Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade For Christ, is the most prominent campus evangelism ministry. However, they have been subverted by wokeness for several years, wholeheartedly embracing Critical Race Theory and also getting exposed this year for training material that affirms homosexuality. Cru has reportedly ended its curriculum that relied heavily on Side B Theologian, Preston Sprinkle but did not repent for its past compromises. The latest actions within Cru reveal that wokeness is still alive and institutionalized at Cru.
Thew 2024 election saw a resounding Trump victory with Evangelicals overwhelmingly voting for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris. However, in leaked devotional material, Cru categorically mourns the election results. Jon Harris of Conversations That Matter broke the story.
Sending an email to Cru staffers, the Oneness in Diversity national team took the liberty of creating a devotion to help members cope with the election results. According to the leaked memo:
Tuesday night marked the culmination of a long and contentious election season. Some of you may have stayed up late into the night to see the results and some of you might have learned who won immediately after waking up the next morning. Donald Trump’s election for the second time has likely brought up a number of feelings among many of you. After taking time to process it ourselves, the Oneness in Diversity team wanted to reach out to you all.
We want to acknowledge the range of feelings that exist right now. No matter who you voted for or didn’t vote for, what you’ve felt since Tuesday night is valid. You might feel frustration or disappointment. You might feel relieved. You might feel fear, betrayal, anger or a number of any other emotions. These are all real emotions, and we encourage you to not minimize what you’re feeling but to process them in healthy ways. Talk to safe people about your feelings. Journal and pray. Unplug from social media. This devotional, created by our spiritual care coordinators Dominique Dawson and Hung Lu, could be a helpful starting point for you. If you feel you need space to process or someone to pray for you, please reach out to one@cru.org and Dominique will respond.
In the midst of this societal and political fracture, the question we now wrestle with is how do we continue to move towards oneness? How can we reconcile the dissonance we’re feeling in our hearts and minds toward our brothers and sisters in Christ who we disagree with? How do we even begin to practice what Paul calls us to in Romans 12, to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who us to in Romans 12, to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, to live in harmony with one another?
Much like the process of sanctification, oneness is both a truth and a journey. We are sanctified in Christ and also continually growing in sanctification through the Holy Spirit residing in us. We are one in Christ and also continually pursuing oneness with our fellow believers through the power of the Holy Spirit. The journey is not always easy (and right now it’s flat out difficult). In the coming season, practicing oneness will challenge all of us to solely rely on the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. But we know unity is possible. As Paul reminded the Gentile believers in Ephesus, Jesus “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” between them and the Jewish believers. “…His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:15-16) As always, we look to Jesus and the cross. In our peripheral vision, we see all our brothers and sisters in Christ from all generations, ethnicities, political parties and backgrounds looking to the same cross. Oneness is possible through Jesus alone.
The devotional material could hardly be called that. Citing little Scripture, the devotional is more about breathing exercises than Scripture reading, let alone understanding. The lesson is about grief:
The world has been in a season of collective strife and turmoil. In light of a long and contentious election season, we are not ok. It seems we’ve all experienced loss in some way. Loss can look different for each of us, it can mean the death of a loved one, but also the death of a dream or a way of life. Even a positive change like moving to the city of your dreams can also hold a loss of being close to previous friends, favorite places, and a way of doing things. We may be carrying that grief with us wherever we go. Grief encompasses a lot of different emotions and longings. Anger: This is not the way it is supposed to be, why does it have to be this way? Sadness: I long to regain what was lost; Disappointment: I miss the dream of what could have been; Numbness: This is too much and I don’t know what to feel at all; Fear: Could more be lost? Could things get worse? Am I safe? But we are not alone in feeling these ways. As we take the time to deeply examine our hearts and invite God into those interior spaces, God meets us there (Psalm139:23).
We get to experience our savior, Immanuel. God with us and God with us in our grief. In Isaiah 53:3, Jesus is described as “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.” We have a sympathetic high priest that knows what loss can do to the deepest parts of your mind, heart, body, and soul. The tough news is that the only way to deal with grief is to go through it. The good news is that Immanuel is there with us, will carry us through, and gave us one another as well. You are not alone.
The fact that Cru believed the 2024 election results are something to grieve over is rooted solely in secular liberalism.
2 Responses
This may sound strange, but before you cited this as from the Cru, I thought I had heard several pastors in churches do this same sort of talk. almost word for word.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth attending President Trump’s victorious return does nothing but identify the whiners, the screamers, and the “mourners” for who and what they are. Let them whine and scream and mourn – we’re paying attention and writing it all down.
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matt 18.6, CSB). Cru is finished – they just haven’t realized it yet. Even God’s patience runs out occasionally – ask Noah, ask King Zedekiah, or Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala. Read the Revelation to John. Our God is loving, patient, and kind…but not infinitely patient. Someday soon the last person will come to faith in Christ and then the End will come: the snatching away, seven years of literal hell on earth, a grisly supper for the birds of the earth, then a glorious Millennium of Christ’s rule on Earth, followed by a terrible final judgement.
Take heed all you Cru-ers who have adopted heresy, practice blasphemy, and lead novices and enquirers astray. Bill and Vonette would never recognize you. Do T’shuvah now, with sincere kavanah, lest you hear as will so many at the last, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”