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A Statement Of Bitterness
The false statement, “Christianity is the white man’s religion,” has been bitterly uttered by many a people of color since at least the 15th century A.D. This is when European nations with their missionaries in tow, set out in earnest on their imperial quest’s to expand their empires and trade the world over. To the native peoples they encountered, Christianity would naturally seem to have originated with the white man, because men with white skin bore its message. However, Christianity did not originate with men of any race, but has come to us from the mind and heart of the Sovereign God, man’s Creator and Savior (I Corinthians 2:6-16; Ephesians 1:3-14)!
While the Lord Jesus Christ does say “Salvation is of the Jews,” He speaks not of His people originating it, but of them being God’s chosen initial bearers and keepers of His will, way and Word concerning it (John 4:22). Truly, all that the world knows today by special revelation about God, it knows by way of primarily Jewish authors and their writings in the Bible and extra-biblical literature! Consequently, the most prolific writer of the Bible’s New Testament is the apostle Paul who along with other Jewish apostles and prophets, was a God called revealer and bearer of the mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ hidden in God “from the beginning of the ages,” (Ephesians 3:1-9). The apostle Paul in particular was given the ministry of taking the Gospel message to the Gentiles (non-Jews).
In the power of the Holy Spirit, the tireless labor of Paul, other Jewish apostles and Christians in the first century caused Christianity to penetrate into every realm of the Roman Empire including its heart in Western Europe, Rome. For four centuries thereafter, the Church was a blending of peoples from all races and cultures of the empire and beyond. However, as the empire began to break up and the Roman Catholic Church to assert its dominance for the next 1,000 years, Christianity took on a decidedly white face.
Before the slave trade had fully established itself on America’s shores in the 17th century, the bitter and resentful outcry against Christianity as “the white man’s religion” had already been well expressed by many a native of this land. A number of our slave forefathers were not long in expressing the same sentiment (as do many of our young black males today). Why this bitter outcry? Because of the well documented exploitation, abuses and cruelty of whites who conquered native lands, murdered, raped, pillaged and enslaved the inhabitants while under the banner of the cross. Missionaries and preachers often turned a blind eye to the sinful deeds of their ungodly benefactors and in too many instances, even aided and abetted them by justifying their wickedness with Scripture.
Recently, president of the United States George Bush, spoke to the issue of hypocrisy by professed white Christians in the treatment of blacks in slavery on Goree Island, Senegal, a major holding port and launch point for shipping slaves to the West. He said: “...The spirit of their captors was corrupted. Small men took on the powers and airs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced a dullness and hardness of conscience. Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice.” 1
For the record, to the extent a white or any man adds to or takes away from the Christian faith laid out in the Bible, they do indeed present their own religion. Also, to the extent they do this to exploit, oppress and/or justify their wicked deeds against any human being, they are doubly guilty before God. They will not escape His judgment (Jude 12-15)!
Now, this we must say too. Anyone who bitterly rejects Christianity as “the white man’s religion” just because it comes from the mouth of a white man, is bigoted and loudly trumpets his personal alienation from God as well as ignorance of His Gospel for all men. For the apostle Paul writes and every strong man of God in the image of Christ agrees, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek,” (Romans 1:16, NKJV).
Sir, knowing what I now know from the Word of God; experiencing what I now experience in the presence of God by His Spirit; I can say with all joyful sincerity, it would not matter to me if a frog had shared the Gospel with me! The message of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice and resurrection is the best thing that has ever happened to me, period! In it, I have forgiveness of my sins and a clear conscience. I’ve been changed and reconciled to God, enjoying a personal relationship with Him!
This love I have, religion didn’t give
it to me. No, this joy I have, religion
didn’t give it to me. This peace I have,
religion didn’t give it to me. Religion
didn’t give it, religion can’t take it away!
To Be Continued Next Issue
1 Text provided by Breakpoint With Chuck Colson
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