One of the most timely and important warnings in Scripture is recorded in Col. 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”  As we witness the rejection of God and His Word in our culture, we are seeing more and more of the deceptions of Satan, the “Father of lies” (Jn. 8:44).  Man’s “theories” have taken the place of God’s truth. The theory of evolution (or evilution) has replaced, “In the beginning, God created (made from nothing) the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Transgenderism has replaced “male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). The LGBTQ agenda has been infiltrating every aspect of our culture, perverting God’s design and purpose for sex within the confines of the marriage of a man and a woman (Gen. 2:24; Ro. 1:24-32).  Men have been “suppressing the truth” and not honoring God and have thus “become futile in their speculations and their foolish hearts have become darkened. Professing to be wise, they have become fools” (Ro. 1:18-24).     A fairly new, very dangerous theory that our enemy has introduced is called the “Critical Race Theory” (CRT). It has infiltrated our schools and sparked debate within the church communities as well. “It’s important that Christians know its true nature and just how harmful it can be” (Dr. Calvin J. Cochran in Faith and Justice, May 2022, by Alliance Defending Freedom).  “CRT is a worldly ideology that looks at everyone and everything through the lens of race. It teaches that people are either ‘oppressor’ or ‘oppressed,’ ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ based entirely on their race. It rejects the biblical teaching that all people, regardless of their race, are created in God’s image, are fallen and in need of a Savior, and have equal access to salvation and grace through the work of Jesus” (Dr. Cochran).  
     CRT claims America was founded on racism which remains deeply embedded in our institutions and that it cannot be eliminated unless our constitutional form of government is overthrown and replaced. This distorted ideology teaches that American ideals (based on the truths of Scripture) such as equal treatment under the law, honesty, hard work, bravery, innovation, individual responsibility and good character merely serve to enable and sustain oppression.      When CRT-influenced curriculum and ideology is introduced in schools, it violates students’ civil rights by treating them differently based on race. It promotes race-based division and resentment by laying the collective guilt of racism at the feet of white students and their families and telling students of color that they are condemned to be oppressed and victimized throughout their lives. It compels students to affirm and support ideas contrary to their deeply held moral, philosophical, and religious beliefs. As part of the program, students are told “if they do not fight against white dominant culture, they are themselves racists” (Freedom Insider, March 2022, from ADF).  CRT is hostile to free speech because it labels anyone who challenges its tenets as “oppressors.” It tells black students that they don’t have the potential to achieve success, and white students that they don’t have the capacity to be just or moral because they are guilty of racial superiority from birth.      In other words, CRT elevates the influence and power of man (“oppressors”) over the influence, power, and sovereignty of God. Any theory or ideology that places greater hope in what men can do over what God can do is heresy, the “doctrines of demons.”  In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he wrote: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons”  (I Tim. 4:1).   CRT sentences the oppressed to eternal victimization. It leaves no room for the grace of God and the transforming power of the Gospel (Ro. 1:16). But, America’s (and the world’s) history is replete with the stories of redemption and transformation. As God’s Word promises: ” 

And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free…If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (Jn. 8:32,36).  Through faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, we become “new creatures in Christ” (II Cor. 5:17). 

     And speaking of the “truth,” the only use of the term “race” in the Bible refers to the athletic event of a running competition. The Bible never mentions different “races” of people.  The Bible only refers to “nations” and Acts 17:26 says, “And He made from one (blood), every nation of mankind …”  The only distinction (among nations) made in Scripture is between the nation of Israel (offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and all other nations. The offspring of Abraham through the promised son Isaac, and his son Jacob, became the nation of Israel–the Jewish people. All others are Gentiles.  There is no mention of “races.”  And, in God’s covenant with Abraham when He promised “I will make you a great nation” (Gen. 12:2), God also promised “in you all the families (nations) of the earth shall be blessed” (v. 3).  Through the nation of Israel came the Word of God (the Bible) to all mankind, and came the Messiah-Savior, Jesus Christ, who as “the Lamb of God” died for the sins of the world (all nations) (Jn. 1:29; cf II Cor. 5:14,15).  

     Jesus’ death and resurrection also tore down the barrier between Jew and Gentile and through God’s consequent sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, established a new body called “the church” where “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26 cf Eph. 2:11-22).   God has provided the way to have a new, abundant life through Jesus Christ (Jn. 10:10) and to become  members of the family of God. And, regardless of skin color or ethnic background, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. CRT, just like evolution, transgenderism and the LGBTA agenda, is just one more of Satan’s attempts to pervert and destroy what God has made and done.  Don’t fall for his tactics! Stick to the truth of God’s Word, and don’t succumb to the philosophies and deceptions of the world system under Satan (Jn. 12:31). 

Forever His,

     Pastor Dave