By Pastor Mark Downey, condensed for publication by Debra Downey
Today, some Klansmen get a little indignant and perturbed about the ‘cross lighting’ceremony being called a ‘cross burning’. In fact, I have had to educate a few Christian friends in Christian Identity church circles who have never been involved in any activism outside their church activities on why many other Christian activists and I participate in cross-lightings. We’re not burning incense before Buddha statues or alien idols. We’re showing the symbol of our salvation for our race as it shines through the darkness. But some feel it’s a desecration of the cross, and they know nothing outside of what the media has fed them. And I’ve had to remind those folks that they know the media lies about so many things, but yet on the issue of cross-lightings, they have no problem in accepting years of indoctrination by the media. So I will attempt to put this in a positive light for like-minded folks and give you some history on the symbolism of a fiery cross, not to reinvent anything, but rather to appreciate the evolving paradigm of our Christian family serving both God and nation. And for those unfamiliar with this American subculture, I pray that this presentation offers a fresh look at a very misunderstood icon.
Let me start by first putting out a reminder that the name of the Klan is in the public domain and nobody has ever copyrighted it. Any group can call itself the Klan, and some idiots get attention from the news media for the stupid things they do, while the more intelligent, articulate spokesmen rarely get any airtime.
A fiery cross is not the exclusive trademark of the Klan. If you drive past a Methodist church, you will notice a sign with a Cross and red flames. Many denominations have illuminated Crosses on their buildings at night. In Scotland, the fiery cross, known as the Crann Tara, was used to declare war in the 18th and 19th centuries. The sight of it commanded all Scottish clans to rally to the defense of their kindred. On other occasions, a small burning cross would be carried from town to town. It was a symbol of unity and loyalty. Even Sir Walter Scott wrote about it in his poems.
Let’s talk about fire. When we burn wood in a fireplace, it makes our homes nice and warm. It creates security and an ambiance. There’s always an awesome emotion at crosslightings; not just the proximity of the heat, but the warmth and nearness of God’s love for His children. What about a fire from the kiln that makes clay pottery good? By the same token, the flames of a burning cross purge the dross and the impurities of a carnal mind, like a refiner’s fire, and produce a vessel of righteousness through discipline. We’re already racially pure; now we need to get spiritually pure. Every mongrel thought needs to be burned out of our minds. The Fiery Cross inspires us to immerse ourselves in introspection and change, restitution, and forgiveness. That last one, that’s a big one. But that’s what makes a clan or family stronger in their faith.
The fiery cross itself has never been an object of worship, and thus a form of idolatry, but rather it serves as a memorial, a commemoration, or convocation. As I said to one lady who objected to the ceremony, in order for us to have the effect of the light of Jesus Christ shining through the darkness, we have to nail 2 boards together in the shape of a cross, wrap it with rags, and light it on fire as did the Scotsmen of old.
It’s interesting that my late husband, in his message “The Fiery Cross,” mentioned the significance of the rags used to wrap the cross. “And all our righteousness is as filthy rags” Isaiah 64:6. The Klan has a history of being watchmen on the wall as we work to expose and correct major issues through the decades, correcting failures of the past to get God’s people to start measuring up to God’s standards. We are standard bearers and will continue to work on cleaning up the mess as we wrap those filthy rags around the Cross of Jesus to be incinerated.
Our enemies have gotten us to think there’s something wrong with a burning cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is a foundation laid for each of us. The cross lighting is not just the illumination of Jesus Christ’s light shining in the dark, ignorant world; it is indeed a symbol of something burning.
Let me ask you: do you get a little adrenaline rush when somebody asks you, “Do you smell something burning?” It is clear that a burning cross sends a message to all races that not all are created equal. Other races do not burn crosses.
For many years now, the fiery cross is a private affair, not a public exhibition. The sacred ceremony is held on hallowed ground and never used as a means of intimidation against other races. The truth is a far superior weapon against our enemies.
“If any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble.” Stubble? Why would anyone build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ with stubble? Obadiah 18 may give us an answer. “The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame [that’s us], and the house of Esau for stubble [that’s not us].” Continuing that thought, in I Cor. 3:13, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest…because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
Yeah, we burn Crosses because our God is a “consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24, 9:3) and we’re not ashamed to advertise it. John the Baptist said that the Messiah would baptize us “With the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt. 3:11). In Deut. 33:2-3 it says, “The Lord came…with ten thousands of saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them.”
The Fiery Cross lights the fiery law written in our hearts. This fire of the burning cross is the cleansing agent of Judgment. The cross-lighting ceremony is not a ritual per se, but rather a solemn assembly to observe and ponder the symbolism of fire and its significance in the Bible.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God,” I Peter 5:1. Oh Lord, let it begin with a group of believers encircled round about, witnessing the Light of the world. We are either going to clean up our act and do the right thing by binding those filthy rags to the Cross and incinerating our sins with the price Christ paid through His sacrifice, or perish.
Some people just can’t take the heat and despise the Fiery Cross of Judgment. “And the light of Israel [the White race] shall be for a fire, and his Holy One [Jesus Christ] for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day” Isaiah 10:17. When I see that cross burning in the eleventh hour, I see the end of political corruption and the final chapter of wickedness in high places, and the beginning of the hope that lies within us for Justification and a new start in life with a clean slate in the eyes of God. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” Romans 8:1. That’s the hope part of it. God loves His people so much that He puts us through this process of purification, the baptism of fire.
The flip side of how you look at the Fiery Cross is a dire warning to those who mock and ridicule it. If you fall into that category of pompous atheism, then II Thes. 1:8 is for you. “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.” And let us not forget the parable of the wheat and the tares, which is an analogy contrasting true White Christian believers with the devilish impersonation of Christianity in the form of a mongrelized multicultural religious cesspool aided and abetted by the antichrist jew. That burning Cross is a warning to anybody that would associate with these tares, whom God hath indignation forever. They will be gathered out of God’s Kingdom and cast into a furnace of fire (Mt. 13:42).
It warms my heart to know God delivers His people from all who offend and hate us. They know the warning of the Fiery Cross. The burning Cross is the clarion call being made right now by the watchmen on the wall who “Have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). They are the messengers of the Remnant, who prepare themselves as a bride for the wedding feast; a virgin without spot or wrinkle.
Do you smell something burning? “And God said, Let there be light.” And there stood a solemn assembly encircled round about the sign of Calvary at night. You could hear the crickets chirping. “And the light shineth in darkness” John 1:5.
Behold the Light of the world… behold the Fiery Cross!