Easter: Spiritual wickedness in high places!

Get the Point

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5 verse 16

When I was a young child attending New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, I admit that on days when I hadn't snuck my Electronic Quarterback or some other gaming device into the sanctuary to play in the back rows away from watchful parental eyes while services were proceeding, the avid reader in me would spend most of the two or three “sweet hour(s) of prayer” with my head down reading passages of Scripture from one of several Bibles that could be found on the back of the pews directly in front of me.

When I was finally baptized by Reverend Arthur Hubbard and Deacon Lee Williams, my mother’s first cousin, at the age of 10, two things stood out to me clearly from what I had learned at home, in Sunday School, and my readings: 1. The underlying theme of Jesus Christ's ministry was one of "love;" love for the Holy Trinity and love for each other and, 2. Jesus's consistent frustrations with the Pharisees.

Yes, the Pharisees, that “know it nothing” group of rules obsessed religious kinsmen to the Earthly Jesus who not only rejected His divinity, but did so from their narrow, dogmatic interpretations of the very Scriptures that I used to read over and again from the Old Testament!

You see, Earthly Jesus spent a great deal of time trying to warn these doubting Pharisees to overcome their pomposity and lack of faith, dropping powerful rebukes like this one:

“Everything (Pharisees) do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others” (Matthew 23:5-7).

And this one:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Mathew 23:23-24).

And one more spiritual warning:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26).

While Jesus warned and tried to tell these Pharisees His truth during his Earthly ministry, by the end of his human life, while on trial before the Sanhedrin and later before Pilate, Jesus stood silent—refusing to go back and forth with those who mocked His divine purpose which was made manifest when they sentenced Him to death by crucifixion.

Jesus's silence, however, did not mean that he accepted the Pharisees’ false accusations; even unto his last breath, Jesus prayed for their lack of wisdom and discernment due to their rejecting His teachings on what love is—who to love—and how both were critical in reaching a Heavenly reward!

Bringing it forward, this past November, a Gallup poll indicated that roughly 30 percent of all Americans regularly attended religious services, while noting that such was a 12 percent drop from twenty years earlier in 2004. More ominously, as recent as 1969, 50 percent of Americans attended service each week—a fact that reveals that the dip in these numbers has grown more pronounced each passing decade!

While there are myriad sociological reasons as to why religion is mattering less among the American masses, one would be hard pressed to know this from the news or pop culture when it comes to Christianity, in general, and white supremacist Christian Nationalism, specifically.

To be clear, the two are not same; the former believes that Jesus was the son of God, died on the cross for remission of sins, and that all who believe on Him will enter the kingdom of Heaven.

The latter, Christian Nationalism, uses all of the symbolism of Christianity—but adopts a similar mindset to the old Pharisees by using Holy Scriptures to justify their unholy and unjustifiable forms of white supremacist bigotry and hatred towards "others" who do not see the world from their same eurocentric points of vantage!

The Ku Klux Klan during a church meeting in Oregon circa 1927

As a historian this comes as zero surprise, mind you, as many of the world's worst historical horrors, from European colonial rapes of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, to slavery and genocide of Native Americans, and even the Holocaust—were perpetrated by men and women who, at least in name, called themselves "Christians."

But Jesus Christ was never truly on their minds or in their hearts back then—nor is He on the minds and in the hearts of people today who are using their political and business positions for selfish and hypocritical gains that do little to advance Jesus's teachings of love and charity for all humanity!

That's why throughout today, April 20th, there will be millions of Americans who will dress up, go to church, eat a fine meal and maybe even participate in an Easter Egg hunt or two—if they can afford them due to these high prices—before logging onto social media or preparing to go to work this week where they will continue displaying their rancid, petty, and hypocritical stances on political and social issues—justifying their bigotries in the name of "Jesus."

And by so doing, the light that they shine before others in person—or online—will do absolutely nothing to draw people to Christ, rather, they will continue to push more and more people to religious skepticism and indifference.

Lest we forget...