The woke church is failing its mission
Everyone is obsessed with the election of 2020. Understandable.
A socialist, who we are told won the greatest amount of votes ever cast, defeated a man who we are also told had character deficiencies, but whose policies have championed many traditional American mores. A solid position on the life issue, a solid defense of justice on behalf of people of color and every ethnicity, and judges who will interpret the constitution as it is written (not as they wish it were) are all things that traditional God-fearing people have championed.
But let’s step away from the election coverage for a moment to consider something additional.
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President Trump has been more vocal about one particular issue than all of the previous Democrat and Republican administrations (in the modern era) — the persecution of people based on their religious beliefs.
It’s actually quite odd if you stop long enough to think about it.
Some will decry people who would tear down the Constitutional “right” of “Choice” though it is not a right embedded in the document. And we hear others proclaim the defense of things like speech, freedom to assemble (especially for family-oriented holidays) and the right to protect oneself (in a culture increasingly dangerous from politically incentivized violence.)
But the freedom to practice, believe, and live out one’s faith has equal importance in the same document.
True Constitutionalists believe that it is not merely a right here in America, but rather a divine right, authored by God, and merely encoded and affirmed in our Constitution.
Which brings us to the puzzling predicament we find ourselves in today.
In North America, many in the world of evangelical Christianity and mainline church denominations have become increasingly introspective. The latest cause du jour of churches is “social justice, critical race theory, and diversity” being met with adamant acceptance — without question — of organizations like Black Lives Matter, an organization that is clearly Marxist in its worldview and antithetical to the basis of Christianity — the Bible.
Woke-ism as best as it can be understood (though it is an ever-moving target) is meant to replace long held values of eternal truth. All Christians believe in equal justice under the law. No innocent soul should be choked to death for ten minutes while in police custody and handcuffed for “attempting to pass” a fake $20 bill. To make the leap from those things that we all agree upon to then advocate that violence in the streets, and the resulting murders of 53 innocent people by protestors, is something Christians should embrace is beyond far-fetched. It is heretical.
Wokeness is also doing something else to the believers in the church. It is erasing the awareness, consideration, and concern for brothers and sisters who are truly suffering for their beliefs.
For every social justice warrior who is hosting a zoom call with their racial reconciliation small group demanding the American church supply resources that are pro-critical race theory, how many church leaders have even mentioned the genocidal slaughter that is happening in Nigeria at this very moment? People of color aren’t dying at the hands of prejudiced law enforcement. They are being butchered with machetes by terrorists named Boko Haram, and the Fulani Herdsmen who are sweeping down by the thousands to violently rape and murder Christian believers in the Plateau State. They have a radical Muslim Fulani member serving as their head of state, and eyewitnesses attest to the fact that the military will not only look the other way at these raids but participate in them. An issue such as this is something the true church would be praying and fasting over, entreating the U.S. government to do something. Opponents of President Trump were actually upset when he recently merely asked the leader of Nigeria why he was allowing the slaughter to occur.
How many pastors, leaders, or Christian celebrities have used even a tiny blip of their platforms to educate the church in North America about the plight of one of the oldest Christian populations on planet earth — the Armenians — and the slaughter they face right now against Azerbaijan? Propped up by an Islamist radical in Turkey’s Erdogan, the terror group known as the Azerbaijanese are gaining reinforcements, supplies, and cover from a dead media here in the west. As an advocate for Christian Solidarity International (www.csi.org), I know the gruesome details of how our brothers and sisters are suffering and dying daily for their faith.
Sadly, the American Church is too busy naval gazing, questioning its feelings, and doubting if truth can really be known. In past conflicts, it was the American Christian community that rallied Rockefeller, Roosevelt, Wilson and others to speak out, raise money and call for an end to such suffering overseas. Now Christians are best known in America for arguing about their favorite YouTube channels, and why that “celebrity pastor guy" cheated on his wife.
Woke-ism is selfish and narcissistic, and its infiltration into the American church is causing Western Christianity to shrink to an ineffective level.
It is desecrating the power that God has given it to be used for good, and to advance kingdom ideals.
The American church needs a sharp slap in the face, a wake-up call, and a call to action because our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering and dying for the cause of Christ.
Meanwhile, our salt has gone stale.
Kevin McCullough hosts a weekday radio show for Salem Media New York City as well as a two-minute radio feature that airs on 400+ radio outlets. He is a featured political/cultural commentator for Fox News and has been recognized by Talkers Magazine as the 11th most listened to voice in talk radio. Find him on Twitter @KMCRadio.
