceive your mission to be to black people. Because you haven’t been on your knees enough and teaching black people how to live sanctified and with faith in God, all the social ills continue to be a problem, on a high scale, in the black communities. Pulpit Socialism does not bring a life of peace to the black church or the community.

Conclusion

Christianity deals directly with moral change, not physical change. However, when morality is achieved in one’s life, physical change comes about. It is not the Church’s mission to go demonstrating or marching in protest with placards and handbills to draw attention to the social and economic plight in the black community. The mission of the church is to save souls not flesh. Once the soul is redeemed, then the needs of the flesh will be provided for by The Lord God Almighty. God takes care of His people; and when His people, who are truly sold-out to Him, suffer, that suffering is to bring forth spiritual growth, if allowed. The psalmist says:

“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

Black preachers in black churches have to cease playing the role of civil rights activist in the community, and they are out of order when flexing their political socio-economic muscles in the community to make it a better place for blacks to live. The politics of the community is not your concern; concern yourselves with souls and the rest will take care of itself. When your concern for souls is secondary to social action, you are in willful disobedience to God Almighty.

When there is hopelessness and despair in the black community, or any community for that matter, it is because the Church is not doing her part by delivering the Gospel of Jesus Christ that sets the captives free and brings joy deep within the people. The community doesn’t need a liberator to bring them emancipation from the thralls of oppression, injustice, prejudice, poverty, and black-on-black crime. The community needs the liberating Word of God from the so-called “man of God” who stands behind the pulpit and not with a black gospel. By evangelizing a black gospel in the churches, the leaders somehow believe that racial prejudices toward black people will eventually be eliminated and equality for all. Sad to report, but by making that the primary mission of the black church to the black community results in the spiritual lives of the all concerned coming up short before The Lord God Almighty.

It’s not sociology but theology as in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has to be lived out in each black person’s life before there can be economic and social liberation. It’s about

- God first – a love affair with Jesus, and

- Obedience to Him that results in a life of holiness, righteousness, blessings, love, joy, and peace

With God the Father and God the Son making Their abode in the temple of each professing black Born Again, Spirit-filled Christian, there genuinely never is a “freedom struggle” within them.

Feel free to raise your voice against oppression, injustice, prejudice, poverty, and black-on-black crime. Go ahead speak out against those political and social issues, but, do it as a person not as a minister, and keep it outside the Church. Remember, though, Pulpit Socialism is not going to change one white heart to no longer be prejudice toward black people. Again, only Jesus Christ is in the business of changing hearts, and that won’t be done until blacks get busy getting their lives right with Jesus as “Born Again, Spirit-filled, Non-compromising Christians,” who are sincerely bought-out and sold-out to Him. When this happens, and blacks get busy about the business of winning both black and white souls to Jesus, change will come about with certainty. Keep in mind though, that during these last days that we live in, mankind is evil, and is going to get worse; and with that, blacks can expect absolute God-awful hatred toward them (1) for being a Christian, and (2) for being black. However, you will not be affected by it due to the freedom within your being, and the very soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is a blessing from Heaven that these churches are getting under the Holy Ghost spout where the glory of God comes out, but the tragic addendum to the move of God’s Holy Spirit is that they’ve gone on their own to try to make things happen for their people that don’t require faith in God. Not only is it a slap in God’s face, but it’s squandering His money from tithes and offerings that should be spreading the Gospel through the work of missionaries throughout the community, throughout the country, and throughout the world, providing aide to the needy who come looking for a meal, or a bag of groceries, or aide in paying the rent or electricity for someone and with no government strings attached. With all the excess piles of money, the churches should give scholarships to children in the church who cannot afford to go to Christian schools so that they will no longer be exposed to the hellish public schools. Churches have scads of dollars and they are running out of ways to spend them except for building mega-churches instead of having more services – seven days a week. They are investing money when it should be used for the abovementioned causes.

Last, Praise God! The Baptist and Methodist are seeing that there is more to being a Christian after becoming Born Again. As paraphrased, one minister in the Baltimore Sun article put it, those outside the neo-Pentecostal move in these black churches are dying on the vine. There is death in all churches, black and white, when they stop at being Born Again, not to mention those who never become Born Again.

· They struggle with sin because they are not genuinely sanctified. (You can’t tell them from the world.)

· They can never enter in to worship God in Spirit and in truth.

· They never experience the power of God to work miracles as they hope and pray for such.

· They cannot enthusiastically lift up their voices and hands toward Heaven to sing to God rather than just singing about God from a hymnal.

· They cannot enthusiastically express their love for God with their whole being as they are moved by the Holy Spirit and truly “feel” the presence of God.

Yes, they die on the vine, and the word to them is, “they’d better get on over there under the neo-Pentecostal spout where the glory comes out” and put their faith into action by diligently seeking God and believing that He is all that He says He is, and will do all that He says He will do. At the same time, incinerate Pulpit Socialism.

“Come Lord Jesus”

Holy Ghost Baptism