A few years ago, I was about to give a talk on Christianity & Politics. One of my main illustrations was of a Baptist pastor in the South in the 1820s who was an abolitionist. I told one of the organizers of the event, which was SBC, about the abolitionist. He said, “Be careful!”

2/ I laughed. He was joking, right? I said, “Well, he WAS an abolitionist!” The organizer responded again with, “Be careful, Alan!” It might have been a joke, but the implication, the message sent - was that I didn’t need to be too radical, that it might not be well received.

3/ I was on my way to speak and the warning - half joke, half serious? lingered. Was I about to stumble into something? Was talking about abolition too controversial? No. It couldn’t be. It was a joke, right? But, even so, it spoke to what still lies out there beyond recognition.

4/ There’s a fear that exists that if you talk about these things from a biblical view, you will create controversy. I’ve had speaking engagements to talk about God’s heart for migrants canceled after the invitation out of fear that the subject could upset people. It’s something.

5/ The person who said “be careful” might have been joking, might have been warning, might have been stung himself and was processing. I don’t judge him. It’s just the chill that surrounds these things that makes the joke possible. It’s often unspoken. Be careful about that LINE.

6/ Again, he might’ve been joking. Probably was. Likely didn’t know I’d been declared by some as controversial, attacked, shunned, told I shouldn’t speak of these things, insulted. Even death wishes early on for me and my family. I carried that chill w/ me. But, Jesus saves.

7/ So, when you see all this rising around race and migration, you know it comes from a deep and old place - that the jokes are a shadow of the real. You either stand against it or it stands against you. It’s not a neutral thing. But, Jesus is better than all of that.