The Mystic Prophets of the Absolute

"The mystic prophets of the absolute cannot save us. Sustained by our history and traditions, we must save ourselves, at whatever risk of heresy or blasphemy. We can find solace in the memorable representation of the human struggle against the absolute in the finest scene in the greatest of American novels. I refer of course to the scene when Huckleberry Finn decides that the ''plain hand of Providence'' requires him to tell Miss Watson where her runaway slave Jim is to be found. Huck writes his letter of betrayal to Miss Watson and feels ''all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now.'' He sits there for a while thinking ''how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell.''
Then Huck begins to think about Jim and the rush of the great river and the talking and the singing and the laughing and friendship. ''Then I happened to look around and see that paper. . . . I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell' - and tore it up.'"

For a person who is looking for such an argument this is a powerful apologetic for secularism and the rejection of all that is spiritual or absolutely moral. When Schlesinger completed the speech he picked up his manuscript, tore it in two and said, "All right, then, I'll go to hell." And the audience stood to give him an uproarious ovation.

However, this is not quite as powerful a defense to those who are compelled to think about it. In fact, Twain's picture only works if the mystic prophets of the Absolute speak truth.

Suppose we were to change the setting and details of the story to pre-World-War-II-Germany. A young boy just coming of age is offered a position of distinction in the Third Reich. When the offer comes he thinks of his Sunday School teaching as a child and decides that he cannot take the position even if none of his friends will ever understand. He writes a letter refusing the offer, knowing that he is sacrificing his entire career and possibly his very life. He feels clean. He is proud of his great courage. But as he thinks about it he remembers the wonderful gatherings in the sportpalast[1], the thundering crowds of Hitler Youth and the inspiring speeches of the Fuher. Trembling because of the great decision he is making, he tears up his letter of refusal and says, "All right, then, I'll go to hell."

This does not work, does it? The reason is pretty simple. Huck Finns decision pleases readers because the mystic prophets of the Absolute have told us that slavery is wrong even when our "history and traditions" defend it, even if our whole society believes it to be right.

Only the mystic prophets of the Absolute reach for absolute truth and absolute righteousness that rises above society, culture and even religion. Without them there is no right or wrong above human traditions, institutions or consensus. With out the perspective of God above all we have little to say against a Stalin, a Hitler or a Pol Pot[2].

However, I am not sure that Schlesinger is not right as he concludes, "That, if you will, is what America is all about." Those who are seeking to rip America from our Judeo/Christian roots certainly have the upper hand in the media, politics, education, much of the arts and surely in the thinking of the American people.

What is the answer to this secular bulldozer? I don't believe the answers are still in our hands. I don't for a moment believe conservative politics will turn America back to morality or God. I surely do not think conservative radio talk shows will turn the tide in America. And I fear we have gone too far against the patience of God to stand much longer. As long ago as 1953 Ruth Graham said, "If God lets America off Scott free, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."

We are not the first country to come to such a place. Even ancient Israel turned away from God. Time and time again they longed to be like the godless nations around them. And there was little that the righteous could do. It took God to turn their hearts back. He raised up mystic prophets of the Absolute.

When the people showed that they would not hear these prophets, God brought judgment upon them. Even then there was hope for those who would seek God. Even in their captivity God sent men like Daniel and Ezekiel as prophets in the midst of His judgment to call the people and even future generations back to God.

America has been to this place before. In fact the very issue of the immorality of slavery raised by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn produced such a situation. And God did raise up prophets in those days who cried out against slavery. They were often seen as radicals and rabble-rousers. Lincoln is quoted as saying to Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, "So, you're the woman whose book started this war."

However, that bloodiest war in American history was not simply the consequence of listening to the mystic prophets of the Absolute. It was also the result of many people not listening to them. It was also the consequence of listening only to the arguments of economics, politics or popularity over the voices of the prophets of God.

We are again living in such days. Our great sins generally rise from the sexual revolution that destroys the fabric of the American home and society. Many people have compared the issue of abortion to the slave trade. Why do people think abortion is such a wonderful freedom? They have to defend it because they don't want to return sex to the bonds of marriage. And interestingly enough the great slave trade that has risen in the world today is primarily sex-slavery. Do not hear me say this is the only sin under God's judgment in these days, but it is certainly at the heart of our American rebellion against God.

I have been interested to note of late that many pastors and preachers have begun warning America of impending judgment. This surprises me because I believe a greater sin in America than our sexual preoccupation is the notion that we are all pretty good or at least, that God does not care. A preacher cannot hope to be popular in these days if he becomes a prophet of the Absolute.

Many of us have come to believe that it is too late to avoid the doom of this country that we love. The only hope now left seems to be for those who will listen to the mystic prophets of the Absolute. The age old prophetic message will be a refuge in the midst of the crises that will come. And who knows if God will not relent, if as a nation we repent and turn to Him. He did so for the city of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah in the Old Testament. And He could do it in America today.

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[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9ZJNsfu34s

[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SI8RF6wDE