My wife and I were finally able to view the film SELMA. Overall, it was a very moving movie with a great cast. As I watched the film I thought to myself, "Self, I hope you would have had the courage to join/support the peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery had you been alive and pastoring in 1965." By the grace of God I believe I would have.
In this vein, my former pastor John MacArthur, was personal friends with John Perkins. Perkins was one of the original Civil Rights leaders from the 1960's (Mr. Perkin's brother was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan). Because of these associations MacArthur was refused meals at "white restaurants" while visiting the deep South. In fact, John MacArthur was preaching the gospel in Jackson, Mississippi when Dr. King was shot and tragically killed in 1968. MacArthur and some of his ministry friends drove through the night to Memphis and witnessed the MLK crime scene with their own eyes. According to historian Iain H. Murray, "The experiences in Mississippi confirmed the truth to John that he already knew: the gospel alone could abolish the racial division, and he saw something of its power in the numbers of young people who were converted; some of them were to train for full-time Christian service;" but now I digress.
Back to Selma. The only thing I did not appreciate in Selma was the theme song that was played near the end of the movie. The music to "Glory" was absolutely beautiful but some of the lyrics were fundamentally flawed. In my opinion, one of the best ways to undermine the heroic work of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is to connect his Civil Rights legacy with the recent (violent) protests in Ferguson (and Baltimore). Unlike so many martyrs in the original Civil Rights Movement Michael Brown was not killed because he refused to sit in the back of a bus, nor was he targeted simply because he was black. Mr. Brown had just robbed a store and had roughed up a fellow minority in the process. Brown fled the crime scene and was eventually shot and killed by a law enforcement officer (note carefully Romans 13:1-7). According to news reports Brown was facing other criminal charges as well. If true, this was not Mr. Brown's first felony arrest. More importantly, even though the "hands up, don't shoot" narrative was disputed by several witnesses, it remains a dominant mantra among many activists today. MLK reminded us, (quoting Jesus), that it is the truth that sets men free.
Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile and others believe that what happened to Michael Brown is a microcosm of a major epidemic in our country. Namely, that unarmed (innocent) black men are being hunted down like animals by many racist police officers today; (Many in this camp also believe that the entire judicial system is inherently racist). Hence the other mantra, "Black Lives Matter." One black friend told me that he fears for his life. He asked me if "I was prepared to take care of his wife and children" in the event he's murdered in cold blood by some racist (white) police officer?
These fears are nothing new. I remember in college hearing a popular song that said, "I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself, "Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?" I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black. My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch. Cops give a XXX about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero. Give the crack to the kids who the XXX cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare." Radicals who believe this "I see no changes" narrative sometimes support behavior like this (Teacher Fired for Having 3rd-Graders Write 'Get Well' Letters to Cop Killer) or this, (cop killer).
When Voddie Baucham (a prominent evangelical pastor) disputed this "Black Lives Matter/Hands Up Don't Shoot" narrative he was called a "sell out." Some black Christians even suggested that Pastor Baucham wrote what he wrote in order to keep his "white base happy." This is tragic especially in view of Baucham's decision to leave the comforts of America in order to serve the people of Africa. This kind of nonsense brings to mind the inflammatory rhetoric that Malcom X often used when speaking about Dr. Martin Luther King (this is brought out in the movie Selma).
In one of his Gospel Coalition articles Pastor Baucham concluded his piece with these words, "My (black) sons have far more to fear from making bad choices than they have to fear from the police. The overwhelming majority of police officers are decent people just trying to make a living. They are much more likely to help you than to harm you. A life of thuggery, however, is NEVER your friend. In the end, it will cost you . . . sometimes, it costs you everything."
Suffice it to say, one can stand with Dr. King and embrace his "I Have A Dream" ideals and not support the narrative of Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. At the end of the day, the most important thing is for Christians to live out their biblical convictions that the gospel alone can abolish racial divisions and bring about true freedom and peace.
The "Hands Up Don't Shoot" image pictured above is from
