Recently I watched interviews with the controversial slain civil rights activist and Nation of Islam cleric Malcolm X. One interview in particular stood out to me from June 1963 with Dr. Kenneth Clark:
I was struck by how powerfully he spoke. There are not many public figures that talk the way that Malcolm X does in this interview. Though his beliefs are damnable, his confidence and sincerity in pursuing what he believes is God’s side is admirable. He is not “lukewarm.”
Now before everyone collectively flips out let me tell you what I’m not saying: I’m not saying that I want Christians to be confident by adopting wholesale what Malcolm X is offering. Christians do not need to analyze race in the same way Malcolm X does or use what he is offering to solve the problem of race in contemporary America. And I certainly don’t think Islamic teaching is compatible with Christianity
However, I do think that Christians should be more confident in their prophetic role in the world. Take for instance this quote from the interview:
Until the white man in American sits down and talks with the honorable Elijah Muhammad he won’t even know what the race problem is, what makes the race problem what it is. Just like Pharaoh couldn’t get a solution to his problem until he talked Moses or Nebuchadnezzar or Balthazar couldn’t get a solution to his problem until he talked to Daniel, the white man in America today will never understand the race problem or come anywhere near getting a solution to the race problem until he talks to the honorable Elijah Muhammad. Then Mr. Muhammad will give him God’s analysis: not some kind of political analysis or psychologist analysis or some kind of clergyman’s analysis but God’s analysis. That’s the analysis that Moses gave Pharaoh, that’s the analysis that Daniel gave Balthazar, and today we have a modern Balthazar and a modern day Pharaoh sitting in Washington, D.C.
This is so powerful because Malcolm X believed he wasn’t giving just his personal opinion. When he spoke he believed what he was saying was the truth and he did so unambiguously. His desire to speak what he believed was the truth gave him confidence. While Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam were wrong about God, they certainly believed that, as he says earlier in the interview, that what matters most is being on God’s side on an issue.
If we Christians are the Body of Christ who is the eternal Son, “true God of true God,” should we not have this confidence? Do we give our culture the kind of analysis that Moses gave Pharaoh? The culture can receive an economic, sociological, and psychological analysis from any number of experts and dilettantes. It doesn’t need Christians to chime in to the tune of whatever the best critics of the world can offer.
Now imagine if a Christian said this statement in a public forum:
Until the American people sit down and talk with the Church they won’t even know what the problems are, what makes the problems what they are, just like Pharaoh couldn’t get a solution to his problem until he talked Moses or Nebuchadnezzar or Balthazar couldn’t get a solution to his problem until he talked to Daniel, the American people today will never understand the problems facing them or come anywhere near getting a solution to them until they talk to the Church. Then the Church will give them God’s analysis: not some kind of political analysis or psychologist analysis or some kind of clergyman’s analysis but God’s analysis. That’s the analysis that Moses gave Pharaoh, that’s the analysis that Daniel gave Balthazar, and today we have a modern Balthazar and a modern day Pharaoh sitting in Washington, D.C.
I think the reactions would be shocking to many ears. But we must be bold in “speaking the truth in love.” This is what our culture needs: God’s analysis i.e. the prophetic witness of God’s people, as a “voice crying in the wilderness,” calling sinners to repentance. For underneath all of our social evils remains the underlying cause that we are broken creatures in need of redemption. The Gospel is always going to be a message no one wants to hear. The whole host of virtues and fruits of the Holy Spirit come at the willingness to die to our sins and passions just as Christ did. The world will always react to this message harshly, it can only be seasoned so much to become palatable. At the end of the day, it requires that we are willing to die.
We don’t need another study or expert telling us what the problem is.That kind of talk is easy and cheap. Are we willing to not only listen to God’s analysis but as the members of Christ’s body, proclaim that analysis as well? Are we willing to call out the powers and principalities, when they stray from God’s will, as the Pharaohs and Balthazars that they are? If an infidel can be so bold, can we?
Comment by John S. on December 10, 2014 at 6:51 am
Perhaps the problem is we have confidence in God but not the visible church? Malcom X could point to Elijah Muhammed as the representative of God. Who, for example, could a United Methodist recomment, the GC, GBCS, BOD, Council of Bishops, Bishop ______, all of whom disagree with each other and that is within one denomination.
Comment by Theresa on September 1, 2018 at 8:25 am
Malcolm X changed his views after he and the Nation of Islam parted ways. When he became a Sunni Muslim, he still spoke with great confidence about what he sincerely believed was truth but no longer needed Elijah Muhammad. In fact, he denounced Elijah Muhammad as a religious faker and immoral man, and he denounced the Nation of Islam cultic doctrine as racist. He confessed that he had been “hypnotized” and “manipulated by” Elijah Muhammad and that he had been a “zombie, told to march in one direction and following suit.” He also said he “wasted 12 years of his life” in the Nation of Islam and that he had been wrong. As a Muslim, I disagree with you that Islam is incompatible with Christianity. The two religions have more similarities than Judaism and worship the same God. The Nation of Islam is not real Islam. When Malcolm X became an orthodox Muslim, he was an even greater example for Christians. I haven’t seen anyone today with this man’s courage and conviction.
Comment by Christopher Carter on October 22, 2019 at 7:08 pm
How dare you take Malcolm X’s powerful, truthful words and apply them to your fantasy religion? Christianity has been murdering blacks, women and children ever since its creation. Your religion was responsible for the degradation of generations of Africans. It was Christians who supported the chattel slavery system that brought you the nation of islam in the first place. Of course blacks would flock to a religion, any religion, that would not state clearly in both the old and new testaments that slavery was fine as long as you pray and don’t cheat on your wife. Even though the tight knit circles of white intellectuals and emotionally damaged Christians support you I am calling you out for the fraud you really are.