Welcome to KKK Country

One of my favorite authors is Phillip Yancey. Click on the “What’s So Amazing About Grace Anyway” tab and you’ll see some lines from his book “What’s So Amazing About Grace.”

Last year I read his book “Soul Survivor - How 13 Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church.”

One of those mentors is Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s a great read and caused me to pause and reflect on Martin Luther King Jr., from a Christian perspective.

My walk with Christ is only 3 1/2 years, and I’m old enough to remember the 60’s and the turbulent times that existed. I remember the hatred, the prejudice, even the KKK. In fact, a town ( Smithfield, N.C.) close to the farm where I grew up welcomed visitors with a billboard that read, “Welcome to KKK Country.”

Recently, I looked at the text from many of the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. and was surprised to find how often he quoted the Gospels and the teachings of Jesus. He preached and practiced nonviolent activism.

According to Yancey, “King clung to nonviolence because he profoundly believed that only a movement based on love could keep the oppressed from becoming a mirror image of the oppressors.”

King certainly had his moral failures, which are well documented and caused many to question his Christianity. But if we were to question every Christian’s moral failures, it would take a very long time.

Until I was saved and looked through new eyes, I never once considered the content or even paid attention to one of King’s speeches. I now see not only his preaching of the Gospels, but his great personal sacrifice, which ultimately cost him his life.

The “Welcome to KKK Country” sign was torn down years ago, but prejudice minds are still prevalent today. You don’t have to look far to hear someone scoff at Monday being a national holiday. If that’s you, I ask that you read the Gospels and take the message of love and forgiveness that Jesus taught to heart.

You might have heard of King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” It was written in 1963 by King while actually in the Birmingham jail. He wrote it on margins of newspapers and toilet paper and it was smuggled out. It too is a great read and offers great insight on the struggles, in many areas, he went through. The letter, according to Wikipedia, is a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen on April 12, 1963 titled "A Call For Unity" which agreed that social injustices were taking place but expressed the belief that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts and not taken onto the streets. King responded that, without forceful, direct actions such as his, true civil rights could never be achieved. As he put it, "This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.'" He asserted not only that civil disobedience is justified in the face of unjust laws, but also that "one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."

Take a moment today and reflect on the difference Martin Luther King made in this world. This Baptist preacher was hated by many but despite incredible odds and challenges, he changed the world.