Hate Crimes

There has been much to do of late concerning the Fundamentalists' hatred of homosexuals. I want to go on record that I do not hate them.

• I do not wish anyone to be executed
• I do not wish anyone to be placed in prison
• I do not wish anyone to be persecuted

I will go on record as being appalled by the outlandish sentiments of those preachers recently cited as urging the above upon people in the homosexual community (I did note that among those cited were people of other than Independent Fundamental Baptists, though one of them was.)

I am certain there is much better preaching than the kind of preaching that incites people to hysteria over their pet peeves. It's pretty easy to get people stirred up over things that appeal to their sense of culture. Too much preaching serves no real purpose but to please the listener. To what value is it to preach to a room full of non homosexuals that you think that all homosexuals should be executed? Those in the room have no authority to practice your message and presumably have no need of repenting of the sin being preached against.

But it is not hateful to preach what the Bible says and the Bible does say that homosexuality is sin. The lifestyle is contrary to nature and to the purpose for which God has created us.

• To urge a congregation to practice the Word of God
• To encourage people to obey all of the Word of God
• To enlist a congregation to pray for those who are involved in a non biblical lifestyle

That is not hatred.

Those who have wrongly applied the Christian message have incited a different kind of hatred than against homosexuals; they have stirred up the hatred of those non Fundamentalist Christians against not just Fundamentalists but everyone they choose to label as Fundamentalists. Several articles and blog pieces have suggested that Fundamentalism will soon be illegal because of the kinds of sermons they have cited in the last few days. Here is the thing; Bible believing Christianity has been illegal for the better part of Christian history. To be sure, there has been a long history now of a particular form of Christianity that has wielded popularity and politic power, but a good part of those who have claimed to be Christians have always been

• Hated,
• Imprisoned
• Persecuted and even
• Executed

by both the non Christian and the established kind of Christian world. Such attacks upon Fundamentalism will not stop it or change it; it will just refine and define who in it really is Fundamental.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

Only Church

I have a friend who is struggling in his work today and it is because, though his work is a ministry, it is a ministry that is necessarily outside of a local church and thus requires an organization other than a local church in which to function. Such organizations exist and in some cases, with good reason and I believe a degree of justification:

• Many missions fields are closed to those who are not a part of an agency
• Colleges, in order to provide a well rounded education, need teachers whose experience is beyond one local church (even those churches who have college ministries use pastors from other churches or at the very least, recruit students from other churches)
• Preachers need some means of fellowship among each other for encouragement, support and perhaps a work larger than themselves

But here is the problem and here is where my friend's trouble comes in, invariably these non church organizations begin applying Biblical mandates that have only Scriptural authority to the church upon those who are a part of their organization. They assume that what is true for the church is true for their organization too. They begin thinking of themselves as God thinks of His church. They begin making expectations of those who are in their organization that only their local church ought to expect.

And very frequently (and I think the worse thing about them is that ) these expectations create a conflict for their associates between their local church and the organization. The organization demands loyalty to it even above their local church. The non church organization begins to, in effect, usurp authority over that person's local church.

I do not believe the problem is answered in those ministries that are under the authority of a local church large enough to house a nationwide or worldwide effort because in every case, those ministries usurp authority over those smaller churches that cooperate with them, in effect creating something worse than a para church organization; an ecclesiastical hierarchy. The answer is a call to arms. the answer is a reminder that we are soldiers and our enemy is our own flesh. The answer is to constantly and continually mortify the tendency of self to demand loyalty to anything other than that thing God has created, which is the independent, local (and I am convinced) Baptist Church.

To expect and demand a Christian's loyalty to anything other is to pressure them into idolatry.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields