The words “Black Lives Matter” is pure Gospel gold. Indeed, biblically-speaking, every black life matters immensely to God. Thus, all black lives should matter to us, especially us Bible-believing, Gospel-loving Christians. But the words, “Black Lives Matter”, has been hijacked by the movement/organization that calls themselves by the same words, “Black Lives Matter.” Indeed, their very own words condemn them. Just go to https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/ to see, in their very own words, what they believe and what they are trying to do.
In part, they say that they believe, and thus act to, “dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work ‘double shifts’ so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work. We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
Dismantling and disrupting Western civilization, and our American way of life, is indeed the end state of this movement/organization. Indeed, the founders of this movement are “trained Marxists” (their very own words) and are seeking to capitalize on the real fears, experiences, and problems of our nation in order to drive us all to a very scary end state.
But should we dismantle and then reconstruct Western civilization, and the American way of life, simply to rectify the wrongs of the past and present? I think not. Let me explain…
You see, you can have real fears, rooted in real experiences, and based in real problems, and yet come to the wrong solution for how to solve these problems. This is the travesty of the Black Lives Matter movement/organization and their desire to restructure the whole of America to right the wrongs of the past and present. Perhaps an illustration would help…
As a pastor, I experienced the worst year of my entire life back in March 2018…Even my two tours to Iraq don’t even compare to the weight of darkness and depression I was experiencing back then…Indeed, suicide was a very real and appealing option in the Spring of 2018. I mean, everything had come to a head…As a church, we were experiencing a mini church split, a high-profile adultery case, and a tragic drug overdose. It. Was. Insane. I felt like my whole ministry was falling apart…Now, zoom with me to the end of this heartbreaking story, and here’s the gist of it: I made mistakes in handling this awful situation, but God was gracious and merciful, and me and my precious church family made it through the darkest night of soul…
Now, to this day, I have real fears about this situation happening again. That’s understandable, right? I mean, these fears are rooted in actual experiences of severe Satanic insanity erupting in my church family. I’ve even been able to identify part of the problem in this whole situation, namely, the Church! You heard me right…The Church, though it be the Bride of Christ, is jacked up and messed up – BIG time. Many pastors, with similar fears and experiences, would heartily agree with me! Indeed, anyone who’s been around the Church, for any length of time, knows how broken the Church really is…
So, you’re tracking, right? I have real fears, rooted in real experiences, and now I’ve identified a very real problem, the Church itself. But like a kid during a math exam, I make a fatal error in judgment when I come to this conclusion: “All we have to do is dismantle and restructure the way we do Church and these things will never happen again.” False…True fears. True experiences. True problem. False solution.
Will changing the way we do Church here in the West prevent people from dividing the Church, having adultery with one another, and ingesting different types of drugs into their body? Absolutely not. Why? Because the heart is the problem…
The same is true with “systemic racism.” There are real fears out there – listen to them. There are real experiences out there – learn from them. And there are real problems out there – lament over them. But do not make the dastardly assumption that the solution to these fears, experiences, and problems is to dismantle and restructure the whole of Western Civilization and the American way of life. Dismantling and restructuring our society will not prevent racism, injustices, and hatred. At best, it will merely quell these sins while giving birth to a whole new slew of bigger and better sins.
Why do I say this? Because Jesus said this…Mark 7:20-23, “And he said, ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from WITHIN, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from WITHIN, and they defile a person.’”
Our only solution is the Gospel. The Gospel proclaimed, believed, and lived out. True change comes from the inside out, not from the outside in. Our hearts (not our systems) is the ultimate problem. Indeed, our hearts are desperately sick, wicked, and downright dead…It needs to be brought to life. Only the Gospel can do that…Only Jesus can save us.
Prairie Flower, the Gospel (and only the Gospel) has been and will always be enough. Indeed, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. For as Paul would phrase it, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'”