Honorary Christians
Sometimes we hear of a politician or other celebrity who is made a "chief" of one or another tribe of American Indians. He is greeted solemnly, powwowed over in guttural tones, invested with a gaudy headdress of eagle feathers, has his picture taken with the big men of the tribe and is from that time on a chief among them. His self-conscious smirk tells us plainly that he considers the whole thing a joke, but the unsmiling Indians apparently take it all pretty seriously. It requires no great penetration to see that all the ceremonies, beads, feathers and powwows in the world cannot make an Indian out of a white man. At the most he is only an honorary chief, not a real one. Compare this to many evangelical churches, which have altogether too many members who are Christians by initiation, not by spiritual birth. They have been powwowed over by the local sachems and given the impression that they are Christians in face, when the truth is that ...