By Linda Harvey
The saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Christian churches should have caught on to the quasi-Christianity of Jim Wallis and Sojourners by now.
Unfortunately, the first election year "Social Justice Revival" came to a church in my town of Columbus, Ohio, two weeks ago (April 16-18). But sadly, the Gospel was hard to find on this podium. The election year faith posturing could not have been more transparent, yet many young attendees were misled to believe that this might be authentic "revived" Christianity.
As part of the three-day event, Wallis told us he and the other pastors lunched with Ohio Democrats Gov. Ted Strickland and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman. No Republicans were mentioned by these inclusive believers. What was on the menu? Perhaps how religion can prop up left-wing priorities like race divisiveness, perpetual poverty and America-bashing as the important issues "real" believers should care about, rather than fighting homosexual marriage and abortion.
Wallis' speeches were taken almost verbatim from his recent book, "The Great Awakening." Shouldn't there be something more spontaneous in a "revival"? Wallis' book outlines what he believes constitutes justice. The right, Jim tells us, is obsessed with fighting abortion laws and stopping "gay rights," for instance, which he supports as a justice issue (page 229). Both are way too divisive and not nearly as important as programs for the poor, climate change and giving away American sovereignty, preferably to illegal immigrants. The Christian right does not care about the poor, Wallis makes clear to those who did not realize this.
Wallis steered clear of his affinity for "gay rights" at the Vineyard Columbus, however. Perhaps he had been warned how controversial his appearance was, how Ohio radio talk shows were buzzing in the weeks ahead, how some pastors wanted to silence the discussions of Wallis' actual beliefs - all in the name of "justice," I'm sure.
"Justice" at this event was centered around Jim's interpretation of Luke 4:18. He told us the Gospel isn't good news unless it's good news to the poor. Did you catch that? In other words, salvation offered to all people isn't enough of a Divine gift to the ever-useful "poor" who were the stars of the speeches all three nights. Money, guaranteed jobs and worldly goods better be part of the package, apparently, or else Jesus can just pack up and go right back to Israel - whoops, I mean "Palestine." Like most of the left, Jim isn't exactly pro-Semitic these days.
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