May 5

Written by: Mike Milton
5/5/2008 4:00 PM

An article entitled “The Resilient Religious Right” appeared in the May 5, 2008 edition of USA Today. I must admit that the Reverend Henry G. Brinton, Senior Pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in suburban D.C. disarmed me with what he said. I expected another masked crusader seeking to body-slam the late Dr. D. James Kennedy and others by telling us again why the “evangelical right” is mean, out of touch, and uneducated.

On the contrary, Rev Brinton wrote that despite the passing of (yes, he did mention my late mentor and friend) Dr. Kennedy, the “religious right” is alive and well. He pointed out that despite Rick Warren’s posturing to appear more moderate in terms of environment and social issues, the mega-church pastor from Southern California still preaches conservative principles to thousands upon thousands. Together with traditional Roman Catholics, bolstered by the overwhelmingly successful visit of Benedict XVI, the “religious right” movement is alive and well. I want to speak to that in just a moment.

One thing that merits attention is how Brinton declared that the left-wing of American Christianity, influencing the political landscape, is needed to speak to “charity toward undocumented workers.”  He went on to say that we need both “wings” to make this bird fly. I like that winged metaphor, but only if you are speaking about one faith and one Lord that stands for both truth and mercy. Instead, Brinton separates them and says that we need one group who will advocate Biblical propositional truth and yet another group to advocate humanity and mercy. This shortchanges Biblical Christianity and misrepresents the theological ground of the old “evangelical right.”

Dr. D. James Kennedy is almost universally remembered by those born after 1968 as that conservative Presbyterian (PCA) pastor who preached on television, weekly it seemed, only about issues related to “reclaiming America.” Some might be tempted to overlook the whole of his ministry or to misunderstand historic American Protestantism (and British Puritanism). They fail to take into account the millions of people whose lives have been spiritually enriched by his optimistic faith. They fail to remember the impact of city-wide, region-wide and often nation-wide acts of mercy and justice through his local church, Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Fort Lauderdale. Kennedy was not a one-winged bird limping along to get off of the ground, dependent upon a more compassionate, merciful Christianity to help his ministry fly.

His theology, so much like the 17th Century non-conformist movements which gave birth and nurture to American Protestantism, was a radically Biblical, grace-centered theology that saw every area of life for the growing kingdom of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the movement that Kennedy so often cited that brought about the founding of America not only existed in England and the Netherlands, but looked extraordinarily similar to Kennedy’s own vision of Christ in the heart and Christ in the culture. 

In my own doctoral work in 17th Century Welsh non-conformity, the seeds of Kennedy’s ministry are unmistakable. Indeed, at one point as I conducted research in the struggles of the English Civil War and its relationship to faith and life, I noted that these Christians were nothing less than “Pre-Americans.” They fought for a Reformed theology to be preached that called down God’s blessings on the Realm for coming generations. They were “reclaiming Britain” in a sense. But the experiment of that era fell into some of the same traps as the ones in our day. Puritans turned against each other as when the Welsh Reformed evangelist, Vavasor Powell, preached at Blackfriar’s Church in London on the day that Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector. He thought that he had enough “moderate” leaders who would not stand up for Christ like he thought they should, and so he urged his congregation to go home and ask themselves if they would prefer to have Jesus Christ rule over them or Oliver Cromwell? The Puritan movement caved in as a result of such infighting. But one thing was for sure: these “Pre -Americans” were arguing for a Reformed faith that would influence heart, hearth, Parliament, and the marketplace.

With Jim Kennedy it all began with one heart being transformed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Evangelism Explosion, the single largest discipleship training ministry on the face of the earth, remains as a testimony to the simple faith in Jesus Christ. It was an understanding of “faith alone through grace alone” that came to a young man, in the early 1950s, listening, reluctantly but providentially, to the gravel-voiced Donald Barnhouse. He heard the question asked over his transistor radio, “If you were to die tonight, are you sure you are going to heaven?” He went on to explain that though heaven is a free gift, man is a sinner. God is just and must punish sin. That Biblically revealed equation is solved through Jesus of Nazareth.

When Jim Kennedy received Christ by transferring his trust from himself to Christ alone, he began a journey that was not so different from his Puritan forefathers. It started with a surrender to the call to the ministry, the planting of a church, and robust doctrinal preaching. It continued with books such as Truths that Transform (an early Kennedy title that outlined the Reformed faith taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith) being published, and a Christian school with a distinctively Christian worldview being founded. These were followed by Coral Ridge Ministries, Reclaiming America, Knox Theological Seminary and, yes, “Reclaiming America.”

Kennedy stood in the great tradition of Reformed Christians and pastors, like John Calvin himself, who looked upon this world as a sin-sick place that if left to itself would give way, generation after generation, to hardening, cracking, and ultimately dying. He poured his life into the sick, the poor, and standing up for people of all races and creeds. He gave himself to the building up of the kingdom of God in our midst.

I thank God Jim said “yes” to this God of grace. I would not be writing this today as a grace-dependent believer in Christ, much less as a minister of the Gospel and a seminary president if it weren’t for the ministry of Dr. Kennedy.

Henry G. Brinton’s USA Today article was exactly right in saying that the nation needs both a right wing of truth and a left wing of mercy. I just don’t think they have to be two different birds patched together. In D. James Kennedy they were one.

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