MLK: Paul's Letter to American Christians"},"lengthSeconds":"1841","ownerProfileUrl":"http://www.you
Jun 01, 2021so this morning I would like to use as a topic Paul's
letter
to American Christians Paul'sletter
to American Christians I would like to share with you an imaginary letter from the pin of the apostle Paul the postmark reveals that it comes from Creek Island and After Upon noticing and opening the letter, I discovered that it was written in Greek Anguilla F and at the top of the letter this petition was read to the people when they gathered and passed it on to the other churches. I have worked with the translation. It has been difficult at times for several days, but now I think I have its substance and if in giving this letter the content sounds strangely Kingan rather than Paulinian, attributed to my lack of objectivity rather than Paul's lack of clarity, it is quite miraculous. that the Apostle Paul should write a letter to you and me 1900 years after his last letter appeared in the New Testament.How is it possible. I don't know and I don't really care. The important thing is that I can imagine Paul speaking to us American Christians in 1956 and here is the letter as it is before me. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God for you who are in America. Grace and peace be to you through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I had longed to be able to. I have heard about you and what you are doing. I have heard about the fascinating and amazing advances you have made in the scientific and material fields.
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I have heard of your planes and I have heard of the fact that through your scientific Genius, you have been able to dwarf distance and place time in change. Yes, you have been able to create highways through the stratosphere, so in your world you have made it possible to have bread for breakfast in London, England, and lunch in New York City. I have heard about your skyscrapers with that trail that rises towards the sky as if to bathe their peaks in the high blue. I have heard about your great medical science and all your advances in the medical field, which is why you have been able to cure many terrible plagues and diseases. and thus prolong your life and achieve greater security and physical well-being.
All of that is wonderful. Now you can do things that couldn't be done in the Greco-Roman world of my time. Now you can take trips in a day. It took me 3 months to do this, it's wonderful because you have come a long way in terms of material advantages, but America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether or not you have come as far in the spiritual and moral realm, as it seems to me. to me, United States. that although you have advanced scientifically and materially you are spiritually and morally backward your poor Thoro used to speak of improved means to an unimproved one and how many times that is true have you allowed the material means by which you live to distance us from the spiritual ends for which you live , you have allowed your mentality to overcome your morality, you have allowed your civilization to distance itself from your culture, yes, America, you reach very high in the spiritual realm, I mean, in the material realm, but how far have you come in the moral sphere through your scientific genius you have been able to make the world neighborly but with your moral and spiritual genius you have not managed to make it a Brotherhood and what good is it to man as that same man who found me in Damascus said Roe, What good is it for a man to gain the entire media world, cover the subways and all the skyscraper buildings and in the end lose his soul for America?
I urge you to try to bring his spiritual advancements up to par with his material advancements. I am also moved to write to you about the tremendous responsibilities facing Christians who attempt to live in a sub-Christian era. Yes, I had to do that because I had to live in a non-Christian world and every Christian has the basic responsibility to live as a Christian in a non-Christian world, they tell me. that there are some among you, even in the churches, who give their utmost loyalty to the patterns of the world, want to be accepted socially, are not afraid of being excluded, and therefore confuse the patterns of the world in which they live with some philosophy like Everyone is doing this so it must be right and so often in your time the right thing to do has simply become something like taking a gallop pole from the majority opinion how many live like this?
How many people are giving their utmost loyalty this way, but? America, I can tell you as I told the Roman Church, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, and I can also tell you that you have a dual citizenship, you have a dual citizenship. You are not only a citizen of this world but you are a citizen of another world, you live in both Time and Eternity, both in Heaven and on Earth, and you must come to see that, while it is true that you live now in the colony of time, You must always receive your orders from the Empire of Eternity, you must come to see in the United States that your maximum loyalty is not to the government, nor to the state, nor to the nation, but your maximum loyalty is to God and, to Sometimes, it is necessary to be one to speak. against the State to defend God, the old America, will you come to see this, but not only that America?
I've read some of your psychology and I hear you talk a lot about maladjustment. It is the resounding cry of the misfit child psychologist. and certainly no one wants to be maladjusted, everyone wants to be maladjusted, but America I want to ask that, if you are going to be followers of Christ, you be maladjusted. I never intend for America to adjust to some things and I hope you never adjust. To this, in an era astonishingly adapted to war I call you to be misadapted in an era astonishingly adapted to imperialism and colonialism I call you to be misadapted in an era astonishingly adapted to hatred and Malice I call you to be misadapted My plea to you In the United States it is that they are misfits.
I understand that you have a great economic system in the United States that you call capitalism and through that economic system you have been able to do wonders, you have been able to build the richest nation in the world. Through that system they have been able to build the largest productive system the world has ever known and all that is good, but in the United States that is the danger of them misusing their capitalism. I am not an economist and I cannot criticize your economic system. from the economist's point of view, but I can criticize it from a moral point of view and I still maintain in America that money can be the root of all evil, that money can lead one to live a life of gross materialism and I'm worried. that too many people in America are more concerned about making a living than making a living, yes American money can lead to exploitation and too often have because I am told that a tenth of 1% of the population controls more than 50% of Wealth, oh United States, how you have taken the needs of the masses to give luxury to the classes.
Your capitalism can be used very well. You can use it to erase poverty from the face of the Earth. You can use it to raise the entire level of humanity. You can raise it to bring humanity to the point it is destined to reach Your wealth can be used for a noble purpose You have it at your disposal Use it for that America Oh, I wish I could be with you, I wish I could tell you face to face what I'm trying to tell you in writing how much I long to be with you, but let me hurry up and tell you something about the church.
I must tell you once again, as I have said so many times before. that the church is the body of Christ and in the body of Christ there can be no division the body of Christ there can be no disunity but I am concerned about America and what is happening there with respect to the body of Christ they tell me that in the United States it has within Protestantism over 256 denominations and the tragedy of America is not so much that it has over 256 denominations but the fact that all of these denominations are at war with each other and trying to make it seem like they have their own truth. and all this narrow sectarianism, this narrow denominationalism is destroying the unity of the church in America, you must come to see that God is not Baptist, that God is not Methodist, that God is not Episcopalian, God is bigger than any of our denominations , you should come.
I see America that this is all man-made, but even when I look at Roman Catholicism, that worries me because it also stands out with an arrogance that turns into a spiritual arrogance that makes the world seem like it has the only truth that is at his side. He is a noble Pope who almost takes the place of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that is why when he speaks from the Cathedral he becomes infallible. I am concerned about any earthly creation that tends to claim infallibility. I am concerned about any church that refuses to cooperate with others. churches with the pretense that it is the only true church that there is so much in the church that is destroying the body of Christ and in the body of Christ there can be no Division or disunity but America another thing bothers me about your church that you have a black church and you have a white church, oh America, that is quite disturbing because that cannot exist within the True Body of Christ, how did that thing come to exist?
Anyway, you've allowed segregation to come into the church, America, oh how tragic when you stop. Getting up on Sunday morning to sing in Christ there is no Easter in the West, isn't it tragic that you are in the most segregated hour of your Christian nation? They tell me that there is more integration in sports stadiums and nightclubs than in the Christian church. Oh how! tragic, that's how awful it is and I'm told there are even Christians among you who try to justify segregation based on the Bible, try to argue that the Negro is inferior by nature because of the curse of no on the sons of ham, oh.
My friends, all of America, this is blasphemy, this goes against everything the Christian religion stands for, this goes against the will of almighty God in America. I urge you to get rid of that, something called segregation, it is a dangerous evil, it is an evil that must be erased from the face of the Earth if man is capable of reaching his full maturity. The United States does not commit to it, no. play with it oh, I praise your Supreme Court for passing a great decision just a year ago, two and I Praise all the men of your nation of Goodwill who are willing to follow it, but they tell me you still have some brothers among you in Alabama, in Mississippi, in Georgia, in Louisiana and in Florida, who would make their legislative halls ring with the words interposition and nullification.
You have lost the true meaning of democracy and Christianity and I urge you to plead with your brothers with patience and understanding and tell them that this is not the way. Can I say just a word to those of you who are struggling with this? evil let me tell you to always fight against it with Christian methods and with Christian weapons never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter never succumb to the temptation of falling into hate campaigns you must act at all times with wise moderation and calm and reasonableness keep pressing Keep going go ahead, but go ahead with discipline and dignity and use only the weapon of love and do not allow any man to drag you so low as to hate him.
Look hard enough at your oppressor to see in him something of the image of God. Yes, it might just be a spark, but if you work on it long enough, it can become a jumping flame, so I would say to those of you who are at war and fighting against your oppressor to use Christian methods and Christian weapons. and let him know that while they fight they are not trying to defeat him. he doesn't try to humiliate him he doesn't try to get rid of uh get rid of him or pay him back, let him know that you seek to help him as much as you seek to help yourself, let him know that the festering sword of segregation weakens the white man as well. as a black man, let him know that as you seek to rid the Earth of this evil of segregation, you are trying to also help him spread that message throughout the world and live by that principle and get rid of something called segregation. not only is it rationally inexplicable but it is morally scandalous, you must get rid of it if you want to be a Christian nation, yes America, I realize that some of you will give your lives for this, there will be white people of good will who will . and there will be black people who will fight to get rid of it, but I want to tell you this: as you fight, do not despair, understand that as long as you stand for right and righteousness, as long as you stand for truth, as long as you stand for my God, you will be persecuted, but you will not Do not despair, sometimes it could mean going to jail, but if that is the case, be willing to fill the jail because I had to go to jail, it could even mean physical death, but if physical death is the price that some they must pay to free their children from a life of permanent psychological death then nothing could be more honorable don't worry about the persecutions America you're going to have that if you stand for truth and goodness oh that happened throughout my life life so soon as I was converted the disciples in Jerusalem denied me and then they tried me for heresy in Jerusalem yes they beat me in Thessalonica they harassed me in Ephesus they imprisoned me in Philippi and I went down to Athens and I became depressed there yes I was even shipwrecked in Malta but I still go and go believing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope of theworld.
I still believe that in defending the Gospel of Jesus nothing in the world is greater than this. It is the end of life this is the end of the universe the end of the universe is not to be happy the end is not to avoid suffering but the end of life is to do the will of God no matter what happens oh America you will hear that And will you continue that before it's too late? Then I must say something else. You know, I told the church in kin that love is the main thing and I still want to tell that to America.
USA. I want you to know that you could move high in the world. Get to the point that you are very eloquent in your speech, you can master the English language, your whole grammar can be perfect, you can move high, you can move with all the eloquence of a speech articulate, but I want you to realize that It remains true that even if you can speak with tongues of men and angels and have no love, you become a ringing metal or a tinkling symbol. Yes, America, you can have the gift of Prophecy so that you can understand all the Mysteries you can have. ideas so that you can break into the storehouse of nature, yes, America, you can have all the Mysteries and understand them so that you can remove the mountains of material obstacles, you can move all the mountains that are in front of you, but unless have love means nothing more than even more America, you can give your goods to feed the poor, you can have the T Tower on top of philanthropy, you can give big gifts to America's callings, you can give big gifts to your colleges and universities, you can give a lot of money, but if not having love it means nothing yes and you can even give your body to be burned you can even get up and die Life as a mother you can present yourself to the universe as that honorable person who was willing to stand up as a model but even if you do that and love it, it means nothing, yes, America, it is possible to be self-descending in oneself, denied and righteous, it is for one to be generous to feed one's e and it is possible for one to be pious. to feed his pride and thus man has a tragic capacity to be able to turn a vice that increases into a tragic vice a virtue that increases into a tragic vice yes, even if you give your goods to feed the poor and you do not have love, it does not mean nothing you can build all your great institutions, you can have all the knowledge you can, you can build your great Harvard and your great Yale, you can have all your institutions of learning and all your doctorates, masters and abs, but if you have not loved the United States United, that's all. it does not mean anything.
I still want you to know that love is the main thing in the universe. I want you to know that at the center of life is love and that it is the most lasting in the world and if you follow that, the United States will build a great nation. I must prepare to leave now, Timothy, I to deliver this letter and I must say goodbye to go to another church but just before I leave let me tell you this America I told you a lot about loving I told you a lot about being moral and living noble principles and I know you often try to do that, but I want to tell you something about the meaning of the Gospel in trying to live according to the high and noble principles of this religion, it often falls short. and I know how you felt sometimes you tried to live up to it and you couldn't sometimes you felt like you could do it alone but the more you tried the more you discovered that you couldn't do it alone and I know how you were caught up in the tragic dimensions of sin both individual and collective .
I see how as you live life at every level of your life you are confronted with sin and sometimes you have to cry out like I have to cry out for the good that I have. What would it not do and the evil it would not do? So when you try to follow the law of love, you find yourself saying, "Oh, wretch that I am," you somehow discover that the more you try, the more you discover that you can. I don't do it alone and oh, you end up in Des Spare, you end up in a tragic state, you feel like you've lost, yes, I've been like that, but when I got to that point, I got to the point of feeling like I couldn't.
I didn't achieve it alone when I reached the point of realizing that I was too weak to achieve it. I discovered something else. I stretched out my hand and saw the powerful dimensions of God's grace burst forth from Eternity in time, and where sin abounded, grace abounded even more. Extremely and that is why I want to tell you that America extends your hand and if you go far enough you will discover the grace of God and it is that Grace that can lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. It is that Grace that can elevate you. from the midnight of the night of Sorrow until the dawn of Joy it is Grace that helps you see that by the grace of the almighty God you can live in this world and you can live this life can you see the face of the almighty God with everything ? of its eternal beginning in the midst of man's tragic sin remains the Amazing Grace of God I must say goodbye to you now I may not see you but I will find you in the eternity of God May the grace of God and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit be with you today tomorrow and even forever the letter and now comes the life of it, let us pray oh God, our merciful father, help us to reach our lives and see the great principles of life, help us to see the work and the value of the Apostle.
Paul, who is at the center of our faith as one of the noblest Christians and who is a challenge for us in all times and in all generations, helps us to realize at all times the relevance of going in every nation. and in each community. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray, amen, amen, heart, may my heart be.
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