"The Canvas of Creation" by Drew Poplin. A Review.
It was back in 2001. I had just spent
20 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, retired, finished up seminary,
and gotten ordained as a Gospel Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.
I was now the pastor of a small-town church in central Mississippi. And there I
was, visiting one of my 70+ year old elders and his wife, and he said it. He
was talking about the majority folks in our little town who were of a different
ethnicity, and he said it looking me in the eye. “Pastor, I don’t think those
people are fully human.” Those words and that sentiment haunts me to this day.
Therefore, I was glad to see a new 56-page booklet, “The Canvas of Creation: ABiblical Response to the Heresy of Racial Superiority” by Drew Poplin,
Associate Pastor of First Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA) in Durham, NC. The
material is easy to follow, straightforward, biblical, and very useful.
The whole manual aims “to equip
Christian to think through and respond biblically to the claims of Race Realism
and Kinism which have so recently been the graffiti of social media and tearing
through congregations and communities.” It seems to me that the author has hit
his target. For the reader, “Kinism” is that concept that “races should not
intermix but remain in their allotted boundaries set up by God.” And the root
of Kinism is holding to a form of racial supremacy called “Race Realism” which claims,
“that the various races of mankind are not equal” but hierarchical, with “one
ordained by God to have authority and rule over others.” And the book takes
this on, graciously, evenhandedly, and firmly.
Poplin works through the ways in
which Kinism and Racial Realism are contrary to nature, to the law of God, to
the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the nature and government of the church. He
also addresses the primary historic arguments and recent resuscitation of
Kinism. He ends with practical applications.
Throughout “The Canvas of Creation”
the author walks readers through Scripture, and what is really going on in the
big picture (not the sound-byte version), and how God’s worldwide rescue
operation is and has always been moving, not toward ethnic separation but
toward the offspring of Abraham blessing all the nations and families of the
earth. Our Lord Jesus drawing all people to himself and around himself in union
with him. I was elated when Poplin wrote, “Just as Jesus can raise up sons of
Abraham from stones, so he is able to make sons of Ham into sons of Shem. The prophetic
curse pronounced by Noah was never about the race of men, but the grace of God.
Canaan was made a servant of the true Son of Shem, the Lord Jesus Christ.” And
that gets at the heart of it. Instead of promoting a gospel of race, it’s all
about the Gospel of Grace! “Our greatest affinity is not the natural affinity
of blood and soil, but of Spirit and truth.”
“The Canvas of Creation” would make a
great addition to a congregation’s book table. In fact, having multiple copies
to simply give out would be ideal. Further, pastors, elders, Sunday School
teachers, and parishioners should snag a copy as soon as they can. I highly
recommend the book.
I’m grateful that Crown and Covenant
Publishing immediately sent me an E-copy late last night, at my request. They
made no demands. No bribes were handed out or offered. Therefore, this
evaluation is freely made and freely given.
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