In October 2018, Dan Jackson said (at the NAD Society of Communicators meeting) “Social Justice is the Gospel.” Not part of the gospel. Not an aspect of it. The whole kit and caboodle.
Five years later, in October this year, the NAD hosted a ‘Conscience and Justice convention at their office in Columbia Maryland. According to the Lake Region (regional) Conference, the meeting was a '“gathering of social justice visionaries and thought leaders.” A better name for it is the “NAD Christian Nationalism is Bad and Critical Race Theory is Good Social Justice SDA Polilib Woke Symposium” or NADCNBCRTGSJSDAPWS+, for short.
Some speakers at this event:
- The Honorable Maxine Waters (Invited), Member of Congress
- Nicholas Miller, Co-Director Washington Adventist University Center for Law and Public Policy
- Leon Russell, Chairperson (Invited) NAACP
- Claudia Allen
- Charde’ Hollins, Mental Health & Equity Consultant
- Kim Brace, Founder and President Election Data Services
- Paul Graham, Assistant to the Vice President for Pastoral Ministries for Revitalization — Potomac Conference
- G. Alexander Bryant, President, North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
- Derrick Greene, Founder Interfaith Action Movement
- Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, President and General Secretary National Council of Churches
- Bettina Krause, Editor Liberty Magazine
- Marilyn Dabady Lynk, Associate Vice President Learning, Leadership & Organizational Development Diversity Inclusion Equity
Some Themes at This Conference
- LGBTQIA: Love and Liberty
- Immigration Today: What’s New?
- Addressing Health Disparities as Evangelism
- The Redistricting Process: Drawing the Lines
- Democracy Today: Justice or Injustice?
- Threats to the Voting Rights Act
- Historically and Today: Where Does the Church Stand on Systemic Racism and Application of the Three Angels Message?
- Learning, Leadership & Organizational Development Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Commentary
Social justice activists have exchanged left-wing activism for fighting the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12).
If you haven’t figured it out already, let me say it. Seventh-day Adventist PARL (public affairs and religious liberty) has become a home for ecumenism, hard left politics and every foul spirit. Like this,
“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Revelation 18:2).
In an increasingly charged political environment, individuals with diminished confidence in the Advent Message find politics an easy substitute for the patience of the saints. We see this on both sides of the aisle. Some conservative individuals cling to politics because short-term fears take precedence over long-term faith in God.
When a division (North American) wants to be political, social justice is the perfect vehicle. It explains why the NAD began releasing statements on most every cultural issue in the last five years. It gave them an opportunity to be political, while at the same time claiming that they were not political. To some degree, ADCOM is doing this as well.
The carnal mind concerns itself, primarily with the short term, while the spiritually-minded man has his eye on the long range outcome of redemption (1 John 6:2; Matthew 24:13).
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. [Social justice.] Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
When we put an adjective on justice (social), it’s because we have something else in mind. Social justice is a Marxist impulse that seeks to deconstruct and shatter society under the guise of helping it. It hurts while claiming to help, it destroys, while claiming to heal.
Converted Christians don’t do that. They don’t try to destroy culture and society. We don’t foment political revolution—only the revolutionary idea that the Creator of this world died for its people as a cosmic outcast.
Paul makes a statement in Galatians when he says if anyone comes to you preaching another gospel, let him be damned (Galatians 1:8,9). He says that twice. Apparently, it is a damning thing to pervert the gospel and the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. The social gospel is another gospel.
Social justice has been around a long time. It just has a new name. In the 1800s and 1900s churches became preoccupied with temporal needs over spiritual needs. (Jesuit Luigi Taparelli was the originator of this phenomenon in 1843). That became known as the social gospel. The social gospel devastated countless churches. You can drive up and down the road in most cities and you will find these churches sitting—empty shells with almost nothing inside.
Social justice came along in the last two decades, and it’s rolled into liberal Adventism with very little critical thinking. We are already beginning to see what a disaster it has become.
The problem with tying social justice to the gospel as Dan Jackson did in 2018 is that it doesn’t belong there. Social justice does tremendous damage to the everlasting gospel. Why?
Because social justice is the celebration of victimhood. The reason we see social justice as the incarnation of the social gospel is because we have an increasing supply of victims which social justice claims to be able to address.
The victim class has never been as defined and elevated and exalted as it is today. And this victim class comes in the form of race, women, and homosexuality—the three corner stones of liberal Adventism.
The victim class is growing because moral authority has been bestowed upon the victims. Everybody wants to be a victim. It’s popular, it’s trendy.
This dominates at the University level. If you are not a victim, you have nothing to say. You have no moral authority. You have no place at the table.
When the church decides to embrace the sinner's victimhood status, this is a disaster. This prevents people from coming to the cross. It prevents repentance. That’s why you don’t hear the word repentance much anymore—it has been eliminated by the false gospel of social justice. And this is the world in which we are called to share the Everlasting Gospel.
What does the Bible say? The most comprehensive explanation of humanity is that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). This reality dominates humans. But they don’t want to be guilty. That’s why victimhood is so popular. It offers a "get out of jail free card" against any guilt. The victimhood phenomenon that we are seeing in western culture is simply an attempt to jettison any and all guilt and accountability. This is a dagger to the heart of the gospel, which says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If all have sinned, then all need a Savior. If I can push off my guilt onto someone else, on the basis of perceived victimhood, then I don’t need a Savior. We first saw this in Genesis chapter 3.
The gospel begins when we take full responsibility for our sins. Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come.
We are like God when we love, and we are even more like God when we love our enemies. Pray for the brethren (2 Thessalonians 3:1), even those who are deceived by another gospel.
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“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you” (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
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