The Underbelly Exposed

THE UNDERBELLY EXPOSED

Terry Jones is the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. Regardless of the word “Dove” in the church’s title, the man is a practicing Neanderthal who understands nothing about the Christian faith. His abject hatred for the Muslim people has led him to burn pages of the Quran and support some kind of video that disparages Mohammed. But let us not be blind to another aspect that plays a large role in his misguided and visceral attacks. He is a solid and energetic patriot who sees America as a divine creation and his role as a defender of this nation. Yes, he makes most of us very uncomfortable.

But here is another uncomfortable truth about Mr. Jones. He is a representative of what lives within American evangelicalism even though his ways may be a little less sophisticated and more primitive. Oh yes, this kind of hatred and prickly patriotism is practiced all across the country but usually not allowed to be presented in such a stark and offensive manner. But the kind of attitude that Mr. Jones openly displays flies under the radar within the community of mainstream evangelicalism. He also exhibits a tangible hatred for gay people. His church joined with the Westboro Baptist Church in a protest against gays, as well as hanging President Obama in effigy outside his church. Doing the hanging was Uncle Sam holding an American flag.

Ridiculous, you say? Barbaric? Well let me expose the repulsive underbelly of the American evangelical church. There is a distinct hatred for gays and Muslims, along with an idolatrous worship of America itself, flourishing in thousands upon thousands of evangelical churches. But let us not kid ourselves, this pastor from Florida, although extreme, has only magnified what burns within many evangelical hearts. We may not want to face it, but there it is. Pastor Terry Jones speaks what millions feel but would never express it so openly. Oh yes, these Cro-Magnon expressions are literal extensions of what more sophisticated believers believe and feel but would never resort to such crude methods of expression. The church has become accomplished at holding unchristian attitudes but cloaking them with half truths and a literal defiance of hundreds of New Testament admonitions.

In reality, and with an astonishing openness, the church has been able to set up all sorts of straw men while ignoring even the basic tenants of the faith. And with these straw men, pew dwellers by the millions who actually have no living relationship with the Risen Christ pacify their consciences by being on the right side of certain issues. And the overarching theme has always been wrapped up in patriotism. People are usually against gays and Muslims not so much because their belief system is unbiblical, but because they may be ruining the culture and detouring from the founding fathers. Can you believe such a thing? The “founding fathers” take precedence over the Father of Lights!?

Take a look and a listen to this Florida pastor. You think his rhetoric offends all professing believers? Professing believers by the millions hate Muslims, hate President Obama, and hate gay people. Oh they are way to clever to use that kind of rhetoric, but they hate them nonetheless. Not since the days of slavery has such hatred been embraced within the church. Yes, the church used to hate communists, but that pales when compared with the present displays of hatred. We have lost what it means to be a believer and a follower of the Lord Jesus. And believers refuse to even assess the issue of patriotism and nationalism as the root cause. Unless God removes the scales from our eyes the church will continue to blindly walk in a gospel-less haze which seeks its own prosperity, its own morality, and its own national interests. Instead of looking forward to the coming of Christ, the church looks backward to the founding fathers.

Do you think the Lord Jesus is interested in preserving the freedom that allows for abortion? Do you think the Father defends the freedom that allows gay marriage? Do you believe the Father wants to champion the freedom that allows the pornographic industry to flourish? But you still do not see that these things are not against democracy and freedom, they are the result of it! I again encourage everyone to read through the New Testament in one or two weeks. You will see just how far off course we have strayed. Let me illustrate another painful point.

If you believe that violence is accepted in certain circumstances from believers, then you are trapped into situations that may be unpleasant. Do you believe that believers in Germany should have taken up arms if they could and killed other Germans to protect the Jews from the Holocaust? Many would say they should have. Do you believe that some wars are just when they protect people’s lives and that believers should support and participate in such wars? Many would say yes. Do you believe abortion is the murdering of an unborn human being? Most would say yes.

Well then, when you juxtapose all these views upon each other, you must believe that killing abortion doctors is acceptable. You cannot have that view about Germans, and that view about war, and then reject that view about killing abortion doctors in defense of human lives. The only way you can reject the killing of abortion doctors is if you reject violence as a part of the kingdom of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And likewise, the only way you can reject the actions and attitudes of Pastor Jones in Florida, is if you reject the kind of sinner-focused Christianity that sees people as enemies of the state (country). And unless your allegiance is completely in Christ, then you cannot disagree with pastor Jones’ version of patriotic rhetoric and aggressiveness toward those who you deem unAmerican.

These kinds of things must be blazing billboards that warn us of our compromised ways and point us to a repentant return to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Please do not just be spectators in these last days, but listen to the voice of the Spirit. Search the Scriptures, Consume their truths. Revolutionize your prayer life. Drench your heart in the love of God. Refuse to allow the carnal battles of men to distract you from the unseen warfare for the souls of men. These are dangerous and deceptive times. Reject the ungodly underbelly of evangelicalism and embrace the light of Christ. Watch and pray more than you talk and support.