S U R F T H I N G S K E P T S E C R E T
No great Protestant Christian figure has arisen in this century to make his or her mark upon a society or the world. No Luther, Cromwell, Wesley, Spurgeon, Booth, Finney, Livingston, Tyndale, Latimer, Cranmer or Calvin. This has been 'The Century of Death' seeing 500 million die at the hand of fellow man and no significant advance in man's spiritual treasure.
This is not to say that there have not been truly great individuals of fathomless Christian character and universal sympathies. Anyone who has attended a missionary conference has experienced profound visitations of greatness. Their number has been great. (In recent years I had the joy of hearing the Brauns of Africa who had together spent 100 years there in the name of Christ.) And there have been some who have touched the great drama of the century. Richard Wurmbrand of Romania; the Lutheran pastor in East Germany who prayed down the Berlin Wall; and now there is the ex-convict Charles Colson who speaks as a prophet. (I find it impossible to mention leaders who were not truly Christian in their personal beliefs and character.)
This is the first in 800 centuries that the British Isles have not known an important spiritual movement. In America, The Billy Sunday phenomenon was short lived. Billy Graham's 'See no Evil - Speak no Evil' is simply a river within the river. In my little world, Bob Jones, both Senior and Junior, chose to ignore theology -- which would have been an unmixed blessing had they not embraced the non-theology of cultist John Nelson Darby as espoused through his pietistic followers such as Ironside and Scofield; so much of their genius is absorbed by the Dispensationalist sponge. Billy Graham is identical in this respect. (My first Bible was The Billy Graham Edition of The Scofield Reference Bible.) Both the Joneses and Graham have achieved immense accomplishments and, sadly, are the same in their non-consequence in the life of the nation.
Actually, in religion, no one approaches Pope John XXIII in influencing the spiritual life of the world; he reformed Catholicism and opened his church for whatever sunlight might be beamed its way. This accomplishment places him in the running for 'Man of the Century'. Not a good century for Protestantism when its greatest victory is the gift of a Pope. And Mother Theresa is there as the most visible example of selfless service. (Incidentally, to learn how much light has actually entered the Catholic structure read Malachi Martin [recently deceased] and Father Andrew Greeley on this subject.)
But, alas, a dark and ominous shadow is cast by the most influential 'Man of the Century'. He shaped the century (and maybe the next), but it was not for Christ and a Christian world: Adolf Hitler.