Jesus Christ or Culture but not both!

In the early eighties Aaron Smith , the drummer, sat in my Apologetic’s office chatting. He was relating how other band members such as Jim Abegg from Warehouse Ministries, where my office was, were moving to Nashville Tennessee. He wasn’t sure he wanted to move there. Aaron is an African American and was concerned at the time with the problem of racism in the South. He moved beyond that concern and went to Nashville later becoming a part of the Ragamuffin Band.

Now, Aaron, as an African American and a Christian, may have another problem, another form of racism which might eventually bring concern. I was led slowly to the issues by several articles and areas of research I have been involved in over the last several years. But I will get right to the point and then work backwards.

I recently ordered from Amazon, a recommended book from the on line bookstore at Trinity United Church of Christ, Jeremiah Wright's Africentric church. African Power: Affirming African Indigenous Socialization in the Face of the Culture Wars, written by Asa G. Hilliard III, is a small book mostly concerned with the kind of socialization and education he believes African Americans need. But the over all theme is extremely troubling.

I have pointed out in articles I have written on both Nazis and the newer forms of Marxism that culture when viewed as an over-arching framework for all political, social and religious activity and relationships can hold great danger for the individual and certainly for biblical Christianity. Hilliards book is an example of my concerns.

The author, referring to the need for unity among those who belong to a worldwide African culture writes:

"There is no need to struggle to change the minds of those who make a personal choice to function as an individual and not as a member of an ethnic family; with the obligations that family membership entails. But we do need to be clear about who chooses to be in the family and who prefers to be an individual or just 'happens to be black.' Understanding this distinction will clarify the kinds of expectations or challenges which might be posed by certain people. It will help us to know who will be an advocate for African liberation versus who will be an opportunistic individual.
... While we, as Africans, may have individual distinctions connected to religion, class, nationality, etc., we must be careful not to allow these distinctions to divide us in the name of service to oppressors." (4)

In other words, agree with Hilliard's views on culture and identity or consider yourself connected to oppressors. Worse still, and rather Nazi like, put your ethnicity above your religion. And this is directed at fellow African Americans.

One of Hilliard's religious and educational ideas is to look to "ancient independent systems of indigenous African socialization." He points out that:

"An example of a traditional African view of the world is the idea that we live in a cosmos that is alive. It is created by the Divine. Human beings are a part of the Divine cosmos, and we are aspects of the Divine; the hidden creator. We are not alien to any part of the world. The core belief in Kemetic socialization is that the Divine is manifest as MAAT, (a Kemetic or 'Egyptian" term for ideas that have widespread presence in common world-views and value-views), meaning that the cosmos has order, balance, harmony, and reciprocity."

This is more than enjoying such cultural traditions as dress, songs or food, it is instead importing another religion into Christianity. The concept that a supposed ancient African religious world view should be integrated with one's own religion finds its home in more than one denomination. It also exists in a few Presbyterian churches.

An example is Reverend Dr. Mark A. Lomax and his church, First African Presbyterian, in Lithonia Georgia. Several years ago, I discovered their web site while doing research for a review I was writing for VOW on the Presbyterian women's magazine Horizons. Lomax had written an article on reparations and had given a rather strange twist to a biblical story. The church has since changed their web site and no longer feature the same materials.1 But this is what I found: they offered training for church officers called “Transformative Leadership Education. As I wrote in the review:

"Under a listing of “Protocols and & Guidelines” and the title, “A Kabbalistic interpretation of worship procession according to the tree of life,” is the rationale for the church procession. The author writes: 'A better understanding of how worship is enhanced through conscious awareness of the kabbalistic principles and practices that under gird the opening ritual of the service will provide the leadership with a greater appreciation of its role in invoking the ashe of god and our ancestors.' Under function, the author writes, 'The function of this module is to focus on the energy that the leadership embodies and the self-conscious attention take [sic] should be given to channeling and distributing this consecrated power throughout the sanctuary.'

Additionally, the documents inform the leaders that if the recessional is 're-instituted' at the end of the service, 'the security team should join the Pastor and/or minister of the day and remain with that person until they have returned to normal consciousness (30-45 minutes).” Seemingly this pastor has, or at least did, replace the gospel with some mixture of ancient African religion and kabbalistic occultism."

The new web site is not so radical. In their "Credo," giving a rather strained version of the Trinity they write:

"We believe in the One God and Creator of the Universe. We believe that God is One and as such indivisible. We believe that the Oneness of God has been and is revealed in the doctrine of the Trinity---that there are three apsects (sic) of the One God -- Father/Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that the One God was incarnate,en-fleshed, in human form through Jesus of Nazareth and that as the embodiment of God, he delivers all who believe in God through him from bondage to sin."

But they go on to write:

"We beleive (sic) that human cultures are the containers of Divine Self -Revelation and that as such,the culture of every human being is to be respected. We believe that the culture of Afrikan peoples are to be as highly regarded as the cultures of people who no longer identify as Afrikan. We believe that Afrikan names for God are as significant as English and German names for God. We therefore reserve the right and are determined to use the names of God that are derived from our native tongues."

There is no question that everyone's culture should be respected but once again there is that troubling idea that cultures are the "containers of Divine Self-Revelation. Now add to this the connections this church among others make with radical violent organizations and the scenario is frightening to say the least.

On the church's web site is a community announcement of the 17th Malcolm X Banquet put together by the Malcom X Grassroots Movement. Not only does this organization seek liberated land in the south they are willing to use any means to attain it. The main speaker for this event is Mawuli Mel Davis whose Biography states that "He is a lifetime member, former Atlanta Co-Chair, and currently serves as an at-large-member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America ("N'COBRA")." This organization is affiliated with the National Black United Front.

The National Black United Front is a Socialist/Marxist organization connected to All Africans Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) with an outline for armed revolution that should trouble anyone who reads it. Surprisingly, but maybe not; they attempt to intigrate religion into their revolution; they write:

" RELIGION AND REVOLUTION - both of which properly uphold the interest of humanity,the nation and the laboring masses. Truly religious tenets uphold the principles of equality, humanism, egalitarianism, and all of the connotations of socialist political and economic justice. A truly religious person therefore must be a truly socialist person in practice, since God is always for justice and actively fighting against injustice."


Is it possible that brothers and sisters in Christ, who are African American, because of "culture" are being put in a position of having to set an alien religion, and all that entails, along side of their singular faith in Jesus Christ? The apostle John in his second epistle wrote "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son."(9)

Since it is God who defines justice and God who in Jesus Christ fulfilled all justice by his death on the cross may the church come with humility to a place of surrender where everything including culture is laid at his feet.

Pastor Ken Jones of Greater Union Baptist Church in Compton California in an interview with Michael Horton carefully explains the oppression that African Americans have endured but goes on to say, "I think there is a sense among many African Americans that if we open the door to include others, then we lose what is uniquely black, which is disheartening to me because the one place where I think our culture should certainly die away continuously is within the church, just as we die daily in Christ. The church is not the place to preserve any cultural or ethnic tradition, no matter what we think"2.

May it be true for all of us.

1. Copies of this material are on file.

2. "Bringing the Reformation to the African-American Church: an interview with Pastor Ken Jones, Modern Reformation Jan/Feb 2008 Vol 17 # 1