It's a good one. I hope you read it.
I entered a comment, which the administrator of the blog published almost immediately. I hope you read that, too.
Lance writes about the death of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., King's leadership of the Civil Rights Movement, radicalism in the history of the Church of God and the question of whether the CGGC can be radical today.
Lance notes at one point, "We don't like radicals."
And, don't I know that!!!!!!
Lance closes his article with a series of challenges raised in the form of questions. His first question, which he asks himself and which he doesn't answer is, "Am I willing to be a radical voice and live a radical life?"
One part of my comment on the eNews article addressed that question.
I said that, in my opinion, Lance doesn't ask that question in the best way. I suggest that a better question is, "Am I willing to be HATED?"
I met Lance for the first time a long time ago and, while I don't know Lance intimately, I know him well enough to say, for certain, that Lance is able to think radical thoughts. I have no doubt that he actually does think some radical thoughts.
Still, the obvious answer to the question Lance asks about himself, about his willingness to be a radical voice and live a radical life, is: Absolutely not!
He has shown that he's not willing to pay the price.
I pointed out, in my comment on the eNews article, that Lance is liked and loved by nearly everyone. You may be neutral on Lance if you don't know him well, but, if you know him very well at all, you almost certainly like him, and like him a lot. I know I do.
Lance says in the article that he's not yet 50 years old. But, he has to be fairly close to it.
You don't get to be Lance's age being so universally liked without wanting to be liked and working hard at being liked.
I believe that, as long as Lance likes being liked he'll never be the person who lives the radical life he'd like to live.
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So, Lance, for now, you're not willing to be a radical voice and live a radical life because you're not willing to pay the price that comes with it. You're not willing, if necessary, to provoke hate over a matter of principle.
In his article, Lance quotes an address Richard Kern gave to General Eldership in 1968 which highlights the radicalism of John Winebrenner and details the intense, even vicious opposition Winebrenner provoked in many people.
John Winebrenner was, as Lance phrases it, "a radical voice." More than that, as many CGGC people know, Winebrenner lived a radical life.
And many people hated John Winebrenner. They absolutely despised him and everything he cared about and stood for.
Yet, over the course of several decades, John Winebrenner was the radical voice Lance admires. He lived that radical life...for a long time.
Winebrenner was able to do that because he was willing to be hated if he had to be hated for living the truth.
In my comment on the eNews article, I also mentioned Jesus.
Jesus was hated, lied about, betrayed, denied and crucified because He was deemed radical.
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In John Winebrenner's day, many followers of Jesus were bold, they were radical. They were uncompromising on matters of truth.
Many people today call Winebrenner's era The Second Great Awakening. Everyone who knows the history knows that the gospel of the Kingdom spread throughout the land in a way that has rarely been equalled...
...and, that the world was turned upside down by a relatively small number of radical disciples who were willing to face hatred and opposition in the cause of truth.
In that day, loads of people hated Winebrenner and others like him. Yet, in that day, to be a Christian meant something.
And, despite the opposition, the often violent, and sometimes deadly opposition, people who had been unbelievers repented of sin and embraced the way of Jesus in large numbers.
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In our day, sadly, pathetically, the church declines and decays. Lightning rod figures, like Winebrenner, who stood boldly in the face of hatred and opposition, these days, are few. And, those people have never been highly regarded in our body.
There is a cause and effect relationship here.
Lance, I hope, one day, you will be willing to be a radical voice...
...and to live a radical life.
But thinking of Jesus and of Winebrenner and of Martin Luther King, Jr., to do so, you will have to pay the price. You will have to be willing to be hated, as they were.
If you pay that price, you will be hated...
...but others will love you even more than ever.
The command to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength entails many things. I think that a willingness to face hatred and opposition from people in order to serve Him is a part of it.
We have to be willing to pay a price.
We must repent.
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