Throughout the Bible, sinful humanity is described as dead in sin, or asleep. The Spirit of God moves upon us to awaken us, to raise us from the dead. Those who have been awakened by the Spirit of God become intensely self-aware of our own sinfulness, and the oppression of sin throughout human society. In Pentecostalism, and its revivalistic forebears, we speak of awakenings – seasons of divine intervention in which a lukewarm church is revived. As we try to navigate through the present postmodern fog many of us are yearning for another awakening.
One of the sociopolitical movements of the postmodern fog has adopted the word “Woke” as self descriptive. The word “Woke” was first used by African-Americans to indicate awareness of racism. In the last several years, the word “Woke” has come to indicate a self-awareness of societal oppression and inequalities, especially in terms of the LGBTQI movement.
The Woke Movement is born out of critical theory, a legal theory that has its basis in the philosophy of Karl Marx. Wokeism is in fact a secular religion. In this secular religion, original sin is defined in terms of whiteism, colonialism, racism, and capitalism. Those of the transgressor class must be eliminated. That means those who transgress woke dogma must be canceled. Historically, in Marxist revolutions to be canceled meant to be executed. In critical theory, violent revolution is in evitable. There is neither mercy nor redemption.
Some churches have baptized wokeism and given birth to a “progressive Christianity.” This woke Christianity embraces the ideals of critical theory. The major tenets of Woke Christianity are socialism, climate change, and the LGBTQI movement. In my best judgment, wokeism and progressive Christianity represent a distortion of the Gospel. In the end, wokeism is a secular political faith.
The apostle Paul declared, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14 ESV). The only way to resist wokism is to be awakened by the Holy Spirit. That means Christians should embrace a biblically inspired social justice. Christian social justice is born out of the gospels. The early church expressed great concern for widows and orphans, for slaves and aliens, for women and children.
The Church of God has a profound social justice statement in our Practical Commitments. We recognize that we have a social obligation to promote social holiness. The Church of God is committed to correcting social injustices, to guard against racial and economic discrimination, to protecting the sanctity of human life, and exercising responsible care for the earth and its resources.
We must discern the distinction between being awake and woke. Just because someone embraces creation care does not mean they are woke. To promote the full equality of women is not wokeism. To be awake is to resist racism, the subjugation of women, human trafficking, and the abortion of embryonic children. To be awake is to affirm that God has created male and female in God’s image.
The primary distinction between woke critical theory and biblical social justice is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus calls us to be ambassadors of God’s kingdom. He calls us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. He also calls us to be activist for the dignity of humanity, for equal justice, and to resist evil. The early church prevailed in a pagan culture by offering a clear exposition of the sacred scriptures and explanations of the Christian faith. That means we cannot be reactionary; rather, we must be reflective. We are called to love our enemies and make friends with our opponents. We must be on the alert, we must be awakened by the Spirit.
