Religion and Racism
October 19, 2013
Howdy!
Sandra (Lopez) Lemus was with our fellowship for several years,
teaching the youngsters. Her dad, of
course, (Cesar Lopez) is a pastor and has a local Spanish-language
fellowship. It was a joy to be involved
in Sandra's wedding to Valdemar Lemus a couple summers ago. We just learned that Valdemar's family has
been in the coffee-growing business in Guatemala for many years and is a big
supplier of Guatemalan coffee in this country.
I share all that to say that Sandra and Valdemar have opened up
a coffee business here in Sunnyside.
Sandra will fix you an espresso, or an Americano, or a latte (or
whatever your heart's desire is) and Valdemar will sell you different fresh
roasts of Guatemalan coffee beans and explain the coffee-growing process. Take your pick! Their business is right downtown on 6th
Avenue, and is called, Finca Margaritas!
Stop in and grab a goooooooddd cup of coffee!!!
In the last couple of weeks, I've done a
commentary in our local newspaper in the "Religious Reflections"
column with the above title. It is the
byproduct of many years of observations and revelation by Holy Spirit. My purpose isn't to raise a lot of sand in
sharing the following, but rather to awaken God's people to an issue that has
plagued the body of Christ for generations.
Growing up in classical Pentecostal circles
allowed me to see what began initially as several different
"fellowships" of folks who had experienced the moving of Holy Spirit as
it exploded at the turn of the 20th Century with the Azusa Street Revival. Watching those "fellowships"
degenerate into "denominations" was both disheartening and revealing. I'll explain that momentarily.
Years later I had the privilege of being
involved in the early days of the Charismatic Renewal as Holy Spirit once again
began breaking down denominational barriers and pouring out the gifts of the
Spirit across denominational lines. In
my early youth I had heard evangelical and Pentecostal leaders speak
disparagingly of Roman Catholics and grew up in an era when Catholics
"couldn't possibly be saved!"
Despite being a solidly entrenched
Pentecostal, Dad often said to me, "Pay no attention to the name over the
door, Son! You're not going to see Catholic
Square, or Presbyterian Avenue, or Methodist Blvd., or Pentecostal Circle, or
Baptist Street or Nazarene Highway, or anything remotely like that in
Heaven! The ONLY thing that counts is
where people stand in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ."
As the years went by I realized the truth
of what Dad was preaching, and when I met other Christians it never occurred to
me to ask them whether they were Catholic or Baptist or whatever! If they knew the Lord, there was an immediate
witness by Holy Spirit and there was no need to ask what label they wore on
their forehead. Having the experiences
at age nine and ten of going to Heaven and spending time with the Lord made
labels all the more irrelevant.
In late 1970 I was able to participate in a
pair of Charismatic conferences; one with the Episcopal rector of The Church of
the Redeemer in Houston, and one with a Roman Catholic Bishop from Los
Angeles. We shared together as members
of the same family -- the family of God!
As we ministered together we saw the Spirit of God poured out on people
irrespective of their denominational background. Lutherans and Methodists, Baptists and
Presbyterians, Mennonites and Amish, Seventh Day Adventists and United Brethren
-- you name it -- were speaking in tongues and moving in the Gifts of the
Spirit, laying hands on people, seeing folks get healed, delivered from evil
spirits and made whole.
When you see God move like that, you very
quickly realize that He is no respecter of persons, no respecter of race, no respecter
of gender, no respecter of denomination -- and certainly no respecter of
doctrine! It all goes out the
window! It gets worse, folks!
With a major portion of my extended family
being Mormon, and having grown up in a culture of hearing that Mormons were all
part of a cult that needed to be avoided like the plague, it was both
eye-opening and rewarding to spend five years in Salt Lake City and watch God
move among Mormons exactly as I had seen Him move among the so-called
"denominational groups." In
the summer of 1971, I called Andrae Crouch (with whom I had done concerts and
recorded with in the mid-1960's), Charles McPheeters and other friends in the
Christian music realm to join me for a three-week "Jesus Festival" on
the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds.
During that three-week period we saw
various Mormon bishops, members of the Council of Twelve and Mormons by the
hundred receive healing, deliverance from evil spirits, and (for others to whom
Mormonism was simply another "religion") genuine salvation through
Jesus Christ. There were miracles by the
hundred with blind eyes opened, deaf ears unstopped, the lame made to walk
again, etc., etc., etc.
Gotta tell you! You want to be delivered from religious
bondage? Just watch God move among those
whom you've avoided because they have "strange doctrines" and
"really odd beliefs!" It was
still a process for me but the Lord wasn't done with me.
After the festival had ended I spoke with a
number of people who had consecrated their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and
asked them where they were "going to go to church" now that they had
been "saved." A few said they
weren't sure, but they were going to find a new church to attend. Some looked really puzzled at my question as
if it really made no sense. Others
boldly said, "we aren't going anywhere!
We're going to stay where we are."
My religious prejudice suddenly got
exposed.
"How can you stay in the Mormon church
when you've been saved?" I asked, absolutely puzzled at their
response. After all, one couldn't remain in the Mormon church with its doctrines
and still be saved and know the Lord -- so I thought. The answers I received hit me between the
eyeballs.
"Haven't you evangelized in many
places where people were religious and didn't really have a relationship with
Jesus Christ?" asked one lady.
"Don't those people need to remain where they are so they can lead
their friends or acquaintances to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?"
One fellow said, "Have you ever been
in a smoke-filled bar and talked to people who were drinking themselves silly
in an effort to lead them to Jesus?"
Had to admit that I had, all the while feeling guilty about being in the
bar in spite of the fact that I wasn't drinking.
Another lady really nailed me, though. "I thought you left your denomination
because the Lord both opened an opportunity for you to leave and instructed you
to do so. Did you leave before God told
you to leave, or after He told you to leave?" Ouch!
She continued. "I don't know how long I will remain in
the Mormon church, but this is where the Lord has me. I have no intention of leaving unless and
until He instructs me to do so, and then opens the door to leave."
By now you are getting the picture, I'm
sure. I know some of my Pentecostal
brethren who have used exactly the same routine on Baptists or Methodists or
Episcopalians after they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. And they got the same answer I got from that
Mormon lady. "We're staying where
we are unless Holy Spirit instructs us to leave."
I'm describing to you a prejudice and a
religious bias that has existed throughout the body of Christ for many
centuries. It is the underlying
foundation of all racism, no matter by what name it is called. All racism has religious overtones.
If one is ensnared by spirits of religion
they tend to look with certain jaundice at those who are a part of a different
denomination. Consider for a minute
something that Paul wrote to the Ekklesia in Corinth.
"Now this I say,
that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas;
and I of Christ. Is Christ
divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
"I thank God that
I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized
in mine own name. And I
baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I
baptized any other.
"For Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross
of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God. For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is
the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this
world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"
Paul
is specifically rebuking the Christians in Corinth for "denominating"
themselves "of Paul" or "of Apollos" or "of
Cephas" or "of Christ."
Get it? Some of the Corinthian
Christians were denominating themselves as "Pauline." Some were "Apollonian" and some
were "Peterites." Then there
were those who looked down on the "Peterites" and they were
"just Christians."
Paul
speaks to the racism of this kind of separation and addresses the root of it
like this.
"For it is written, I will destroy the sophistry of those
who are wise [in the ways of the world] and I will disannul and neutralize the
mental analysis and intellect of those who assemble facts in order to arrive at
a conclusion." (my translation and amplification from the
Greek text)
Are
you seeing the picture? Within the body
of Christ for centuries we have had the tendency to judge one another based on
our analysis of circumstances, events, upbringing and associations. What we've been doing is eating from the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and spreading the death among ourselves that
comes from eating of that tree.
Our
selection ad inclusion into the Bride of Christ is not reckoned by the
Bridegroom -- Jesus Christ -- based on our looks, our associations, our
intellectual capacity, our education or our family heritage. Let's take it another step farther. Our choosing by the Lord is not based on the
color of our skin; it is not based on whether we belong to a certain
"church," or denomination, or fellowship, or adhere to a particular
set of dogmas, doctrines or beliefs. We
are not included into the Bride of Christ because we are rich or poor or
because we have certain skills or lack thereof.
We are not chosen because we have great abilities or are articulate in
speaking.
Understand?
We
are chosen by the Lord because we choose Him!
We choose Him above all else. No
doctrine matters. No upbringing
matters. No church label makes a pig's
feet worth of difference. Whether we've
lived on the streets and in the gutters of society, or whether we've lived in
the most prestigious mansions and have been regarded as "the upper crust of
society," everything -- and I do mean EVERYTHING -- becomes as a pile of
horse puckey so that we can win God's best!
Let's see, how was it that Paul put
it? "If anyone else has a
mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of
the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the
Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the
righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have
counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to
be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that
I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my
own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith." (Philippians 3:4-9,
NASB)
As I
noted in my recent newspaper column, the racism -- mmmm ..... the
denominationalism -- that has separated God's people over the centuries is the
direct root of the racism we fight with in the world today. That same denominationalism is the underlying
core of the racism we see in America and globally. Think for a minute about the unadulterated
malarkey we have to put up with in our society today.
African-American! Latino!
Mexican-American!
Arab-American! Really? What utter rubbish! Because of denominational racism, we have
"black churches," we have "Hispanic churches," we have
Korean or Chinese churches, etc., etc., ad nauseam.
My
son-in-law, Anthony Picasso, would feel like he'd been slapped in the face if
you called him a Mexican-American. From
his perspective, he's an American -- Period!
Danielle and Anthony's two sons don't even begin to think of themselves
as Mexican-American, or Hispanic, or Latino, or any of those racist terms.
We
have two black grandsons, Cyrus and Travon.
Not once have they referred to themselves as
"African-American." The term
wouldn't even cross their minds. They
are Americans -- Period!
We
have two adopted daughters of Eskimo heritage.
Despite the popularity of the terminology in today's culture, not once
have I ever heard Debbie or Ariella refer to themselves as
"Native-American." They are
simply Americans.
Della's
heritage is Cherokee Indian, but you'll never hear her refer to herself as a
"Native-American." You get the
picture, I'm sure.
Let
me wrap up today with a final illustration.
I was raised in a classical Pentecostal family. When the Charismatic Renewal began in the
60's and 70's, I was very much a part of that movement. Nevertheless, I do not call myself a
"Pentecostal." I am not a
"Charismatic." Though I have
ministered in Pentecostal, Charismatic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran and
Presbyterian churches, I never describe myself using those terms.
I
will tell you what I am -- and this is how every believer in Christ should
speak of him/herself. There is no
division in this terminology. There is
no separating between who or what I am and what other believers are. There is no racism or denominationalism in
this phraseology.
Here's how Paul put it in his letter
to the Romans (see Romans 8:16-17): "The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together."
That
said, I am a son of God. I am an heir of
God and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ!
Period! Got it?
A reminder: If you are in need of healing you are welcome to
join our prayer conference calls. The
number to call is (805) 399-1000. Next,
enter the access code: 124763#.
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
A Tale of Two Brides is now available on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
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