The “wave of the future,” so joyfully acclaimed by some churchmen, may prove to be a wave not of progress but of disaster.
I am convinced that there are many good men caught up in the excitement of new-wave activity who have little idea of what it is they are supporting and where it is leading the Church.
I am equally convinced that there is a hard core of brilliant designers and coordinators who know exactly what they are doing and where they plan to take the Church. The Apostle Paul seems to describe such men when he speaks of “enemies of the cross of Christ”: “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18, 19).
Paul was equally explicit about those who preach another gospel, not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: “As we have said before, so now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9).
We are confronted with perhaps the most serious situation the world-wide Church has ever faced. God grant that we may face it with love and truth.
Had I not heard with my own ears the perversion of the Gospel being proclaimed by some today, I would not have believed it.
I witnessed a series of conferences for young people based on the theme “reconciliation,” not of men with God but of the Church with the world. Indeed, it was not so much reconciliation that was being taught as revolution—revolution against God, the “establishment,” and the present order of things. A representative of the black militants was brought in to tell the whites how evil they were. And a representative of the Students for a Democratic Society—an organization that is thought by many to be Communist-oriented—was brought in to preach revolution by violent action.
All this was not a “happening” in an isolated denomination but a well-prepared program from a central source with the aim of capturing the youth of the churches for revolution—not a revolution of the spirit through Christ but a revolution of society along Marxist lines.
But I have not yet told all. During these conferences a picture on Red China was shown again and again, a picture so obviously made for propaganda purposes that even the dullest should have perceived its intent. The material advances made under the Communist regime were extolled, while there was a striking silence about Communism’s relentless attacks on the Church and Christians, as well as the total loss of personal freedoms under such “liberation.”
Along with this there was a pacifist theme with a banner proclaiming “All War Is Sin.” It was all cleverly designed to lead young people to espouse a world revolution, the end of which will certainly fit in with the long-range plans of the Kremlin.
This is no time for silence, or for closing our eyes to what is happening. The fact that some dear Christians have become enmeshed in this movement is no reason to refrain from showing where these things are taking us and the Church.
It will come as a shock to some to know that the conferences about which I am writing came under the surveillance both of the FBI and of another agency that is watching subversion in this country and was particularly concerned about some of the “invited [and paid] speakers to these young people.” Some person (or persons) was responsible for using a church conference for very dubious purposes, at best, and as a vehicle for definite Communist-oriented propaganda, at worst.
That this particular conference was not an isolated case is indicated by a letter from a friend who attended another conference 1,500 miles away. He says: “An alarmingly large majority did not understand at all (in my humble opinion) the way the Communists are ‘using’ our youth groups and black-power advocates as a means of destroying the Church. This is presently being done all over the country and in every denomination. A Christian doesn’t give the Communist sign of the clenched fist; a Christian doesn’t wear the ‘Broken Cross’—the sign of the anti-Christ; a Christian doesn’t make demands or attempt blackmail of other Christians. Unless a true understanding is reached on what is being foisted on our youth and on what is being done through the black-power movement, the Church could be destroyed from within—and lose the golden opportunity to be that shining beacon in a very dark sea.”
It is my opinion that some church executives, desperate because of the lost influence of the Church, have been sold a bill of goods by some radicals who have no right to represent the Church. These executives, victims of their own innocence or stupidity, are proving to be the unwitting servants of forces that are willing to destroy the Church and the nation to accomplish their revolutionary aims.
In this context Jesus is being held up to youth as the “great revolutionary,” and his cleansing of the temple cited as an example of his revolutionary zeal. What is not recognized is that Jesus was cleansing the “Church” of his day. He was neither a political nor an economic revolutionary. His was a spiritual mission to change the hearts of men, and through them, to act on the social order as “salt” and “light.”
It is my opinion that should our Lord enter one of the “worship” services now being contrived for youth, with their off-beat and frenetic music, night-club atmosphere, the flashing of lights and slogans, the emphasis on psychedelic art, he might well wade in and say, “Take these things away. My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of psychedelic emotionalism.”
Why is the “wave of the future” a part of present-day youth work in the churches? Because it is our young people who will make up the Church of the future. Should they be confused as to the nature, message, and mission of the Church, the “wave” of which they are a part may prove to have a deadly undertow.
Young people must be taught that there is a vast difference between good and evil, between this world system and the Kingdom of God, and that there are two roads, one broad and the other narrow. But those church leaders who have captured the youth movement give little evidence of spiritual power or understanding. Some may strongly disagree with this opinion, but others know I speak the truth. No longer accepting the complete integrity and authority of the Scriptures, having cut themselves loose from the anchor of a firm faith in the Bible-revealed person and work of Jesus Christ, they are causing young people to venture out on the wild seas of life with no compass or rudder.
If the “wave of the future” is to be on God’s side, there is much work to be done right now.
L. NELSON BELL
