(Brief) Encounter With the Klan

I'm coming to realize that when something big is happening at the church on a given Sunday, something out of left field is going to happen.  Call it coincidence, call it Murphy's Law, call it what you will - but SOMETHING is going to happen.

Yesterday was Charge Conference.  I was nervous enough simply because my District Superintendent was in the building.  Running around to make sure I had everything in order, I encountered a young man in the hallway just before Sunday School.  I shook his hand and welcomed him in.

In his early to mid-twenties, this man seemed a little timid and reluctant to come in, but said he was looking for somewhere to worship.  He qualified his statement by informing me that he was a member of the Christian Identity Church, which was a church I was unaware of until yesterday.

He was working on becoming a pastor and had visited other churches in the area, only to disagree with what was taught and preached and to leave.  I asked him to tell me a little about what he believed and the church he was a part of, so he pulled me aside, out of earshot of some of the others, and laid it on me.  He is a member of the Ku Klux Klan and Christian Identity is the church of choice for white supremacists. 

Didn't see that one coming...

I did the pastoral thing and welcomed him in anyway.  After all, what has the greatest chance of helping him to see the light, kicking him out or welcoming him in?  So I welcomed him in and immediately went into prayer mode.  This was a volatile situation - Mt. Bethel has members that are African-American, Hispanic, and Asian.  What would happen?  Would I give this man a chance, just to have to kick him out when he said or did something unacceptable? 

After about 5 minutes, he stood up, indicated some displeasure to me, and left...and I started breathing again.

I've done some research since then and Wikipedia has an article on Christian Identity as a movement and as a church.  Read more HERE.  Basically, they believe that only white people have souls and everyone else cannot be redeemed by God.  There's also the belief that Jewish people decended from Cain and that Europeans were the true Israelite nation because there were ten lost tribes of Israel expelled to Europe by the Assyrians.  As far as I can tell, there isn't a logical thread that can be found in their theology and, if placed on water, it would have so many holes in it that it would sink to the bottom in record time. 

Unbelievable.  This movement claims to have between 2,000 and 50,000 adherents in the US alone (yes, the gap in guesses is that wide).  A lot of these wackos are easy to spot with swastika tattoos and hate paraphernalia.  The groups are growing too, according to researchers and the Department of Homeland Security.

I don't understand anyone who would want their life to be defined by hatred.  I don't understand anyone who can claim to know Christ and not grasp the concepts of grace and love. 

Here's the kicker, I see a lot of it in mainline Christians.  Anybody want to venture a guess as to how many anti-Obama emails I've received from "Christians" in the last two years?  I've asked several people to keep those beliefs to themselves.  How many of you saw the YouTube video about Barack Obama being the Anti-Christ?  Watch it HERE, but be sure to follow up with this ARTICLE from Christian Post.

Do I believe that Barack Obama is perfect?  No.  Do I believe he's the best president in the history of the US?  Probably not.  Did I vote for him?  Do you really think I'm going to answer that question - it's none of your business.

But does any political decision or stance deserve hatred?  ABSOLUTELY NOT. 

Is it limited to our President?  Definitely not.  The shock of a few people when our new African American church member turned out to be better educated and more articulate than most other church members was almost palpable a year and a half ago.  Thank God for the strides we're making in becoming more diverse as a local church - I think it makes us look more like God's family.

In a world where we strive for racial, gender, age, and other equalities and groups like the KKK operate deep within the shadows, many of our regular folk still don't get it.

Do the world a favor, study your Bible more than you study your email.  Stop letting people tell you what to believe and when you are told something, study to see if it's valid.  Stop reading just the parts of your Bible that make you feel good - read the whole thing.  When you read the words of Christ and the stories of what he did, ask yourself why he did them. 

The Jesus I know came to the Jewish community, God's chosen people, as a fellow Jew.  He worked hard to teach, heal, and offer salvation to many Jews.  He also went out of his way to include Samaritans, Roman citizens, and others outside the fold.  Inclusive, not exclusive.  He loved, he offered grace, he sacrificed, and he gave very specific instructions for us to do the same.  Yet we still build our churches and pay our pastors so that we can be served, instead of building and paying to be able to serve others.

I think many of us can look at the young man that came to church yesterday and say, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as that guy."  (See Luke 18: 9-14) I get the feeling that God sometimes watches us with his head in his hands saying, "They still don't get it."  Guard your words and your actions.  More importantly, guard your minds and hearts.  The world will have you believe that it knows the mind of God.  You really don't have to go far to find someone that will pervert the Gospel for their own profit or benefit.  Paul spent time writing to many of the churches to guard against this same thing. 

Thank God for the grace that he's shown you, even when you weren't deserving - then GET TO WORK!