Howard C. Wilkinson - "Worship the God's of a Defeated Enemy" (November 17, 1968)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  Educational Use Permitted
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4hh6h67f?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4hh6h67f
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(liturgical music)	0:03
-	Grace be to you and peace from God, our Father,	2:02
	and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.	2:05
	When God's people assemble to worship,	2:08
	we acknowledge our relationship to God together.	2:11
	We acknowledge our understanding	2:15
	of what He has done for us in Christ,	2:17
	and what He has called us to be by His Spirit.	2:21
	Let us then continue together,	2:25
	our service of worship and praise,	2:27
	as we read responsibly, the word of God	2:30
	concerning the power of the Grace of God.	2:33
	Reading 635,	2:37
	and title's, "Comfort my people,"	2:40
	from the book of Isaiah.	2:42
	Let us read the word of God together.	2:45
	Comfort my people, says your God,	2:49
	speak tenderly to Jerusalem	2:53
	and cry to her that her warfare has ended.	2:56
	That her iniquity is pardoned,	3:00
	that she has received from the Lord hands	3:03
	double for all her sins.	3:06
	A voice cries in the wilderness,	3:09
	"Prepare the way of the Lord,	3:11
	"make straight in the desert or highway for our God.	3:14
	"Every valley shall be lifted up	3:18
	"and every mountain and hill be made low.	3:21
	"The uneven ground shall become level	3:24
	"and the rough places a plain,	3:28
	"and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed	3:30
	"and all flesh shall see it together."	3:33
	Amen.	3:37
	(liturgical music)	3:47
-	Our scripture lesson for this morning consists of	7:48
	selected verses from the 25th chapter of Second Chronicles.	7:52
	Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign	8:00
	and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.	8:04
	And he did what it was right in the eyes of the Lord	8:09
	yet not with a blameless heart.	8:12
	Amaziah assembled the men of Judah	8:17
	and sent them by father's houses,	8:19
	under commanders of thousands and hundreds	8:21
	for all Judah and Benjamin.	8:25
	He mustered those 20 years old and upward	8:28
	and found that they were 300,000 fit men, fit for war,	8:32
	able to handle spear and shield.	8:37
	Amaziah took courage and let out his people	8:43
	and went through the valley of Saul	8:46
	and smoked 10,000 men of Seir.	8:48
	The men of Judah captured another 10,000 alive	8:53
	and took them to the top of a rock	8:56
	and threw them down from the top of the rock	8:58
	and they were all dashed to pieces.	9:01
	After Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites,	9:06
	he brought the gods of the men of Seir	9:11
	and set them up as his gods	9:15
	and worshiped them, making offerings to them.	9:18
	Therefore, the Lord was angry with Amaziah	9:22
	and sent him a prophet who said to him,	9:25
	"Why have you resorted to the gods of a people	9:28
	"which did not deliver their own people	9:31
	"from your hand?"	9:34
	May God interpret through his spirit	9:38
	and his messenger this morning,	9:41
	our understanding in our own day	9:43
	this portion of ancient scripture.	9:46
	(liturgical music)	9:51
-	The Lord be with you?	10:28
-	(indistinct)	10:29
-	Let us pray.	10:31
	Let us offer unto God our prayers of thanksgiving.	10:45
	Oh God and Father of us all,	10:53
	we thank thee for morning light and for evening peace.	10:55
	For the night in which	11:01
	though has restored our spirits strength	11:02
	and the day in which though has lead us	11:05
	into a yet larger life.	11:07
	For the past,	11:11
	from which so much has come to bless us	11:12
	and for the future to which we lift our eyes	11:16
	in hope and anticipation.	11:17
	We thank thee Oh God for the mind	11:22
	which asked the mind questions	11:23
	and the spirit by which the mysteries are exalted.	11:25
	For truth, which binds the conscience and law	11:30
	and for mercy, which frees it from that bondage.	11:34
	We thank thee for beauty,	11:39
	that rejoices the eye of man	11:40
	and for skill,	11:42
	which disciplines his hands.	11:43
	For the saints whose deeds and dreams are one,	11:46
	and for the sinner	11:50
	who hungers and thirsts beyond his deeds for benediction.	11:52
	We thank thee, our Father, for love,	11:58
	for love that redeems the heart of man from fear	12:01
	and for grace that sustains him in every adversity.	12:05
	For all thy work done in this world,	12:09
	we give you thanks, oh God, our father,	12:12
	our strength and our redeemer.	12:14
	Oh Lord, who has revealed thy self	12:21
	through a man whom we call thy son,	12:24
	who knew intimately what it means to endure suffering	12:28
	and to block and to conquer,	12:32
	hear us now we ask,	12:35
	as we remember before thee,	12:38
	our fellows, the brothers of thy human family	12:41
	who suffered this day,	12:45
	we lift before thee, oh Lord,	12:50
	all those who've suffered	12:51
	from an under peace hunger for love.	12:54
	The suffering of a boy	12:57
	whose mother has slapped him without cause,	13:00
	and that of a man whose boss	13:04
	has reprimanded him in front of his friends.	13:06
	We remember before thee, oh Lord,	13:10
	the suffering of a child left at home	13:12
	because he is considered a nuisance.	13:15
	We remember that of a grandmother left in a home	13:19
	because she's too old.	13:23
	We lift before thee the suffering of an unemployed man	13:26
	who wants to work,	13:29
	and the suffering of a mother whose children are hungry	13:32
	while the remains of a party are thrown into the garbage.	13:35
	We lift before thee old Lord,	13:40
	the suffering of an old man who dies alone	13:43
	while his family in an adjoining room	13:46
	wait for his death drinking coffee.	13:49
	For all, oh Lord, who experience suffering, injustice,	13:53
	bitterness, humiliation,	13:59
	grief, despair,	14:01
	we (indistinct).	14:05
	May thy lovely ask penetrate their condition,	14:07
	quench their hunger	14:12
	and bring peace and wholeness at last.	14:14
	Grant, oh Lord,	14:20
	that we who offer these prayers	14:22
	might be honored by the opportunity	14:24
	to be instruments of that love	14:27
	to our neighbors need.	14:30
	Oh, Lord, even as we offer our prayers for our neighbor,	14:36
	as we ask that we might have more sympathy and concern	14:41
	to heal and minister to their needs,	14:45
	we also lift our prayers for ourselves.	14:49
	We ask that thou would also create in us	14:53
	the capacity for indignation as well as for sympathy.	14:56
	Help us, oh God, to pray prayers of wrath,	15:01
	to burn with righteous anger against all that exploits man,	15:06
	that takes advantage of fragility,	15:11
	that capitalizes on the weakness of the age.	15:14
	Save us we ask from the fear of appearing intolerant	15:19
	and from the desire to stand well in all men's eyes.	15:23
	Teach us, our Father,	15:28
	that there is approval that is not worth having,	15:30
	and that there are enemies a good man ought to have,	15:34
	but grant, oh God,	15:38
	that our indignation may be righteous,	15:40
	that our opposition to wrong	15:44
	may be on tinge with vindictiveness and our own fear.	15:46
	Teach us, oh Lord, not to be surprised	15:52
	that like Christ,	15:55
	our love divides as well as your unites.	15:56
	And if the cross becomes	16:00
	a crossroads where men meet and depart,	16:02
	then on Lord in thine mercy,	16:06
	increased thy hold upon us lest we waiver.	16:09
	Teach us, we ask,	16:14
	to care for thy approval	16:15
	above that of our fellows	16:17
	in all that we do.	16:19
	Oh God, our Father,	16:22
	help us we ask to come to terms with our own humanness	16:24
	with all its glories and frustrations	16:27
	for it seems as if we were always trying	16:31
	either to take the thy place	16:33
	or to forget about thee and do just as we please.	16:35
	So often we feel frustrated by our animal needs	16:39
	and want thy help in transforming them,	16:43
	to see though to us a daily assurance	16:46
	of thy care.	16:48
	To accept sleep as a well earned benediction	16:50
	and not merely an interruption to our activities.	16:54
	To know love is not self-gratification, but self-giving.	16:58
	Above all, oh Lord, we feel frustrated	17:03
	by our limited minds and spirits.	17:05
	We pray for a vision that exceeds our grasp.	17:08
	Help us we ask to see beyond the trivia	17:13
	that threatened to clutter up our minds,	17:16
	that we may see the grand design of thy truth.	17:19
	Help us, we ask, to be open to every experience,	17:23
	to tolerate new thoughts that seem threatening	17:26
	and to help us to give our spirits always a free reign	17:30
	that we may see thee, and find thee,	17:35
	and know thee,	17:39
	who speaketh to us in Jesus of Nazareth,	17:41
	who taught us that when we pray together	17:43
	we might say,	17:47
	our Father who art in heaven,	17:48
	hallowed be thy name,	17:51
	thy kingdom come,	17:54
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	17:56
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	17:59
	and forgive us our trespasses	18:02
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	18:05
	and lead us not into temptation,	18:08
	but deliver us from evil	18:11
	for thine is the kingdom	18:13
	and the power and the glory forever.	18:15
	Amen.	18:18
	I have been asked to bring to the attention,	18:25
	especially to those who are participating in the service	18:28
	by way of radio, an announcement.	18:30
	This afternoon in the university chapel,	18:35
	a student organ recital will be presented	18:38
	by Mr. William (indistinct) at four o'clock.	18:40
	Mr. (indistinct) is a student	18:44
	of Mildred Hendrix, assistant professor of music	18:46
	at Duke university.	18:49
	The public, the larger community,	18:51
	is cordially invited to attend this recital.	18:53
-	Shall we worship the gods of a defeated enemy?	19:22
	The question may seem irrelevant	19:33
	to one who has not honored the fact	19:35
	that we all have a God or gods,	19:37
	and that we worship the deity	19:41
	in whom or in which we believe.	19:43
	It may not be the one true and living God	19:49
	of the Hebrew Christian faith,	19:52
	but in the secret place of everyone's heart,	19:54
	there is an idol or deity of some sort	19:59
	and all of us	20:03
	make sacrificial worship	20:07
	to that God	20:10
	or to those gods.	20:12
	There are no exceptions.	20:15
	The question which this sermon deals with, however,	20:20
	does not focus on that fact,	20:24
	rather, it assumes it.	20:27
	Our question deals today with the choice	20:29
	of our objects of worship.	20:33
	The selection of our gods.	20:36
	Why would we want to worship the gods of a defeated enemy?	20:40
	Of all the deities we might possibly select to worship,	20:49
	why on earth would we decide to worship the ones	20:54
	our enemies worship,	20:59
	whom we have to defeated?	21:01
	Yet that is precisely	21:06
	what some very intelligent individuals	21:07
	and groups of individuals in America are doing today.	21:09
	It doesn't make sense,	21:15
	and it doesn't make progress.	21:17
	So I'm asking now,	21:19
	why I do it?	21:21
	Why do it?	21:23
	The ideal of this sermon	21:27
	did not originate with me.	21:29
	On November 21, 1943,	21:31
	Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick	21:34
	preached on this idea	21:36
	in the Riverside church in New York city.	21:38
	And our sermon today, therefore,	21:42
	to be thought of	21:43
	as a celebration of the 25th anniversary	21:45
	of Dr. Fosdick's preaching of that sermon.	21:48
	But just as I have said,	21:52
	that the idea was not original with me,	21:54
	so Dr. Fosdick said it did not originate with him.	21:58
	He gleaned it from the dusty pages	22:02
	of a neglected book of the old Testament.	22:05
	Who would have thought, 25 years ago,	22:09
	that the second book of Chronicles	22:11
	would have a message of great importance	22:14
	for the United States of America at that time.	22:17
	Well, the 25th chapter of second Chronicles	22:21
	tells of a military adventure	22:24
	of which God's chosen people,	22:26
	made under the leadership of King Amaziah.	22:28
	They penetrated the territory occupied by their enemies,	22:34
	the Edomites who lived in Sier.	22:37
	Now, we ought to pause here long enough to say	22:41
	that the great majority of instances	22:44
	in which the children of Israel	22:48
	went out to battle or stayed at home to battle,	22:51
	were times when they lost their wars.	22:55
	In general, they did.	22:58
	In fact, when it came to warfare,	23:00
	the Israelites were at the bottom	23:02
	of the conference standards,	23:04
	both in the offense and in defense.	23:05
	But on this particular occasion,	23:10
	they engineered a complete route of the enemy.	23:14
	With Amaziah as quarterback,	23:18
	they simply blitz the enemy,	23:20
	fashioned similar to the Israeli devastation	23:23
	of the Arab forces in 1967.	23:25
	Amaziah and his soldiers killed 10,000 of their enemy	23:30
	and then they rounded up 10,000 more of them,	23:34
	took them to the top of a cliff	23:37
	and hurled them bodily out into space.	23:39
	Saw their bodies dashed to pieces on the rocks below.	23:43
	There was no halfheartedness in their efforts	23:49
	and no indecision at the end.	23:53
	Amaziah and his men,	23:57
	the chosen people of God,	23:59
	won that war.	24:01
	Well, as they prepared to march back home,	24:05
	they stirred around among the belongings	24:07
	of their vanquished foe	24:09
	and they saw the Edomites idols.	24:12
	Picking them up, they decided to take them home.	24:17
	And once they arrived at home,	24:22
	they set them up	24:23
	and bowed themselves down before them	24:25
	and worshiped them.	24:31
	Incredible.	24:35
	Second Chronicles records	24:39
	that God sent a prophet to them with a question,	24:40
	"Why have you sought after the gods of the people	24:44
	"who have not delivered their own people out of your hands."	24:48
	You've got the picture?	24:59
	It was somewhat as though Duke should beat Wake Forest	25:01
	by a score of 18 to three,	25:04
	and then immediately fire their own victorious coach	25:07
	and hire a coach of the defeated Deacons.	25:10
	Such a procedure, of course, is absurd.	25:14
	It doesn't make sense.	25:18
	The prophet wanted to know	25:20
	why they were doing it.	25:22
	1943, Dr. Fosdick	25:27
	applied the prophets question	25:29
	to Americans who were then accurately predicting	25:31
	the defeat of Hitler and the Nazi army.	25:34
	Pointing out that some of those Americans	25:37
	were already beginning to worship	25:41
	the gods of the Nazis	25:43
	who were on their way to defeat	25:45
	at the hands of the Americans and their allies.	25:48
	Dr. Fosdick said,	25:53
	"A paradox it may well be	25:56
	"by in fighting our enemies, we copy them	25:59
	"and in our victories over them,	26:03
	"assume ourselves the very attributes and qualities	26:06
	"we have fought against."	26:12
	Now, our purpose in raising this question today	26:16
	is not really to celebrate the 25th anniversary	26:19
	of a great sermon by a giant of a preacher,	26:22
	rather, it is to apply the prophets question,	26:26
	to two tendencies,	26:31
	which presently are emerging in American life	26:34
	and which are of very grave importance.	26:39
	In the day of Amaziah,	26:44
	God had called the children of Israel	26:47
	to be his special people,	26:48
	to lead the world into a way of righteousness and justice,	26:51
	and to prepare the world to receive his holy one.	26:55
	At least this was the prophetic interpretation	26:59
	of the doctrine that Israel was God's chosen people.	27:02
	But the prophet knew that God's chosen people	27:06
	could not lead the world	27:10
	for its righteousness and justice	27:11
	as long as they were bogged down and worshiping the gods	27:13
	of a defeated enemy.	27:16
	They were, there by, destroying their ability	27:19
	to fulfill their role as the Israel of God.	27:23
	So, today,	27:27
	there are two groups in America	27:30
	who I believe are the contemporary Israel of God	27:32
	whom he is calling to lead this nation	27:37
	into the ways of righteousness and justice,	27:41
	but both of which,	27:46
	are at this moment,	27:48
	tempted to lose their effectiveness	27:50
	by worshiping the gods	27:54
	of there defeated enemy.	27:57
	It is about this,	28:01
	that today's sermon is concerned.	28:03
	Let us look at these two, one at a time.	28:08
	First,	28:11
	we shall consider an enemy which has been defeated	28:13
	in that its back has been broken,	28:16
	it has been widely discredited,	28:20
	its controlling force has lost its momentum	28:22
	and wherever it appears, it is always on the defensive.	28:27
	All of its legions have not yet been dashed to pieces	28:33
	on the rocks perhaps,	28:36
	but they have significantly lost their grip	28:39
	on the handle of power.	28:42
	I refer to that complex	28:45
	of militaristic and economic interest	28:48
	which once dominated American life	28:52
	and which place military values above human values,	28:55
	which place profits and the profit system	29:00
	above human beings.	29:03
	In my own lifetime,	29:07
	I have seen college professors fired	29:09
	who dare question that complex.	29:13
	I have seen preachers	29:16
	denied the freedom to preach against it in their pulpits	29:18
	and whose papers have been bombed	29:22
	with credit articles that were critical of it.	29:24
	Violence was inflicted against men	29:28
	who were thought to be working against this complex.	29:30
	Intimidation and harassment were tools frequently used	29:35
	by this enemy.	29:40
	In some instances, murder was committed.	29:43
	Even when honest critics were not killed,	29:47
	often their characters were assassinated	29:49
	by the spreading of half-truths about them.	29:52
	Another aoristic mindset	29:57
	maybe characterized by the comment	29:59
	which general George S. Patton made	30:01
	to how a boy, during world war II,	30:03
	while tens of thousands were being killed,	30:07
	how a boy, like a great many other people were wondering,	30:10
	how long the war would last.	30:15
	General Patton told him	30:19
	he hoped it would last until he,	30:20
	that his General Patton,	30:23
	could establish a great reputation as a general.	30:24
	"For God's sake," he said,	30:28
	"don't get this war over too soon."	30:30
	For him, apparently,	30:35
	winning a great military place in history	30:37
	was of greater importance than saving human lives.	30:41
	The profits above people mindset,	30:46
	maybe characterized by the comment	30:50
	which (indistinct) Vanderbilt made	30:52
	to the newspaper reporter	30:55
	who asked him a question	30:56
	about the effect of certain of his business interests	30:57
	upon the welfare of the public.	31:00
	Vanderbilt snapped, "The public be damned."	31:03
	A combination or a complex of these systems and mindsets	31:10
	dominated much of American life for a time,	31:15
	but I take great satisfaction	31:19
	in noting that this enemy	31:20
	has been effectively defeated in our nation.	31:22
	His power has been curbed	31:26
	and he has been thoroughly discredited	31:27
	on every side.	31:30
	Today in America,	31:33
	there are many, many thousands	31:35
	of college, university students	31:37
	whose minds are a plain	31:40
	with the learning of the knowledge explosion,	31:42
	whose hearts and souls are on fire with a dream	31:45
	of justice,	31:50
	of equality, and liberty,	31:52
	who are determined to go forward	31:54
	in creating a world of peace,	31:56
	a world of universal brotherhood	31:59
	and who feel that every corporation,	32:02
	every ecclesiastical institution	32:06
	and every other agents	32:10
	must successfully meet the test of its relevance	32:13
	to human welfare.	32:16
	They are impatient with any vestigial remain	32:21
	of the old militaristic economic complex.	32:25
	I believe that this group of American students,	32:30
	sometimes called activists,	32:35
	may very be a contemporary Israel of God,	32:38
	called by him to lead our nation and the world	32:42
	into a new day.	32:45
	But it is now time	32:49
	for the whole student movement to pause and consider	32:51
	the possible effects	32:54
	of the yielding by a minority of their number	32:57
	to the temptation to worship the Gods of the defeated enemy.	33:01
	What I mean is this.	33:07
	Just as in former days	33:09
	when the barons of a militaristic capitalistic complex	33:11
	coerced others to comply with their wishes,	33:16
	so today some members of the student radical left	33:21
	coerce others to comply with their wishes.	33:26
	Just as in former days	33:30
	when men of economic influence	33:31
	sought and fort the will of the majority,	33:33
	so today do some members	33:36
	of the radical student group	33:38
	seek to fort the expressed will of the majority.	33:40
	In former days,	33:45
	we knew of buildings being bombed or burned	33:46
	by the radical right,	33:48
	so the day do we read the bombings and burnings	33:50
	by the radical left.	33:53
	The gods of heckling, intimidation,	33:56
	obstructing and disrupting,	33:59
	which were worshiped by the old reactionary right	34:02
	are now being worshiped by the new radical left.	34:06
	Character assassination by half-truth and by lie	34:11
	once the worshiped idol of the extreme conservative,	34:16
	is now the god of the far left.	34:19
	Violence and anarchy are openly preached.	34:22
	Perhaps it would be a good idea for me	34:29
	to comment at this point,	34:31
	that in case anyone should think	34:33
	these statements are careless generalities	34:35
	based on nothing specific,	34:38
	I am quite willing to show anyone who inquires,	34:41
	what documentation I have.	34:44
	This documentation pinpoints	34:51
	such things as reads.	34:54
	Last spring, the SSLC	34:57
	distributed on the Duke campus,	35:00
	some literature filled with uncomplimentary half-truths	35:03
	and some out right untruths	35:07
	about the university trustees and administration.	35:10
	The intended effect of which was perfectly clear.	35:14
	During the recent presidential campaign,	35:19
	the SSLC attempted to heckle	35:23
	all of the presidential candidates,	35:25
	every time they made a public appearance,	35:27
	thus seeking to deny these candidates	35:31
	their right of free speech.	35:34
	The SSLC and SDS groups	35:38
	made some attempts to interfere with voters	35:40
	going to the polls on election day,	35:43
	strongly influencing them	35:46
	not to vote at all.	35:48
	The SDS is reported by the FBI	35:53
	to have conducted schools in sabotage	35:55
	and the manufacturer of explosives	35:58
	Some of the leaders of SDS and of SSLC	36:03
	have openly praised such advocates violent revolution	36:07
	as Ho Chi Minh and late Che Guevara.	36:11
	Much evidence exists	36:17
	that some leaders of the radical left in America	36:18
	are seeking to bring about an anarchy	36:22
	and the overthrow of the United States government.	36:25
	An organization with headquarters	36:29
	in Cambridge, Massachusetts,	36:31
	known as RESIST,	36:33
	has, in a paid public advertisement,	36:35
	labeled the constitutional government of the United States,	36:38
	the whole government,	36:42
	"An illegitimate authority in America."	36:44
	Now the overwhelming majority	36:51
	of activist students in American campuses today	36:53
	are not, repeat, not represented in,	36:56
	or described by	37:01
	any of the particulars which I have just now listed.	37:03
	They are responsible and effective students	37:07
	laboring hard under difficulties	37:10
	to improve the institutions of democracy,	37:13
	not to destroy them.	37:16
	However, just as the effectiveness	37:18
	of the children of Israel was impaired	37:21
	by the idolatry of their king	37:23
	and some of their other leaders,	37:25
	so the effectiveness of the activist student movement today	37:27
	is being impaired	37:31
	because some few	37:33
	are worshiping the gods of a defeated enemy.	37:35
	If the present student movement	37:39
	is to lead America into a new day of righteousness,	37:42
	of justice, and brotherhood,	37:46
	it will have to be disciplined.	37:50
	It will have to be non-violent,	37:53
	truthful,	37:55
	fair,	37:57
	teachable,	37:59
	democratic,	38:00
	law abiding and loving.	38:02
	It will have to avoid the infantile emotionalism	38:06
	and chief exhibitionism	38:10
	of the filthy speech movement.	38:13
	We turn now to the second group,	38:18
	which is being tempted to worship the gods	38:21
	of a defeated enemy.	38:23
	I refer to our Negro American citizens,	38:26
	students and non-students.	38:30
	For many years,	38:34
	they have had a powerful and very cruel enemy.	38:35
	That enemy was a doctrine	38:39
	that men, women, and even new born babies	38:42
	were to be judged by the color of their skin.	38:46
	For many, many generations,	38:50
	human beings were held in slavery	38:52
	only because of their skin color.	38:55
	This racial doctrine	38:58
	has prevented millions of people in this country	38:59
	from getting a fair wage	39:02
	even after the shackles of slavery were broken.	39:03
	This enemy, for many generations,	39:08
	kept bright and alert young people	39:10
	from enrolling at the schools of their choice,	39:12
	from attending the churches of their choice,	39:15
	and from harvesting the just fruits	39:18
	of their effort and sacrifice	39:22
	in many areas of their lives.	39:24
	This morning, as one who has lived	39:28
	through 50 years of change	39:31
	and who has had a small part in bringing about that change,	39:33
	I am glad to say that the old enemy	39:38
	has been mortally wounded.	39:40
	His back has been broken.	39:43
	The momentum of his power hit	39:45
	and all of the moral and intellectual foundations	39:48
	on which he once built his defenses	39:51
	have now been completely shattered.	39:54
	The white man's doctrine of racial discrimination	39:58
	has now been dethroned in this country.	40:01
	On point by basis,	40:06
	here are a few of the indications.	40:08
	The three branches of the federal government	40:12
	formerly supported	40:15
	the racial doctrine.	40:18
	All three are now firmly set against it	40:20
	as the racists admit themselves.	40:24
	Every one of the major religious denominations in America	40:28
	has roundly condemned racial discrimination	40:31
	and are blooming swiftly to eradicate the remains of it	40:35
	from their own structures.	40:39
	The presidential candidate this year,	40:42
	who everyone understood to be the candidate of white racism	40:45
	received less than 10 million votes	40:49
	in spite of the fact	40:52
	that he conducted a very smart campaign	40:54
	and was personally very appealing.	40:57
	To be sure,	41:01
	not all of the legions of the racial doctrine	41:02
	have been dashed to pieces on the rocks,	41:04
	but in America today,	41:07
	the change is bigger,	41:10
	the tide is running strongly against them.	41:11
	It is my belief	41:16
	that the Negro people of America	41:18
	may very well an Israel of God,	41:21
	called to lead our nation into a new day of brotherhood	41:24
	in such a time as this.	41:28
	To lead our nation into a new day of equality and justice,	41:30
	to lead our people into a day when no man	41:34
	will be judged for anything	41:37
	on the basis of his skin color.	41:39
	Martin Luther King Jr was such a leader.	41:42
	The reason I think the American Negro	41:47
	maybe an Israel of God,	41:49
	called to this role at this time,	41:51
	is that he has suffered so much	41:53
	as a result of this racial doctrine	41:56
	and he knows perhaps better than anyone else,	41:59
	the unacceptable and dehumanizing consequences	42:02
	of that doctrine.	42:05
	But at this moment in American life,	42:09
	we need to pause and consider the possible effects	42:13
	of the yielding by the minority of there number	42:17
	to the temptation to worship the gods	42:22
	of the discredited enemy.	42:25
	Some Negro Americans have seen the white racist defeated,	42:28
	have picked up their idols,	42:34
	taken them home	42:36
	and bowed down and worshiped them.	42:38
	All of us are still trying to learn	42:43
	the full meaning of the term Black Power	42:45
	and I do not suggest that we have yet to conceptualized	42:50
	all of the nuances and niceties in the term.	42:52
	However,	42:56
	to the extent that it means black separatism,	42:59
	which is just another way of saying black segregation,	43:02
	to the extent that it means black nationalism	43:07
	and the excessive contemplation by the black man	43:11
	of his black neighbors,	43:15
	to the extent that the term black is beautiful	43:18
	means black is more beautiful than brown,	43:22
	to the extent that it represents all of this,	43:26
	it is nothing more than a burnt offering	43:31
	to the gods of the (indistinct) plan.	43:33
	A distinguished Negro political scientist	43:39
	published an article in the new south journal	43:43
	in which he wrote these words	43:45
	concerning black racism.	43:47
	"It is pragmatic nonsense,	43:50
	"strategically self-defeating	43:53
	"anthropologically illusory,	43:56
	"and ethically destructive,	43:58
	"like so much of the political history of the white saddle	44:01
	"divorced from reality,	44:04
	"black racism is a tragic exercise in futility.	44:07
	"Mankind has suffered enough	44:11
	"from the irrationalism and incubus of racism."	44:14
	We do not have any great difficulty	44:22
	in understanding how black racism arises.	44:24
	As Dr. Fosdick said,	44:28
	in fighting our enemies we copied them	44:29
	and in our victories over them assume ourselves	44:32
	the very attributes and qualities we have fought against.	44:35
	However, to say that it is understandable	44:40
	is not to say that it is wise.	44:43
	If the American Negro is to function as an Israel of God,	44:46
	to lead the nation for the fulfillment	44:50
	of Martin Luther King's dream,	44:52
	we must resist the temptation	44:55
	to worship this discredited idle.	44:58
	Join hands with men of Goodwill and of every color	45:02
	in a mighty effort	45:05
	to make America a land	45:07
	in which there is no meaningful South or North,	45:09
	no meaningful Black or White.	45:12
	It is my belief that these two contemporary Israel's of God,	45:16
	the student activist and the Negro citizens	45:21
	can best lead our nation into a new and bright day	45:24
	only by worshiping the God and Father of all mankind,	45:29
	whose nature has been revealed by Jesus Christ	45:34
	as being love.	45:37
	Almighty God,	45:43
	who has taught us that we are brothers one of another,	45:45
	and that love is the ways of life,	45:49
	give us thy spirit this day	45:52
	we pray in Christ's name.	45:55
	Amen.	45:58
	(liturgical music)	46:08
-	All mighty God,	52:46
	from whom cometh every good and perfect gift,	52:47
	grant that these our gifts we give unto thee,	52:51
	being dedicated to thy service,	52:55
	will be used for the good of thy church	52:57
	and the welfare of thy people,	52:59
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord,	53:02
	to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit,	53:04
	be all glory and praise,	53:07
	world without end.	53:09
	Amen.	53:12
	Depart now in peace to do the work of God in the world	53:16
	and may the grace of God's son, the love of God, the Father,	53:20
	and the presence of God, the Holy Spirit,	53:24
	be with you all.	53:27
	(liturgical music)	53:30

Item Info

Title:

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Worship the God's of a Defeated Enemy" (November 17, 1968)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4hh6h67f

Date:

November 17, 1968

Speaker:

Wilkinson, Howard C.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0456
ref6115_hxx
uachapelsermaud
duke:628011
dcrau002447
ark:/87924/r4hh6h67f
aec7fbb5-e945-44d4-a5e5-8b00f573b90b

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Worship the God's of a Defeated Enemy" (November 17, 1968)

Transcript

Item Info

1. Howard C. Wilkinson - "Worship the Gods of a Defeated Enemy?" (November 17, 1968)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Worship the God's of a Defeated Enemy" (November 17, 1968)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options