Here is Jesus’ straightforward command: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) KJV
The sins of white supremacy and anti-Semitism defile the lives, and contradict the claims, now, of an astonishing number of persons who profess to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and to love like Him. That apostasy, that falling away, from His direct teaching into rejection and hatred of brothers and sisters whose skin is not white, whose race is not Caucasian, is iniquity and abomination to God. Likewise, hatred of our Jewish brothers and sisters is rank apostasy, a falling away from sound teaching and authentic faith, equally abominable to God, our Creator and Sovereign Lord. No denial of these clear facts can change what God has ordained, commanded, and revealed, in the life and teaching of His Son, and in the witness and testimony of Holy Scripture.
White supremacy is hatred of persons of black, brown, and Asian coloring, the most useless, and ridiculous, of criteria for defining, and measuring, the quality of personhood of anyone. Nothing in the color of anyone’s skin either formulates, or designates, their nobleness of character, or their lack of nobleness of character, not in anyone’s personhood. Nobility of character stands at the headwaters of those human qualities most esteemed in scripture and engendered by God, and, likewise, nobility of character is most highly esteemed in all areas of human integrity and fields of responsible endeavor.
Now, anti-Semitism is again growing cancerous roots at a threatening pace not seen here for decades. Hatred of Jews, and lies spewing out conspiracy theories impugning the nobleness of character, and the honest purposes, of this country’s Jewish citizens, are a second satanic force which must not be minimized, nor left unopposed. With white supremacy, anti-Semitism must be called out, by the Church, as non-Christian, and given no welcome by Christ’s true followers. No co-opting of holy ground by apostate voices can be countenanced, as the German Church was co-opted by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Fascism in the Second World War. God’s Name must not again be blasphemed and dishonored with anti-Semitic apostasy arising inside the Church of Jesus Christ.
This apostasy, this falling away, falling away from the teaching of Christ Jesus, is a challenge that must be met. It is more than a slipping away carelessly: it is a chosen, deliberate abandonment of sound teaching and a turn toward error in false doctrine, by accepting and spreading lies and libelous conspiracy theories which target our Jewish neighbors.
Furthermore, there is no such thing as “Christian Nationalism.” A specious movement assuming that name is more accurately a “Pseudo-Christianity” or “Imposter Christianity.” Giving the sacred Name of Christ, and of “Christian,” to any apostate entity is analogous to the Ku Klux Klan’s blasphemous desecration of the holy Cross of Christ, by claiming it as their symbol and banner and burning it, in the murderous crime of lynching. As a Christian taught in an Evangelical Pentacostal Church in my earliest years, and holding fast to that eternal Truth, I denounce, with all my strength, call, and will, these apostate errors of doctrine and practice.
John, the great theologian among the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and God’s chosen anointed interpreter of the holy meaning of the life of Jesus, Incarnate Second Person of the Trinity, Son of God, reports the unambiguous, authoritative words of Jesus the Christ. Very words of God, divine in essence, and divine in origin, those words come forth from our Lord Himself and they cannot be avoided, diluted, rejected, or changed to suit our sinful aims. We cannot manipulate their meaning to serve our doomed purposes. The Lord’s strong call to agape love; I repeat, to agape love of all of our neighbors, black, brown, yellow, white, red, Jewish … all of them, speaks directly to us … here … and now … this moment. His call commands not just our agreement with Him, but our obedience to Him.
Jesus commands us now: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34, KJV)
It is new, because it is now His commandment, and it is unique as agape love like unto His love.
Jesus repeats this symbiosis of His, and our, agape love, in John 14:15:. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
There is no love in white supremacy; none in anti-Semitism. And no love in hatred of FBI agents and law enforcement officers, either.
With honest repentance and return to God, God will forgive these sins.
Thanks be to God.
Elizabeth Barnes is a native of Bladen County and now lives in White Lake. She taught Christian theology at Southeaster Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. She is a member of Beard’s Chapel Baptist Church.