Response to Dr. Eric Mason's TGC ERLC #MLK50 Speech

The Setup: Why the Speaker Is Responding to Dr. Eric Mason

A YouTube commenter suggested that I watch and respond to Dr. Eric Mason's speech at the MLK50 conference. And when I looked at it, I was so excited because it was only 15 minutes. I appreciate people that are concise and brief.

In fact, when I preach on Sundays, I try to stay within like 20, 25 minutes if I can. I'm not one of these hour long guys. And look, nothing against the hour long guys, but I always appreciate brevity if possible.

And when a topic needs longer time, that's okay. But anyway, I was so excited. I got my apple cider vinegar drink ready to go just in case he says the word space. So get my drink on a little bit. And you know what?

This is gonna be exciting. So let's just run right in. And here's what happened when I did that.

Black power, black bourgeoisie. Boom, I'm evangelicalized. If Boricua, my Dominicanos, and of the functional orthopraxical, the gospel globe trotter himself. Triumph click that rolls thick. If taught up from the floor up, it's around and do the West Coast strut.

Brother's speaking in tongues, man.

I don't understand anything that he's saying. So that's my review. I don't understand what he's saying and therefore I can't review it. Nah, just kidding. All right, let's jump right into this. Actually, there's a lot of good in this.

He's talking about a passage from Ephesians and he actually says some really good things here. But then right around minute 7 .30 is where we'll pick it up and we'll see where this goes.

Unity in Christ and the Problem of the Present

Actually threefold. Unity was secured by Jesus on the cross. Jesus will ultimately come back, wreck shop and functionally put us in the unity that he bought us in. So the problem isn't the cross and the resurrection and the problem isn't the eschatological reality of our union with one another.

It's the dash in the middle. He's right about that because here's the thing. We have a unity in Christ, a foundational, fundamental unity in Christ that he bought at the cross. That is so true. And so that's not the problem, obviously.

That was done perfectly. And then, of course, in the future, the eschatological church will have unity again. The church will be one church. We'll have one congregation. We'll have perfect unity then.

There will be no more stain of sin in the eternal state. So that's obviously not the problem either. The tricky stuff is the present, right now, the stuff in the middle between those two realities. And so he's exactly right about that.

And in that dash in the middle, we have to wrestle with and fight with the reality of what in the heck does it mean for particularly black believers and white believers to fight for unity. I got a couple of things and then I promise I'm out your way.

Why Ignoring History Is Not the Answer

What unity doesn't look like is, number one, ignoring the impact of the past on the present. Wonderful.

That's true. Okay, so that is true. We don't want to ignore the past. We don't want to say that the past has no bearing on the present. Of course it does. Everything in our history has led us to this point.

So whatever the situation is right now, everything in history led up to that. That's always the case. So this sounds very profound, but it's not very profound. It's obvious. So no matter what history it is, if it's good history or bad history, history that we're embarrassed about or history that we're proud of, whatever it is, it led us to today.

So today is an amalgamation of everything that happened in history, okay? That is obvious. But the problem is that every speaker at this conference, and this is just a very widespread thing in social justice Christianity in general, they want to pretend like the history is today.

So in other words, we can study institutional systemic racism of the past and we can acknowledge that that has an impact on the present, but that doesn't mean that we're systemically and institutionally racist today.

We have to talk about today as today also. So we don't ignore the past, but we also don't pretend like everything that was going on then.

Is still going on today. That's the problem. The things as a pastor and counseling people as a part of my regular pastoral regimen is when they come to meet with me, first question is, how do you come to know the Lord?

And the second question is talk to me about your family. And the reason why I talk to them about their family is because I know, and many counselors in here know too well that it's impossible to deal with the issues in this person's life.

Unless... I don't know what he's talking about here. This has nothing to do with the topic. Let's fast forward a little bit. Maybe we'll go to... Let's fast forward like a minute.

That's what we'll do here. Surround and do the West Coast strut.

We went back to the tongues. What is the West Coast strut?

How in the world can you go from the earth to the moon and you can't do research on the racial history that we need to fight in this country? I don't wanna be traumatized by teaching you history. I don't get this attitude.

I really don't.

This is very common. How can you go to the moon but you can't research the history? Well, first of all, you are assuming that people don't know the history. And again, I'm not saying that they do, but this is just said oftentimes.

It's just obvious that people don't know their history. And I don't think it's all that obvious. Matt Chandler in his speech, he kind of bemoaned how that Black History Month is just so like superficial.

But we have a whole month dedicated to it. A whole month dedicated to Black History Month. I remember I learned a lot during Black History Month and I know more from my further studies, but what about Puerto Rican History Month, man?

You have like this every day in Puerto Rico. Now you're getting the spirit of it, huh? Feel, feel. Puerto Rican flag.

Not very nice. We're the oppressed ones. We don't even have a month. Do you know what day this is? Because I know what day this is. They know what day this is. So I was wondering if you know what day this is.

Because it's Puerto Rican day. Maybe we should estamp you like you estamp the flag.

What do you think of that? But look, I just have one thing to say to you boys. But here's the thing.

This attitude is just like, well, you're ignorant, obviously. I mean, if you weren't ignorant, of course you'd agree with Dr. Mason. And then secondly, what is he talking about, traumatized by teaching you?

Brother, what is that? I mean, honestly, it's time to grow up. I see this a lot where it's like if you ask a black person a question about history that they don't even feel the need to answer you. I'm not gonna answer you.

I see this all the time on social media. You can't control me. I'm not gonna answer you. Yeah, I'm gonna be traumatized if I even go into it. Man, grow up. Honestly, grow up. Look, here's the thing. If you want to work this out in the church today, you're gonna have to get past that, okay?

You're gonna get past the trauma, have to get past the trauma of teaching somebody something that they may not know. Honestly, I don't get that attitude. I don't get that attitude. That's not making every effort, like Ephesians said.

If you're saying, well, that's traumatic for me. I'm not gonna do it. I'm sorry, then you're not in step.

With what Paul's teaching in this passage. I want you to grow up in your spiritual maturity.

I want you to grow up in your spiritual maturity because it's not, just because you're traumatized, you feel traumatized by teaching somebody about history, that's no reason not to do it if this is so important to you.

You need to grow up. And grow up in your faith and go on the sanctifying journey of overriding the patriotic way that we've learned history in America.

So now it's the Holy Spirit that sanctifies you to study history. So he's not gonna do it. He's gonna let the Holy Spirit do it. Chapter and verse on that one, Dr. Mason.

We have patriotic and triumphalism in the ways that we've learned history. And so when you talk to African-Americans, now you have on one side, you have a white frailty.

Making every effort to be at peace and making every effort to have unity. But yeah, you're just white frail.

Then on the other side, you have blacks who are dealing with race fatigue syndrome. So you got race fatigue meeting white frailty. White frailty says, I refuse to talk about that. Blacks on the other side, I'm sick of going back and forth with you about it.

You can't have it both ways, brother. You can't have it both ways because if white frailty is over here saying, I refuse to talk about it. And then there's the black fatigue and saying, I don't wanna go back and forth with you about it.

That can't both be true. Because if you're going back and forth with people about it, they're obviously willing to talk about it. So you can't have it both ways here, brother. You just played yourself.

That's insanity to what you just said. And furthermore, what is it with these people from this perspective, the social justice perspective? All kinds of people. It doesn't matter if they're black or white.

I see all kinds of people doing this. Willing to just be like, oh yeah, white fragility, white frailty. That really angers me because you're so willing to just use racial pejoratives like that as long as it's white people.

You know what I mean? Imagine if somebody said black fragility or something like that. They'd be pillory. They'd be out of a job instantly. It just boggles my mind. This is just confusion. None of this is biblical, by the way.

I mean, he's already, he's talked about a verse, but he's out of the verse now. White fragility, that's not in the Bible. Racial fatigue, that's not in the Bible. And they contradict. White fragility says, oh, I won't talk about this.

But then the black fatigue says, well, I'm sick of going back and forth with you. You can't have it both ways. That doesn't make any sense. Also, I always find this interesting. I tweeted this out the other day that there's this concept of white fragility.

So white people are like the biggest snowflakes of all time. They're the most fragile, kind of pathetic people on the planet. But yet at the same time, they're like the most powerful oppressors that control everything.

It's just complete nonsense.

Bitterness, Evangelicalism, and the Call to Real Unity

The question is, we have to begin in our walk with Jesus Christ. To say, I am not gonna let the challenges of what has happened much as I ain't feeling you. Let me tell you right now, multiplicities of Negroes ain't feeling evangelicalism.

And guess what? It has nothing to do with white fragility. People don't like to hear the gospel because they don't like God, okay? Now, he might be talking about evangelicalism as a technical term. And so he's saying that, well, they are Christians, but they just don't like evangelicalisms.

And honestly, I don't really care about that. I'm not zealous for the term evangelical. And so if that's what he's talking about, then that's one thing. But the thing is, if black Christians aren't feeling white Christians, well, they gotta get over that and vice versa.

I mean, if white Christians aren't feeling black Christians, they gotta get over that as well. They gotta put, they gotta mortify that because that's a sin to be mortified. That's not something that is just okay.

And now it's just white people's fault. They gotta deal with it.

One of the things I've been, God's been working on me in my heart is that the root of bitterness sprouting up would defile many. And if I allow myself to stew in my frustration towards whites, Jesus won't be my center, my hatred will.

But on the other hand, whites have to do this, assume in Jesus' mighty name that because there is an offense that you need to press into that particular offense and begin to educate yourself on beginning to develop the opportunity to not have reductionistic ways in which you try to cause racial reconciliation, like through hiring non-qualified African-Americans to be the multi-ethnic engineers in your local churches.

Oh, snap, Matt Chandler, do you feel that? Bam, got you, man, got you.

An Anglo eight and an African-American seven, which one do you want? I said, I want the African-American seven. Ooh, that hurts, man.

I can feel that one from here, bam. But you know what though? He's right, you know, that's a silly way to have racial reconciliation. Again, if you believe in the idea of racial reconciliation, which I don't, but that's a silly way to do it, just sort of do this token thing, which is what Matt Chandler was talking about in his affirmative action hiring practices.

But boy, man, you know, look, I'd have an easier time, you know, taking Eric Mason at face value if he didn't tweet out that he wants to have a council to call people like me heretics because I'm not woke enough for him, or where he calls the people that aren't woke demonic opposition, you know?

Yeah, it sure sounds like your hatred is taken over there because I'm pretty sure that none of this wokeness stuff is in the Bible. If it was, if it was important to Christ to be woke, he would have included it in his scripture, but he didn't.

And yet you still want to have a council to anathematize the non-woke. And you know, they're not qualified because blacks haven't hired them. You know, they're not qualified because blacks haven't hired them.

And it works against unity when you hire somebody that we're not feeling, and you're wondering why

Oh, I see, I see, I see. So what he means is that it's not, black people don't like what they're saying, so they're not being hired, so that they're not qualified because they're not woke. That's what he's saying.

I get it. Multi-ethnicity isn't happening at your church. It's because you have a person that's black on the outside, but angloid on the inside.

You know, you don't have to say the word for the idea to be expressed, Dr. Eric Mason. I know what you just did there. Come on, man.

My disappointment is immeasurable. And my day is ruined.

I wanna do unity together. We have to I got an idea, Dr. Eric Mason. If we're gonna do unity together,.

Stop calling people coons. How about that for one? Stop using terms like white fragility. How about that for two? Now those, this might be an idea. Oh, I got a great idea. If we're gonna have unity, how about you don't try to have a council where you excommunicate brothers who aren't woke enough?

How about you stop calling them demon possessed? That, just a few ideas. Maybe if you wanna have unity, just a couple ideas from this. Look, I'm just a humble Puerto Rican pastor of a small church in Vermont.

I don't know everything, but I'm pretty sure that calling people coons and calling people white fragile and trying to excommunicate brothers who aren't woke and calling them demon possessed, I'm pretty sure those aren't really what Paul had in mind in Ephesians.

Revelation 7, the Nations, and the White Robes of Heaven

To have less reductionistic strategies and begin to get at the table and look at the glory of Christ's commitment to say, yes, we have problems. Yes, we have issues and yes, we have frustrations. So every now and then as these two minutes go past for me to done,.

It makes me go to Revelation seven. Well, I'm glad he's bringing some scripture into it because I do appreciate hearing actual truth in the midst of a whole bunch of nonsense. And I gotta be honest with you.

I thought this was gonna be more jovial, to be honest. It started off a lot more jovial and then it just went. And actually I agree with a lot of what he said. My goodness, the last few minutes have been, wow.

And I go to Revelation seven. And although the J dubs, they stop at verse eight because they believe 144 ,000 ministry. We believe in more than that. Myriads and myriads of believers are gonna be Pentecostalized in the presence of God in looking like their ethnic selves in their different dialects from Australia to ancient Kemet, to South Africa, to Denmark, to Greenland, to Zambia, to ancient Ethiopia, current Ethiopia, America, Afro-Caribbeans, all different peoples from all tribes and languages are gonna be around the throne, yelling and glorifying the name of Jesus Christ in their tongue.

Amen. But all of us We're doing that now. Are gonna have on the same white outfit. And we're gonna overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word Why does it gotta be white? Of our testimony. It reminds me as I closed, Philadelphia Eagles just won the championship recently.

And I didn't go out in the streets, but I looked out in the streets. One million people, Irish, Italian, Boricua, all different, black folk, Nigerian, everybody is out there in the streets. One million people tearing the streets of Philadelphia up about a game that none of them played.

They had on the same color jersey with somebody else's name on the back of it. And all of the differences that they had and all of the frustrations that they had because somebody had won for them, they gathered around the ones who beat the game for them versus fighting each other.

All I wanna tell you today is in heaven, we gonna have on the same jersey. In heaven, we gonna have on a white robes and we're gonna be saying glory and honor and dominion and power. Stop yelling at me, man.

No, I'm just kidding. Actually, you know, my family grew up with preaching like this and I remember at my grandmother's funeral that the preacher, he was preaching all in Spanish. So, you know, I only understood parts of it, but he was freaking out, screaming, angry, but it was all about how my grandmother was in glory.

He was getting into it. I love that kind of stuff. I actually really do like this kind of preaching.

I am of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy, God. We bless you, God. Glory in the highest. Glory adios for unity in the church.

Final Critique of Wokeness, Unity, and the Speech's Ending

Yeah, so I love that ending. It was awesome. Again, I like that style preaching. I just like it. How could you sit there and talk about making every effort for unity and then be like, well, yeah, you know, we just got the white fragility.

They don't wanna talk about it. And then we got the blacks that are just like these traumatized, poor, you know, just tired. And it's all the white person's fault. You gotta grow up, man. That's not how you get unity.

You don't get unity by calling the non-woke demon possessed. You don't get unity by trying to set up councils to sort of anathematize us. It's just not how it works. And so I like that ending, but you know, honestly, I don't even know what to say.

My disappointment is immeasurable. And my day is ruined.