The church “must work for peace or we become irrelevant,” Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, said.
Yet “God is God and He will bring His kingdom in His time,” Lotz said in an address to the Asian Baptist Federation Congress.
Speaking against the backdrop of the bombings by Filipino militants and tensions in the Middle East during the April 19-23 gathering in Manila, Philippines, Lotz said Christians are involved “in the struggle for justice and righteousness, knowing that we will never ultimately achieve it. But nevertheless we are called upon to struggle and die every day for Jesus in being visionaries for that peace which He brings.”
Lotz noted a division in the church when it comes to peace and peacemaking. “On the one hand,” he said, “there are conservatives who say it is impossible to love like Jesus and impossible to change governments or societies. Therefore we shall sit in our beautiful churches and meditate and pray, but we know we cannot bring in the kingdom.
“On the other hand,” Lotz said, “there are liberals who say we must go out and be meditators and workers for peace. We must march and demonstrate for peace. We must challenge the evil structures of capitalism and all the war machines of profit and gain.
“I believe both are wrong,” Lotz said, while emphasizing the need for both. “There is still racism in the world and we must continually fight against it. There are still dictators in the world and we must continually confront them. There is still injustice and poverty and we must struggle against injustice and become defenders of the poor.”
Lotz warned against blessing any economic or political systems “because they are infiltrated with original sin and are essentially anti-Christ.”
“The world needs peace, but it needs most of all the Messenger of Peace,” he said.
(BP)
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