By Gary G. Kohls, MD

I have a habit of rescuing old used books from garage sales, used book stores and library book sales, books that are at risk of being tossed into the flames or shredders because they haven’t been read or checked out of the library for decades. It is a sad commentary on our high-tech society that classic, out-of-print books that contain the accurate history and wisdom of the ages are crowded off library shelves by pulp novels, comic books, fantasy novels, romance novels and Kindles (which, by the way, will never get around to publishing even a tiny fraction of the books that I have rescued from oblivion).

In one of those old, not-yet-musty books that I purchased from a church library sale years ago, I found a paragraph about prophets that resonated with me. The passage concisely articulates a powerful truth that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else.

The book that contained the quote was titled “Religion in the Struggle for Power”. It was authored by J. Milton Yinger, PhD, a professor of sociology. It had been published by Duke University Press soon after World War II, and was a study of the sociology of religion. I bought the book mainly because it contained a chapter entitled “The Churches and War”.

Here is the quote that I see as concisely expressing one of the major problems of Christianity since the usurpation of the religion during the reign of Constantine, 1700 years ago:

“The prophet courageously challenges oppressive social structures of which the church may be an integral part. The prophet is the end result of the best in the tradition and spirituality of the church, which soon, sadly, drives him or her out.”

The book discusses at length the conflict that all churches face in trying to conform to the frequently anti-gospel, pro-violence societal norms of their often militarized nations struggling, and usually failing, to preach the radical liberating gospel message of peace, nonviolence, love, mercy, forgiveness and enemy-love. Whistle-blowing prophets refuse to conform to societal norms. And Jesus was one of those true prophets who was driven out of his establishment religion that was in an unholy alliance with the principalities and powers of his day.

In these disorienting, chaotic and censorious times, when most segments of our society seem to be cooperating nicely with the American Empire (probably the most dangerous principality and power of our time) one has to work hard to hear or even read about the prophets who are trying to warn us of the dangers.

But we need to be aware that they are out there because they give some hope for the increasingly dim future for our children, grandchildren, the planet and our souls.

Sometimes church-goers are lucky enough to hear prophetic voices from their pulpits, precisely where one would expect the whistle-blowers to be.

Many years ago, a Lutheran pastor said to me, “they told us in seminary that if you want to be a prophet, you’d better keep your bags packed.” At the time I was naively trying to promote the idea in that church that war and violence were in direct conflict with the ethical teachings of Jesus, so the pastor’s comment was a sobering one for me. It did, however help me to understand what had previously mystified me: where were the Christ-like prophets in the church?

Jesus himself warned about the dangers of being prophetic in the domain of the rich and powerful when he said “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that murders the prophets! The city that stones those sent to help her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen protects her brood under her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” (Luke 13: 34)

Jesus seemed to recognize the truth of the modern aphorism that “familiarity breeds contempt” when he said “a prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country and among his own people!” (Matthew 13:57)

So when I recently came across a really prophetic sermon from a progressive pastor that I know from the internet, I felt that I needed to share it with others.

Therefore, printed below is a portion of a recent sermon from Pastor Rich Lang, lead pastor of University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle. Pastor Lang delivered this sermon on August 7, 2011 and it articulated for me a lot of what many of us in the peace movement have been thinking about these days. The sermon is titled, “Without Love All There Is Is War”.

The New Testament text that Pastor Lang chose for his sermon

was Ephesians 6:10-20, where the followers of Jesus are commissioned by the apostle Paul to use nonviolent, Christ-like, spiritual "warfare" against the “principalities”, the “powers”, the “world rulers of this present darkness” and the “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places", all entities that use the “wiles of the satanic” in pursuing their unholy worldly agendas. The nonviolent spiritual tools Paul mentions in the text include truth, ethical behavior, peace, faith and prayer. Paul says nothing about using military violence or homicide.

I’m sure readers will appreciate how Lang mixed religion with politics, seemingly preaching with a newspaper in one hand and the New Testament in the other. The boldings in the text below are mine.

The entire sermon text can be accessed at: http://utemple.org/home/SermonPDF/RL%20Aug%207%202011.pdf

Without Love All There Is Is War

Pastor Rich Lang – August 7, 2011

<<<snip>>>

"We are people of a nation that once made sacred covenant that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal, that all are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’  

"The happiness spoken of was the freedom to exist under the governing laws of a democracy.  The audacity of the American experiment was to break away from the rule of kings, with their military-corporate hierarchy.  We would be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.   And the people were plain folk not elite folk. 

"This spiritual covenant has been repeatedly re-affirmed in our history: we have Lady Liberty who says to us “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”  (Golden door –golden age)

"We have had great heroes who role modeled for us: George Washington
who refused to be king, Abraham Lincoln who saved the union, FDR who saved the country from fascism both domestic and foreign.   We had Martin Luther King who taught us to discern the quality of character not the color of skin.  We had Ike who warned us of the emergence of a military-industrial complex.  We’ve been blessed especially when we as a people have listened to the voice of America’s angels.

"Our crisis today is that we’ve become deaf to the Angel’s voice.   Our nation is no longer pursuing our sacred covenant rooted so clearly in the lamplight of Liberty and in the vision of our own stained glass altarpiece: a harmony amongst the nations with ourselves as peacemakers.  

"Instead, we have let loose the dogs of war against all nations.  What we were pre 9/11 and what we’ve become post 9/11 are two different countries.   Today we are being locked down into a militarized corporate feudalism that is shattering the middle class, sweeping away the working class, crushing the poor and is increasingly crusading across the globe in a war of us against all.

"Just count the wars: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.  We have troops, mostly Special Operations and CIA, but also mercenary soldiers (all without congressional oversight) in 120 countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, throughout Central and South Asia, throughout Africa, throughout Central and South America.  

"Like God we are everywhere in our own Tower of Babel project of full spectrum dominance.   These wars have drained our commonwealth, and they have not brought liberty and justice for all.  Our wars are a contradiction to the values that created this nation: they are a rejection of the angel’s voice, they are active arrogant rebellion against the will of God, they are a further crucifixion of Christ.  

"But where is the voice of the Church?  And for us, what is it --- specifically --- that we in the Temple are doing to break the cannons, to bring an end to permanent war and a transformation of the economy so that all might have life?  How are we being heroic in the cause of Christ?

"Those distant wars are now coming home with the creation of now normal, standardized SWAT teams incorporated into the once noble vocation of police work. Our local police are becoming militarized with arsenals of weapons, tanks, armed helicopters, grenade launchers, even aircraft. They are being trained to see protest as treason, and the public as enemy combatants rather than as fellow citizens.  Our taxes are funding, under the guise of Immigration concerns, huge containment facilities that an earlier age called concentration camps, and what we once called prisons are now becoming privatized torture chambers. 

"This is America today --- this is the moment for which we have responsibility and accountability before God.  Not yesterday.  Not tomorrow.  Today.   How are we--- specifically --- being Christ today in a nation of permanent aggressive crucifying warfare against others?

"Throughout these last weeks we were all part of a massive political propaganda campaign whose purpose is to mask the hardening of austerity measures being launched against the once proud, but now docile and defeated American people.  It is increasingly clear that we the people no longer have sovereignty over our laws, our purse, or our political representatives.  The only citizen of any significance is the Corporate Citizen, itself a spiritual entity, a principality and power in active rebellion against the Creator."

<<<snip>>>

Let’s hope that the people in Pastor Lang’s church or community don’t start a campaign to drive him out.