History Is Not Bunk

Dear Enemies Of Lucifer:To fulfill my pledge to keep you abreast of the follies and phonies found on the religious scene, I recently visited the Church of Satan in San Francisco. Armed with a hefty imaginary inkpot, a la Luther, I attended a black arts lecture given by Anton Szandor LaVey, the cult’s high priest. My meeting with the Mephistophelian-bearded, Yul Brynner-shaven, black-velvet-robed ambassador from the nether regions convinced me, however, that a chuckle was my best protection.In the black-walled living room of a black Victorian house, LaVey leads ritualistic services, lectures on the black arts, and gives charm courses for witches. Bizarre objects fill the house: a skeleton, a stuffed “werewolf,” an operating table, a tombstone coffee table. Over the fireplace-altar (where a nude reclines during solemn celebrations) hangs the cult’s red medallion, a goathead enclosed in a star at whose five points are Hebrew letters representing biblical names of Satan.LaVey’s Satan-worshiping cult promotes a message of lust so crass that the appeal to self-indulgence becomes untemptingly banal. He advises his witches to entrap a man by dressing in “modified-prostitute” style, enticing him with a secret aphrodisiac and high-cholesterol food for virility, and hexing him by burning his picture while thinking erotically of him during pre-dawn sleeping hours when his ESP is most receptive. What attracts would-be witches and warlocks most to his lectures (.50 admission) is the hope of gaining amazing occult powers. Both the henna-haired lady who introduced herself as Lenore the “head witch” and a former Russian Orthodox seminarian, now a minister of Satan, told me of their belief in sorcery. Among the twenty-five present was a black-clad fifteen-year-old boy, referred to as the first member of Youth for Satan.Sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, a follower of LaVey until her recent death, had sought his help allegedly to stop harrassment by her boyfriend, attorney Steve Brody. To oblige her, LaVey claims he put a hex on him. Shortly thereafter Brody, along with Miss Mansfield, was killed in an auto accident. LaVey “reluctantly” takes credit for his demise. When I asked about LaVey’s responsibility for Jayne’s death, his beautiful blonde wife replied, “When lightning strikes, sometimes the innocent also are killed.” What careless devils!Shocking to some, a novelty to others, the Satan cult is just too corny to make it big. Satan himself is too clever and deceptive to bother much with LaVey’s sideshow.Eutychus IIIAn adversary of the Adversary,On Being LikemindedThe article by Reuel Lemmons, “Possibly We Can Get Together” (Sept. 1), makes more sense on the subject of ecumenism than anything else I have seen. By now we agree that there is a great deal of merit in at least talking about the subject, and a great deal has been said pro and con about it. This brief article succinctly provides a pattern which seems to have the basic elements of a successful method.JOHN A. SCOTTChurch of ChristMemphis, Tenn.Possibly the sect that Mr. Lemmons represents could instigate a move back toward Bible unity, if they would begin the move by renouncing a few of their hard-core doctrines, such as salvation by water, the non-biblical name they have attached to the church, their dogged teaching of a “sin you must” religion, and—last but not least—a thing that seems second nature to them, their bent to argue over the most insignificant matters of doctrine and dogma. I’m waiting to see if Mr. Lemmons is really interested in unity of the Church, or if he means only to use his words as a decoy for other Christians, whom he hopes to draw into useless and unprofitable debate.HERBERT O. FAINYakima, Wash.Mr. Lemmons’s religious group, which calls itself “The Churches of Christ,” claims to be undenominational. I will not be surprised if they take you to task for referring to them as a “denomination.” But in reality they are the most denominational of the religious groups I know about, divided into numerous warring factions, each claiming to be the exclusive “church of Christ.” On three things they seem to be in agreement: that water baptism by immersion by one of their ministers is absolutely essential to salvation; that instrumental music in worship is sinful; and that all outside their religious communion are apostates and not a part of the body of Christ. Mr. Lemmons’s kind of union, as I see it, would be if all other evangelicals dropped any scriptural interpretation different from the accepted “Church of Christ” viewpoints and accepted the interpretations of his particular group.T. F. MCNABBFort Dix, N. J.It is obvious that the person who wrote the descriptive paragraph on Reuel Lemmons knows little of the Churches of Christ. It is further plain that this same person either did not read or did not understand the article by Brother Lemmons: “It is perfectly clear to the Bible student that the Lord who gave himself to purchase the Church intended that all his followers be gathered together in one undenominational and undivided body, the Church.”In view of this, whence the reference to the Churches of Christ as a “denomination” and Reuel Lemmons as a “denominational” evangelist?TIMOTHY W. DUNNAustin, Tex.We are placing so much emphasis on mergers that church members are coming to believe that nothing less than one great, universal, outward church is acceptable to God.…One cannot be naive enough to believe that further mergers are not forthcoming, but one can continue to wish for leaders and pastors who would rather spend themselves in emphasizing sin, repentance, forgiveness, and a sinless heaven awaiting true believers in Jesus Christ—members of the true Church.The strength of any denomination is not in its numerical size but in congregations which contain many born-again, individual believers who are completely “sold out” to the greatest King, and the greatest cause, in all the world.EARL K. BRISSMANMoline, Ill.The Working ChurchI am enjoying your panel discussions.…I would like to add to the discussion “What’s the Sense of Work?” (Sept. 1). The Christian Church, properly conducted, is one of the most proficient production-line operations. But in most cases the minister does most of the producing. In some cases the minister wants it that way. In others there is no other alternative. He has to be the financier, chairman of the church board, and sometimes … may even … be the custodian.It is really a production-line job and will take the talent of all.WILLIAM H. BELTElyria, OhioNot A SpeckWe who believe the doctrine espoused by the Reformers are grieved … at the article by Kenneth S. Latourette (“The Influence of the Reformation on World History,” Sept. 1).…Luther never suggested that the Holy Spirit gives men new hearts in response to their faith. He expressly taught the contrary in the strongest possible terms in his “bondage of the will”.… Reformers uniformly taught that faith is the response of man to the new birth sovereignly wrought by the Holy Spirit.This is no little fly speck in the salt of Reformation doctrine. The grace of God is the sovereign power by which impotent sinners are saved, and not the impotent wish of a God awaiting the response of man’s sovereign will.WALTER J. CHANTRYGrace Baptist ChurchCarlisle, Pa.Can We Retrieve It?The position taken by Harold H. Lytle (“They Are Taking My Church Away from Me,” Aug. 18) is one that I have longed to see in these times of theological revolution. It is the case of an informed layman who has become outraged with the easygoing drift of the Church today. More and more, our churches are becoming outraged at social injustices, domestic moral problems, and war. While these and other related occurrences are of great importance and demand that Christians take a stand based upon the teaching of the Scriptures, they must not do so by denying, doubting, and degrading the infallible record of the revelation of God, the Holy Bible. If this does occur, and it is now doing so, the problems of sin can never be solved.… When confessions of faith and pulpit preaching, along with classroom teachings in colleges and seminaries across this land, begin to cast doubt upon the reliability of the Bible and upon the divine nature of Jesus Christ, the world is in for some sad days.ROBERT E. SELFHarlands Creek Baptist ChurchLexington, Miss.He represents a great company of Presbyterian elders and laymen who have had no adequate opportunity to express their loyalty to historic Presbyterianism. Too many have simply walked out and left our beloved church.… However, we must hope and pray that men like Harold H. Lytle will stay for the swinging of the pendulum.CLARENCE A. KIRCHERFirst United Presbyterian ChurchSan Mateo, Calif.As a “displaced” Presbyterian, I concur with his appraisal of the current status of the Presbyterian Church.What can now be done to unite those whose persuasion is soundly Reformed and Presbyterian under a common banner once again?JOHN B. CULVER, JR.Kenosha, Wis.It seems to me that by inference Mr. Lytle’s article is more an indictment of the United Presbyterian laymen and the church’s governmental system than of the clergy and other professionals whom he has singled out as the culprits. Is the Presbyterian system of representative government outmoded or is it too complex and cumbersome for meaningful lay participation?…As a Presbyterian layman for many years, I can remember the constant efforts of dedicated pastors in local churches to get laymen interested in church work and church affairs, to attend presbytery and other important meetings. The United Presbyterian Church boards for years have exerted considerable effort to get lay people involved. The United Presbyterian Men is just one example. Many laymen have responded and have become involved. Mr. Lytle is obviously one who is sincerely interested in his church.…To me the sad thing is that so many of us laymen have been too busy with other things we consider more important than the church.… A busy minister once answered a busy layman’s question as to how he could find time for the church by quoting Matthew 6:33.FRANKLIN FINSTHWAITAlexandria, Va.First Step For Peace?“The Rising Tide of Violence” (Aug. 18) portrayed the dimensions of violence, probed the causes, and suggested a remedy in “personal obligation”.…Basic to any control of violence-agitation is elimination of slums, not merely relocation of them.Why cannot the committed Christian take the initiative in agitating for a “notax-improvement” area corresponding to the community ghetto? As soon as land-owners paid taxes only on land rather than on improvements, labor expended in preserving multiple dwellings would be rewarded, laziness in allowing deterioration penalized. City tax loss could be offset by reassessment of land values, owner loss by limited rent-control release. This simple arrangement would mean more work but no less profit and bring about the peace that alone can preserve the community.MORTON A. HILL, S. J.New York, N. Y.Would You Believe …?All the words I know like astonishing, shocking, unbelievable, and fantastic would express my reaction to “The NCC Elite: A Breakdown of Beliefs” (News, July 21).…As an international airline captain for twenty-five years, I wonder what kind of accident statistics we would have, and how good business would be, if 66 per cent of the captains would say on the PA system, “Relax and enjoy the flight, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll probably make it. Two-thirds of your crew believe we will get there safely.”JAMES O. EVANSBeirut, LebanonIsrael’S AnswerThe Rev. James L. Kelso (News, July 21), threw into one pot a varied assortment of emotional charges.The one specific complaint refers to damage caused at the Lutheran Hospital in Jerusalem. These buildings were damaged but not destroyed. The hospital was rapidly put back into operation. Throughout the whole nineteen years of the Israel-Jordan armistice agreement, the grounds of the Lutheran Hospital served as a Jordanian army base despite the demilitarized accord governing Mt. Scopus, on whose periphery the hospital is located. On June 5 and 6, 1967, Jordanian army positions in the area of the hospital were the most actively aggressive, continuously shelling residential areas of Jerusalem and inflicting the heaviest losses on Israelis—all this while the hospital was flying Red Cross flags.It is perfectly clear that the Rev. Mr. Kelso is an Arab partisan. Accordingly, he does not write that it was Jordan which opened fire in Jerusalem on June 5 and not Israel. Three times on that day Israel agreed to a ceasefire, but Jordan continued fighting. Mr. Kelso does not mention that several hundred buildings in Israeli Jerusalem were shelled by the Jordanians on June 5 and 6.The tragedy of our times, and the wars which have flowed from it, has been the consistent Arab refusal to recognize, accept, and live in peace with the State of Israel. Because of this, there are Arab refugees who live in deplorable conditions, because the Arab governments on whose territory they are have been indifferent to their plight. Because of this also, hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees fled to Israel from the Arab countries for their safety, and it is a source of great pride to the people of Israel that none of these people leads the miserable life of a refugee today.Mr. Kelso’s charge that Israel regards Arabs as dogs is incompatible with the facts. Some Arab refugees found their way into Israel in 1948. All were successfully settled years ago, and none of them lives as a refugee today. Israel conducted its military operations with the utmost regard for all civilians. The Arab civilian casualties of the war were numbered only in the tens. Most of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip show no sign whatever that a war even took place there three months ago. If there was indifference to the plight of the Arabs it was Arab indifference: the Jordanian decision to wage war on civilian targets; the Syrian refusal to accept a ceasefire when the war was already over; the cutting by the Egyptians of the water pipeline into Sinai, where their defeated troops thirsted in the desert; and the Egyptian refusal to agree as yet to exchange a handful of Israeli prisoners for more than five thousand Egyptians.All the evil consequences of the last twenty years of conflict have resulted from Arab enmity for Israel and Arab attempts to destroy Israel. The only hope for the future is peace. The great hope of today is that in the wake of the six-day war we have a real chance of realizing peace. This one great aim, so difficult to achieve and yet so simple and glorious in its promise, requires the dedicated efforts and support of all good men of all religions if we are to escape the tragic mistakes of the past.BENAD AVITALFirst SecretaryEmbassy of IsraelWashington, D. C.The interpretative appraisal of the Arab-Jewish conflict was surely a refreshing change from the one-sided material that has flowed from far too many pens over the last few months.SILAS H. JONESVictory TempleKlamath Falls, Ore.

Mark Galli showed me, by his engaging, pastoral approach, how to make Christian history sing for a popular audience.

Mark, now the managing editor of Christianity Today, was managing editor of Christian History back in 1994, when I first discovered and fell in love with that magazine. The "Editor's Notes" with which Mark introduced each issue never failed to draw me into the trials and triumphs of Christianity's past, spiritually and emotionally as well as mentally.

Typical of his whole-hearted approach was his introduction to issue 42: Francis of Assisi:

"When I hear Jesus' words," Mark wrote, "especially hard words like the Beatitudes, I sometimes dismiss them: 'Impossible! Maybe Jesus can live them—after all, he was both God and man. But not mere mortals!' This baneful theology I readily reject with my mind but all too readily accept with my heart, and thus my moral resolve slackens. Then I read about Francis and discover something discomforting: Francis apparently lived the Beatitudes. … "

If that makes you want to read on, Mark has written a gem of a book on Francis's life and personality—I recommend it!

although in 2000 Mark left Christian History to lend his considerable talents to Christianity Today, "you can take the boy out of the magazine, but you can't take the magazine out of the boy." The following brief article, which Mark wrote as an editorial for the current issue of Christianity Today, is as contemporary as today's sales figures at your local Christian bookstore. But it could only have been written by someone still animated by a deep respect and affection for Francis and the thousands of others who still watch the modern church—and doubtless shake their heads— from the two-thousand-year-old "great cloud of witnesses."

On any given week, of the top-selling 15 non-fiction books on The New York Times list, three to five are histories or biographies. In contrast, a weekly glance at the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) nonfiction bestsellers list usually turns up none.

Things are so bad that we are waving the white flag. Last spring, CBA multiplied its bestseller lists, so that separate rosters are now kept for Christian living, theology, Bible, inspirational, and other genres. But there is no list for the history/biography category. Apparently such books sell so rarely in Christian bookstores, there is no point in counting them.

As a movement, evangelicalism seems fascinated with ministering to generations X, Y, or Z, unearthing Christian insights from The Matrix, fixing marriages, revitalizing the church, inspiring the discouraged—and on it goes. But we struggle to find time to reflect on our heroes, to treasure the great moments of our past, to "remember the deeds of the Lord … of long ago" (Ps. 77:11).

One reason is that relatively few Christian books do the genre justice. Between hagiographies—inspirational histories—and academic treatises, lie relatively few accessible and responsible treatments.

The ones that do balance these twin responsibilities strain to get the attention they deserve. Publishers say they would publish and promote more histories if bookstores would give them more shelf space. Bookstore owners say there are not enough accessible history titles to create a lively section. Many evangelical academics are afraid to do something popular lest their colleagues think they are slumming; the popularizers are prompted by some publishers to whitewash their histories to make them more "edifying." A lot of Catch-22s here.

The good news is that there are accessible recent titles, written from a believer's point of view. Approachable scholarly histories can be found in Allen Guelzo's Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (Eerdmans) and Grant Wacker's history of early Pentecostalism, Heaven Below (Harvard). Recent evangelical biographies include John Perry's Charles Colson (Broadman & Holman), Bruce Shelley's Transformed by Love (on Vernon Grounds; Discovery House), and Kevin Belmonte's Hero for Humanity (on William Wilberforce; NavPress). Myrna Grant's Sacred Legacy (Baker) pulls together the writings of nine influential women in our history. And on it goes.

Breaking the Bind

How can we better showcase our heritage?

First, we encourage CBA to consider adding history/biography to its bestseller lists. Every quarter, 100,000 people read our sister publication Christian History. This market is too big to ignore.

Second, Christian bookstores might promote a few titles as an act of stewardship. Most Christian bookstore owners got into the business because they wanted to promote the fine books they themselves loved. Surely they don't have to give that up completely in order to pay the bills.

Third, Christian publishers should recall their own first love, as well, and continue to do their best (within understandable economic constraints) to keep their history lineup full and fresh.

The Roman historian Cicero said, "To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain a child always." Like any movement, we are in constant need of maturity and wisdom. History is one genre that can help us.