Recent outbreaks of racial strife in the United States have brought to light some strange facets of religious life. Participants in the strife have come from many quarters with many and varied backgrounds; it is sad when bloodshed is the result. There is a marked increase of violence in all lands, and the world is marching on to the time described in Revelation 6 when peace shall be taken from the earth. Crime, violence, and corruption are commonplace occurrences as we approach the end of this age. The enemy of God and of man is preparing mankind for a day of carnage, as lawlessness is on the increase; but we as Christians should look up expectantly, for the coming of the Lord is our blessed hope. We look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior to take us home to be with Himself. The moment cannot be far off.
The Christian should, however, be mindful of his heavenly calling. We are not of the world that will pass away; we belong to the day that is coming; "we are not of the night, nor of darkness." We belong to Him who came to seek and to save that which was lost; He took no part in the world's strife. When a man sought to make Him a judge or divider of an estate, He refused. And when He was put on trial by the judges of the earth, He said, "My kingdom is not from hence." He could have had twelve legions of angels to do His bidding, but He left His case in His Father's hands. He would not have His disciples fight that He should not be delivered up to His enemies; but He left the world as He found it, and espoused no worldly cause. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not. He said of His own that they were not of this world, even as He was not of it. What blessed abstraction from all the currents of the world! When Peter sought to defend Him by carnal means, he was told to put up his sword into the sheath. He disarmed His misguided defender.
And what is the Christian's proper place? The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual. A Christian with carnal weapons is an anomaly; his conduct is unworthy of the blessed One whom we are to follow. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20). We belong to another scene altogether.
Things were certainly out of course in the old Roman Empire when Christ was here, but He did not change them. He gave directions for His own to follow, and from that day to this our pathway has been marked out by the steps He trod. And when Christians follow carnal ways, they are on the wrong path and fall into inconsistencies and contradictions.
The recent racial strife is an indication of how Christians become involved in worldly principles. In March, when Mr. James J. Reeb was killed in mob violence, Christians soon became involved in demonstrations in honor of the Unitarian Universalist minister. Memorial services were held in his honor in many places. In these services true believers in the Lord Jesus were allied with unbelievers. Unitarians were linked with Universalists, and both joined with professing orthodox believers. Can a real Christian join with Unitarians?
Unitarians are the outgrowth of that great heterodoxy named for a man called Arius, in the fourth century. This man boldly said that the Lord Jesus was a human being; he denied His true deity. A man cannot believe the doctrine of Arius and be saved; it is utterly false and soul-damning. And that is not all: the Unitarians have been joined in another false doctrine, that of the Universalists. It is compounded error. It is ruinous to the soul, for their doctrine teaches that everyone will be saved. This is gross error, for none will be saved except through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. One can scarcely imagine a worse combination of false doctrines than these two basic errors. But it is incredible that true believers should unite with these detractors of the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ and find common ground.
A sample of this was witnessed in Pasadena, California in March when an undenominational gathering was held there.
On this occasion 500 persons gathered for the memorial of James J. Reeb; and among them were 100 students and friends of the Fuller Theological Seminary, who marched with banners from the Seminary to the First Baptist Church. Other church groups joined the memorial service. Earlier the same day, memorial services had been held in the Throop Memorial Church—Unitarian-Universalist. On the occasion of the union service, Dr. Paul King Jewett, a professor at Fuller Seminary, was a participant, as were also ministers from the Scott Methodist Church of Pasadena and the Bethany Church of Sierra Madre. Where is a demarcation between faith and unbelief? "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:... what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever?" Have real Christians so lost their bearings that they can lose their way in the present unrest? So-called Jehovah's Witnesses are Arians, and many others take similar stands. We quote the words of another: "It is impossible to accept the Bible without rejecting Arianism as a heinous libel against Christ and the truth; for it is not more certain that He became a man than that He was God before creation, Himself the Creator, the Son, and Jehovah." W.K.
A related incident in the James J. Reeb case has come to light from a Worcester, Mass. newspaper. It said that "The Catholic Free Press, official publication of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, has suggested that the American Catholic hierarchy petition the Vatican to canonize the Unitarian Universalist minister, the Rev. James J. Reeb, who was killed in Alabama. The editorial, which was not signed, said 'America has needed a model, a symbol of Christian love, such as we had not had before. Now we have him in James Reeb, who made the supreme act of faith, the supreme act of love.' " Here is a man, a Unitarian and Universalist, credited with a supreme act of faith and love. Where is the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Many people have rushed forward into a challenge and heroically ventured their lives in defense of some position, real or imagined. But how few there are now who are willing to take a stand for the "faith once delivered to the saints." It is sad when believers and unbelievers, Christians and Unitarians, find common ground on which to meet.