Setting the Captives Free: Churches Raiding Slave Ships

There are a lot of hot-button social justice issues that come and go in Christian culture.  Whether it be starving children in Ethiopia, orphans in China, medical relief in Haiti, or saving unborn babies, interest in these issues seems--at least to me--to come in waves.  I can think of a few reasons these issues come and go.  (1) Maybe they come and go because they are simply fads.  What seems to be a cool unique cause eventually becomes tiresome and boring until a new cool unique cause comes along.  This is a pretty cynical way of looking at these issues. (2) Perhaps they come and go because they are areas where God wants the Church to focus its attention and join Him in what he is doing.  Maybe God is the one stirs the Church to be about certain issues at certain strategic times in history so that his love and justice can reach the maximum amount of people possible.  If so, then the Church is simply reflecting God's focus and heart for the world about these issues.  (3) Perhaps they come and go because the Church sometimes neglects certain areas of ministry and justice, and needs it's attention refocused and it's heart rekindled so that the heart of the Church is realigned with the place where God's heart and passion have been all  along.  I suspect that reasons (2) and (3) are somewhere close to the truth of the matter.  The reality is that God deeply loves people, and because he loves people, he is doing something in this world to bring about justice and knowledge of Himself.

One current hot-button social justice issue is human trafficking.  I recently heard about Augustine’s Letter to Alypius (# 10, ca. 428 AD) where he refers to an increase in slave trafficking by abduction in North Africa and how groups of Christians raided slave ships to set the prisoners free. Listen to this:

Even the examples of this outrage that I have personally encountered are too many for me to list, if I wished to do so. Let me give you just one example, and you can estimate from it the total extent of their activity throughout Africa and along its coasts. About four months before I wrote this letter, a crowd of people collected from different regions, but particularly from Numidia, were brought here by Galatian merchants to be transported from the shores of Hippo (It is only, or at least mainly, the Galatians who are so eager to engage in this form of commerce). However, a faithful Christian was at hand, who was aware of our practice of performing acts of mercy in such cases; and he brought the news to the church. Immediately, about 120 people were set free by us (though I was absent at the time), some from the ship which they had to board, others from a place where they had been hidden before being put on board. We discovered that barely five or six of these had been sold by their parents. On hearing about the misfortunes that had led the rest of them to the Galatians, via their abductors and kidnappers, hardly one of us could restrain their tears.  (HT:  Michael Bird)

This is a good reminder that Christians called to action.  If we want our lives to truly demonstrate our beliefs, then we should actively engage in acts of justice and mercy.  "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:16-18 ESV).  So what did you do after church last Sunday?  Go out to a restaurant for lunch, went home for a nap, did some light shopping, or mounted a rescue mission for slaves?  What would it mean for your church or your small group or your friends to get together and "raid a slave ship?"  What is the "slave ship" in your life?  Who is in need of justice that you are capable of supplying?  The Church must always be about social justice because the Church must be about God, and God is about justice.  God is about the oppressed, the alone, and the destitute.  He cares for children, the weak, and the helpless--and so must we.  "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world"  (James 1:27 ESV).  This gets dangerous when the message of the gospel is divorced from or blurred by the focus on the social justice issues, but that should not deter us from displaying and incarnating God's heart towards the world.  Instead, it should simply make us all the more vigilant to keep the gospel central to all that we do and to not separate the good news from good works.

The letter above goes to show that the efforts of Christians to set the slaves free did not begin with William Wilberforce but has ancient origins.  Freedom for the captives is not just a fad, but a historical mantra for the church of God.  This makes me all the more thankful for the work on the International Justice Mission who advocate for those caught in human trafficking.  See also the following books:

• God in a Brothel - by Daniel Walker (see also the interview with Walker at Patheos)
• Generous Justice - by Tim Keller
• When Helping Hurts - by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett

The Advocate

One of my favorite hymns is "Before the Throne of God Above."  The author, Charitie Lees Smith, was born in 1841 in the vicinity of Dublin, Ireland. She was the daughter of a minister of the Church of Ireland. Not much is known about her life, but it appears that she was widowed twice: although she married Arthur Bancroft in 1869, she died under the name Charitie de Cheney in California in 1923. Charitie published her poetry in leaflet form as early as 1860, and a number of her collected works were eventually published as Within the Veil in 1867. “Before the Throne” was written in 1863 under the title “The Advocate.”  I really appreciate how this hymn gives a clear picture of the confidence believers have before God--not due to themselves, but due to their strong Advocate--Christ Jesus.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea. (Heb 4:15-16)
A great High Priest whose Name is Love (Heb 4:14)
Who ever lives and pleads for me. (Heb 7:25)
My name is graven on His hands, (Isa 49:16)
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart. (Rom 8:34)

When Satan tempts me to despair (Luke 22:31-32)
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there (Acts 7:55-56)
Who made an end of all my sin. (Col 2:13-14)
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me. (Rom 3:24-26)

Behold Him there the risen Lamb, (Rev 5:6)
My perfect spotless righteousness, (1 Cor 1:30; 1 Peter 1:18-19)
The great unchangeable I AM, (Heb 13:8; John 8:58)
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood, (Acts 20:28)
My life is hid with Christ on high, (Col 3:3)
With Christ my Savior and my God! (Tit 2:13) 

“Before the Throne of God Above” draws heavily from Scripture for its pictures and language. It is a hymn which finds its theme in the perfect security which believers find in Christ, Who intercedes for them “before the throne of God above.” The following Scriptures find echoes in the song, whether Charitie is drawing conceptually from them or merely using their language.

1 John 2:1:  "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."  ("The Advocate," title).
Hebrews 4:14-16: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (“a great High Priest”, st. 1, and general conceptual background)
Hebrews 7:25: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (“Who ever lives and pleads for me,” st. 1)
1 John 4:8-9:  "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." ("whose Name is Love, st. 1")
Isaiah 49:16a: “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;” (“My name is written on His hands,” st. 1)
Romans 8:34: “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (“I know that while in Heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart,” st. 1)

In verse 2, Charitie may have had the following texts in mind:

Luke 22:31-32a: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” (“When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within,” st. 2)
Acts 7:55-56: “But [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” (“Upward I look and see Him there,” st. 2)
Colossians 2:13-14: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (“Who made an end to all my sin,” st. 2)
Romans 3:24-26: “. . . and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (“God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me,” v. 2)

Likewise, verse 3:

Revelation 5:6: “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” (“Behold Him there, the risen Lamb,” st. 2)
1 Corinthians 1:30: “[God] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (“My perfect spotless righteousness,” st. 2)
1 Peter 1:18-19: “. . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (“spotless,” st. 2)
Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (“unchangeable,” st. 2)
John 8:58: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” (“I AM,” st. 2)
Acts 20:28: “. . . the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (“my soul is purchased by His blood,” st. 2)
Colossians 3:3: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (“My life is hid with Christ on high,” st. 3)
Titus 2:13: “. . . waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (“Christ my Savior and my God,” st. 3)

Roots

Roots are important.  They help you know where you came from.  The give you a sense of identity, heritage, and history.  The people of Israel had a deep sense of history and they knew their roots.  They learned from their ancestors in ways that we have largely lost.  They saw themselves as part of something bigger and more important than themselves--something God was doing in history.  In our individualistic, narcissistic, ahistorical culture, roots are something we are lacking and we desperately need.  Narcissism breeds isolation, and for the most part we've become islands unto ourselves.  We've lost our sense of legacy.  I wish I knew more about my family's history--where we came from, how we navigated through hard times, how we celebrated good times, and how God worked through my family to do great things in history.  While my understanding of my roots might be small, I do know some things about my roots, and I'm working on learning more.  One person who inspires me is my grandfather, who is now with the Lord in glory, David King.  Below is a little bit about his story.  

My grandfather on my father's side was named David Albert King.  Before the United States entered World War II, when we were isolationists for the most-part, my grandfather had the foresight to see that Hitler was an evil man who needed to be stopped.  He decided therefore to enter the merchant marines.  The merchant marines were one of the few groups of Americans who helped the British in the war efforts in those early days before the U.S. officially entered the war.  They would send loads and loads of supplies across the Atlantic to keep the British supplied with medicine, ammunition, food, and whatever else was needed.

After joining the merchant marines, he was given the position of navigator.  Back then, that didn't include radar or GPS.  He would guide ships across the Atlantic simply by using the stars, a compass, some maps, and his knowledge of tides.  He continued doing this after the United States had entered the war post-Pearl Harbor.  On one occasion, England was in dire need of supplies, and my grandfather's vessel was at the head of a massive supply convoy.  The other ships were following his ship, so he was acting as the navigator for the entire convoy.  As the convoy approached the British coast, a thick fog set in.  This fog was so thick, my grandfather later recalled that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face, two feet away.  The convoy slowed down to a crawl to avoid crashing into the rocky coast.  The ships constantly sounded their fog horns to avoid hitting each other.   This thick fog persisted for days.

Finally, it was decided that Britain could wait no longer.  People were dying because they needed the supplies in those ships.  But many more could die if the ships ran aground or sank.  It's hard to appreciate the difficulty this situation presented.  When one is on the open sea, they are largely blind to their location and movement because their are no fixed points of reference--except the stars.  Take them away, add days of drift in a blinding fog, and an entire convoy of vessels, some of which are filled with sensitive munitions and gunpower and you have a sense of the magnitude of this task.  Nonetheless, like someone threading a needle with their eyes shut, my grandfather carefully and skillfully navigated the entire convoy safely into the harbor--even though he hadn't seen the stars in days.  He relied solely on the heading he had marked out days earlier and his compass.  This was a great and heroic feat--one so great that after he arrived, Winston Churchhill himself sent for my grandfather and personally gave him a medal.

When my grandfather returned to the United States, he entered New York harbor, and as his ship entered the harbor, he could hear the harbor patrol calling his name.  He wasn't sure what to make of this, but when he got to the harbor patrol, they loaded him into a black car, and drove him from New York to Washington D.C.  To his amazement, the driver pulled right up to the White House, and he was escorted out of the car and into the oval office.  By this time it was night.  Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his pajamas, and there, in the oval office, my grandfather met President Roosevelt in his pajamas.  To thank my grandfather for heroically navigating the convoy into the harbor, President Roosevelt gave my grandfather a license to navigate any ship of any tonnage on any ocean.  Later, my grandfather speculated that Roosevelt didn't want to be 1-uped by Churchhill--especially when it came to honoring a U.S. soldier.

Later in the war, my grandfather was navigating a vessel in the Pacific theater.  He had known for some time that God had called him to be a pastor, but he was resisting God in this.  One time during a horrible battle, there were ships sinking around him, and he looked up to see a Kamikaze headed straight towards his ship.  At that moment, he fell to his knees and told God "Yes!"  "Yes, I will serve you however you want me to."  "Yes, I will follow you despite my trepidation."  "Yes!"  He told God that if he got out of this mess, he'd spend the rest of his life devoted to preaching the gospel.  As he prayed this prayer, the crew was calling out "Kamikaze!" to one another, and the two machine gunners on either end of the ship started shooting in a panic as they searched for the rogue plane.  Their shots came no where near to the plane, but nonetheless the pilot seemed to be startled by the gunfire, and pulled up slightly on the stick, just enough to miss the ship and crash into the water.

After the war, my grandfather married my grandmother, Flora Mae King, and he faithfully served God as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bell for over 40 years.   He shepherded a small flock that was entrusted to his care with diligence and faithfulness.  He watched as the church grew, and eventually dwindled as his town transitioned from a predominantly Caucasian community to a predominantly Hispanic community.  As this transition took place, my grandfather had the foresight to begin mentoring a Mexican pastor, who eventually took over the church.  Today, his church is thriving, teaching God's Word, and spreading the gospel.  Through the ups and downs, my grandfather was faithful and he made the kingdom of God his priority.  He sought God's kingdom and righteousness above his own, and as a result, he lived a powerful life.

There's a few things I can learn about my heritage from my grandfather.  I can learn something about the character of King men.  King men are men who exercise great foresight, they are men who do what's necessary to stop evil and injustice, they are men who step up to the plate when there's a need, they are stubborn men--who sometimes resist to God's call on their lives, and they are men who eventually submit to God's call and serve Him with faithful endurance.  That's a little bit of my roots, and I'm better for knowing it.  I hope to learn more about my roots, and I hope you'll do the same.

Best Hebrews Sermon Ever

I want to do this someday.

Jesus Wants the Rose!

These Inward Trials

The life of John Newton reads like a fictional story.  You might not have heard his name before, but I'm willing to bet you know his hymn, the most-recorded song in history, "Amazing Grace."  In the year 1743 when he was young, Newton was on his way to visit some friends when he was captured and forced into naval service.  He lived as a loner with a disregard for authority.  When he attempted to desert the navy, he was captured and as punishment, he was stripped to the waist, tied to the grating, received a flogging of one dozen lashes, and was demoted to the lowest of ranks.  As a result of this, he contemplated suicide for a time.

Eventually, he was released from the military and joined the crew of an Africa-bound slave ship.  After a series of disagreements with the crew of the ship, he was left in Africa where he was enslaved to a slave-trader who brutally mistreated him.  Eventually, he was rescued by a sea captain who had been asked by Newton's father to search for him.  Later in life, he became the captain of a ship, and when the ship was about to sink in the midst of a great storm, he called out to God.  After calling out to God, it seems that the cargo of the ship plugged a hole in the hull, so the ship stopped filling up with water and drifted to safety.  As he sailed home to Britain over the next few months, he devoted his time to reading the Bible.  By the time he had reached home, he had given his allegiance and trust to Christ.

Newton later became an Anglican minister, and in addition to writing a number of hymns, he worked to abolish slavery, and he served as a mentor to William Wilberforce.  Newton died shortly after Wilberforce had succeeded in his campaign to abolish the slave-trade in England, which is an amazing story itself. 

To read more about John Newton, I'd recommend either Newton's own autobiography, entitled Out of the Depths, or Jonathan Aitken's new biography, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace.  Also of interest to some may be William Wilberforce's biography by Eric Metaxas, Amazing Grace:  William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery or the movie chronicling this story, Amazing Grace.

One of my favorite of John Newton's lesser-known hymns is "I Asked the Lord, That I Might Grow." It is below.  Enjoy!

I asked the Lord, that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favoured hour
At once He'd answer my request,
And by His love's constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

"Lord, why is this?" I trembling cried,
"Wilt thou pursue Thy worm to death?"
"'Tis in this way," the Lord replied,
"I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may'st seek thy all in me."

Enthralling the Mind with God

How do we help people to love what is lovely?  Very simply, we cause them, ask them, help them to place their minds on the lovely thing concerned.  We assist them to do this in every way possible. Saint Thomas Aquinas remarks that “love is born of an earnest consideration of the object loved.” And: “Love follows knowledge.”  Love is an emotional response aroused in the will by visions of the good.  Contrary to what is often said, love is never blind, though it may not see rightly.  It cannot exist without some vision of the beloved.
     As teachers we therefore bring the lovely thing—in this case, God—before the disciple as fully and as forcibly as possible, putting our best efforts into it.  But we never forget that in the last analysis, as we have already learned from Emily Dickinson, “the soul selects her own society, then shuts the door.”  Though we act, and as intelligently and responsibly as possible, we are always in the position of asking: asking them, asking God, and responding to their responses. 
     God has placed the only key to the innermost parts of the human soul in its own hands and will never take it back to himself or give it to another.  You may even be able to destroy the soul of another, but you will never unlock it against his or her will.  The soul, to continue the words of the poet just quoted, can “close the valves of her attention, like stone.”  She can even lose the key, and have to have help finding it.  She can even refuse the help she desperately needs.  But she will never cease to need to love, which is deeper than the need to be loved. 
     A popular saying is “Take time to smell the roses.”  What does this mean?  To enjoy the rose it is necessary to focus on it and bring the rose as fully before our senses and mind as possible.  To smell a rose you must get close, and you must linger. When we do so, we delight in it.  We love it.
     Taking time to smell the roses leaves enduring impressions of a dear glory that, if sufficiently reengaged , can change the quality of our entire life.  The rose in a very special way—and more generally the flower, even in its most humble forms—is a fragile but irrepressible witness on earth to a “larger” world where good is somehow safe. 
     This simple illustration contains profound truths.  If anyone is to love God and have his or her life filled with that love, God in his glorious reality must be brought before the mind and kept there in such a way that the mind takes root and stays fixed there.  Of course the individual must be willing for this to happen, but any genuine apprentice to Jesus will be willing.  This is the very lesson apprentices have enrolled in his school to learn.
     So the question for the first part of our curriculum is simply how to bring God adequately before the mind and spirit of the disciple.  This is to be done in such a way that love for and delight in God will be elicited and established as the pervasive orientation of the whole self.  It will fill the mind of the willing soul and progress toward an easy and delightful governance of the entire personality.      

—Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy