In 1992,
after an article I wrote, about a
very far right, anti-Semitic and racist movement, was published in the
Christian Research Journal, I found I had angered a member of the John Birch
Society. Part of the article was concerned with conspiracy theories and
although I did not call the society racist I did use them as an example writing
“And while the John Birch Society changed most of the leading players in their
conspiracy theory to what they call the “insiders” rather than Jews, many
others still see the Jew as the monster controlling world events.” I was
obliged to write a letter explaining my reasoning.
A bit earlier after having read a book by a
supposed Christian apologist I was alarmed by his slander of the Jewish people and
his use of conspiracies in an attempt to disparage them.
I had
ordered the book at his recommendation. (We both worked in ministry with those
involved in new religions and religious movements.) Because of my order the
lady who managed our bookstore, at Warehouse Ministries[1],
ordered ten more for the store. After I read the book I realized that the books
needed to be returned to the publisher. I sent them back with a letter
explaining why I was returning them. I did not receive a letter back from the
publisher but one from the John Birch Society.
I had supposedly insulted Robert Welch the founder of the Society by writing
that he was a Unitarian. That was my mistake I had quoted from a book written
by two university professors who stated that he was Unitarian. So much for not
using a primary source. But I was to find in reading Welch’s Blue Book that he might as well have
called himself a Unitarian/Universalist.
Welch
thought of God in terms of an evolutionary force such as the Transcendentalist
held. He believed that the poets revealed for twentieth century humanity what
the writers of the Bible wrote for earlier humanity. On page 116 of Blue Book of the John Birch Society, He
wrote that the poet equates God with nature, emotion and evolution. An upward
reach in humanity was, for Welch, the basis for morality.
Once again I
notice how damaging conspiracy theories can be and this in the context of
writing about some very devout Christians. An article in The New American about the Southern Baptist denomination and the
possibility of progressives taking over its churches is slanderous to say the
least. The article, Liberals May Win Control of
Largest U.S. Protestant Denomination, was published in 2018, but posted on Facebook in
2020. The New American is an affiliate
of the John Birch Society. The main
person and groups slandered are Dr Russell Moore, The Southern Baptist’s Ethics
and Religious Liberty Commission, and The
Gospel Coalition. Moore is accused of, among other things, promoting
“social justice within the SBC,” and being anti-Trump.
There is also a Christian
organization, Revoice conference,
mentioned. Revoice Conference is a
ministry to LGBT Christians. The ministry calls them to live celibate although
they do not necessarily insist they can change their sexual orientation. They
do believe homosexuality was caused by the fall writing, “…we believe that same-sex sexual desire experienced
by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other same-sex-attracted people is a product of
the Fall; that same-sex sexual desire was not a pre-Fall reality; and that
same-sex sexual desire will not exist in the new creation, after the return of
Christ.” Here is their statement of
faith on sexuality. Statement
on Sexual Ethics and Christian Obedience. The New American article makes a point of linking Revoice to the Gospel Coalition.
Using Reverend Thomas
Littleton and his quote they suggest that these evangelical groups which they
call “Evangelical deep state” are “working at queering the Christian faith,”
which is a lie.
We, as Christians, are
living in a time when it is easy to align ourselves with organizations,
movements or charismatic persons who do not truthfully promote the Christian
faith. And that non-promotion can simply be that a group or person uses
conspiracy, slander and innuendo as a means of turning readers against brothers
and sisters in Christ. And they do this simply because they disagree with a
person’s political or cultural views. Rather than saying I disagree with the
view, and this is why, they attempt to make the person who holds the view seem evil.
And worse, far worse, they tell lies about the actions and intentions of the
individuals.
The ease of our alliances
happens because we do care about morality and about faithfulness to Christ. But
part of the answer is not to agree with every article or idea that any
particular organization or person promotes. We are called to discernment even
when reading those whose faith seems outstanding. Of all the people and
organizations mentioned in the New
American article you will not find any who states that same sex marriage or
abortion is biblical. You will not find heretical ideas such as Jesus not being
God or the Scripture not being inspired. But you will find a love for all
ethnic groups and a desire for them to know Jesus. You will find a love for the
LGBT community and a desire that they know the love of Jesus.
And it is Jesus, our Lord,
who sets the standard of our commitments to others. It is faithfulness to Him
that points us toward faithfulness to truth since he is Truth.
I found this video after writing this. It fits:
[1]
Warehouse Ministries is a church in Sacramento California that my family
attended for 15 years. I have now attended Fremont Presbyterian Church in
Sacramento for almost 30 years. Both great Churches.
