NEW BOOKLET: Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work by the Editors at Lighthouse Trails is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet.* The Booklet is 18 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are available. Our Booklets are designed to give away to others or for your own personal use. Below is the content of the booklet. To order copies of Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work, click here.
Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptist Convention, and a Marxist “Solution” That Will Not Work
By the Editors at Lighthouse Trails
Resolution 9 at SBC
In June 2019, at its annual conference, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) passed Resolution 9: “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.”1 Critical Race Theory is a political/philosophical-driven ideology that claims to be a solution to ending racism but according to critics actually presents a “solution” that will install Marxism into our society while creating a sentiment leading to escalated conflict and diminished freedom for all.
A June 18, 2019 Federalist article titled, “In Last-Minute Move, Southern Baptist Convention Supports Anti-Christian Racial Identity Politics,” expresses concerns over the resolution:
The largest Protestant denomination in North America, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), officially adopted “critical race theory” and “intersectionality” as “analytical tools” to be used in fostering racial reconciliation in the church. These key drivers of identity politics, however, are more likely to produce racial discord and strike at Christianity itself.2
A OneNewsNow article titled “Critical Race Theory—A Bait-and-Switch Tactic Infiltrating the Church” further explains the issue:
Critical Race Theory (often referred to as CRT) teaches that American culture is rife with white supremacy and baked-in racism, and is used—often subconsciously—to hold women and people of color back. According to pastor and talk-show host Abraham Hamilton III, it’s the philosophy behind identity politics and comes straight out of the Marxist playbook.
“[CRT] doesn’t depend on your personal feeling, sentiment, [or] heart condition—it’s based on the group that you’re born into,” [Hamilton] explained recently on American Family Radio. “It completely eliminates individual responsibility, individual sin, and expands it to corporate sin. And based on how you’re born, you are immediately ascribed into an ‘oppressor’ or ‘oppressed’ group.” . . .
“Jesus articulated the primary commandments: love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself,” [Hamilton] concluded. “We don’t need these anti-Christ, unbiblical tools to teach us how to love our neighbors as ourselves—the scripture is sufficient for that.”3
In a YouTube documentary titled, The Stain of Albert Mohler, Tom Buck, a SBC pastor who contested Resolution 9 at the SBC convention last June, noted to conference attendees that Resolution 9 acknowledges that Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality alone are insufficient to diagnose and redress the root causes of the social ills they identify. Furthermore, Buck stated:
Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality are . . . not merely insufficient, they’re incapable of diagnosing man’s problem and incompatible with the biblical Gospel. Critical Race Theory is based upon Marxism, a godless intellectual foundation, and both include a praxis contradictory to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These views do not complement the Gospel; they completely contradict it.4 (emphasis added)
In his rebuttal statements against Resolution 9, Buck quoted Colossians 2:8 (“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”), then added:
When it came to worldly philosophy and human tradition, Paul did not tell the Colossians to adopt or adapt but to abandon.5
One SBC pastor announced, after SBC adopted Resolution 9, that his church was withdrawing from the SBC:
At the last Southern Baptist Convention, the messengers from the churches voted to include Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality as tools to help us interpret the Bible. Now if you don’t know what Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality mean, among other things, it is the notion that if you’re born white, you’re already a racist; it doesn’t matter what you feel or how you act. You’re just a racist. All of the radical liberal progressive thought is in those terms in order to appease the culture and get along.6
Abraham Hamilton III, also in the documentary, has a podcast on American Family Radio devoted to exposing the dangers of Critical Race Theory, explains how some of these social justice “theories” have entered the church:
The way it’s getting into the church, you have people presenting these ideas—Critical Race Theory and other things—as something that they are not. . . . They’re not adhering to the traditional definitions and applications [so they can] get the foot in the door—and then once the foot is in the door, the applications return to the original definitions.7
The documentary identifies Albert Mohler (president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) as one of the main proponents for bringing CRT into the SBC. It first shows a clip of Mohler from 2018 addressing students at SBTS and condemning Critical Theory from which Critical Race Theory is derived:
Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, coming out of the left-wing of Marxism in Europe, was basically, and this is what is key, was a repudiation of consensual politics. . . . So [in] this critical theory and all that came out of this horror, Marxism emerged from the idea that democratic politics won’t work. It’s not going to get to revolution. It’s not going to get to justice; therefore, there has to be a confrontation all the way down to the foundation, and that’s the critical means, taking it apart. And so they wanted to blow up the world basically ideologically. . . . Basically, it was a matter of identifying all the structures of authority and of order in society as repressive.8 (emphasis added)
And yet, while Albert Mohler condemned Critical Theory in the above quote, he actually embraces Critical Race Theory (an offspring of Critical Theory that uses CT to form its framework) as the documentary shows through live footage.9 Mohler also wrote a chapter in the book Removing the Stain of Racism (a book that promotes CRT and Intersectionality).
What is Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality?
Critical Race Theory, which was birthed in the 1980s by lawyers and social activists, has to do with seeing people from a critical perspective as belonging to specific identity groups (e.g., whites, blacks, lesbians, feminists, genders) whereby each group is categorized as either “oppressor” or “oppressed.” It is the creation of “cultural Marxism” wherein the two categories are pitted against each other to insight unrest (on the part of the oppressed group) and ultimately the complete overturning of the present system. The Stain of Albert Mohler documentary provides this definition of cultural Marxism:
Cultural Marxism is a broad term which refers to the advocacy and application of critical theory and more generally to the cultural, political, and academic influence of certain elements within the contemporary Left. . . . [it] is the creation of interdisciplinary theories that might serve as instruments of social transformation. . . . Gender, sexual orientation, family, race, culture, or religion—every aspect of a person’s identity is to be questioned; every norm or standard in society be challenged and ideally altered in order to benefit supposedly oppressed groups. . . .
Cultural Marxism is such a conflict as existing between the oppressed and the oppressors, between those with privilege and those without. . . . Majority groups are typically defined as privileged and oppressive with minority groups accordingly labeled underprivileged and oppressed. Heterosexuals are oppressive. Cisgender* people are oppressive. Whites are oppressive, especially white men. Christians are oppressive. Those that do not fit into these groups are thus considered oppressed. If whites are oppressors, the solution is racial diversity. If Cisgender people are oppressors, the solution is to encourage transgenderism.10
One article titled “Marxist ‘Critical Race Theory’ Infiltrates Churches, the Culture” explains CRT and Intersectionality as follows:
According to the UCLA School of Public Affairs: “CRT recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of the American society. The individual racist need not exist to note that institutional racism is pervasive in the dominant culture. This is the analytical lens that CRT uses in examining existing power structures. CRT identifies that these power structures are based on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the marginalization of people of color.”
In other words, racism is about power, it’s exclusively a white problem, and it’s intrinsic [i.e., systemic] in the current social system. Therefore, to end racism, we must change the existing power structures—a polite way of saying revolution. Affirmative action, reparations, and hate speech legislation are all justified by CRT. All are revolutionary tools derived from Marxism.
Intersectionality is the concept that all oppressions are linked. Racial oppression is linked to gay oppression, which, in turn, is linked to the oppression of women and workers. This is a modern expansion of the Marxist idea that “capitalism” oppresses not only workers but racial and gender groups as well. All “oppressions” intersect. We can’t treat them as separate problems. The main problem is not just capitalism, but white racist sexist capitalism. [Editor’s note: Intersectionality is the idea that there are people who have overlapping “oppressed” and “oppressor” social identities (e.g., someone who is poor, uneducated, and homosexual; or someone who is white, male, and educated).]11
Critical Race theorists believe in institutional (or systemic) racism; that is, racism is so integrated into our American society that “the systems in place [e.g., capitalism] . . . create and maintain racial inequality in nearly every facet of life for people of color.”12 Furthermore, they say that all white people, whether they think, talk, or act like it or not, are racist because they are privy to “white privilege” and should therefore be in a perpetual state of guilt and apology to people of color. This is why, in the documentary, you will hear different SBC leaders telling their audience that they themselves are racists. It doesn’t matter if they never felt or acted as if they were superior to others because they were white; they are white, and therefore, according to CRT, they are racist.
In an article titled “A Seismic Shift in Culture—The New Left and Marxist-Critical Theory,” Dick Pence (director of Big Sky Forum in Montana) explains some of the implications:
[Critical Theory] has been at work for well over a century. Stalin and other Marxists originally believed they could take over the world by armed revolution. Marxist theory taught that the Proletariat (the so-called working class) would rise up in revolution and take over the means of production by force. When it did not happen, Antonio Gramsci began to push the philosophy of cultural takeover after WWI. By slow, incremental cultural changes, they would move resistant countries into Marxism without firing a shot. And, they have been very successful.13
In an article titled “You Can Be a Christian, You Can Be a Marxist, But You Can’t Be Both,” Christian journalist Joshua Lawson explains:
Whereas traditional garden-variety Marxism views history as a struggle between the wealthy and the working class “proletariat,” neo-Marxism [i.e., cultural Marxism] cranks up the heat and redefines the fight to incorporate biological sex, race, ethnicity, and a whole gambit of various “identity” badges. . . . The grand unifying principle for the Marxists behind the Black Lives Matter movement is that everything—and they mean everything—can be reduced to “oppressors” versus the “oppressed.” If you happen to be a member of one of the “oppressor” groups, then expect to see all sorts of punishments heading your way until the neo-Marxists are satisfied. Except they never are.14
When we begin to understand that Critical Theory is a Marxist/Leninist ideology that aspires to create a communistic society through revolution, we should also understand that the end result will eliminate freedom, justice, and democracy from all citizens. We should see that CT and CRT are not solutions to racism but rather are dangerous philosophies and vain deceits that will hurt people of all skin colors and where people of color are merely being used as pawns to promote a socialist agenda only to be later discarded.
Black Lives Matter Movement
Since the tragic and wrongful death of George Floyd in May of 2020 at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, protests and riots have overtaken the streets of America’s cities. One particular group, Black Lives Matter (BLM), seems to be leading much of the protest, riots, and violence. In Dick Pence’s article, he writes:
First, we must be very clear that black lives do matter, and we must communicate that consistently. However, the Black Lives Matter organization/movement is rooted in Marxism and Critical Theory and is both anti-Christian and anti-democracy. It is made up of anarchist bullies and is well funded by American corporations, the NFL, and others.15
The article lists some of Black Lives Matter “doctrines”:
- They are radically Marxist and admit this.
- They reject and demean the nuclear family whereby the village raises the children.
- Fathers are nowhere to be found and not supported as worthy of support.
- They are for abortion (including the murder of black babies).
- They walk in solidarity with every form of LGBT+ theory.
- They are Anti-Semitic.16
Another article, titled “The Real Mission of Black Lives Matter,” states:
When “Black Lives Matter” was born in the ashes of the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, they were rightly considered a fringe group by most Americans. Violence has always been part of their mantra. Particularly repulsive was their call in public marches for the murder of police officers (“Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon!” and “What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want it? Now!”) They are loudly and unapologetically racist. All of this was quite out in the open.17
Ryan Bomberger, a pro-life author who shares his story of being conceived in rape wrote an article titled ”Top Ten Reasons I’ll Never Support the Black Lives Matter Movement.” Some of these reasons are: 1) no goal of forgiveness or reconciliation. Bomberger says, “I’m tired of the deeply prejudiced oppressed/oppressor critical race theory paradigm. It’s not Gospel-centered. This should, immediately, be a deal-breaker for Christians.”18 2) It’s all about black power. 3) They want to defund or abolish the police forces. 4) They are against capitalism. Bomberger explains:
Oh the irony of this declaration made by a movement that is the result of capitalism: “We are anti-capitalist. We believe and understand that Black people will never achieve liberation under the current global racialized capitalist system.” The videos that make us aware of police brutality are captured on phones that are a result of capitalism. The best way to elevate people out of material poverty? Capitalism. This system is why the United States is the most charitable nation.19
A Voice From the Past Eerily Describes Today’s Social Unrest
For nine years of his life, Manning Johnson (1908-1959) was a leading member of the USA Communist Party believing it would be a way for him to help his own race of people. But Johnson defected from the Party when he realized the truth of how communism and socialism were actually hurting the black people rather than helping them. In view of the current efforts by groups like Black Lives Matter (with their self-proclaimed Marxism/socialism affinities), we are including this section on Manning Johnson, who became a Christian believer.
Johnson’s 1958 book, Color, Communism, and Common Sense, can be read freely online at www.manningjohnson.org. There is also available the last address he ever publicly gave before his untimely death at 51 years old. Below is an excerpt from his book:
Stirring up race and class conflict is the basis of all discussion of the Communist Party’s work in the South. The evil genius, Stalin, and the other megalomaniacal leaders in Moscow ordered the use of all racial, economic and social differences, no matter how small or insignificant, to start local fires of discontent, conflict and revolt. “Who could tell which of these issues could start a general conflagration” that would sweep across the former Confederate States from Maryland to Texas?
Black rebellion was what Moscow wanted. Bloody racial conflict would split America. During the confusion, demoralization and panic would set in. Then finally, the reds [communists] say:
“Workers stop work, many of them seize arms by attacking arsenals. Many had armed themselves before . . . Street fights become frequent. Under the leadership of the Communist Party the workers organize Revolutionary Committees to be in command of the uprising. Armed workers . . . seize the principal government offices, invade the residences of the President and his Cabinet members, arrest them, declare the old regime abolished, establish their own power.”
The only fear of the white communist leaders was that as a result of their efforts this black rebellion would break out before they were ready in the decisive industrial cities of the North.
What if one or five million Negroes die in an abortive attempt to establish a Negro [communist] republic? Is not the advance of the cause worth it? A communist is not a sentimentalist. He does not grieve over the loss of life in the advancement of communism.
This plot to use the Negroes as the spearhead, or as expendables, was concocted by Stalin in 1928, nearly ten years after the formation of the world organization of communism. . . .
During the three decades which have elapsed since the Sixth World Congress in Moscow, the American Communist Party has conducted many campaigns and formed and infiltrated a large number of organizations among Negroes. . . . [T]he heavy hand of communism has moved, stirring up racial strife, creating confusion, hate and bitterness so essential to the advancement of the red [communist] cause. . . .
Through the aforementioned organizations and many others, Negro institutions of higher education like Howard University were penetrated to subvert teachers and students and thus politically contaminate the intellectual stream of Negro life. White leftists descended on Negro communities like locusts, posing as “friends” come to help “liberate” their black brothers. . . . Everything was inter-racial, an inter-racialism artificially created, cleverly devised as a camouflage of the red plot to use the Negro.20
Does Manning Johnson’s description not sound eerily familiar to what is happening today? As Lighthouse Trails has often said over the years, things are not always as they seem. Search out the truth and share it with the younger generations.
When God Discloses the Heart of Man
Our nation is in the midst of civil unrest as we have not known for many decades. Still in the throes of the coronavirus, rioting, upheaval, and violence seem to have eclipsed the virus with frequent reports and video footage of communities being trashed, burnt, and pillaged all in the name of freedom and equality. Many of those who have expressed disagreement with these means are labeled as bigoted and racist; thus, the hatred and violence that instigators are incurring on our nation is camouflaged.
Meanwhile, low-income black communities, ironically, will end up suffering the most with the present discussions of defunding or minimizing police forces across America, leaving these communities unsafe and unprotected.
Few would deny that George Floyd’s death was tragic and brutal, but what can be gained when the so-called solution is brutalizing and terrorizing American citizens (of all colors)? While there are those demonstrating who are trying to do it peacefully and with intentions to bring recognition of and action against police brutality, what about the not-so-peaceful and often downright violent demonstrations? What about those who go about leaving a wake of destruction and terror behind them? And what about the radical socialist-motivated groups who have instigated the violent reactions—groups whose agendas reach far beyond the scope of racial equality?
If we look at it from the point of view of these groups, the problem and solution are exceedingly complex. However, complex as they may seem, the problem and the solution may not be so very complex after all. Perhaps Americans, including many Christians, are looking in the wrong places for answers. Scripture has a way of providing simple solutions to seemingly difficult problems—if only we would turn to the Lord and His Word for the answers.
Remember, it is Jesus who said that mankind’s sin problem proceeds from the heart. After being confronted by the religious leaders who said that His disciples had defiled themselves by eating bread with unwashed hands, Jesus later explained to His disciples:
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man. (Matthew 15:18-20)
It seems that Jesus must have also been seeing into our generation at this very time when He said these words because Critical Race Theory (CRT), mandating confessions of “institutional/systemic racism” now being promoted in secular institutions and some of our churches and seminaries, is really all about confessing the lie that all whites are racist by virtue of being white (which is actually a racist statement against whites). They maintain that racism is currently at the very heart of America because of slavery and because some of the “fathers” and pioneers of America were slave owners. Bob Woodson, a veteran of the black civil rights movement and the founder of the Woodson Center, disagrees. He says that while slavery is a birth defect of America, it does not define who America is.21
Webster’s definition of racism states: “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” The Oxford Dictionary says racism is “the belief that certain races are better than others; discrimination against or hostility towards those of other races.” No matter what color your skin is, if your beliefs fall within these definitions, then you are a racist. Granted, God has given everyone a moral conscience to know right from wrong (just watch a toddler sneak a cookie and know she has done something wrong); with that in mind, it is inaccurate to say that all whites are racist. All whites sin just as all blacks sin, but we cannot say that every member of any one particular people group practices the same sins.
The fact is, there are racists within all “races” of people, and the reason is found within the words of Jesus—man’s heart and the sin which lies within it. We are all descendants of Adam and have inherited the sin nature. Society can educate people (which certainly can, at times, be helpful) and perhaps can force people to confess to the transgression of racism, but if someone is a racist, he will remain that until God deals with his heart because racism, like all sin, will remain until the sin problem is dealt with. This is the only real remedy for sin; and to truly be free from the bondage of sin, be it racism, envy, jealousy, hate, murder, sexual sin, deceit, greed, and so forth is to acknowledge our sinful condition and believe in and receive Jesus Christ as Savior who takes our hearts of stone and gives us tender hearts where love and compassion reign.
Some may say: well, if that were true, why is it, over the course of history, that so many who claimed to be Christian did horrible things including participation in slavery?
First, not all who say they are Christian are that. Being a Christian involves truth, faith, and relationship; when a person does acknowledge his own sinfulness, confesses (believes) that Jesus Christ died and resurrected to save him from his sins, and puts his faith in Christ, a change takes place, and he is born from above (born again). Now as a child of God, he is able to have a relationship with Him. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Once we have that living relationship with Christ, He begins to change our hearts. Look at John Newton, the slave trader who became convicted of his sins, gave his life to the Lord (and became an abolitionist), and wrote one of the most beautiful and meaningful hymns, Amazing Grace.
Second, becoming a Christian does not mean that one is perfect. Christians do sin. In the Bible, it says “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But as Christians, the Holy Spirit both convicts us and cleanses our hearts when we do sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
But the sure cure for racism is to receive the salvation that Jesus offers, which allows Him to do the work of transforming us from the inside out. Until then, we will be striving but never attaining. Society can force people with laws to live uprightly and to treat others justly and rightly, and so should such laws be in place. But laws cannot change hearts, and that is what is truly needed to fight racism and the other horrible sins that so badly hurt people.
True Racial Reconciliation
Whether the sins were committed yesterday, last week, or 400 years ago, all Caucasians are now told to bear the guilt for the sins committed by all other Caucasians; if they remain silent, Caucasians are accused of “violence.”22
In a recent interview, Bob Woodson, whom we referenced earlier, describes how he has worked with low-income black communities for the last 38 years in helping them achieve their hopes for a better future. This man has peacefully fought for civil rights over the years and, at the same time, has acquired tremendous wisdom and insight as to why many inner-city black communities are still struggling. When asked how he feels about whites apologizing for past racist acts committed by others and for the condition of such black communities (which is what Critical Race Theory and systemic racism are insisting on), he responded that he is deeply offended by this practice and finds it very insulting to black people. Woodson explains that what intelligent blacks are really hearing is that blacks are incapable of rising above their condition until and unless whites clear the way for them. Consequently, he finds the practice, now instituted in many colleges under Critical Race Theory, to be patronizing at best. Even many evangelical groups have adopted CRT. In addressing systemic racism, Woodson also stated:
It’s very troubling and very disturbing that the charge of racism and the institutional [systemic] racism has become a consistent mantra that’s being broadcast around. It’s even now morphed into an orthodoxy like communism—are you a supporter of the party or not—and there is no tolerance for anyone who disagrees or challenges assumptions that racism is the core problem facing the nation and particularly black Americans . . . those that are in these crime-infected, drug-infested neighborhoods, they are the ones who are suffering the consequence of this emphasis on race, and that’s what’s most troubling.23
Author and pastor David Platt, who was president of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board for four years until 2018, was quoted on the Stain of Albert Mohler documentary, showing his affinity with Critical Race Theory. In live footage on the documentary, Platt says that basically the evangelical church is propagating racism (by not having an emphasis on race) rather than helping to diminish it. The narrator of the film refutes Platt’s statements:
Platt’s sermon is not based in biblical truth but in the ideology of Critical Race Theory of cultural Marxism. His basic presupposition is that white Christians are not only immersed in racism but are actually increasing the racial divide. He exhorts churches to repent of racism and to set up multi-ethnic communities in order to achieve racial reconciliation, but Scripture teaches otherwise. All true believers are one in Christ, so there is no racial divide in the true church of God—for black Christians and white Christians are one in Christ; they are reconciled in Christ.24
Paul, who was Jewish, described how Jesus is a beautiful source of peace and true reconciliation in his letter to the Ephesian Gentiles (a different and even dominant racial group):
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. (Ephesians 2: 13-14)
Countless men, women, and children, throughout the history of man, have been hurt and ostracized, sexually and physically abused, and even murdered by those who have hated and had evil and murder in their hearts. The world’s answer today for this is: socialism, social justice, so-called tolerance, changing views on gender and sexuality, New Age thought, radical feminism, and now cultural Marxism through Critical Race Theory.
But these are not the “answers” the church should embrace. These ideologies are powerless substitutes for the only viable and true solution—and that is the Cross. And any group that claims to represent that Cross (e.g., SBC) should have nothing to do with the world’s solutions that will never work but rather should be proclaiming the Gospel to an unsaved, lost, and hurting world.
Those who embrace Critical Race Theory believe CRT is going to help end racial tensions and create a more loving world. On the contrary, it is going to cause animosity, suspicion, anger, and all the things that are the opposite of God’s love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter).
Let us remember this too: Man’s adversary, Satan, does not care about anyone of any race, skin color, gender, or culture. He only uses people to propagate and accomplish his horribly wicked evil plans, and he is a destroyer, not a builder. His ultimate goal is to keep people from Christ and His salvation. As utterly horrible as abuse, bigotry, rape, hate, and murder are, there is something even worse, and that is to be eternally lost without Christ.
Promoters of Resolution 9 in the Southern Baptist Convention say there is a “massive” racism problem within the SBC. If that is truly the case, then the SBC should realize this is not a corporate sin (that would be saying every white SBC pastor and leader is a racist); rather, the problem lies with individuals within the SBC (or within any evangelical group) who hate, belittle, or devalue those of different races and skin colors; and it would be hard not to wonder if such individuals have ever truly been born of the Spirit for it is that Holy Spirit who puts the love of God in our hearts, giving us the desire and ability to love God, to love our neighbor, to turn the other cheek, to give our coat to someone in need, and to care about our fellow man. The Bible also says that God does not respect one person above another (Acts 10:34). In other words, God loves all people and is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). If God loves all people, then we also should love everyone, of every skin color, in the same fashion. What is really needed is to have the love He has for all to be placed into our hearts through faith in Him.
If we genuinely believe the Bible, we know that all people have a common ancestry in Adam and Eve. DNA tests prove that we all have this common origin, thus proving the biblical record. Evolution may suggest “spontaneous generation” and “inferior and superior species,” but the Bible has proven itself to be consistent with the facts.
What’s more, to view any individual as less valuable and more deserving of hate or disdain because of the color of his or her skin is going completely against the God of the Bible who created men and women (of all races) in His image and who loved each person so much He gave His Son to die on the Cross that any person who believes on Him will have eternal life. Thus, if the SBC does have a racist problem (as some of its leaders are saying), then they have a salvation problem with too many of its members, and that is what should be focused on because when that problem is solved, the other will begin to be solved also.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. (1 John 4:20-21)
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (1 John 3:14)
*Cisgender is a term used to refer to people who identify themselves with the sex/gender to which they are born.
Endnotes:
- Resolution 9, “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality” June 2019, http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/2308/resolution-9–on-critical-race-theory-and-intersectionality.
- Matthew Garnett, “In Last-Minute Move, Southern Baptist Convention Supports Anti-Christian Racial Identity Politics” (The Federalist, June 18, 2019, https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/18/last-minute-move-southern-baptist-convention-supports-anti-christian-racial-identity-politics.
- Steve Jordahl, “Critical Race Theory—A Bait-and-switch Tactic Infiltrating the Church” (OneNewsNow, October 24, 2019, https://onenewsnow.com/church/2019/10/24/critical-race-theory-a-bait-and-switch-tactic-infiltrating-the-church).
- The Stain of Albert Mohler, documentary produced by Dr. E.S. Williams of London Metropolitan Tabernacle; https://youtu.be/MIlnLU-vt_g.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., minute mark 3:20 of video.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., from a 2018 Q &A session at SBTS (https://youtu.be/TsXTuWi4zUA), starting at minute mark 26:00.
- Ibid., starting at minute mark 15:40.
- Ibid.
- Trevor Loudon, “Marxist ‘Critical Race Theory’ Infiltrates Churches, the Culture” (The Epoch Times, August 1, 2019, https://www.theepochtimes.com/marxist-critical-race-theory-infiltrates-churches-the-culture_2983991.html)
- N’Dea Yancey-Bragg, “What is Systemic Racism? Here’s What it Means and How You Can Help Dismantle It” (USA Today, June 15, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/15/systemic-racism-what-does-mean/5343549002).
- Dick Pence, “A Seismic Shift in Culture —The New Left and Marxist-Critical Theory” (Lighthouse Trails, July 14, 2020, https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=32661). Pence gleaned some of the information in his article from Glen Sunshine’s talk, “Critical Theory and Racism,” http://www.bigskyworldview.org/media.
- Joshua Lawson, “You Can Be a Christian, You Can Be a Marxist, But You Can’t Be Both” (The Federalist, June 11, 2020, https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/11/you-can-be-christian-you-can-be-marxist-but-you-cant-be-both).
- Dick Pence, “A Seismic Shift in Culture —The New Left and Marxist-Critical Theory,” op. cit.
- Ibid.
- “The Real Mission of ‘Black Lives Matter’—Destruction of the Family, LGBT Agenda, Open Borders, Plus Bizarre Racist Doctrine” (Mass Resistance, June 11, 2020, https://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen4/20b/Black-Lives-Matter-radical-goals/index.html).
- Ryan Bomberger, ”Top Ten Reasons I’ll Never Support the Black Lives Matter Movement” (The Radiance Foundation, June 5, 2020, http://www.theradiancefoundation.org/blm).
- Ibid.
- Manning Johnson, Color, Communism, and Common Sense (New York NY: The Stuyvesant Press Corp, 1958; see an online edition at: http://manningjohnson.org/book/CCCS_3.html), pp. 18-19. The quoted paragraph is from Why Communism? by M.J. Olgin, pp. 75, 76; official communist pamphlet instructing members in revolutionary strategy.
- Interview with Bob Woodson by The Epoch Times, June 6, 2020, https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=32422.
- Joshua Lawson, “You Can Be a Christian, You Can Be a Marxist, But You Can’t Be Both,” op. cit.
- Interview with Bob Woodson, op. cit., minute mark 2:46-6:11.
- The Stain of Albert Mohler, op. cit., minute mark 56:00-57:00.
Photos: Photo of Bob Woodson on page 15 used with permission by Gage Skidmore from Wikipedia; other photos used in accordance with the U.S. Fair Use Act for the purpose of education, review, and critique. All quotes in this booklet are used in accordance with the U.S. Fair Use Act. Color, Communism, and Common Sense is in the pubic domain and is therefore not bound to the limitations of the Fair Use Act.
