%images;]> LCRBMRP-T0E14Deception in the pulpit : by Rev. Dr. A. Binga, Jr.: a machine-readable transcription. Collection: African-American Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1820-1920; American Memory, Library of Congress. Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.

Washington, 1994.

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91-898125Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection, 1860-1920, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress. Copyright status not determined.
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DECEPTION IN THE PULPIT,BYREV. DR. A. BINGA, JR.Manchester Va.1899

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Yours truly, A. Binga Jr.

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DECEPTION IN THE PULPIT,BYREV. DR. A. BINGA, JR.

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A Paper Written and Published by vote of the Baptist Ministers' Conference of Richmond, Va.

DECEPTION IN THE PULPIT.

Dear Brethren:

For fear you may suppose an evil purpose gave birth to this subject, and that it is offered as a whetstone for the battle ax, or a lighted match for a charged fuse, I beg to say, whatever may have been in the mind of the Conference in requesting me to write on this subject, I assure you, I shall in doing so, not hold in mind an individual, but simply a character, and that only, that inhabits the realm of imagination, and not the circle of my dear brethren of the Conference. Confiding in the superior aptness, and the wider acquaintance of this body, I shall beg that the application of this paper be made by yourselves. Having said this much, that I may be properly understood in dealing with this delicate subject, I shall now turn to its consideration.

STRANGE YET MAY BE TRUE.

This subject to my mind, involves almost an absurdity, I can picture deception in the arena, where waving, 00054flashing swords attest that victory rest not on honor but on strategem; I conceive of its being on the theatrical stage, where fashionable fiction reigns supreme; I can see how it might find place in the forum, where wit and eloquence weigh more than truth, in the scales of human judgment. But deception in the pulpit sounds like satans being in Heaven. But as this statement is wanting only in apparent harmony--the fact being evident, we have only to employ the light of this fact to see deception, the devil impersonated in the pulpit--a less holy place. As this light leads the way, let us go in search of this giant evil. This mighty Hydra. By what signs shall he be known? You may ask. I would call him a kind of a moral monstrosity; besides having many heads he has many faces and as many tongues.

CHANGING FACES.

His faces are so convenient that he can quickly adjust them to produce whatever picture may be desired for the occasion. He can light up one face with smiles of approval, indicating that the sentiment just expressed, or the statement just made by one is heartily endorsed and commended, and the next moment the other face, in the presence of another person holding adverse views, wears the blackness of a portentious storm of indignation that is struggling to burst upon the thing just applauded. In other words, he is a colored man among colored men, a white man among white men, a saint among saints, and a sinner among sinners. He is equally at home at the marriage of Cana or the impious feast 00065of Belshazzar. He wags his tongue alternately. Hence you need not be surprised to learn that having so many tongues he finds it difficult to give an account of what he has seen or heard with any degree of correctness. And furthermore his tongues are so articulated that the flit of the one makes the flap of the other. And hence his desire to tell the truth, is overcome by his predisposition to prevaricate.

INBORN TRAIT--ITS CURE.

I think that deception is an inborn trait in some human characters that tells of the deep depravity of their hearts--a moral pollution which the waters of all lands cannot cleanse--A corrupt mass, whose dross cannot be consumed by all the fires of earth.

The stupendous work of changing this vileness is left alone to sovereign grace. Deception is known therefore, to hold sway only where no trace of sovereign grace is to be seen. And where deception is found residing in the pulpit, it is because it is a graceless pulpit. He who ministers at that altar has stolen the livery of Heaven to serve the devil in. Where deception is found to obtain in the pulpit, it is found in the person of an individual whose movements are not in straight lines. He has adopted the rotary motion, by reason of the fact that he is mounted on a pivot, and like the weathercocks he changes with the wind. The wind of public sentiment is his only guide. And that wind in its fitful motions turns him so fast that his hypocracy cannot long be concealed. His false heart having betrayed him, 00076he soon finds himself sharing with Cassius, Brutus and Judas Iscariot, a badge of reproach imposed by the world, and an anathema by the church. As the leprosy affects every fiber and tissue of the physical organism, so deception affects every part of the moral, religious and social nature. It changes the course of human affections.

CHARACTERS FOUND IN THE BIBLE.

It was that that blunted the natural affections of Absalom, so that filial love failed to answer to paternal devotion, and led to the low, cunning trick of kissing the subjects of the kingdom of his father David, that he might steal their affections and thus render a conspiracy possible.

It was deception that caused Delilah, like a vampire, with tender embraces and soothing touches, to caress Sampson to sleep, while she bartered away his liberty and life for gain.

Time would fail me to tell of Joseph's pit and Jacob's plot. Suffice it to say that no one, not even the most charitable, can read the thrilling story of Jacob's double dealing without being deeply grieved that a life so illustrious in other respects should be marred by this unholy act.

A remembrance of this act, casts a shadow over his whole career, which the glory of his courage at Penuel cannot dispel, and a blot upon his life which the wealth of the new name Israel cannot redeem. From this may be seen that the higher the standing of the hypocrite the 00087more conspicuous is his deception. Had some of the degenerate sons of Cain underminded his brother, it would call forth but little surprise or comment, but the relation this act bears to Abraham gives peculiar prominence to it. So there is no place on earth where deception would find less sympathy than in the sacred pulpit. The vile as well as the virtuous, cry out against it. Indeed it crys out against itself, and is soon driven from its seat by force of its own unfitness for this holy place.

PLAGIARISM.

It is sometimes found in the pulpit playing artfully a fine piece of plagiarism, by repeating the sermon of some living or dead preacher, with the hope of deceiving the hearers by making them believe the sermon is original. And that he dug the rock from the quarry of the gospel with his hands, and that he himself built up this sermon in all its symmetrical beauty and grandeur guided by the sure plumb-line of truth, while the Holy spirit held the light. We do not hesitate in saying that the pulpit that preaches another man's sermon without any acknowledgment, not only commits a gross sin by attempting to practice deception upon his hearers, but adds to this, another sin equally condemnable, by violating that commandment which says, "Thou shalt not steal". A close and honest observation will reveal the fact that there is a slight coloring of deception sometimes found in that broad indiscriminating love that starts from the pulpit and claims to extend alike to each of the members of the church, which I think is 00098quite out of harmony with reason. Though the minister may try to make the people feel that they are all alike dear to him, I can't believe he can love truly all the members of his flock alike with the love of complacency until they become alike in merit.

And hence I conclude that the pulpit in its great anxiety to adapt itself to the situation, and to gain popularity, uses a great deal of blandishment, and a good deal more love is expressed by the parson than he ever feels. Call this what you please. But I ask, may not this forced recognition and affectation on the part of the over anxious pulpit, serve as a license to the evil doer, who is at once caused to feel that a pure and upright life, and one besmirched with the foulness of sin, are equal in value in the estimation of the preacher? I feel brethren that the minister of Jesus Christ should cast away the mask of deception that policy may offer to shield him from adverse criticism. And let righteousness be his mantle, and the faultless Christ his model.

Like Him, in his presence, conviction should be found for sinners, and a benediction found for saints. In his tenderness Jesus called some who followed Him, his "lambs," and in his inflexible adherence to truth, and sterness of will, He called others, "vipers," and asked them, how they could escape the damnation of hell. He who would daub with untempered mortar, for the sake of getting a little bread and butter, is as false and deceptive as a whitened sepulcher spoken of by the Prince of Preachers that is filled with dead mens' bones.

And hence if the pulpit is to retain all that majesty 00109and power which this peerless Preacher invested it with, truth without admixture of falsehood, must stimulate the mind, fill the heart, direct the tongue, and control the whole life of him, who, like Moses fills the exalted position of speaking to God for the people and to the people for God. Eloquence however helpful may be wanting here, yet God may be glorified with the plain blunt speech, of one like the wilderness preacher, crying "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

Learning with all the wealth of its furtile resources may be absent here, yet the tongue of a Galilean fisherman may wax into a lambent flame, touched by the finger of the Holy Ghost and thousands may be converted, as on the day of Pentecost. But where truth is absent, the great commission "Go ye," backed up by the unfailing promise of Christ, "Lo I am with you," cannot be claimed.

It is not consistent with the holiness of God to recognize falsehood as a means to be employed in the plan of human redemption.

The evil of deception is apparent when we remember that to practice deception is to act a lie. So I am forced to speak with bated breath, when I consider the gravity of this subject, and the sanctity of the place with which it deals. Nevertheless, in faithfulness to the subject let me further lift the curtain that you may see that I have not overstated the facts, nor attempted to impose upon your thoughtful minds a fanciful picture of a groundless apprehension. Permit me to present a few practical illustrations.

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DECEPTION IN BUSINESS.

It sometimes occurs that the preacher convenants and agrees with another in a business transaction to pay a certain sum of money, and a kind friend is induced to go on the note as security. The preacher having gotten the money, deceives his brother by giving the promise no further attention, but is satisfied to allow the endorser to pay the note and makes no effort to reimburse him. He should be a model in business circles as as well as religious.

DODGING AN ISSUE.

Sometimes the pulpit pledges support to a certain side of a controvertible subject, to which his conscience and his best judgement have led him, after due consideration, and at the time when the battle is raging and victory is trembling in the ballancies, he thinks he sees defeat coming to his side, so he flops over on the other side, and joins the foe in stabing Ceasar.

UNFAITHFUL IN MATRIMONY.

Other times the preacher, like the Apostle Paul, feels that he has a right to "lead about a sister, a wife as well as other apostles," and accordingly seeks to woo some trusting heart with manner and words which inspire confidence and hope in some unsuspecting maid, who yields up herself unreservedly to the hypocritical man, who proves to be the instrument of her ruin, by burying her in a few years in a hopeless grave of desertion, because he has perchance, seen like David some 001211tempting Bathsheba after whom his unrestrained heart strayed. But he seeks, in vain, for justification of this act in the charge of unfaithfulness on the part of his wife, whose only crime has been, she became the mother of his children, by which she lost the freshness and beauty of her early womanhood.

TEMPERANCE CAUSE.

And yet other times the pulpit finds standing at his door the temperance cause seeking a tongue to assert its claims, and a life to commend it to those deluded ones, who daily sip the venom of death from the cup of Bacchus. He first holds out a straw, by which he ascertains that the side of temperance is popular, so in order to share a coveted degree of popularity, he at once decides that he must, at the next Convention, Association, or Temperance Meeting, champion the cause of temperance by a public speech. And as he wishes to make the best impression possible for the cause, he feels it necessary to get the aid of the spirit, of alcohol, and he speaks as this spirit gives him utterance. It is not difficult to determine the force of his lips at the absence of his life. Some of these hypocrites but poorly cover up their tracks, but rely upon cackling laughter to divert the attention of their disgusted brethren from the shameful contradiction seen in their lives.

PULPIT SPICES.

Deception is not unfrequently found in the pulpit manifesting itself in the manner of delivering the message 001312of the Lord. This is done when ministers resort to little methods that they know have no particular significance, other than to fill an aching void which they sometimes feel when standing before an audience of thoughtful hearers. A method at which their best selves revolt, but nevertheless is practised for mere effect. One who violates his conscience, and goes against his better judgment for popular applause has just reasons for questioning his own sincerity. I have the most profound respect for the man who truly believes that the Lord has called him to moan as well as preach. He is but carrying out the honest convictions of his heart when he flavors his sermons with the holy nectar, moaning, and seasons them highly with popular pulpit spices. To this honest brother I have only this to say: The high flavors found in food are not things which go to make up bones, blood and muscle, but on the contrary, they are rather opposed to their development: so emotions are too fitful and superficial to furnish lasting food for the immortal soul, which must reach back its hand from eternity and appropriate the food gotten in time.

I am free to confess, that the Christian religion is accompanied by sensations and emotions, but these are the cords of the soul that lie near the surface, and therefore, are easily touched, but their quick vibrations are by no means the most hopeful signs of firmness and stability. But the main spring which sets in motion all the great operations of the soul, that gives birth to self-sacrificing devotion and heroic bravery in God's army, 001413resides in depths too profound, to be touched by mere sentiment.

SHUTTING UP THE BIBLE.

There are still other preachers whose deep piety and exemplary lives forbid my suspecting any evil motive in anything they might say or do, yet I am forced to ask what does a preacher mean when he brings the lids of the Bible together with a crash, immediately after announcing his text, and turns from the closed Bible with an important air? Is it because the pages are so luminous that they hurt his tender eyes? Or is it because the open Bible takes up too much valuable room before him on the desk, and does not allow him beating space?

At the absence of your answer I beg to submit, that the pushing aside the Bible is a very significant act. Though it may be unconsciously performed, it looks like throwing away the oars, as a means of propelling the boat, and dipping the naked hands in the waves. It seems that the preacher wishes to impress the hearers with the idea that he knows it all, and the Bible to him is nothing more than a common nail box, the only use for which his colossal mind has, is to just get a text as a kind of a peg to hang his sermon on. This thin show of learning is not sufficient to blind the eyes of an observing hearer, for he looks on regretfully at the man of God, as he, in appearance at least, throws aside "the sword of the spirit which is the word of God," for which human words and wisdom can never be substituted. The necessity of having the Bible open does not arise because 001514of the fact, that the minister is supposed to simply read with or without comment its pages, but the necessity is found in the silent testimony which this Book of God must bear to the authority of the preacher and the truthfulness of his declarations. The faithful testimony borne by the mute lips of its bright open pages gives peculiar force to the ministers' sermon. And the recognition he gives the Bible causes the hearer to feel that the words he speaks are not simply his own, but are verily the words of God.

DIFFICULT TEXTS.

I see another preacher who wishes to make the people believe that he is a veritable Solomon, and therefore, mentally, what Saul was physically--head and shoulders above the rest of his brethren.

This he seeks to prove by showing that it is left to him alone to preach from all the most difficult texts found in the Bible. He wears emblazoned upon his forehead "MYSTERY." He never preaches without taking his audience to sea, for he does not find sufficient depth for his extraordinary mind in the usual ministerial channel. But after he has floundered around for an hour, the people only know they have been at sea, but they have seen nothing, so they jostle long for the time to come when there shall be "no more sea," and they shall be permitted to enjoy the ministry of one who has less of self and more of Christ. One who will simply lead them to the Gospel's Living Fountain of water.

The ambitious brother seems to realize that some of the servants of God were called to bring to the world 001615the lamp of Revelation under more severe winds of opposition and storms of persecution than others, and therefore, it is incumbent upon him to give his valuable help to such suffering ones as Ezekiel, Daniel and John the Revelator.

And now and then his great heart is moved just a little in sympathy with Isaiah and Paul, at which time he may yield to what does not trouble him much, (a sense of duty) and take a text from them.

I would ask that due charity be exercised towards theover-burdened brother, and that you put the best construction possible on his course, and tell me which do you think prompts him more in the selection of his text, a big heart or a big head.

UNWORTHY AND WORTHY VISITORS.

Before I close, let me call your attention to the exposed condition of our flocks to the visitations of those ravenous, deceptive wolves in sheep's clothing, that infest this wilderness in which we dwell. They come self-authorized, busy doing nothing, in a hurry to go nowhere. A package of musty ill gotten credentials, is their only passport. For money and character have they none, but such as they have, credentials, they give unto you. I beg you dear brethren, exercise due caution in receiving and commending such preachers. And do not aid the cause of the devil by commending unworthy men, I feel that it is an outrage upon our confiding people to stand by and see them swallowed up by these land sharks. In making this statement we are not unmindful 001716of the fact, that worthy ministers of Christ who have no charges pass through our city occasionally looking of course for sinners they say, their great hearts throbbing with intense sympathy, turn instinctively towards those bleating sheep that have no shepherd. Such brethren and others who are alike worthy are entitled to our highest respect and esteem.