“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-10)
Liverpool FC players take the knee, 202
An idealist’s War
William Wilberforce bowed the knee to Jesus and, inspired and galvanised by the Living God and the Bible, helped change the course of history by introducing the Slave Trade Act 1807 which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.It was not until over 50 years later that the USA followed suit, and then only following a bloody civil war which tore the country apart and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
Some years ago, an American friend showed me his priceless original photograph (then called a “Daguerreotype”) of US President Abraham Lincoln, who led the Union and brought about the end to slavery in his own country. I have always held Lincoln in very high regard, so this is a memory I will never forget. Some time later I had the uncanny experience of coming across a picture of a young soldier who had died in that conflict and seeing a remarkable likeness of my friend staring back at me. Whether or not he was related, I do not know, but it reminded me that our own present lives are intimately connected with past history.
The American Civil War was an idealist’s war. Combatants on both sides believed passionately they were fighting for a better world, whether it was to preserve the union, end slavery, or fight for Southern states’ rights and theirconcept of democracy – albeit a warped one from which black people were excluded. As for Lincoln, people debate where he stood on religious matters. He was America’s only president not to belong to a specific church denomination, yet he had an impressive grasp of the Bible and expressed the earnest desire to visit Jerusalem. Recently, circumstantial evidence has emerged to build a compelling case that he may well have been Jewish.
Shortly before his death, Lincoln spoke about the Civil War in terms which would shock most people today, including many Christians. He saw the terrible blood-letting as God’s judgement on the USA for the crimes committed against its black slaves – a purging of the sins of the nation which claimed to be founded on the principle that “all men are created equal”. Yet he also called for national reconciliation and generosity of spirit to the vanquished South when the war was won. In both these matters, he spoke in the manner of a Biblical prophet. Tragically, Lincoln’s plea for reconciliation largely fell on deaf ears because of the hatred of one Southerner who put a bullet through his head.
Taking the knee
Preserving history is essential. It has been said that those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past repeat them. A couple of months before the “Black Lives Matter” campaign, an American work colleague told me about a history book he was writing, which included details of the Oklahoma bombings of 1921. Although I was aware of the long, arduous road of black Americans to truly escape the effects of slavery and enjoy genuine equality in US society, I had never heard of this incident. Unbelievable as it may seem, white Americans used aircraft to drop bombs on black areas of their city. We need to hear these stories.
That Christians should reject racism unequivocally ought to be self-evident, but how should Believers respond to pressure to “take the knee”,thus bowing down to something or someone other than our Lord Jesus Christ? As in all matters of faith, the Bible must be our guide.
The book of Daniel recalls an attempt to force an entire population to collectively bow the knee, with a death threat hanging over any who dared resist. Those who understand Bible prophecy recognise this historical event as foreshadowing a future stark choice which will determine the eternal destiny of many people. One of the most striking features of the story is that the call to submit was accompanied by the playing of a cacophony of loud musical instruments – a point repeated in the narrative for emphasis. The intention was clearly to crush potential resistance by overwhelming people’s senses. In modern times a similar approach was used by the Nazis at the Auschwitz concentration camp. In order to de-humanise and demoralise the prisoners, loud, discordant and specially composed “music” was continually blared across loud speakers.
A particular narrative
Today, when we are repeatedly presented with one particular version of a narrative, and see that even moderate questioning or dissenting voices are constantly side-lined or silenced, we should take careful note. So, let us ask ourselves some pertinent questions. Does a person’s support, or otherwise, for a particular campaign define whether or not they are racist? As well-intentioned as the “Black Lives Matter” campaign may be, what are people actually submitting to when they “take the knee”? Does it include supporting the actions of those within the movement who riot, violently assault police officers, indiscriminately destroy property and vilify anyone who dares to express reservations about “taking the knee”? And what about encouraging anti-Semitism?
In a remarkably ironic twist – given the contribution of Wilberforce and Lincoln to black rights -American churches and synagogues in particular have been targeted for attack by some of these protesters. Even the Bible has been publicly burned on the false accusation that it condones slavery. Not unexpectedly, however, large sections of the media have chosen to be silent about these attacks. At a moment in history when people are focused on history, history in the making is quietly being side-lined!
Just as with the assassination of Lincoln, the wrong voices are often those which threaten to drown out the ones which should be heard. Thankfully, here in the UK Sir Keir Starmer was willing to take swift and decisive action against MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for apparently endorsing the views of those who accuse Jews of contributing to the death of George Floyd. We hope and pray that moderate voices will prevail and that people’s hearts will turn away from racism of all kinds. However, attempts to coerce people into public acts of contrition or support for a cause, no matter how well-intentioned, pose a considerable threat to freedom of conscience – the very foundation of our democracy on which the right of public protest itself depends.
Racism is one of many evils perpetrated by fallen humanity, but the remedy of transformed hearts and minds does not come about through coercion. Two centuries ago, the slave trader John Newton had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. He “bowed the knee” to the Creator of the universe and subsequently became a prominent campaigner for the abolition of slavery. His other great legacy is the hymn “Amazing Grace”. The Bible which inspired him is founded on two great accounts of God’s intervention in human history to overthrow slavery – the setting free of the Jewish people from Egypt, and our own personal liberation through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ which the former foreshadowed. To understand just how much every life matters, we need look no further.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807
http://www.infobarrel.com/Oklahoma_Bombing_Tulsa_Race_Riot_of_1921
https://twnews.co.uk/uk-news/guy-adams-forever-family-force-leader-s-anti-semitic-abuse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Newton
Simon Pease is author of the recent book “Ruth – A Prophetic Parable” Sub-titled “How does the story of Ruth relate to YOU today?” He teaches on the unity of Scripture and contributes to the UK magazine Sword.
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