God Meant it for Good

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”(Genesis 50:20)

Joseph’s words to his enslavers in Genesis 50, who as it happens were his own brothers, is profound. Out of hatred and jealousy, they had sold him into slavery, where he suffered for years as a slave and then in prison. Yet, because God was with Joseph, he was taken from prison and was elevated to second only to Pharoah in authority over all of Egypt (Genesis 41:40-45). God put Joseph in a place to rescue and be a great blessing not only to those who enslaved him but their offspring as well. He could well have taken retribution against his brothers, but instead he forgave them. He did not soft-pedal their crime, telling them that “you meant evil against me,” but he saw the outcome as something far more important, “but God meant it for good.”

This is a theme which Voddie Baucham applies to his life in his book, Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe,¹Salem Books, An Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, p 67 which released on April 6^th. I was fortunate enough to be on the launch team and read the book in advance. It is one of those essential books for our time, which every pastor and elder should read. It is not an academic work but, as the late Dr. Norman Geisler would say, “puts the cookies on the bottom shelf” making its vital information accessible to most anyone who will take the time to read it. The primary subject is something which is a very hot topic today, Critical Race Theory/Social Justice/”systemic racism.”

Does racism exist? Baucham says yes. In page 222 he states, “Racism is real. Injustice is real.” This is something he repeats throughout the book and early one states:

No matter how many times I say those things, I still will be accused of turning a blind eye to them-not because I deny them, but because I deny the CRT/I view that they are “normal” and at the basis of everything.²Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe; Salem Books an Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, pp 93-94

Voddie Baucham has been speaking on and warning about these issues for over two decades. Now these ideas are dividing churches, denominations, and Christian organizations. They are also being mandated to be taught in Federal government offices, state government offices, universities, and public schools. Moreover, many corporations are indoctrinating their employees to accept and get in line with these fraudulent claims. Baucham doesn’t deny that evil exists or that human beings do deplorable things to one another. He does, however, look for the answers in the word of God which clearly tells us all humans are sinners and points us to the only One Who can set things right. He also takes on and takes down many of the falsehoods that have become critical doctrines of what is essentially a new religion that is spreading like wildfire throughout the church and the culture. These doctrines cannot even be questioned without leading to calls for the questioner to be “canceled.” One such doctrine holds that police officers are hunting down and killing Blacks. Is this true? Baucham looks at the numbers and compares similar cases of Blacks and Whites killed at the hands of police, finding that unarmed Blacks were not in fact treated differently than unarmed Whites in similar situation but rather that media is complicit in not reporting on police treatment of Whites.

There are many more such lies and twisted “facts” at the base of this movement, which Baucham relates in detail. The truths he brings to light will not make CRT promoters happy, but they are truths that all of us definitely need to know. Remember the uber popular 1977 miniseries, Roots, portraying Whites as chasing Blacks down in Africa and enslaving these formerly free men and women? Blacks and Whites alike bought into that false narrative, believing it as gospel. We ourselves did not learn until years later that this portrayal was patently untrue. Voddie writes:

I have also broadened my perspective on slavery. A visit to the Slave Tree in Ndola, Zambia, poignantly reminded me that, contrary to popular belief, white slavers did not come to Africa and track through the bush to find and capture slaves; they bought them from other Africans who had already enslaved them. It was sobering to realize that my ancestors — far from being kings and queens — were actually debtors, criminals, or conquered people who were sold to Westerners by their own kinsmen. And thank God they sold them to the Westerners and not the Arabs! The Arab slave trade lasted more than thirteen centuries and was far more brutal; few Africans sold to the Arabs even survived the journey.³Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe; Salem Books an Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, pp 37-38

Moreover, Baucham writes:

I have come to realize that culture does matter, that not all cultures are equal, that Christian culture has produced the highest levels of freedom and prosperity and the lowest levels of corruption and oppression in the world, and that transforming culture is a laudable and worthwhile goal.⁴Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe; Salem Books an Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, p 38

Baucham introduces to the reader a term he has coined, “Ethnic Gnosticism.”

Ethnic Gnosticism has three basic manifestations. First, it assumes there is a black perspective all black people share (unless they are broken).

Of course, no one will admit this since it is obviously racist. However, this is exactly what Ethnic Gnosticism advocates. Second, it argues that white people’s only access to this perspective comes from elevating and heeding black voices. Finally, it essentially argues that narrative is an alternative, and ultimately superior, truth. ⁵Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe; Salem Books an Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, pp 93-94

What many Christians and non-Christians are dangerously late to recognize and even now reluctant to admit, Critical Race Theory is a new religious movement. Voddie writes:

The antiracist movement has many of the hallmarks of a cult, including staying close enough to the Bible to avoid immediate detection and hiding the fact that it has a new theology and a new glossary of terms that diverge ever-so-slightly from Christian orthodoxy. At least at first. In classic cult fashion, they borrow from the familiar and accepted, then infuse it with new meaning. This allows the cult to appeal to the faithful within the dominant, orthodox religions from which it draws its converts.

This new cult has created a new lexicon that has served as scaffolding to support what has become an entire body of divinity. In the same manner, this new body of divinity comes complete with its own cosmology (CT/CRT/I); original sin (racism); law (antiracism); gospel (racial reconciliation); martyrs (Saints Trayvon, Mike, George, Breonna, etc.); priests (oppressed minorities); means of atonement (reparations); new birth (wokeness); liturgy (lament); canon (CSJ social science); theologians (DiAngelo, Kendi, Brown, Crenshaw, MacIntosh, etc.); and catechism (“say their names”). We’ll examine some of those topics in this chapter and a few later on.

In case you’re wondering about its soteriology, there isn’t one. Antiracism offers no salvation-only perpetual penance in an effort to battle an incurable disease. And all of it begins with pouring new meaning into well-known words. ⁶Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe; Salem Books an Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, p 67

In the doctrine of this religion, not only are Whites inherently racist and evil, but the condition is an incurable disease. There is no path to forgiveness for Whites, and no clean slate or salvation to be had, only perpetual penance. Think about that. Does that sound even remotely like it is of God?

Fundamentally, the doctrines and claims of CT/CRT/I must be taken by faith — but not a faith based on evidence and reason. It is a faith based solely on narrative, speculation, and Ethnic Gnosticism. The story is all that matters. As Baucham writes, “it essentially argues that narrative is an alternative and ultimately superior truth.”

He weaves parts of his own life story into the book, by which he demonstrates the difference between being raised to take personal responsibility or being taught to view oneself as a perpetual victim. When he wrote of his mother’s influence, I (Don) thought we could be twins. Voddie and I seem to have had remarkably similar moms. Writes Voddie,

My mother shaped my thinking about who I was and what I was capable of. She never said or did anything to cause me to believe that my blackness was a curse or a limitation. She gave me a sense of agency and accountability that remains with me to this day. She did this by advocating for me, protecting me, disciplining me, and sacrificing for me. ⁷Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe; Salem Books an Imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2021, p 14

His mother did not teach him he was a victim and would not allow anyone else to teach him that either. She taught him that he is responsible for his own life. She also modeled personal responsibility for him.

Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe is a book of history, commentary on the experiment of the country called America, factual refutation of false claims and sound biblical teaching between two covers. It is not going to make the priests and prophets of the new religion happy but perhaps it will be used to free the slaves who have been deceived by them. It is an extremely important read for our time.

Let’s keep in mind that such a book is not written so that others — of perhaps different hues — should feel justified to pour contempt upon those who are happily embracing this new religion. Our problems as a nation are far more a sin problem than a skin problem. ALL of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We should all fight the temptation to disdain or to hate. Yet, this division of us by race seems to us to be playing with fire — perhaps even igniting a raging inferno that will not be easily quenched, if at all. It seems possibly to be on track to destroy both our nation and much of the Church, which would only gladden the hearts of those that are despicably stoking this division to accomplish that very thing. We truly need to understand what is behind this dangerous and relatively new false religion, to perhaps be able to free someone else of its false teachings and/or false guilt and “perpetual penance.”

Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe  Î©

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