Russ Lassos the Holy Spirit

“The World Council of Churches has long been a boutique of paganism in Christian garb.” So says Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for academic administration and dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.

Whoa, Russ, what did the WCC ever do to you?

Well, most recently, at its Feb. 14-23 assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the council recognized “’the Holy Spirit’ [as] working in non-Christian world religions.” Mimicking Sheldon Leonard’s memorable role as Nick the bartender in It’s a Wonderful Life, Russell D. Moore bellows at the WCC: “That's it! Out you pixies go - through the door, or out the window!” [Clearly, not as gracious a bartender as Julie; see below.]

Actually what Russ said: “Regenerate believers across the world, whatever their denomination or communion, recognize the World Council for what it is: the spirit of antichrist.” He booms onward: “No one listens to the World Council of Churches anymore, and for that we should be thankful to God.” All this in a Baptist Press three-page story about recent proclamations issuing from the entity to which no one listens anymore.

I’m not a real theologian (but I play one on this blog); however, for the sake of argument, let’s say that when the WCC claims it recognizes the presence of the Holy Spirit in other religions, it means it sees manifestations of God’s grace in at least some of the activities of, for example, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews.

Now, my question for Russ and all the rest of you: can God’s grace be manifest apart from God’s Holy Spirit? Personally, I think not. Julie spoke eloquently about the out-pouring of grace she received from heathen Sunday golfers at the country-club men’s grill (a “boutique of paganism” that had not even the decency to garb itself as “Christian”). Some may say, “Well, that was just garden variety grace; that wasn’t God’s grace.” Sounded amazingly like God’s grace to me, especially those gestures that spirited Julie forward along her pilgrimage.

My wife Bonnie and I still marvel the time we spent in the presence of a Muslim woman who taught us French in Burkina Faso. Madame Habibu Campaore was among the most Christ-like people we’ve known. When Bonnie fell very ill during our first month in Africa, Madame Campaore’s compassion was essential to her return to good health. Bonnie recognized the Holy Spirit in Madame Campaore. I don’t want to be there when Russ tells Bonnie she’s got it all wrong.

Russ’s problem: like George Bailey (forgive the It’s a Wonderful Life analogies) who wanted to lasso the moon, Russ wants to lasso the Holy Spirit, wants to lasso God’s grace. “Hey, dammit, that’s ours! You can’t have it, Ahmed—you neither, Gupta, nor you, Chang. Okay, Finkelstein, you can borrow it, but I want it back by Saturday afternoon.”

Why do we weave theologies that assert exclusive rights to God’s Spirit, God's grace? Rick said—rightly, I think—that we are granted God’s grace by God’s grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. This Jesus, who mysteriously said: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” [John 10:16].

If I clamor for the one shepherd to be exclusively MY shepherd, I think it’s because I’m still running from my own fallen-ness. Sure, I’ll give lip-service to my fallen nature. I will even assert the truth of it---so long as there are those more fallen than I. But when you suggest that the shepherd extends grace to foreign folds with equal energy as he showers it on me and mine, when you suggest that foreign-fold sheep not only perceive and act on the shepherd’s grace, but share it, then my own fallen-ness is so sharply focused that it pierces me to the heart.

That very piercing of my heart, that sudden awareness that God loves me not because my dogma and doctrine are on straight, or my lifestyle is exemplary, but rather because…because...because… why?

Maybe we truly begin to fathom God’s grace when we’ve no longer any words to follow “because.”

Gerald Stephens Jr.