What Did Bill Bright Think About Social Justice?

Why Bill Bright Would Reject Today’s Social Justice Movement in Cru

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Conversations That Matter podcast. My name is John Harris. Hopefully, this is the last episode that I do on Crew for a while. Someone sent me something last night. I thought I should probably share this.

I would have shared it in yesterday's podcast. I didn't know about it though. One of the things we talked about yesterday was how in Crew, and especially among the lenses staff, there's really a cancel culture kind of mentality that's taken shape where they don't want to deal with arguments or reason or scripture.

They would rather just accuse people of things. So they accuse Calvin Beisner, at least in one circumstance, lenses leader, a crew leader, accuse Calvin Beisner of being this nationalist, racist, heretic, and I've been accused of the same kind of thing.

And we're both Robert E. Lee fans apparently. That factors into it somehow. So I showed on the episode yesterday that so was Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade. He would have probably matched all of the definitions they're throwing our way.

He was anti-communist. He was pro-America. He could have been considered part of the religious right. He also used Robert E. Lee as a positive example in one of his books. So what are they going to do with that?

The fact that the founder of their organization, maybe they just have to leave their organization. Maybe crew is just systemically racist beyond repair and you shouldn't be part of it. I mean, this is how ridiculous this is getting.

So I think, and that may be the appropriate way to deal with that because they're not interested in reasoning with you. It's lazy. It's cancel culture. The term racist doesn't even have a definition hardly anymore.

It's just an emotionally charged word. It doesn't actually describe anything anymore. So maybe that's just the thing to do, say, well, hold on, you're saying that I'm all these things. Well, hold on, you're working for crew.

Do you know crew is such a horrible organization? I mean, Bill Bright was the one who founded it. How can you work for an organization set up by Bill Bright? I mean, it's ridiculous. And I do want to say, because I do want to acknowledge some people are posting a lot of comments about crew was never good.

The four spiritual laws were never good. Bill Bright was never good. It was ecumenical. Look, I get it. I understand, especially over the, crew was a neo-evangelical organization. I think there was some compromise and I'm going to talk about a little bit of that today from the beginning.

And I think it got worse as time went on. And when I was in campus ministry years ago, I remember I was for a very short period of time, part of a crew group. And it was at least in our region where we were, it was not an option anymore to be part of the crew at that time.

And so I understand all that, but what's happening now is so far beyond anything that's happened in the organization. And it's so far beyond anything I think Bill Bright, I think he's spinning in his grave over this stuff.

No matter what errors he may have held, beliefs he may have held in error, this is just so far beyond anything that he believed. And so I'm trying to have a sense of proportion here and just see that, yes, there may have been some things we would have disagreed with many of us in crew and crew has been going in a bad direction over the course of years.

But look, what's happening today? What's happening with lenses? I mean, this is just beyond the pale. There's some, there's been some good missionaries in crew. There's been some people actually trying to at least share the gospel who love Jesus.

And you can't, if this thinking takes hold completely in the organization, the social justice thinking, there's no way you can have that anymore. It destroys the entire purpose of the organization. So I'm going to start by sharing this.

This is, this was posted online. Will Hoyler, who I showed a week and a half maybe ago, his video, he did a whistleblowing video on lenses training, what was happening in crew in regards to training crew missionaries through the lenses program, which is standpoint, epistemology, social justice, critical race theory stuff, lenses.

So the video was titled crews distorted lenses, and there was a takedown issued by lenses reframed crew. Crew has basically filed a copyright strike against Will Hoyler. So I don't even know if you can see the video anymore, but this was posted online that this copyright strike was filed against him.

And so that essentially what that means is generally when that happens, you, that part of the video has to be edited out, which is basically, it's most of the video or you can't show it. It can't be monetized.

I think in this case, it's probably they can't show that it's copyrighted material. And I think this is interesting because it shows that they don't really want people to know what they're doing. They don't want the donors, they don't want the general public to know what they're doing.

And that's the issue from my standpoint. You have people funding this ministry. This is not a government entity. This is Christians funding this ministry, and they don't want people to know what they're actually teaching.

That should concern everyone who would donate anything to Crew. The Lenses Institute and Crew, it looks like, they don't want people to know what Lenses is teaching or has taught. This is really concerning stuff in my estimation.

So I wanted to share that with you. Now I want to share this too, because in addition to everything else I said about Bill Bright, there's this book called Revolution Now. It's from, what, the late 60s, I guess, and Bill Bright...

So I'm going to show you some of this, and you just kind of apply it to the situation today. What would Bill Bright think about the direction of Crew, about the direction of the Lenses Institute, but even broadly speaking, Crew, his own organization he started.

And so the book is called Revolution Now by Bill Bright. Can the Great Commission be fulfilled in this our generation? Bill Bright thinks it's possible. This is the back of the book in its description.

Revolution Now acknowledges the problems infecting society. In all human relationships, a revolutionary change is necessary, but to be permanent and effective in solving man's problems, it must start at the root source of the infection.

Trying luscious golden fruit on the rotten branches of the old trees may satisfy today's appetite, but it will not solve tomorrow's hunger problem. The real problem is personal, individual, and that is where therapy must begin with.

Now, that's so much different than the systemic stuff you're hearing from lenses. In the following pages, you will discover why revolution is needed, what form it should take, and what will it accomplish, except, let's see, for a personal experience.

Okay, here's what I wanted to say. Revolution Now, he's taking the title, he's riffing off of what's going on at campuses across the United States. They were having a revolution, in a sense. It was the summer of quote-unquote love, but the violence that accompanied everything going on in the late 60s, it was a social justice movement.

It was very similar to what's happening today, in many ways, and so it'd be interesting to hear what Bill Bright has to say about that. I don't know if I'm a fan of using that word revolution to try to use their word, kind of, to pique their interest, and then draw them in to say, hey, we got a real revolution over here.

But, either way, I see the strategy, I think you all see the strategy of what he's trying to do with that, and it's basically to show them, hey, your revolution's no good, this is the real revolution, this is getting behind salvation in Jesus Christ, discipleship.

Here's the foreword. We live in the most revolutionary period of human history. Campus disorders have assumed epidemic proportions. Not only turbulent Berkeley, but also Harvard has staggered under the blows and strikes of the dissidents and militants.

Civil authorities pray for cool summers to quiet the nerves of the inner cities. Urban problems continue to increase in number and gravity. Leaders of the establishment work around the clock in their attempt to find band-aids large enough for the festering wounds.

At the same time, leaders of the militant groups are formulating procedures for major surgery. What does the future hold? Is there hope for a solution? Can a vaccine be discovered in time to save our world's sick society?

For almost 20 years, it has been my privilege to speak to tens of thousands of students. Revolution now acknowledges the problem infecting society. In all human relationships, a revolutionary change is necessary, but to be permanent and effective in solving man's problems, it must start at the root of the infection.

The real problem is personal, individual, etc. This is what the book's about. That's the foreword to the book. I'm going to read you some sections from the book, page 16. I'm going to go through some of this.

He quotes the director of the Urban League, and the Urban League's director says, he goes to the real estate man or the builder, and they say the problem is economics, business, or the employer says the problem is education, and the educators say the problem is a matter of housing.

This is for black people specifically, that's what it says. I go to the employer and ask him to employ, Negroes is the word they used at the time, I'll just say black people. I go to the employer and ask him to employ black people, and he says it's a matter of education.

Then I go to the educators and they say if black people lived in good neighborhoods and had more intelligent dialogue in their families, more encyclopedias in their homes, and more opportunity to travel, and a stronger family life, then we could do a better job of educating them.

When I go to the builder, he says if they had money, I would sell them houses. I am back at the employer's door again where I started to begin with. He says, look, this problem, what's the solution? How do you solve this problem of poverty?

Who has solutions? What can be done? Some see no hope, Bill Bright says, but most of us cannot take that, let's see. He goes on just talking about the problem, changes something he says we must have, politicians and sociologists either admit their impotency or propagate meaninglessness and impractical theologies and quack cures.

That's what I think Bill Bright would say about critical race theory. It's a quack cure. Let's face it, our only hope is revolution. Young people know this and demonstrate it. Unfortunately, they do not always know what they mean by revolution.

This is where I think Bill Bright probably made a little bit of a mistake. I think young people knew what they meant. I think this is part of the strategy. This is the new evangelical strategy is like, hey, what's popular and we're going to give them a better version of what they want and we're going to show them it's really Christianity they're after.

It's not always that, but anyway, I can see what he's trying to do here. I'm a revolutionist. I don't like this world and I want to help change it, snapped a zealous young campus radical. His eyes flashing with fire and hatred.

This older generation has made a mess of this world. My generation is going to do something about it, he continued. I agree with you. The world is in desperate plight and we must do something about the problems that face mankind now, but first let us define the issues and then proceed to some logical conclusions and possible solutions.

We discussed the basic problems of racial inequality, social injustice, illiteracy, poverty, war, and a few of the lesser concerns. As we talked, my student friend who had never traveled extensively in other countries was a bit surprised to learn that discrimination against minority races and groups is not limited to the United States.

In Japan, the Koreans are subject to discrimination. In India, the caste system still prevails. In certain African countries, no white person is allowed citizenship. Every country has its privilege and it's deprived.

Man is basically so self-centered, I mean, can you imagine someone saying that today? I mean, this is so politically incorrect. Bill Bright said this in the late 60s. Man is basically so self-centered and self-seeking and if all our problems should suddenly be solved, we would soon manufacture more.

So basically what he does is he says that the problem is man. It's not white people. It's not America. It's man. That's where he locates the problem. And so he continues and that, let's see, there's revolutions of force and fear, which picks man against man, nation against nation, race against race, and there is the revolution of love and reason, a spiritual revolution, which includes God and man.

And so he goes through and it's leading right into Christianity, says that's the revolution that is needed. And in fact, this is really going to get the social justice warriors going. He says, while France was experiencing its bloody revolution, England was undergoing a different kind of revolution, a spiritual revolution, a revolution of love and reason.

While Voltaire was cursing religion, William Wilberforce wrote that God had set before him two objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners. And so he just does this whole comparison of England and France.

He's pro-England. I mean, not just pro-America, but pro-England, and this was a time there was colonialism going on. Can you believe that Bill Bright would do this? So this is Bill Bright again. I mean, you want to, we're working for the organization he set up, if you're in lenses or if you're in crew.

So if people have a problem with Calvin Beisner, if they have a problem with these whistleblowers coming out from crew, or they have a problem with me, or if they have a problem with crew leadership, what about the guy who set up the organization to begin with?

Here's more. On page 22, first century Christians are exemplified by the Apostle Paul. They were the original revolutionists. They had made the remarkable discovery that man could know God personally and experience his love and forgiveness, his purpose and peace and power for daily living.

They believed that God had come to the earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and fulfillment of the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament hundreds of years before he was born. So he goes into this, the whole gospel, he talks about Jesus, talks about being right with God, all of that.

And this is, so this is his idea of a revolution. This is what he's trying to get people to think about. Don't leave your revolution and come to this revolution. And so he talks about Marxism a little bit.

It talks about Marxist leaders and their dedication, and he says we should have a dedication, but it's to Christ, it's not to Marxism. And he says the Apostle Paul had done this, had this level of dedication.

He says that he was a bond slave for Jesus. Later Paul wrote, I have been crucified with Christ, I no longer live. So he even is, he uses the word slave. This is the kind of revolution, to be bond slaves for Jesus.

This is Bill Bright, guys, the founder of Cru, Campus Crusade was what it was called at the time. And then he gets into your personal strategy. So what do you do? How do you become part of this revolution?

And he talks about the Great Commission, talks about, let's see, talks about communism and the growth of communism and what a threat it is. He says, today communism has infiltrated every segment of society.

The great student demonstrations and riots that are making headlines around the world are led, for the most part, by known communists in the United States and in most other countries. Three percent of the students' population of China turned the tide and helped to capture one-fourth of the world's population, that great nation of China, for the communist cause.

Think of it, three percent. In the United States alone, it is believed by many of the radical leaders that more than three percent of the students already are a part of the communist cause. Why are they taking the world?

Because of their dedication of the communist cause. For example, a young communist gives this answer. He broke his engagement with his fiance and the letter he wrote explaining his decision was given to Billy Graham.

The communist student wrote, we communists have a high casualty rate. We are the ones who get shot and hung and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every other way made us uncomfortable as possible.

My head, the tables have turned, right? We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We communists do not have the time.

So it's talking about all the deprivations, all the sacrifices communists make for their cause. And so he talks about that, see here, it goes on and he says, this is the reason the communists are taking the world and let there be no mistake about it.

They are out to take the world. However, most assuredly, I do not believe the communists, communism will ultimately triumph. Rather, I am absolutely convinced that the great commission will be fulfilled in our generation.

So he is giving an alternative to communism. He's saying this is the communists and what they want to do. And Christians are supposed to be supporting the great commission and that's the revolution that they should be involved in.

So he talks about that. He talks about visiting Rome and let's see here, Christ's vision, Paul in a dungeon, basically trying to make the argument that the apostle Paul was deprived. The apostle Christian should be willing to suffer deprivation, to sacrifice themselves for their own cause.

And we are privileged, he says, to be part of the most significant movement of all centuries the movement to fulfill the great commission in this generation. I invite you to join with me. Sacrifice and martyrdom, he talks about that.

He uses the word army, a great commission army needs to be sent out. I mean, this is Bill Bright. He says, remember our world, page 191, our world in revolution needs and is ready for the revolutionary message of our savior's love and forgiveness.

As one of his dedicated, committed revolutionaries, you can help change the world. Page 207 talks about this being the purpose of the campus crusade for Christ. Our vision for helping to evangelize the world for Christ in this generation is clear.

We face the world desperately in need of Jesus. We have a dynamic gospel to proclaim a message that is the power of God unto salvation. And so this is this book. This is the point of the book, Revolution Now.

And I would just, I don't think it's a mystery to any of us. This is the kind of thing that Bill Bright believed. And this is the kind of thing called today Christian nationalism and all kinds of things, all kinds of derogatory things.

When in reality, all it is, is what Christians have been saying for decades, for even longer than that. Since the French Revolution, Christians have, Orthodox Christians have been opposed to what's going on.

So as far as revolution is concerned now, Bill Bright wants to use the word revolution to describe what he's doing as the more authentic, useful kind of revolution. I don't know that that's the most helpful thing, but we know what he's getting at.

We know the point he's making. He's trying to say, don't follow the communists. Don't follow the revolution on campuses. Follow Christ. That's his point. And he says a lot of things in this that are, would be considered politically incorrect today.

Very much so. And so I just wanted to point this out to you. If you want to check it out, it's called Revolution Now, and this is the founder of Campus Crusade, now called Crew. And if, I would just suggest to you that I think Bill Bright would be canceled today.

He would be considered a hater, a radical, in his own organization that he formed. He would not approve of what's going on in the organization, and I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out.

So anytime someone in Crew wants to use this tactic of besmirching someone's character, not listening to their arguments, even if they're a brother or sister in Christ, if they claim to be a Christian, I would say point them to Bill Bright.

Ask them, what about the founder of Crew? And if you don't like him, why are you in his organization? What's the draw? I think that, I think there's a lot of hypocrisy going on because the leadership of Crew wants to use the image of Bill Bright, the symbol that he is, but they do not actually agree with what Bill Bright said in his own writings.

So I wanted to leave that with you. I hope that was helpful again for those who are still in Crew, who are trying to navigate this whole thing. Maybe this will help you navigate it even more. And God bless.

More coming later this week. Bye now.