Recently, I have been contemplating the subject of just what is the responsibility of the individual believer and the Christian body, the church as a whole, in promoting the agenda of social justice and human rights in the world at large. I first looked for a definition and list of some of the most prominent social justice issues of the day and found the following: Since social justice changes from community to community, it can only be defined loosely. The issues reflect movements that push for a greater voice and more representation for underrepresented or underpowered communities. Ideals held by many social justice advocates are egalitarianism, balance of power, social advocacy, public service, and diversity awareness. Social justice issues encompass many areas; therefore, I list but a few here just to promote an understanding for the topic I am attempting to present: racism, poverty, ageism, immigration policy, sexism, civil rights, mental health activism, homelessness, labor law, environmentalism and environmental justice, and so on. I felt the best place to start in my search for truth was in acquiring a definition of exactly what social justice is and then to work from there in trying to determine whether it is an area that is truly in line with the word of God, or if it is more nearly aligned with the agenda found within the secular world view. My overall purpose is to seek God’s perspective of the subject rather than man’s opinions and view. Becoming an advocate and activist in this area appears on the surface to be based on the idea of showing God’s love and care for one’s fellow man. The issues often seem to be worthy causes and one may even have biblical supported. Yet, as I take a deeper look, many of the foundations of this platform of thought and action, seem to have lies mixed with just enough truth causing even some mature Christians to be deceived by their subtlety of thought. Before one realizes it, we have been led astray from God’s righteous views by our own ideas of human compassion and mere sentimentality. We must constantly guard against following paths that deviate from the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s plan of salvation is based entirely on what God has done for mankind through faith in Jesus Christ, not upon the works of mankind. The danger seems to be rooted in the imbalance which tends to put the focus on works of mankind (making mankind the source of power), rather than looking to God as the source of all authority and power.
When I began searching for a definition for social justice, I discovered that it is a concept that is loosely connected to the idea of equality of man’s access to justice relative to a society’s definition of what is just and right. It involves the idea that for a society to be just, it must also be inclusive so that no individual or group of people is denied access to what is perceived to be equal human rights. On the surface this sounds all well and good, but for the Christian it can be an open the flood gates that will cause the erosion of the fundamental bases of our faith. For example, the assumption that all paths lead to god requires that one must be willing to cast aside the one main factor that makes Christianity unique and different from all other religious faiths; that is the belief that there is only one true God and all others are foreign and false gods. Therefore, a true born again follower of Christ can not view all gods as being equal to one another or that there are many paths to God. Christianity must be inclusive in that all are given the opportunity and freedom to choose to believe in salvation through faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, it is necessarily exclusive in that only those who choose to believe in and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. That cornerstone of the Christian faith can not be ignored or compromised in any way, shape, or form. The God of Abraham, the great ‘I AM,’ has made this point clear. Is it not written? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” (Matt.4: 10) “Have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) He has required that we love Him, serve Him, and obey Him and not go after the strange and false gods of the nations of other peoples. (Deuteronomy 10: 12 – 15) Jesus Himself said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.” (John 14: 6).
Many of the Social Justice issues of today, such as caring for the poor and needy, can easily be presented as Christian values. However, when ‘works’ become an end in themselves they become warped and out of balance. When Jesus walked on the earth, He did heal some, and prospered some with greater wealth; however, he did not go about and wipe out all poverty or all disease. In fact, He did command us to help the needy, but He also said that the poor would always be with us. The idea of distribution of wealth by a government’s power to tax and take from the ‘rich’ to give to the poor as a method of being fair is NOT equivalent to Jesus’ teaching that we should be charitable and make the personal and voluntary choice to be a cheerful giver and help the needy. Neither does it promote personal responsibility to work and be a good steward. Is it not written that a workman is worthy of his hire? Is it not written that if you do not work, you do not eat? Are we not supposed to trust in the Lord for all things? I have found no teaching in the Bible that says we should put our trust in the government. God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He has promised He will do. Anything the government decides to give they can turn right around and decide to take it away. The foundations of the teachings of Jesus Christ become perverted when they are used as a tool to exalt an agenda that is governed only by that which is deemed to promote the ‘common good’ in the eyes of mankind, for “a man’s ways are right in his own eyes.” Under a system devised by man, God, and that which is deemed pleasing and right in His sight, is then marginalized or completely ignored and reduced to a position of being intolerant and/or no longer relative or important within the society. Thus, God’s view of what is right or wrong is replaced with the peoples’ choice of what is right or wrong in the eyes of mankind in any given moment, time, or place. (Isn’t that ironic? The meaning of the word Laodicea, the term for the church of the latter days, means ‘the people’s choice.) This results in the development of a society that has forgotten God and His ways. The nation that forgets God has removed the ‘solid rock’ foundations of God, and chosen the foundations of ‘sinking sand’, leading to its own decadence and destruction. (Matt. 8: 24 – 27) “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to many people.” (Prov. 14: 34) “The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God.”(Psalm 9: 17) “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.” (Deut. 8: 18 – 20) “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…” (Psalm 33: 12)
The present body of Christ is sinking into the quagmire of these deceitful beliefs stemming from social justice and human rights that have often become out of balance due to their dependence upon looking to mankind, instead of God as the true source of power and authority. Our churches are often being turned into social clubs rather than true places of worship of the Lord. We are more and more being conformed to the world rather than being transformed into the image of God by the word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are becoming more and more willing to forget the ways of God and follow after any and all false gods. No longer do we seek the Lord and His ways, for they are now viewed as undesirable constraints that prevent us from following after our own hearts’ desires. In fact, if a Christian individual or local church body does decide to boldly take a stand for the righteous ways of God, they are demonized by the society and deemed to be intolerant bigots.
As the body of Christ becomes more silent and more humanistic, we can readily see that we are drifting more and more away from God and closer to the image of the one world apostate church system of the latter days. We are becoming the Laodicean church that is no longer the ‘salt’ and ‘light’ of the earth, drawing others to Christ, but instead are characterized by our sinfulness. “This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but lacking the power thereof (emphasis mine):from such turn away.” Remember, this is a description of the church. It is not hard then to understand why the world at large is even in a worse state of being for it will no longer have the church to look to as a better way of living this life, much less having any notion of real eternal life.
Look at what we have become. We are happy to be content to be a part of a church that, on the surface, looks as though the worship of the Lord is glorified. We clap our hands and tap our feet to the beat of the music that often creates an atmosphere more resembling the latest rock and roll band concert than an atmosphere that is truly involved in worshiping and glorifying God. We feverishly join in activities to be a part of the latest social and community activism, putting more emphasis on the importance of our own good works rather than emphasizing the importance of what God has done for us through faith in the redemptive sacrifice, death and resurrection of His Son. The blood of Jesus is even said to be of no importance or consequence. Hell is not a real place but only a symbol, and heaven is what you make of your own time on earth. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is deemed as of no significance and of little or no importance. Having a personal relationship with Jesus through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is no longer considered even necessary for there are ‘many paths to God.” All gods and beliefs are equal, whatever you deem to be your own light and path to God is equal and equivalent to what Christ did on the cross. Instead, we can all come together ‘in one accord’, but now it is without the necessary power of the Holy Spirit. Now the power comes from the ‘brotherhood of mankind,’ and our ability to think positive thoughts. We can join together in collectivism, creating our own utopian society through community organization and our own ability to work for the common good of mankind. Churches are even being established upon surveys of the needs of the people within an area, rather than the importance of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and His redemptive power through a personal faith and belief in Him. “And Jesus came and said unto them, All authority has been given unto me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”(Matt. 28: 18 – 19) Instead of looking to God, we are content to look ‘inside ourselves’ for our own redemptive power. Who needs the leading and guidance of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit when we have replaced Him with the power of self, or any other power from the atmosphere of creation around us? Who needs the word of God for instruction, correction, and knowledge of the truth? Now, we can look to ourselves to determine our own truth and knowledge of what is acceptable, for God’s view of right or wrong no longer exists. Now, creation, instead of the Creator, has become the center of our focus. Anyone can see that in the new green religion of environmentalism. Once again we are endeavoring to build our own Tower of Babel, exalting man’s will above God’s. (Genesis 11: 1-8)
Our churches are becoming mini social activist groups for community organization, social justice, and civil rights hotbeds of reform. Rather than being focused on the righteous ways of God, we are more willing to follow unrighteous ways to please our own unrighteous desires, and to exalt our own unrighteous philosophies. As Christians, we have become so desensitized to the reality of God’s righteous ways, that we are adapting our beliefs so as to come more in line with what is acceptable to mankind rather than taking a stand for the righteous ways of God. God has said that if a man sheds the blood of the innocent, then mankind should shed the blood of that guilty man (put to death- capital punishment). In stead, more often than not, capital punishment is being outlawed. “Thou shalt not kill” is more properly interpreted to mean “Thou shalt do no murder.” Pagan religions devalued the life of the unborn children allowing them to be put aside to die even after their birth. We too have now followed this same devaluing of life by making abortion legal for any and all reasons even up to and including the last trimester of pregnancy. According to statistics, out of all the pregnancies that are terminated only about two percent are truly based on a cause for actual protection of the life of the mother. More often than not, the other ninety-eight percent are merely based on the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy, murder the life that has been conceived, because it was an inconvenient time, and/or pressures from the unwilling father or some other family or friend. In the past, a pregnancy was more often allowed to go forth and then the decision was made to keep the child or give it up for adoption. Now conceived life is not deemed as God said- that He has known us even before we were knitted together in our mother’s womb. Instead, that life has been relegated to the status of merely a blob of tissue that has no more purpose or right to exist than a parasite. Just like the pagan religions, we are even allowing the innocent bodies of live births to be set aside to die. We are gradually sinking to the same levels as practiced by the Nazis as they determined that an unborn child without a limb or some other disability did not meet their requirements for status qualified as fit for life. More and more people are choosing to live together instead of making a commitment to marry one another, thus defiling and destroying the very foundations of the family unit. Marriage itself is under attack in that it is no longer being defined as the union of one man and one woman. We are casting aside that which is pleasing in the sight of God for that which is “compassionate” and right in the eyes of mankind. These are but a few examples of how present day ideals of social justice and human rights are being used to pervert and compromise the word of God – even within the church itself. When the church itself is forgetting God, is there any wonder that the nation has fallen even deeper into a Godless and lawless state? Calling our actions ‘compassionate’ when they fly in the face of God is no excuse whatsoever for our acceptance of sinful characteristics as good when God’s word has signified it as being clearly evil. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 5: 20, 21, 23, 24)
Is it no wonder then that as the body of Christ, the church, becomes more Humanistic and less Theistic, we are seen to have little or no effect in the world? Instead, we are becoming more willing to cast aside our differences, mainly that there is but one true God and He alone has the plan for our salvation. We become watered down and have no vibrancy to attract others to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life? In addition, we are stepping in line with the values and ways of the secular world, denying God all together or representing Him as being equal to and having no difference than any and all other gods. Church, we have no excuse!! No wonder God said of the church of the latter days: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of my mouth.”(Rev. 3: 15, 16)
Christians, true followers of Christ, we must be willing to take a stand for God and His Word even though it is no longer popular or politically correct to do so. Do we truly love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul? Are we willing to be hated even as Christ was and is hated in the world? Are we willing to even be counted as a bigot and intolerant for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ? We have been commanded to love one another, but we have not been commanded to compromise the word of God or condone and accept that which is wrong in His sight. We can love the sinner without loving sin and trying to present it as good. Thank God, He continues to love us and forgive us even when we sin and do that which displeases us. The difference is found in whether we choose to practice that which is sin when we know it flies in the face of God. “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I knew you not: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”(Matt. 8: 21 – 23) Can we not see that this is the church He is talking to, and they are not even aware that they have forgotten Him and chosen to forsake His ways? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be among those that are told by the Lord, “I knew you not.”
Yes, good works do follow naturally out of a true love for the Lord. Can we not see that works, as they are used as a tool to promote compromise of the word of God and the development of the one world church where Interfaithism or Universalism (all gods are equal and all paths lead to God) is accepted, and exclusive faith in Jesus Christ alone as the only door to the Kingdom of God is rejected, must be recognized as a part of Satan’s plan to ready the world for the coming person of the Antichrist? This is but another ploy by Satan to destroy the body of Christ and its power to draw others to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are perilous times and we are perishing because of lack of knowledge. I speak not of the knowledge of mankind, but of the knowledge of the Lord which begins with the fear (respect and obedience) of the Lord, His statutes, commandments, and ways as revealed to us in His Word. It is through the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit that we are given empowerment to understand and do the word of God, to be doers, and not just hearers, of the Word. We must be willing to study His Word so that we will not be deceived by Satan, ourselves, or others. Too often those who profess to be followers of Christ are found joining together in causes that are totally against what the word teaches because they have been deceived by the “compassion” tool of mankind that is in opposition to the righteousness of the Lord. For example, it is written that the practice of homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Yet, not wanting to appear as intolerant or a bigot in the eyes of the Lord, we are condoning the practice and define it as just a different life style that is to be accepted rather than viewed as sinful. Rather than staying true to the teachings of what is right and wrong in the eyes of God, we are making up our own excuses for calling that which is evil good even within the church. What harm we do to ourselves and others when we compromise the word of God just so we can do that which is pleasing in our own sight instead of being true to God’s word and doing that which is pleasing in His sight. If you and I Condone sin of any kind and declare it to be ‘acceptable,’ it does not promote repentance in ourselves or others, but only makes the way for it to enslave us that much more. Practicing sin is when I choose to continue in it even though I know it to be wrong. If I condone that which is sinful, doesn’t that also make me guilty of sin?
Christians, let us not join together with others to promote the darkness of the powers and principalities of this world. Put on the full armor of God; join the army of the Lord. Determine not to be a part of those who have the appearance of being believers through the practice of their traditions of religiousity, but lack the power that can only come as a result of walking with the Lord in a personal relationship with Him. Too many today are depending upon one’s own ‘good works’ which, apart from God, are without eternal value.
In addition, there are those who have a head knowledge, or academic knowledge, of who Jesus is, but lack the heart knowledge and therefore have never received the indwelling Holy Spirit of the Lord. He is the third person of the triune God and is the one who convicts us of sin and our need for repentance and salvation through Christ. He does not condemn us for our sin, but convicts us that we may confess and repent, turn away from sin and turn towards the Lord. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”(II Chronicles 7: 14)
As Christians, we must be willing to take a bold stand for Christ. Do not be deceived into putting your trust in anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, who died and was resurrected that you and I may receive salvation by faith in Him and what He has done for us. Do not be deceived or receive any other gospel. His arm is always outstretched to you and I, and He is always willing to forgive us if we will but confess our sin, repent, and ask for His forgiveness. It is written: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the churches.” Rev. 3: 20 – 22
Finally, when it comes to the issues of social justice and human rights, it seems that such issues should be easy for a Christian to agree with. However, it isn't that simple, for the resolution to such issues always presents two sides to the same coin. One side, based on a biblical world view, has a solid and unchanging foundation upon which to stand concerning what is deemed right or wrong, for God is the same yesterday, today and forever; whereas the other side, based on a secular world view, has no true foundation for right or wrong for it is all relative to what an individual, group or society chooses to perceive as acceptable, and that is always subject to change at any given time and place. Christians must be on guard at all times to make sure that their decisions, as to whether to agree or disagree with a given point of view, are based on the unchanging word of God and not just what 'seems' to be just, fair, and/or compassionate in the eyes of mankind. Of course, there is always a price to pay for doing so. At the very least, it will provoke others, especially those holding a secular world view, to indulge in name calling like self-righteous, intolerant, and bigot. However, we must not shrink from taking a stand that is based on the word of God, endeavoring to do so with humility and love towards all, whether they agree or disagree with us. Remember, Jesus said that if we are not for Him, we are against Him. The true believer can not sit on a fence, for we can not serve two masters. By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we will either bring our thoughts and actions into line with what His Word teaches us, or we will continually compromise until we take a stand for nothing. "Study (the Bible) to show thyself approved unto God that you may be a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (II Timothy 2: 15)
Ginger Rahn
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