Let God Be Magnified

Everyone –

With the spotlight on the Obama campaign there has been more and more information about the “Black Liberation Theology” that has surfaced. It is essentially a radical theology that suggests that God is the God of the “oppressed”, i.e. blacks, or he is a God of racism. James Cone, who is considered the founder of this theology, describes a bit of this theology:

Excerpts From: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64828

”’The black theologian must reject any conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing God as a God of all peoples. Either God is identified with the oppressed to the point that their experience becomes God’s experience, or God is a God of racism,’ writes Cone in his defining book, Black Theology of Liberation. The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed condition God’s own condition. This is the essence of the biblical revelation,’ Cone argues.”

Pastor Wright, of Obama’s church, is in the spotlight as a leader of this movement. I feel terrible for the people of the black community who don’t subscribe to this radical theology (which is not Biblical) because they are labeled as haters of themselves and the black community by Wright:

”’Wright denounces ‘colored preachers’ who don’t subscribe to black liberation theology as people who “hate themselves, who hate Black people, who desperately want to be white and who write and say stupid things in public to make ‘Masa’ feel safer.”’”

“’The April 2007 Trumpet features an article by black-liberation theologian Obery M. Hendricks Jr., who attacks conservative Christians as emulating those who killed Jesus, rather than following the practice of Jesus himself,’ notes Kurtz.

‘Many good church-going folk have been deluded into behaving like modern-day Pharisees and Sadducees when they think they’re really being good Christians,’ contends Hendricks, who writes in Trumpet that these believers have become ‘like the false prophets of Baal.

‘George Bush and his unwitting prophets of Baal may well prove to be the foremost distorters of the true practice of Jesus’ Gospel of peace, liberation, and love ever seen in modern times,’ writes Hendricks.”

Finally, Barack Obama said something that was rather interesting and is a growing concern within the Christian community. That is, that there is more than one way to heaven and therefore to God. There is the false belief circulating that all paths lead to God. “God is loving, God is kind, He would never reject those who earnestly seek Him even if it is through Mormonism or Islam or Buddhism,” they say. But they’re wrong.

Obama said in a 2004 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times that:

“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

This same sentiment was echoed by Joel Osteen in a July 2005 interview with Larry King who refused to stand up for Jesus and proclaim Him the only way to God:

“KING: What if you’re Jewish or Muslim, you don’t accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know …

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They’re wrong, aren’t they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don’t know if I believe they’re wrong. I believe here’s what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God with judge a person’s heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don’t know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seen their sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.”

The root of the issue is not Black Liberation Theology specifically but the lack of conviction that we as Christians have toward God, generally. We are afraid to stand on God’s Word because we feel that we be made fun of or be perceived as “closed-minded” or “right-wingers” or out of touch with the World. What is wrong with ascribing glory to the Son and proclaiming Him the way to the Father? He says it of Himself:

“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.’” – John 14:6

Or how can we deny the Word of God when it is written of Jesus:

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12

So Black Liberation Theology accentuates the innate problem that exists in mainstream Christianity. We are afraid to stand up to these people who distort the Gospel to their own desires (2 Timothy 4:3-5) and therefore dishonor and disgrace God Himself. If we allow this theology to perpetuate itself unhindered within our society long enough it becomes truth. A lie that is allowed to live long enough eventually becomes truth.

I think the root of our issue that we don’t know our own Scriptures well enough to defend. We resort to “well I think” or “I feel” theology rather than being able to find Scripture like John 14:6 or Acts 4:12. What we say or think doesn’t matter. What He says is everything.

Do you believe what the Word of God says? Or to you is it outdated and not current with today? If you believe in what it says, which I hope you do, then you should feel confident in standing on the Rock which is the Word of God given to man. It wasn’t just given to us to make us feel good. Among other things, it was given to us to show us what God desires in no uncertain terms. If you believe, as the Scriptures plainly say, that only through Jesus will we ever be reconciled to God and therefore have eternal fellowship with Him then tell others that confidently. The Word of God can be rejected by men (and it will) but it can never be defeated. We see this when Jesus is revealed in all His glory at the end of the Tribulation where He is described as having a sharp sword coming out of His mouth which is the Word of God:

“From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. … And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” – Revelation 19:15,21

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of God stands forever.” – Isaiah 40:8

I encourage you to know His Word. He desires that we know it (Jesus to the Father: “Your Word is truth…” – John 17:17). He is worth defending. He is worth knowing about. He is worth everything. He gave everything so that we might be with Him where He is so that we may always be with the Lord. Don’t be ashamed of Him. Stand up to the bullies who distort His truth. Build your house upon the rock rather than the sand so that when the hard times come (and they will) you may stand firm knowing that the truth that is revealed to you is THE truth. Fear God and not men.

Later Eriek