by Al Benson Jr.
The Holy Scriptures state in Psalm 5:4-5: "For thou are not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight; thou hatest all workers of iniquity." You could, in many instances, apply this truth to those in our day that seem to take perverse pleasure in trashing the South and Southern culture in general, and Christians in particular. I will cite one example.
About eight years ago now, Pastors Steve Wilkins and Doug Wilson co-authored a booklet of around thirty pages entitled "Southern Slavery As It Was." The booklet was not at attempt to "defend" slavery, but rather s short exposition of what is really quite a complicated issue, much the same as is Donnie Kennedy's more recent book "Myths of American Slavery." The slavery issue is not nearly as black and white as many of our current "uptown Marxist" historians would have people to believe. It was never a case of all the whites in the South owning all the blacks in the South as slaves, which is basically the lie they are spreading nowadays. Unfortunately, with some people, the mud of lies such as this sticks to the wall. They remind me of the lady I talked to several years ago that just "knew" all the horrible stories about Southern slavery had to be true--after all, she had seen it on television in "Roots." A prime example of what Pastor Wilkins has often said: "Many people have learned everything they think they know from television."
At any rate, the booklet "Southern Slavery As It Was" didn't create too much of s stir until just recently. Pastor Wilkins was in Idaho for a historical conference (which didn't have anything to do with slavery) when all of a sudden the cultural Marxists there suddenly "discovered" the booklet on slavery--eight years after it had been published! By using selective quotes taken out of context from the booklet they sought to make it appear that Pastors Wilkins and Wilson were trying, somehow, to uphold the institution of slavery. They made a big fuss in Idaho at that time (several months ago now) and have managed to whip up enough of a frenzy to keep the fussing going in that area.
Now, it seems that someone is trying to promote the same thing in Monroe, Louisiana. Liars do like to spread their lies as far and wide as they can. Awhile back a flyer began making its appearance in the Monroe area, accusing Pastor Wilkins and Pastor Wilson of defending slavery. The flyer gives no detail about how these two men continue to "defend" slavery, but it has their pictures (poorly reproduced) on it, and also, reproduced above their pictures, in part, is an add for a slave auction held back on January 18, 1859, the implication being that these two pastors are trying to perpetuate, somehow, what went on back then.
Whoever distributed these flyers in Monroe seemed to know just where to go with them. They were distributed in the black neighborhood on the south side of town and at some apartment complexes where a good number of black folks live, and, of course, at the local university. So it was hardly a matter of a city-wide distribution. The distributors of the flyer were targeting areas they thought they could possible create some local unrest in.
This sounds like the sort of activities that disciples of the Southern Poverty Law Center might engage in.
I've read the booklet authored by Pastors Wilkins and Wilson. I used to sell it at Southern Heritge conferences and "Civil War" shows that I went to. As I stated previously, it explained rather than defended slavery. Pastor Wilkins is an able historian and he approaches history from a Christian perspective, which I suspect is what really bothers the cultural Marxists. They don't want that view of history and that world view presented to too many people. So they have to resort to lies, half-truths, and innuendo to attempt to turn as many people as possible away from listening to anyone that promotes a Christian perspective on history, and especially on American history.
Cultural Marxists, of whatever stripe, don't want people to know the truth. Too much truth interferes with their agenda, and it also might put somewhat of a crimp in their fund-raising efforts as they seek to scare people around the country with "straw men" they have created so they can plead for more money to "combat" these horrible monsters. It's an old ploy. Find someone you disagree with, tell people how much of a "threat" he is to society and their well-being, and then ask them for large donations so you can fight against the perceived threat. How much of the money collected actually goes to "fight" against that perceived threat and how much goes into your own pockets would be an interesting question to have answered. It should be evident to anyone that thinks rationally, that many of these "organizations" that are supposedly formed to fight "hate groups" are, themselves, nothing more than hate groups with their own Left-wing political (and financial) agendas.