BY KENNETH MUFUKA
I have desired with a desire to attend the annual Southern Baptist Convention this June, just before my journey home to Africa. As an observer of the life, manners and beliefs of our time, our Southern Baptist brethren infuse in me a sense of wonder and inquiry as they are going through a life and death struggle with the devil.
The Southern Baptists are the storm troopers of the Christian church, and as we speak, their pre-convention study group has recommended that they adopt in their literature the nomenclature of Great Commission Messengers.
But the devil has confronted them with three most damaging accusations as they go into the convention. For the sake of sensitivity and humility, I shall describe these evil attacks on the Baptist brethren with brevity fearing the accusation that I may be myself (African English: ini pachangu) broadcasting the weaknesses of fellow brethren in Christ.
Sexual abuse
This is a well-known modus operandi by the devil, which he used with great success against the Roman Catholic Church. Two issues are at stake, first the juicy nature of the accusations, and second the cost, if the accusations are revealed. The Houston Chronicle, May 11, has already started a series of revelations from its own investigative journalists, who have so far listed 700 cases thrown under the rug by the Baptist saints, including our own missionary brothers.
The most troubling issue in these cases is that they transcend the statute of limitations. Some cases are 40 years old. The devil used it skillfully against Brother Bill Cosby and the Roman Catholic bishops. In the Cosby case, as is now in the Baptist case, the devil wants non-disclosure contracts thrown out. You see, good readers, when a missionary is accused of sexual abuse of a congregant, the church saves its good name and the good work which might be jeopardised if the case was broadcast to the four corners of the earth.
Imagine what can happen if a missionary in charge of 100 orphans is accused of sexual abuse of children. The devil relishes it when the orphanage is closed. What happens to the 100 orphans under the care of the saints does not bother the devil.
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So, through some mouthpiece, the devil has asked, in writing, that the number of these non-disclosure agreements be revealed. So far, three of the six committees have answered the question. The next step is whether, in the case of a pastor being involved, will the church become liable to financial penalties. Precedents involving Roman Catholic churches and Boy Scots of America have witnessed bankruptcy procedures. May I remind our readers that in these cases, where millions of dollars are involved, the attorneys take one third of the money plus expenses.
As we speak, the Boy Scouts of America have folded and walked into the twilight zone. The devil and the attorneys are laughing their way into their bank vaults.
If I were to mention that within the church, there are some irredeemable Dalilah’s and Jezebels who are known to have seduced Godly messengers (as the Baptists saints are called) and then turned turncoat and threatened all manner of sanctions if some blackmail was not carried out, women’s liberation fighters would run me out of town.
The devil wants to hold the congregation liable for paying compensation to the victim. A church with 100 worshippers can be saddled with a liability of $1 million in compensation fees.
Already the devil is breathing fire and brimstone. He is accusing the messengers of not being forthcoming with cases of abuse. The reputation of the churches involved, the ruinous fees to be paid, 40 years after the foul deeds were allegedly committed, does not concern the devil.
Oh, I forgot one more item. The devil has cleverly weaved into the story of sexual abuse, a clause that the victim must be believed. President Joseph Biden was a champion of such a clause, until just before his inauguration, a woman who once worked for him claimed pain and suffering. Biden retorted that he never touched the woman’s breasts.
Digging up the race issue
Whether out of stupidity or mere ignorance, Baylor University Seminary commissioned a study of slavery at its campus in Texas. Please reader, we plead with you not to laugh. The great missionary father, the Reverend Dr RC Buckner, whose name is imprinted in the Buckner International Mission for Child and Elderly Care came to Paris City in Texas to scout for a college of theology. Carrying his bags was a slave.
Judge R E B Baylor, after whom the leading Baptist University was named, was a wicked slave trader and holder. These facts are not new. In 1845, the Southern Baptists wanted to send missionaries to Africa, to save benighted souls there, an issue which caused their expulsion from the General Convention. The Convention ruled that a missionary cannot save a benighted soul by enslaving that person for his own personal wealth.
Baylor has set aside a US$5 million fund to attract young black seminarians. I hope Zimbabwean Baptists associated with Sanyati Mission can apply for these scholarships.
Michael Chancellor, a Baptist pastor, after reading the gory details mentioned above, wrote that: “Sadly, I have struggled with the growing realisation that Southern Baptist Convention churches have not yet participated in a significant reckoning related to slavery and race.”
As I write, the Baptist messengers await a report on Critical Race Theory. CRT by Kimberle Cranshaw and other black thinkers say that whites in the US cannot be redeemed as racism is in their DNA. As far as I know, mainstream black Christians, who have suffered under grace, require only one condition, that white folks start treating blacks as brothers and sisters (Dr. Martin L. King).
Chancellor is totally dismayed. “Our whole denominational history is mired in human trafficking,” he concludes.
How the Baptist messengers will weather the storm in two weeks’ time, I have no idea.
Among his many roles, Professor Ken Mufuka holds the title of lay servant of the Methodist Church and has chaired the South Carolina United Methodist Conference Commission on Equitable Compensation (Pastor Standards). He begins a lecture tour in Kenya and will be in Zimbabwe July 1-30. Contact information: 77694 167
