17: God’s Strategy For Civil Conquest 6 of 7 - PUBLIC
Christians must go public to impact any nation for the Kingdom of God. Remaining inside a church building will never turn any city upside down for Christ. It never has and it never will.
Throughout history there have been many public Christian uprisings. Without Christians causing righteous public uprising, there will be no Christian nation, and no fulfilling of Jesus’s Great Commission to teach and disciple any nation!
In the 16th century, Protestant Christians came to be known by their public protests and uprisings. The very word “protestant” came from the word “protest!” The Protestant Christian Reformers that turned European nations upside down for Christ, establishing freedom and Protestant Christian cities and nations, publicly protested so much that they were eventually just called “Protestants!”
Jesus Himself was a one-Man public protester! The first time that Jesus went to the capital city, Jerusalem, He went straight to the public civic center, the temple (John 2:15):
“Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables!”
Work at picturing this in your head if you can. I think most Christians would really question if this was the right way to win friends and influence people. But this is what Jesus did. Jesus went public His whole life. The last time Jesus went to Jerusalem, He went straight to the public center again (John 7:37):
“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, ‘Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!’”
Picture this if you can and think about it - Jesus standing and shouting to the crowds! We need Christians today in every city going public wherever there are people, colleges, town centers, and with the zeal of Jesus crying out to the people (Rev. 22:17):
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who hears this say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life!”
Is Jesus really to be our example?
New Testament Christians Went Public
Public Preaching:
New Testament Christians publicly preached daily in the public centers of all the cities. Believers were nothing short of revolutionary in the Roman Empire. This was why the Christians were martyred by the thousands. But this is also why “they turned cities upside down” for Christ and eventually the whole Roman Empire.
The first hour Peter got the Holy Spirit at Pancoast he publicly preached (Acts 2:14):
“Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, ‘Listen carefully, all of you …’”
Peter and John went to the public Colonnade to share the gospel. This time they saw a lame man healed (Acts 3:11-12):
“All the people rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John. Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd ...”
When Peter and John were at the public center the next day (Acts 4:1-2):
“While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees …”
Christian persecution was never from speaking in buildings but only because of speaking in public. All the apostles were arrested for disobeying the civil authorities for public speaking. But the Lord’s authority supersedes man’s authority. And the Lord told them to defy their civil authority when it comes to public preaching and to do it in the most populated area, the “temple courts” (Acts 5:18-20):
“They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ‘Go, stand in the temple courts,’ He said, ‘and tell the people all about this new life.’”
All the apostles were arrested again for defying their civil authorities for again speaking publicly in the temple courts. They were whipped and finally released with the same civil order to stop doing what they were doing, but they never stopped (Acts 5:41-42):
“The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. And every day, in the Temple courts and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”
When Paul was in Athens (Acts 17:17):
“Paul went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all that happened to be there.”
All other spiritual leaders followed the examples of all the apostles and Paul. When Apollos whet to Achaia (Acts 18:28):
“He powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”
Paul reminded all the Ephesian leaders of his example for them Acts 20:20:
“I never shrank from telling you the truth, either publicly or in your homes.”
New Testament Christians were preaching publicly wherever they went and because of that they were impacting cities everywhere they went (Acts 17:6):
“The city authorities were shouting, ‘These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also!’”
Public Baptizing:
New Testament Christians publicly baptized all new followers of Jesus (Acts 2:41):
“And those who believed Peter were baptized—about three thousand in all!”
On the first day there was public preaching - there was public baptizing. And since people were being saved and added to their number daily, there were public baptisms happening every day (Acts 2:27):
“The Lord added to their number daily.”
Picture this happening in your city center. Imagine if all new Christians were getting baptized publicly in your city center fountain every day! Public baptisms alone would impact your city.
The question is - do Christians want to follow the example of the New Testament or their traditions? Do you want the unrighteous to take over your city or do you want Christians to take over your city and rule your city under King Jesus and His Law? Historically, whoever goes public most influences society most and eventually rules the city.
Even if public baptisms are outlawed by man’s tyrannical law, this is God’s order. Did you realize being baptized in the Roman Empire under the name of any authority or lord other than Caesar was a declaration of public treason and war? Under Roman law only Caesar was lord and god. Yet New Testament believers were publicly baptized in every city, and thousands lost their lives because of their public baptisms.
In the book of Acts, there are four examples of baptisms describing exactly what was said to those being baptized. It’s interesting to note they did not baptize them - “In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” In every example they baptized them – “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” or “In the Name of Jesus Christ the Lord.” During biblical times, baptism was by way of immersion and was used by many various groups – Jewish rabbi groups, pagan groups, even some Roman generals had their whole army baptized in their general’s name to follow him into battle and death if necessary. Public baptisms at that time in history were not too uncommon. In whose name they were publicly baptized was their public declaration for whom they were going to follow for the rest of their life.
The Father and the Holy Spirit are no less important to the Trinity, but each member of the Trinity had differing purposes. Only Jesus was physical, walked on this earth, showed us how to live, and always said – “Follow Me!” So during Bible times all believers were baptized in the Name of following the Lord Jesus Christ for the rest of their life. Jesus said to all His followers (Acts 1:8):
“You will be My witnesses.”
The Greek word for “witnesses” is “martys,” where we get the English word “martyrs.” And believers being publicly baptized to follow Jesus was their first testimony witness for Christ. And if it did not mean a physical martyr for Christ, it certainly meant the death of their old life as it was. This was the significance being baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ the Lord:
* JESUS means Savior
* CHRIST means Chosen of God
* LORD means Ruler
In the Roman Empire being baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ was a public declaration of insurrection against Ceasar and all non-Christian rulers. The Apostle Paul described himself and all his fellow spiritual leaders as the historically conquered warriors who walked in a procession down the Roman streets being condemned to die in the arena (1 Cor. 4:9-10):
“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind. We are fools for Christ!”
All the spiritual leaders were public - as were multitudes of Christians who were martyred after they were baptized! In some cities that were by the sea, Christians who were baptized would be tied up with a heavy rock and cast into the sea being mocked as the “baptism of drowning.”
Paul wrote Timothy fearlessly declaring for all churches to know that Jesus alone is King (1Tim. 1:17, 6:15):
“King eternal … King of kings!”
Paul’s letter to Timothy during the Roman Empire was a public declaration of high treason! Really it is still high treason today in any country that does not honor Jesus as having “all authority … Supreme … King of kings and Lord of lords!”
Do we fear going public today in honor of Jesus like New Testament Christians – having public baptisms in His Name and Authority? That would make Christians stronger and bolder - those being baptized and those witnessing it - not to speak of impacting cities!
Public Praying:
The Apostle Paul commanded men to pray in public outside of church (1 Tim. 2:8):
“Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”
To pray “in every place” would have to include in public places as well. Public prayer could be dangerous in some instances. That may be one reason why it did not demand the same for women, though it did not forbid women. Whereas in church gatherings the Apostle Paul does instruct both men and women to pray (1 Cor. 11:1-16). Moreover, that would further confirm that here in 1 Tim. 2:8 “every place” is not in reference to church but “in every place” outside of church.
Just like the New Testament Christians preached in public and baptized in public, Paul was commanding Christians to also PRAY in public - “in every place!” The whole context leading up to this verse 8 was for Gentiles (non-believers) outside the church (1Tim. 2:7-8):
“7I was appointed a preacher and an apostle … as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray.”
As it says here, Paul preached in public, to the Gentiles, and therefore, he wanted men to pray in every place, in public where the Gentiles are.
In the Bible people prayed in a lot of different postures but this is the only verse in the Bible that tells us how to pray, when we pray in public – lifting up hands. In public prayer God wants a public symbol of Christians pointing up to God of heaven.
Paul also said to “… pray lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.” When the general public would see Christians lifting up their hands in prayer, of all times God does not want the Christians to be accused of being unholy - angry or divisive hypocrites. Angry or divisive Christians are not holy - “pray lifting up holy hands.”
It disgusts me that Muslims are more obedient to their demonic god Allah, always being seen praying in public, whereas Christians don’t even know that Satan is counterfeiting what God has told Christians to be doing! Muslims are often seen praying in public, sometime taking up whole city streets for their public prayers. What a shameful disgrace to Christians - we see Muslim “men in every place praying!”
Do Muslims love their moon god Allah more than Christians love their Lord God, their King of kings and Lord of lords? It begs the question - who publicly shows the most honor to their god, Muslims or Christians?
Satan not only has Muslims symbolically honoring their Allah god, but Satan also did the same thing with godless Nazis. They would publicly lift their hands in an honor of salute to their god Adolf Hitler. This was an actual abbreviated public prayer - “Heil Hitler!” It literally meant “victory, savior, and blessing” to their god Hitler.
Satan has also directed many other godless groups in America to counterfeit God’s public strategy to raise up hands or fists in defiance of God and glory to their god and cause – the Black Panthers Party, Black Lives Matter, Students for Palestine, etc. The point is - Satan has hijacked what God has commanded His people to do in public! God wants His people to dominate with public prayer events and rallies of all kinds - lifting up holy hands to the King of kings and Lord of lord!
Are Christians ashamed to have public prayer and raise hands? Jesus said (Luke 9:26; Matt. 10:32):
“If anyone is ashamed of Me and My message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in His glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels … but everyone who acknowledges Me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven.”
Jesus wants Christians “in every place” to publicly acknowledge Him, not least of which in prayer and praise to their Savior, Lord, and King. Paul said to pray in “in every place” – what about at schools, universities, city squares, on capital steps, etc. Students don’t need permission to publicly pray when God has already commanded it! Students don’t need to hide in private rooms to pray. Pray in the school gymnasium! Pray in the school auditorium! Pray in front of the school! Pray all around the school! “Pray in every place lifting up holy hands!”
God even tells us in this same chapter who and what to pray for, and it specially makes sense when praying in public:
* Who to pray for – “all who are in authority” (1Tim.2:2). That makes sense especially in public prayer – school authorities, civil authorities etc.
* What to pray for - that all authorities will protect Christians to have freedom and “peace,” and be viewed with “dignity” – to be able to get “the knowledge of the truth to everyone that they might be saved” (1Tim. 2:2-5).
In a recent high school graduation ceremony, a valedictorian was giving a speech to her student body. As soon as she started to express gratitude to Jesus for what she had accomplished, the administration turned off her loudspeaker. They started escorting her from the podium. Students stood and started shouting – “Let her speak!”
I thought of how the power of God would have put a holy fear in those teachers and turned the auditorium into opportunity for God’s glory if all the Christians would have stood at that moment with uplifted hands and started praying the Lord’s Prayer out loud in unison – “Our Father who art in heaven, holy be Your Name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven …!”
Satan and his godless administration would have been paralyzed by the power of public prayer. Satan would have fled. In that situation unsaved students would have joined in. Christians have not been using the power of public prayer to their King. Brothers and sisters, do you realize we are in a war? We do in war what we never do in peace. If we don’t become radicals for Christ, the radicals for Satan will rise up their fists in defiance to our King Jesus and that will be our end. This was New Testament Christians (1 Cor. 4:10):
“For we have become fools for Christ!”
We must be fools for Christ in our generation. Mobilize public prayer rallies - “In every place pray lifting up holy hands!”
Public Demonstrating:
Paul and his apostles had some of their greatest success in the city of Ephesus. And it was there that it was recorded that the Christins had one of the most amazing public demonstrations (Acts 19:18-20):
“Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect!”
Do we want to see the message about the Lord spread widely and have a powerful effect in our city today? When will Christians start dominating in the public square and have public demonstrations for OUR Lord! We must not fear what people think (Prov. 29:25):
“Fearing people is a dangerous trap.”
This is New Testament Christianity. Paul wrote all the Christians in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:1):
“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
We must have the same attitude as all the Apostles had when they defied their civil leaders in continuing to preach in public when their civil authorities whipped them and told them not to. They simply said this to their civil authorities and continued to publicly preach every time they were released (Acts 5:29):
“We must obey God rather than man!”
In Acts 4 and 5, the apostles were arrested for speaking in the public center where most people gathered. Had they stayed in their church and just preached to the believers, the authorities would never have bothered them. However, they were arrested and then whipped. But the Holy Spirit told them to go right back out to the same place and start preaching again! They were then arrested again (Acts 2:28-33):
“‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.’ Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’ … they were furious and wanted to put them to death!”
The church leaders did not fill their church with teaching - they filled their city with their teaching!
Today, why do Leftists consider it a badge of honor to be arrested for their public protesting in what they believe? At first, they are ridiculed but because of their continual public protests, in time they have now changed our society. What are Christians afraid of? A Christian public uprising, Christian protesting, Christian public demonstrations – this was New Testament Christianity! Jesus went public, the 12 Apostles went public, the Apostle Paul went public - New Testament Christians went public in every way to turn their “world upside down for Christ”:
* Public Preaching
* Public Baptizing
* Public Praying
* Public Demonstrating
If we don’t have Christians today going public like 1st century Christians and like many of our Christian forefathers, we will be doomed and we will “reap the whirlwind.”
On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was thrown into jail for marching for his cause on the streets of Birmingham, Alabama. Below is the letter that he wrote on scraps of paper to all the pastors in the city while in jail. King and his associates were a classic example of going public with public demonstrations for their cause … and as a result they changed America and America law!
Christians will rise up and march for King Jesus and God’s Law to be established in their city … if they’re as desperate for God’s cause as much as Martin Luther King Jr. was for his cause. Much of what Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, Christians should look at closely before it’s too late:
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely” …
Most basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid … Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere …
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes …
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action …
We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?” “Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?” …
You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth …
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered… For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” …
You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern … One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law…
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit … such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest …
One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire … In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klan, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice … Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? ... Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? …
I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.” Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God … We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right …
So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides … now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” …
So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime – the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few … have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality…
Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions … But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows …
I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: “Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.” And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, unbiblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular …
I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? ... Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?”
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church … Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scared that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
There was a time when the church was very powerful – in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”’ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch-defender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent – and often even vocal – sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation …
One day the South will recognize its real heroes … with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer … They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience’ sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage …
Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less, I beg God to forgive me.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was martyred for continually publicly demonstrating for his cause. And he changed America. Christians, hide behind four walls and never change any nation. Or follow the New Testament:
* Publicly Preach!
* Publicly Baptize!
* Publicly Pray!
* Publicly Demonstrate!
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