Our Shepherd
Jesus ever makes intercession for us...
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Learning to Swim
There are many true stories that I could tell about my late father, Hatley Wiseman, if I could simply remember them all. Sometimes, things from our childhood return to us, and it is fun to recall them. The other day, I was thinking about how I learned to swim, and maybe some of you will remember how you learned, but my experience was, at least interesting. The family down the street from us had a swimming pool, and I was invited to their house one summer day to take a plunge. They asked me if I knew how to swim, and I told them"Oh yeah, sure I know how to swim."...knowing all along that I could not swim much better than a rock. That's exactly what happened, as one of the neighbor's son had to drag my limp, water-logged body out of the deep end, after I sank like a lead weight. Thankfully, I did not drown, but I think that I swallowed about a gallon of water. The next week, my Daddy paid for me to have swimming lessons at the local recreation dept. I did really well, learning how to float; how to do the dog paddle, and a few other things, all in the shallow end. But then the day came to go off the diving board in the deep end. As I approached the end of the diving board, I froze in fear; I could not jump. One of the instructors tried to coax me off, and ended up peeling me off the board like fly paper, and they had to extract me from the water, as I could not swim. After they dragged me out, I looked over at the gate of the pool, and there stood my dad. All the way home in the car, he scolded me about how he had wasted his money on lessons for me, and that he just could not understand my fear. I was embarrassed and humiliated, and I was very sad that I had let my dad down, and after all of that, I still could not swim...very sad. For some reason, Daddy took this on as a challenge, partly, because he did not want me to drown, and he also did not like failure; he wanted the best for me, like he always wanted for all of his kids. Ironically, our family loved the water; we had a ski boat, and a place on the lake, and I wanted to learn how to water ski, but I knew that Daddy wanted me to learn to swim first. So the next time we went on a trip to the lake, my dad announced to me. "You are going to learn to swim!!!" I said, "Oh yeah, right?" Daddy said confidently, "Oh yeah, you can count on it" I awaited the moment with trepidation, for I did not know what his method be. Well , sometime in the middle of the day on the day that I learned to swim, we went down to the boat dock, and my father jumped into the water, and gave me a demonstration on how to swim. I watched, and enjoyed his demo, but I did not enjoy the next part, because he climbed out of the lake, walked over to me, and literally threw me into the deep water, I came up, spitting, flailing, and screaming that I could NOT swim. He yelled at me, and said, " I taught you what to do, now swim...swim! I am not going to jump and help you...swim!" I had a decision to make...sink or swim. Well, I guess that I must have made the right one, because I am here to write this story. The fact is, that when I tried the techniques that my dad had taught me, which really were simple, I swam for the rest of the day like a fish, and every day for the rest of the summer; I was one happy camper. As I was reminiscing this event in my life recently, I was comparing it to our Heavenly Father, how he has given us everything that we need to know for life, and He even throws us into the lake at times, so that we must depend on Him; He loves it when we call on Him, for God loves us, and even when we think that He might let us sink, He won't let that happen, when we trust Him, and guess what He knows all along that we can depend on Him, just like my Earthly father knew that he could save me from drowning, but he also knew that I could swim.
Now watch and listen to what God has to say about The Deep End through the gift of my friend Curt Cloninger
God's Angels are Real
Unlike the elusive, beautiful painting above, angels are real, but most of the time, we don't even see them, and for a very good reason; for they are God's messengers sent to do His work and to protect us from danger including danger from ourselves. This journal is not about making pretty pictures, or sculpting images of angels, but a study of who they are, and why God has them as His "secret agents". But first, I must describe our relationship to God and the situation that we are in, here on Earth.
Who (whose) are You?
OK here is the deal; it is time for us to understand and realize who we are in Christ...that we are truly NOT our own; we are bought with a price, the Blood of Jesus, and that with that purchase, God Almighty has endowed us with the right to be called HIS; the right to go Heaven; THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT! While we are here on this Earth, we have things to do, that are to Glorify God, and to further His Kingdom to come, and to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven; when we get saved, and give our whole hearts and lives to JESUS, we are then enlisted in God's Army.
CLAIMER/DISCLAIMER
I call this a claimer/disclaimer because in my writings, I make certains claims (this is the claimer part), namely, that God's Word says this or says that...I claim it to be true. but (here's the disclaimer part), if anyone who reads my writings, thinks that I have mis-spoken, then by all means feel free to challenge me, and I will take a second look; to see if I have (misspoken). Many times, I will not quote the chapter and verse, but I will tell you where it is located in the Bible...call me lazy if you like; it is just my style. If I am challenged to say where I got something from God's word, I will be happy to explain myself.
GOD'S ARMY
Historically speaking, when a general or even a king sends people into battle, he usually sends the warriors equipped to win the battle, for only a fool would expect victory otherwise.
By the same token, God has never sent leaders of old into battle, unless He planned for them to win...if they lost a battle, it was because they failed,miserably, to obey God's commands as to "how to" go about fighting the battle.
God sent Joshua and the people into the battle of Ai, and they were being slaughtered; Joshua asked god "Why?" God clearly explained to Joshua that there was sin in the camp...a man named Achin had stolen gold from the enemy, and hidden it in his tent; when the Lord had explicitly instructed them to take nothing; Achin confessed what he had done, and Joshua herded Achin and all of his family together, and they were all stoned to death. How do you like that for accountablility?
Who are the members of God's Army today? What is the nature of the battle? Who is the enemy?
The old hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers", pretty much answers the first question:
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war
With the Cross of Jesus, going on before
Christ our royal master, leads against the foe,
Forward into battle, see our banners flow.
You see, when you become a Christian, you are then enlisted in the Army of God. Now to some, that is only a symbolic existence, not to be taken too seriously, but to others, it means a life that is never the same again, dedicated to bringing in more souls for Jesus, and living a victorious life that is full of the Love of God, and free from the bondage of sin, which answers the second question; the nature of the battle is clearly spoken of in the book of Ephesians.
satan's angels are DEFEATED
" Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness: And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perserverance and supplication for all saints." Ephesians6:10-18
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; 2Corinthians 10:4
Now, the question is "Who is our enemy?" Well, it was certainly not meant to be people, although people have made enemies of each other since man made himself an enemy of God in the garden of Eden. But God loved man in spite of this; that is why He became a man named Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.
Once upon a timeless in Heaven, there was a beautiful angel named Lucifer, who was actually in charge of the music in Heaven; in fact the Word says that he had a musical instrument inside of him. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, this angel decided to rebel against God. Who did he think he was, rebelling against God, the creator of everything? God could not tolerate such a thing, and He threw Lucifer and ONE THIRD of all the angels (the ones that rebelled against God) in Heaven, OUT of Heaven, and onto the Earth.
Now, I don't know how many that was, but I am sure that it was a LOT. Let's just be conservative in guessing that there were 3 million total angels in Heaven at the time; that means that at least 1 million were cast down with Lucifer(who became satan at that time) to the Earth. Well what happened to them? I don't think that they just disappeared; no, they remained here with satan, reeking havoc in the lives of mankind. They will continue to try to reek havoc in the lives of mankind until one day when God throws them all into Hellfire, where they will remain forever!
People who are living under the Blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ, make it difficult if not impossible for those demon-angels to hurt them or affect their lives. But those demon-angels have plenty of other people to work with; just look at all of the wicked things that people do, every day!
A sober person generally has a very strong level of bio-feedback in his or her brain, and he or she is usually in total control. A drugged or intoxicated person, on the other hand, has a very low bio-feedback level, and his or her mind is an open door for demon-angels to work. They even like to work in the minds of crazy or demented people. The "Son of Sam" was a very famous serial killer; he went through the streets shooting people with a .357 magnum. After he was eventually caught, it was known that he had a terrible drinking and drug problem; he said that voices, namely a black dog named Sam, told him to kill people. Several years ago, a woman drowned all five of her children in the bathtub; she was over medicated on anti-depressants,and also taking psychotropic drugs, and NOT following doctor's orders; she told police that voices told her to kill the children. I could go on and on. The fact is that these demon- angels still live on this Earth, and they have little or no effect on a Christian who is sold out to Jesus, especially those who wear the armor of God. In fact the Bible says that we can cast those devils out, and that they have NO power over us! When Jesus said from a cruel cross "It is Finished" it was finished, and when he arose from the dead, it was and is finished for the demon-angels in the lives of Chritian believers; we just have to reckon it so, and live like it. Satan and his angels are defeated!!
God's Angels
God's Angels are all throughout the Bible, and in part two of this series, we will talk more about them, and how REAL they can be for us, because they are real! I have a friend named Benjamin, who is possibly the most studied man in the Word of God that I have ever known; I am asking him to help me in teaching the reality of God's Angels, and how He has placed them in our lives to protect us, and how if we simply believe, that God will send them where we need them to be. Just believe it!
In closing, I want to share a true-life angel story. My friend Eddie was changing the battery in his car one weekend, and his small son was following him around "watching Daddy". Eddie had charged the battery overnight in his house, so he brought it out to re-install it in his car. He hooked it up to the terminals, and went around to the front seat to start the car. His little boy stood in front of the car about eye level with that newly charged battery, just watching. As Eddie tried to turn the key, he said that a force, much greater than his, would not allow him to turn the key. He tried really hard to turn it, but it would not budge; he then took his hands off the switch, and asked his small son to come around and stand next to Daddy, which he did. Now Eddie and his son are in the car while Eddie tried the ignition key again. This time he could turn the key. As soon as the battery was energized from the key, it EXPLODED into a thousand pieces; Eddie said that he found pieces of battery in the front and back yards of his home; his son would have been killed instantly, had something not stopped Eddie's hand. These things don't happen by accident! You will learn as you read more of my writings that I personally don't believe anything happens by accident.
ANGELS PART TWO
Well,I have been waiting for God to give me the Part Two of this series, and have been wondering when it would come. My step-son David is presently in Iraq; experiencing some of the heaviest fighting ever in the region. My faith is unwavering, and we picture the REAL presence of God's angels all around David and all of his men. I KNOW that those angels are there, and that the enemies that he's fighting, are NOT a people who serve the true living God; so God's will be done; I am just praying for David's safety; I am not praying that he will kill a lot of people; although I know that they will have to in order to stay alive; I am also not happy that he is fighting for his life in a horrible war, but obviously, someone has to step up to the plate to protect our freedoms; I am convinced that God is protecting him every day, all day!
I pray that as you read this , that you will share your faith with us on this blog; especially in this case, if you have stories about angels. I have heard and read many; remember this...there are angels watching over you and all of God's believers. I read the story of a missionary in Africa who was with his wife in their meager hut one night, when the chief of the village brought his men to kill the missionary and his wife. He and his wife prayed all night for God's protection. The chief and his men came, and they quickly left. Two years later, while preaching in Johannesburg, the missionary was amazed to see that same chief come forward to accept Christ. When asked by the missionary about that night when the chief came to kill him, the chief replied, "Because you were winning souls to your God, we wanted to kill you, but when we came, there we saw many giant warriors with fire in their eyes, surrounding your hut, and we knew that they would kill us if we did not leave!"
There are no accidents in this life, and because I believe that, I understand why HE had me begin this series when I did...I happen to be on Max Lucado's mailing list for his weekly devotionals; his staff, nor I, knew that I would be writing about angels at the same time that they would send out his excerpt about angels. Consequently, I am compelled to include it here in this entry. God only knows, but after this, I sense an "Angels...part three" coming soon. In that one, I will probably be giving Biblical accounts of angels.
Angels Watching Over You
by Max Lucado
One of my friends recently took a heart-stopping mission trip to Vietnam. He and two companions set out to smuggle Bibles and money to Christians there. Upon landing, however, he was separated from the other two. He spoke no Vietnamese and had never traveled in Hanoi. Imagine his thoughts, then, as he stood in front of the airport, holding a bag of Bibles, wearing a belt of cash, and knowing nothing more than the name of his hotel.
Taxi driver after taxi driver offered his services, but he waited and prayed. Finally, knowing he needed to do something, he climbed into a taxi and spoke the name of the hotel. After an hour and a thousand turns, he found himself deposited at the designated place. He paid his drivers, and they went on their way.
That’s right, “they” drove off. The front seat of his taxi had been occupied by two men. Only later did the uniqueness of this fact strike him. He saw hundreds of taxis during his days in Vietnam, but not another one of them had two drivers.Angels minister to God’s people. “ has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go” (Ps. 91:11 NCV).
Billy Graham reminds us, “If you are a believer, expect powerful angels to accompany you in your life experience.”? But what if you are not a believer? Do angels offer equal surveillance to God’s enemies? No, they don’t. The promise of angelic protection is limited to those who trust God. Refuse God at the risk of an unguarded back. But receive his lordship, and be assured that many mighty angels will guard you in all your ways.
God sends his best troops to oversee your life. Imagine the president assigning his Secret Service to protect you, telling his agents to motorcade your car through traffic and safeguard you through crowds. How would you sleep if you knew D.C.’s finest guarded your door? How will you sleep knowing heaven’s finest are doing just that? You are not alone. Receive God’s lordship over your life. Heaven’s many, mighty angels watch over you.From Come Thirsty Copyright 1995, Max Lucado
There are no accidents in this life, and because I believe that, I understand why HE had me begin this series when I did...I happen to be on Max Lucado's mailing list for his weekly devotionals; his staff, nor I, knew that I would be writing about angels at the same time that they would send out his excerpt about angels. Consequently, I am compelled to include it here in this entry. God only knows, but after this, I sense an "Angels...part three" coming soon. In that one, I will probably be giving Biblical accounts of angels.
Angels Watching Over You
by Max Lucado
One of my friends recently took a heart-stopping mission trip to Vietnam. He and two companions set out to smuggle Bibles and money to Christians there. Upon landing, however, he was separated from the other two. He spoke no Vietnamese and had never traveled in Hanoi. Imagine his thoughts, then, as he stood in front of the airport, holding a bag of Bibles, wearing a belt of cash, and knowing nothing more than the name of his hotel.
Taxi driver after taxi driver offered his services, but he waited and prayed. Finally, knowing he needed to do something, he climbed into a taxi and spoke the name of the hotel. After an hour and a thousand turns, he found himself deposited at the designated place. He paid his drivers, and they went on their way.
That’s right, “they” drove off. The front seat of his taxi had been occupied by two men. Only later did the uniqueness of this fact strike him. He saw hundreds of taxis during his days in Vietnam, but not another one of them had two drivers.Angels minister to God’s people. “ has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go” (Ps. 91:11 NCV).
Billy Graham reminds us, “If you are a believer, expect powerful angels to accompany you in your life experience.”? But what if you are not a believer? Do angels offer equal surveillance to God’s enemies? No, they don’t. The promise of angelic protection is limited to those who trust God. Refuse God at the risk of an unguarded back. But receive his lordship, and be assured that many mighty angels will guard you in all your ways.
God sends his best troops to oversee your life. Imagine the president assigning his Secret Service to protect you, telling his agents to motorcade your car through traffic and safeguard you through crowds. How would you sleep if you knew D.C.’s finest guarded your door? How will you sleep knowing heaven’s finest are doing just that? You are not alone. Receive God’s lordship over your life. Heaven’s many, mighty angels watch over you.From Come Thirsty Copyright 1995, Max Lucado
ANGELS...PART ONE
God's Angels are Real
Unlike the elusive, beautiful painting above, angels are real, but most of the time, we don't even see them, and for a very good reason; for they are God's messengers sent to do His work and to protect us from danger including danger from ourselves. This journal is not about making pretty pictures, or sculpting images of angels, but a study of who they are, and why God has them as His "secret agents". But first, I must describe our relationship to God and the situation that we are in, here on Earth.
Who (whose) are You?
OK here is the deal; it is time for us to understand and realize who we are in Christ...that we are truly NOT our own; we are bought with a price, the Blood of Jesus, and that with that purchase, God Almighty has endowed us with the right to be called HIS; the right to go Heaven; THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT! While we are here on this Earth, we have things to do, that are to Glorify God, and to further His Kingdom to come, and to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven; when we get saved, and give our whole hearts and lives to JESUS, we are then enlisted in God's Army.
CLAIMER/DISCLAIMER
I call this a claimer/disclaimer because in my writings, I make certains claims (this is the claimer part), namely, that God's Word says this or says that...I claim it to be true. but (here's the disclaimer part), if anyone who reads my writings, thinks that I have mis-spoken, then by all means feel free to challenge me, and I will take a second look; to see if I have (misspoken). Many times, I will not quote the chapter and verse, but I will tell you where it is located in the Bible...call me lazy if you like; it is just my style. If I am challenged to say where I got something from God's word, I will be happy to explain myself.
GOD'S ARMY
Historically speaking, when a general or even a king sends people into battle, he usually sends the warriors equipped to win the battle, for only a fool would expect victory otherwise.
By the same token, God has never sent leaders of old into battle, unless He planned for them to win...if they lost a battle, it was because they failed,miserably, to obey God's commands as to "how to" go about fighting the battle.
God sent Joshua and the people into the battle of Ai, and they were being slaughtered; Joshua asked god "Why?" God clearly explained to Joshua that there was sin in the camp...a man named Achin had stolen gold from the enemy, and hidden it in his tent; when the Lord had explicitly instructed them to take nothing; Achin confessed what he had done, and Joshua herded Achin and all of his family together, and they were all stoned to death. How do you like that for accountablility?
Who are the members of God's Army today? What is the nature of the battle? Who is the enemy?
The old hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers", pretty much answers the first question:
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war
With the Cross of Jesus, going on before
Christ our royal master, leads against the foe,
Forward into battle, see our banners flow.
You see, when you become a Christian, you are then enlisted in the Army of God. Now to some, that is only a symbolic existence, not to be taken too seriously, but to others, it means a life that is never the same again, dedicated to bringing in more souls for Jesus, and living a victorious life that is full of the Love of God, and free from the bondage of sin, which answers the second question; the nature of the battle is clearly spoken of in the book of Ephesians.
satan's angels are DEFEATED
" Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness: And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perserverance and supplication for all saints." Ephesians6:10-18
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; 2Corinthians 10:4
Now, the question is "Who is our enemy?" Well, it was certainly not meant to be people, although people have made enemies of each other since man made himself an enemy of God in the garden of Eden. But God loved man in spite of this; that is why He became a man named Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.
Once upon a timeless in Heaven, there was a beautiful angel named Lucifer, who was actually in charge of the music in Heaven; in fact the Word says that he had a musical instrument inside of him. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, this angel decided to rebel against God. Who did he think he was, rebelling against God, the creator of everything? God could not tolerate such a thing, and He threw Lucifer and ONE THIRD of all the angels (the ones that rebelled against God) in Heaven, OUT of Heaven, and onto the Earth.
Now, I don't know how many that was, but I am sure that it was a LOT. Let's just be conservative in guessing that there were 3 million total angels in Heaven at the time; that means that at least 1 million were cast down with Lucifer(who became satan at that time) to the Earth. Well what happened to them? I don't think that they just disappeared; no, they remained here with satan, reeking havoc in the lives of mankind. They will continue to try to reek havoc in the lives of mankind until one day when God throws them all into Hellfire, where they will remain forever!
People who are living under the Blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ, make it difficult if not impossible for those demon-angels to hurt them or affect their lives. But those demon-angels have plenty of other people to work with; just look at all of the wicked things that people do, every day!
A sober person generally has a very strong level of bio-feedback in his or her brain, and he or she is usually in total control. A drugged or intoxicated person, on the other hand, has a very low bio-feedback level, and his or her mind is an open door for demon-angels to work. They even like to work in the minds of crazy or demented people. The "Son of Sam" was a very famous serial killer; he went through the streets shooting people with a .357 magnum. After he was eventually caught, it was known that he had a terrible drinking and drug problem; he said that voices, namely a black dog named Sam, told him to kill people. Several years ago, a woman drowned all five of her children in the bathtub; she was over medicated on anti-depressants,and also taking psychotropic drugs, and NOT following doctor's orders; she told police that voices told her to kill the children. I could go on and on. The fact is that these demon- angels still live on this Earth, and they have little or no effect on a Christian who is sold out to Jesus, especially those who wear the armor of God. In fact the Bible says that we can cast those devils out, and that they have NO power over us! When Jesus said from a cruel cross "It is Finished" it was finished, and when he arose from the dead, it was and is finished for the demon-angels in the lives of Chritian believers; we just have to reckon it so, and live like it. Satan and his angels are defeated!!
God's Angels
God's Angels are all throughout the Bible, and in part two of this series, we will talk more about them, and how REAL they can be for us, because they are real! I have a friend named Benjamin, who is possibly the most studied man in the Word of God that I have ever known; I am asking him to help me in teaching the reality of God's Angels, and how He has placed them in our lives to protect us, and how if we simply believe, that God will send them where we need them to be. Just believe it!
In closing, I want to share a true-life angel story. My friend Eddie was changing the battery in his car one weekend, and his small son was following him around "watching Daddy". Eddie had charged the battery overnight in his house, so he brought it out to re-install it in his car. He hooked it up to the terminals, and went around to the front seat to start the car. His little boy stood in front of the car about eye level with that newly charged battery, just watching. As Eddie tried to turn the key, he said that a force, much greater than his, would not allow him to turn the key. He tried really hard to turn it, but it would not budge; he then took his hands off the switch, and asked his small son to come around and stand next to Daddy, which he did. Now Eddie and his son are in the car while Eddie tried the ignition key again. This time he could turn the key. As soon as the battery was energized from the key, it EXPLODED into a thousand pieces; Eddie said that he found pieces of battery in the front and back yards of his home; his son would have been killed instantly, had something not stopped Eddie's hand. These things don't happen by accident! You will learn as you read more of my writings that I personally don't believe anything happens by accident.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
MEN OF COLOR...ALL MEN ARE COLORED!
I am blessed to be a part of this little band of brothers; these are what we all call the men of the "Upper Room". For about 5 years, we have gathered together to eat our lunch, and to study God's word. I should say that we eat a spiritual feast every day that we are at work. It is possibly the most incredible Spiritual journey that I have ever been on. Our study and contemplation of The Word is "super intense". It took us 2 years to study the Psalms. Some days, we only covered 1 or 2 verses, because we found a nugget of gold in the scriptures that needed to be digested slowly. Maybe to the chagrin of some who read this, is the fact that we are compiled of Christians from all denominations...some Baptist, some Penticostal, some Catholics, some former Catholics, and I think even a Methodist. Obviously from looking at the photo, you can see that we are also diverse in races, as well. We also pray together, and we have witnessed some awesome answers to our prayers, among which are physical healings, restored marriages, foiled satanic attacks, and blessings of all kinds. We have laughed, cried, laid hands on the sick, and grown in Love for one another in a way that is really indescribable.The one thing that we have discovered is that we are all color blind when it comes to race. We know that there will be NO color in Heaven. I find it interesting that there is only one chromazome difference between the darkest black man and the fairest white man, and God most likely built in these differences to adjust for climate locale of the races. Obviously, no two people are identical, even twins; we all have characteristics that differ in some way, even though there may be similarities. There are, however, personality traits that are common to all, and we can have control over how these traits are implemented in our lives. The negative ones that we all experience from time to time, are all tied to hate, and have satanic ties...like anger, greed, avarice, envy, strife, intolerance, violence, deceit, and cruelty, to name a few. All human beings are capable of these things, and we are all presented with the opportunity, from time to time, to practice them in our lives, or to CHOOSE not to. Racial origin has absolutely NOTHING to do with the choice, these are common human traits that are NOT of God!
Jesus said,"For a good tree bringeth NOT forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by HIS own fruit."Luke6:42,43.
Galatians says that "the fruit of the Spirit(of God) is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, faith. Meekness, temperance;against which there is NO law...If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us NOT be desirous of vain glory,(NOT) provoking one another,(NOT) envying one another."
I write to you these things, because some people seem to think that there is something wrong with loving a person of another race; that their race is somehow better than another; that they may have done something good, deserving of being born white, or black, for that matter. In some cases, these people are also self proclaimed Christians. ...QUESTION: Where in God's Word does He condone such thinking? I maintain that such thinking is hate-based, and NOT of God! God IS not a God of some sort of karma, where He decides that one person gets to enter the Earth wearing a certain skin color, with better or worse living conditions than another. If you believe in the Bible, then you must understand one thing... God destroyed every person on the Earth at the great flood, EXCEPT Noah and his family, a total of 8 people. EVERYONE born on the Earth, since that great flood, is a direct descendant of those 8 people; Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives. SO!!! If you could literally pour all of the blood of every human from that time until now, into one great huge pool, it would all be the same blood. Although it's weird to think of it in that way, pondering it in that manner aids in comprehending how closely we are all related, NO matter what the skin color may be.
What I have laid out here is a simple blueprint of right and wrong. It is true that as long as we live on this Earth, that we will experience "bad things" happening all around us, and that possibly the resentment and hatred between the races of humans will continue in some manner, BUT is it required? Does everyone have to participate? You may respond to me with all kinds of hypotheses, or "what ifs", or "because they did this or thats", or "they hate us, we will hate 'em back". NO my friend, that does not answer the question of: "Since many people participate in racial disharmony, should I be connected to, or participate with them in their hatred?" MY answer is NO! What is YOURS! My friend Jeff, who is a part of our group, says that dialogue across racial lines is a good thing; I agree, but even sincere dialogue is just what it is...TALK! Until positive, bridge building action is implemented, talking is futile. It is really not so hard to do; people just need to jump off the train of unforgiveness and stubborness, and make the first move towards freedom.
What kind of freedom are we talking about here? When I was growing up, I was raised in a Southern, white racist society. Because my father was raised in the same environment, he succombed to the typical race bating, and jokes that pervaded our everyday life; it was his peer pressure of the time, but even though he always had the usual prejudiced things to say(like almost every friend and co-worker that he had), I learned that there was something different about him that even he did not fully understand. I often think that my wonderful mother was his stabilizing factor, for she always taught me that I was not better than anyone, and that every person has feelings, that every person feels pain, that every person has a need to be loved, and that I should never mistreat anyone in ANY way, no matter what race they may be. I truly think that this thinking must have rubbed off on my Dad. It was proven to me on a couple of occasions. My Dad was in management for a major airline for over 33 years; on one occasion, a black man, who had worked there for 25 years with a near perfect work record, was left by his wife of over 20 years; she ran off with another man. Well, this employee lost his mind, and went out and got drunk for about 3 days, and did not show up for work. My dad was forced to fire the guy. When he sobered up, he asked for an appointment to see my dad. After explaining what happened, my father fought with upper managent to rehire this man, because he had such a great work record, and he had put in 25+ years of service to the company. Upper management reluctantly gave the man his job back, BUT without any of his seniority. My dad did battle, again,to get the man's seniority reinstated, as well.
On another occasion, we were eating our breakfast at 6am one morning in our nice suburban home, when there was a knock at the door; my dad opened the door to find a young skinny black boy, about 13, standing there in the cold(about 18 degrees). It seems that a white man had dropped him off to throw the newspapers for his route, and never returned to pick him up. "Pleez mista, I won't harm anyone, I just need to come in a get warm," he pleaded. My dad brought him in, and sat him down, and fed him some hot breakfast, and warm milk. My dad never even made warm milk for any of us, but he could see that this young man was in danger for freezing to death! After that, he even gave him a jacket, then took him home, on his way to work.
My dad was a really good man in so many ways, but there was always that peer pressure on him to act like a biggot. The truth is that I know that he was not like that in his heart. Once, when he was in his late seventies he was at a Christmas party at his mostly white church. He was making a racially slanted remark, when he realized that the one black man in his Sunday school class, overheard him. My mother told me later that my dad's heart was broken... with tears in his eyes, he went over to the black man, and begged his forgiveness, and told him that he loved him, and that he was wrong. I really think that Dad meant it, and that he wasn't just ashamed of being "caught".
Many people think that Martin Luther King was "all about" freedom for the Negroes, and the civil rights of African Americans. NOT TOTALLY TRUE! In 1963, it was inevitable that the Civil Rights Bill would be Law, and that integration was coming. What he sought was a much deeper freedom than that! Every man, woman , and child should read MLK's "I HAVE A DREAM" speech. I will quote to you what I consider to be his deepest motive for us all ...ALL of us!
"When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE FREE AT LAST!"
For the speech in its entirety, go to http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
WILL YOU BE FREE TODAY? FREE YOURSELF FROM HATRED...FREE YOURSELF TO LOVE........aside from the bag of iron chains that will be taken off your shoulders, will come the incredible ability to have a lot more friends, and a lot more......PEACE! PEACE with God, yourself, and your fellow man. I am speaking from my own personal experience!!!
JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN...ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.
RED AND YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE,
THEY ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT,
JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD!
MEN OF COLOR...PART 2
Balsa Bridge Building Competition
Would you please study the Norman Rockwell print to the right(it is entitled The Golden Rule), and at the same time, pray that God will reveal His will to you concerning race? What will your role be in the building of the bridges of reconciliation between the races? Will you be a bridge builder or a bridge burner?
I have not written in a while, because I have been waiting for the Lord to direct me towards something new to write, and many subjects have been going through my mind, but recently, God has shown me that I am not finished with the race issue. A few of the people that I have been sharing this blog with had loved what I had to say, until I wrote the blog entitled, Men of Color...All Men are Colored. Many people have emailed me or called me, some of them crying, and said that I had hit the nail on the head concerning love and reconcialtion between the races. Others, however, now suddenly have either nothing or no good things to say; I thought..."now that's a little odd." But I think I understand the problem, or maybe problems. You see, habits, of all kinds, are difficult to break, and we, as humans, have gotten into the habit of disliking, resenting, and sometimes dispising other people. for various reasons...either they don't act, look, or smell the way we think that we think they should, or maybe others obviously don't act right(which we should not have to tolerate), or maybe we have gotten into the habit of resenting people because they are different from us; another race perhaps; a "lower" class than us; on and on. I am so thankful that God is merciful, because if not, He would have obliterated me long ago. The problem, spiritually speaking, is that we often don't keep that "for the Grace of God" attitude about us, when we deal with other people. We somehow think that since we are"doing the right thing" in our lives, that there is something better about us than others. This thinking knows no racial barrier; it is a "human" trait. We look for reasons to latch on to this way of thinking, and many times, we hold onto it like a pit bull dog holds a piece of meat. Someone could hit us in the head with a pipe, and we would still rather find reasons to hate, seperate, snub, or any of the negative things that we do to mistreat others, because they are not in our elite club of normality.
OK, so I am irritating some people by talking about these things; my apologies! But...I have a question. When are we going to start living on this Earth together as human brothers and sisters, and realize that we are all in the same boat of life, and we must help each other to be successful humans? Weird isn't it? Here is the deal...Jesus Christ was always there in Heaven for eternity past; He created everything...what does that have to do with the subject at hand??? Here's what...when He created everything, He knew that satan would cause a sin curse to fall on all of mankind; He knew that He(Jesus) would come out of Heaven to be born a man, to live a perfect life, to die on a cruel cross, to rise again from the dead, to ascend back into Heaven, and is coming again for His children who have accepted Him as Savior; He did all of this for all races, and we are all one, one race...yes ALL one race of people... our lineage goes all the way back to the first man Adam, and guess what...so does the human lineage of Jesus; now...most likely, by the scattering of humans by the Great Flood, races as we know it came about because of climatic location. Some hold the belief that the different races of people bagan at the tower of Babel, when God confounded the languages of the people for trying to build a tower to Heaven, and thus, attempting to elevate themselves to God's level. There is much research available to prove that different tribes of humans have different physical characteristics that directly relate to survival in different locales of the Earth, and it seems that the main differences are color related. We are still just what we are...HUMAN!
We are all a bunch of "mixed breeds".
Once upon a time, I raised thoroughbred German Shepherds. I found that in spite of all the work that it takes to breed a pure bred dog, somewhere along the line, someone has mixed things up, and allowed a mixed breed dog to enter the bloodline; it is highly fraudulent, but I know that it has been done, and the fact remains that even the highest quality of pure bred dogs may have a "mut" in the family tree somewhere. An unscrupulous breeder confided in me once of his practice of "throwing" papers on a dog that had given birth to a litter of puppies. He had current papers on a female dog that had died, and the mother of the current litter looked like a German Shepherd, but in fact, was a "mut". She suddenly, on paper, "became" the dog that was deceased.
I often wonder if there are any pure races of people...do you know anyone who claims to be a 100% pure Italian, Frenchman, African, etc.? I think that all of us or at least a majority of us are "muts".
How did we get so mixed up? What about inter-racial marriages?
Maybe God originally planned for man to stay one race; read Numbers 12 in the Old Testament. Moses was condemned, by Miriam and Aaron for marrying an Ethiopian woman, but I can't find where God condemned him for it. I do read in the same chapter that God was angry at Miriam and Aaron for "bad mouthing" Moses, and God even turned Miriam into a leper! I cannot find real confirmation in the Word of God that God has steadfast rules for segregation. It's funny to me that the chiefest of all segregationalist groups, the KKK maintains that Jesus, the Jewish man, was a white man; what version of the Bible do they read? Either way, man managed to get things really mixed up, and the thing that is constant in the Word of God is that God is not willing that any should perish, including Negroes, Whites, Chinese, on and on. I was a member of a church once that over a 40 year period has moved its location 2 different times, for the specific purpose of distancing itself from African-American peoples. The membership simply did not want them in their church, and the second time, they sold their church building to Vietnamese Catholics whom they disliked also...the very odd thing about it is that over the same time period, they supported and still continue to support missionaries to countries all over the world. I suppose that they feel that they must obey God in the great commission in one way, as long as "those" people don't infiltrate their little club. After all, one of their sons or daughters might just fall in love with a black...God forbid!!! You see...we are all, or most of us are the product of an inter-racial marriage; we just refuse to acknowledge it or don't realize it. When our parents married, they thought that they were both white; true they were in a cultural sense of the word, but not in a heritage sense of the word. I asked my mother when I was small, what race I was, and she explained to me that we were French, Indian, and maybe German...we have found out since that it was not German, but English...ohhhh, I get it, these are mostly caucasian races, so that makes me a white man...who knows...I may have a lot of Indian blood in me. Recently, I saw an old photo of a woman that I believe to be my great grandmother...she looks a great deal like an Indian woman. Her husband was a native Frenchman, so if she is Indian,is that an inter-racial marriage, or not? OK, OK...I know you are saying that I have gone crazy, and that I am all mixed up about my theology...etc. NO I am not trying to promote inter-racial marriages. or demote them either. I am simply trying to make people see that we are what we are, and we have become what we are by "the traditions of men". When a man and woman decide that they are going to get married. I believe that God has a criteria that must be followed for that to happen. #1. The two people should be Christians, for the Bible clearly teaches that to do otherwise is to be "un-equally" yoked, and that is wrong. #2. The two people should confer with God personally concerning whom they will marry, and seek His approval(not man's, not a church); this will come from much prayer and supplication, and maybe fasting, to seek the peace from God that passes all understanding. #3. Their purpose for marrying anyone should be to have a marriage that glorifies God; for the initial purpose of raising a family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. #4. Their approach to marriage should only be with a life-long committment in mind...yes"til death do you part". You will notice that I did not mention race in connection with the "un-equally" yoked part...because...hello! two Christian people who follow steps 2,3,&4, might be of different races, so who, besides God has the right to tell them that they are wrong for considering marriage? I know...I have some of you really wound up now, but go back to the beginning of this blog...did you pray, and ask God, as you studied the picture? Who are we to judge anyone? Oh yeah...I have heard the "we can't judge people, but we can be fruit inspectors!" Bull...ony! Jesus said that "you shall know them by their fruits", meaning that we can tell if a person is of God or not, by the righteousness in their lives(or lack of it), like soul winning, righteous living, or walking in Holiness...not some legalisticjudgement that we make, based on preferences! You know something? We are all, but for the Grace of God, a bunch of dirty rotten sinners, saved by Grace(if you are saved), and highly capable of the worst, lowest sins that anyone has ever committed, and skin color is not even in the equation.
Here's another strange, but true, story for you...I was a member of another church where there was a white man that had a beautiful Vietnamese wife. I think that he was in the armed forces in the war, and met her over there, and brought her back to the USA, and married her they had two beautiful "mixed breed" children. They were very happy, and all the people in the congregation really seemed to love them. She was very sweet, and also seemed to love God. To my knowledge, no one ever criticized them for being in an inter-racial marriage. In the same church, a story was related to me that a black man came to visit one Sunday with his white, blonde, girlfriend or wife. No one knew if they were married or not, just that they were together. During the song service, one of the deacons went over to the man, and said, "You will have to leave...we don't want your kind in here!" They got up, and walked out.
Do your own research...in the old south, there were plantation owners who forced their slave women to have sex with them, and fathered many, many children, and it was legal. Why do I bring that up...I think that there are many white men today that are angered when they see a white woman with a black man, for the sole reason that this black has one of our women, and they look down on that woman as a piece of trash. I don't mention all of this to anger anyone, but to just tell it like it is, and to help people to see that we are all just people, and we all will be
judged by God one day, irrespective of color. I understand that there are cultural differences to overcome, and maybe in America it has been mostly a black/white issue, and many times, in order for an Oriental person to marry a White, Caucasian person,for example, the differences
in religions already make the "unequally yoked" principle a problem for that type of inter-racial union. That is all I have to say about inter-racial marriages; the bottom line is that each individual must make their own decisons about it, and I don't have the right to make disparaging remarks about them, even if they are out of God's will. If I am asked, I will give my opinion, but I am obligated by God to try to love everyone.
Am I condoning evil deeds done by members of a different race than mine?I have had white people tell me, over the years, that those blacks are different from us; they are animals; they are a bunch of drug addicts; they have babies right and left; the prisons are full of them; after all, they hate us, too;or the classic one for me is "Just wait, you love them blacks now, but wait until one of them rapes your daughter!" Again here is the deal...we are all sinners; I don't have all of the answers, but doing wrong has nothing to do with skin color; it is a natural inherant behavior for all of us; maybe there are more blacks in the world than whites; I do know that there are certainly many more blacks on the poverty level than whites, and poverty breeds crime many times, but so does the greed that breeds amongst the rich white people of the world who steal millions of dollars, time and time again; Do you think that the Enron scandal is an isolated one? NO, it just happens to be the one where people got caught; the ones that get away with it have not been exposed yet. No, I am not condoning evil or tolerance of wrongful deeds from any race of people, at all. What I am saying here, plain and simple, is that people from every race have the obligation to do what is right, and many do. Part of that "doing right" is to love thy neighbor as thyself.
What is the solution for racial disharmony?I thought you'd never ask...you thought I'd never get to my point of all of this. What we need is the kind of love that Jesus preached and exemplified to us; loving everyone. What we don;t need more of is the kind of racial disharmony and division that people like Mr. Al Sharpton and Mr. Jesse Jackson promote;every one spewing hatred, just for the love of money, prestige, and power. By the way, of all of the black men on the planet that I know of, the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson is an awesome man who is giving his life to fulfill the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King; he's not a hater, but he is very outspoken, and stands up to those who promote hatred amongst the races. Go tohttp://bondinfo.org
I also know of another fine man in the Atlanta area that tells it like it is, and remains a gentleman, and has a sincere desire to see reconciliation between the races; and he is Mr. Herman Cain. Go to http://hermancain.comI can do nothing about what any other man does or says concerning racial harmony or disharmony, except maybe try to vote him or her out of office at the polls, but I personally can do my part every day to "hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land", as the old song "If I Had A Hammer" says. I am doing it, and I will continue to. I am a bridge builder...You can be one, too. Ask God to open doors of opportunity for you to be a bridge builder. Bridges have many parts, and they are almost all structural or important, except maybe for the paint. The abutments, girders, cables, trusses,towers, and the railings, all have a function. Remember that all bridges have some sort of passageway, like a road or rail, to communicate travel. Plan now to be a part of the bridge. God will show you...help someone of another race in some way, every time the occasion arises; I live in an almost all black neighborhood; the occasions arise for me daily. Give a helping hand, an encouraging word, a smile, and...WOW! maybe a hug. And the most important thing that anyone can do is to help someone, anyone, bridge the gap between them and God, by telling them about Jesus. Do yourself a huge favor, don't allow anyone to dictate to you as to how you should feel about other races, and if you need to change, ask God to help you. Since we are made in the image of God, then we are not made to hate anyone.
Would you please study the Norman Rockwell print to the right(it is entitled The Golden Rule), and at the same time, pray that God will reveal His will to you concerning race? What will your role be in the building of the bridges of reconciliation between the races? Will you be a bridge builder or a bridge burner?I have not written in a while, because I have been waiting for the Lord to direct me towards something new to write, and many subjects have been going through my mind, but recently, God has shown me that I am not finished with the race issue. A few of the people that I have been sharing this blog with had loved what I had to say, until I wrote the blog entitled, Men of Color...All Men are Colored. Many people have emailed me or called me, some of them crying, and said that I had hit the nail on the head concerning love and reconcialtion between the races. Others, however, now suddenly have either nothing or no good things to say; I thought..."now that's a little odd." But I think I understand the problem, or maybe problems. You see, habits, of all kinds, are difficult to break, and we, as humans, have gotten into the habit of disliking, resenting, and sometimes dispising other people. for various reasons...either they don't act, look, or smell the way we think that we think they should, or maybe others obviously don't act right(which we should not have to tolerate), or maybe we have gotten into the habit of resenting people because they are different from us; another race perhaps; a "lower" class than us; on and on. I am so thankful that God is merciful, because if not, He would have obliterated me long ago. The problem, spiritually speaking, is that we often don't keep that "for the Grace of God" attitude about us, when we deal with other people. We somehow think that since we are"doing the right thing" in our lives, that there is something better about us than others. This thinking knows no racial barrier; it is a "human" trait. We look for reasons to latch on to this way of thinking, and many times, we hold onto it like a pit bull dog holds a piece of meat. Someone could hit us in the head with a pipe, and we would still rather find reasons to hate, seperate, snub, or any of the negative things that we do to mistreat others, because they are not in our elite club of normality.
OK, so I am irritating some people by talking about these things; my apologies! But...I have a question. When are we going to start living on this Earth together as human brothers and sisters, and realize that we are all in the same boat of life, and we must help each other to be successful humans? Weird isn't it? Here is the deal...Jesus Christ was always there in Heaven for eternity past; He created everything...what does that have to do with the subject at hand??? Here's what...when He created everything, He knew that satan would cause a sin curse to fall on all of mankind; He knew that He(Jesus) would come out of Heaven to be born a man, to live a perfect life, to die on a cruel cross, to rise again from the dead, to ascend back into Heaven, and is coming again for His children who have accepted Him as Savior; He did all of this for all races, and we are all one, one race...yes ALL one race of people... our lineage goes all the way back to the first man Adam, and guess what...so does the human lineage of Jesus; now...most likely, by the scattering of humans by the Great Flood, races as we know it came about because of climatic location. Some hold the belief that the different races of people bagan at the tower of Babel, when God confounded the languages of the people for trying to build a tower to Heaven, and thus, attempting to elevate themselves to God's level. There is much research available to prove that different tribes of humans have different physical characteristics that directly relate to survival in different locales of the Earth, and it seems that the main differences are color related. We are still just what we are...HUMAN!
We are all a bunch of "mixed breeds".
Once upon a time, I raised thoroughbred German Shepherds. I found that in spite of all the work that it takes to breed a pure bred dog, somewhere along the line, someone has mixed things up, and allowed a mixed breed dog to enter the bloodline; it is highly fraudulent, but I know that it has been done, and the fact remains that even the highest quality of pure bred dogs may have a "mut" in the family tree somewhere. An unscrupulous breeder confided in me once of his practice of "throwing" papers on a dog that had given birth to a litter of puppies. He had current papers on a female dog that had died, and the mother of the current litter looked like a German Shepherd, but in fact, was a "mut". She suddenly, on paper, "became" the dog that was deceased.
I often wonder if there are any pure races of people...do you know anyone who claims to be a 100% pure Italian, Frenchman, African, etc.? I think that all of us or at least a majority of us are "muts".
How did we get so mixed up? What about inter-racial marriages?
Maybe God originally planned for man to stay one race; read Numbers 12 in the Old Testament. Moses was condemned, by Miriam and Aaron for marrying an Ethiopian woman, but I can't find where God condemned him for it. I do read in the same chapter that God was angry at Miriam and Aaron for "bad mouthing" Moses, and God even turned Miriam into a leper! I cannot find real confirmation in the Word of God that God has steadfast rules for segregation. It's funny to me that the chiefest of all segregationalist groups, the KKK maintains that Jesus, the Jewish man, was a white man; what version of the Bible do they read? Either way, man managed to get things really mixed up, and the thing that is constant in the Word of God is that God is not willing that any should perish, including Negroes, Whites, Chinese, on and on. I was a member of a church once that over a 40 year period has moved its location 2 different times, for the specific purpose of distancing itself from African-American peoples. The membership simply did not want them in their church, and the second time, they sold their church building to Vietnamese Catholics whom they disliked also...the very odd thing about it is that over the same time period, they supported and still continue to support missionaries to countries all over the world. I suppose that they feel that they must obey God in the great commission in one way, as long as "those" people don't infiltrate their little club. After all, one of their sons or daughters might just fall in love with a black...God forbid!!! You see...we are all, or most of us are the product of an inter-racial marriage; we just refuse to acknowledge it or don't realize it. When our parents married, they thought that they were both white; true they were in a cultural sense of the word, but not in a heritage sense of the word. I asked my mother when I was small, what race I was, and she explained to me that we were French, Indian, and maybe German...we have found out since that it was not German, but English...ohhhh, I get it, these are mostly caucasian races, so that makes me a white man...who knows...I may have a lot of Indian blood in me. Recently, I saw an old photo of a woman that I believe to be my great grandmother...she looks a great deal like an Indian woman. Her husband was a native Frenchman, so if she is Indian,is that an inter-racial marriage, or not? OK, OK...I know you are saying that I have gone crazy, and that I am all mixed up about my theology...etc. NO I am not trying to promote inter-racial marriages. or demote them either. I am simply trying to make people see that we are what we are, and we have become what we are by "the traditions of men". When a man and woman decide that they are going to get married. I believe that God has a criteria that must be followed for that to happen. #1. The two people should be Christians, for the Bible clearly teaches that to do otherwise is to be "un-equally" yoked, and that is wrong. #2. The two people should confer with God personally concerning whom they will marry, and seek His approval(not man's, not a church); this will come from much prayer and supplication, and maybe fasting, to seek the peace from God that passes all understanding. #3. Their purpose for marrying anyone should be to have a marriage that glorifies God; for the initial purpose of raising a family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. #4. Their approach to marriage should only be with a life-long committment in mind...yes"til death do you part". You will notice that I did not mention race in connection with the "un-equally" yoked part...because...hello! two Christian people who follow steps 2,3,&4, might be of different races, so who, besides God has the right to tell them that they are wrong for considering marriage? I know...I have some of you really wound up now, but go back to the beginning of this blog...did you pray, and ask God, as you studied the picture? Who are we to judge anyone? Oh yeah...I have heard the "we can't judge people, but we can be fruit inspectors!" Bull...ony! Jesus said that "you shall know them by their fruits", meaning that we can tell if a person is of God or not, by the righteousness in their lives(or lack of it), like soul winning, righteous living, or walking in Holiness...not some legalisticjudgement that we make, based on preferences! You know something? We are all, but for the Grace of God, a bunch of dirty rotten sinners, saved by Grace(if you are saved), and highly capable of the worst, lowest sins that anyone has ever committed, and skin color is not even in the equation.
Here's another strange, but true, story for you...I was a member of another church where there was a white man that had a beautiful Vietnamese wife. I think that he was in the armed forces in the war, and met her over there, and brought her back to the USA, and married her they had two beautiful "mixed breed" children. They were very happy, and all the people in the congregation really seemed to love them. She was very sweet, and also seemed to love God. To my knowledge, no one ever criticized them for being in an inter-racial marriage. In the same church, a story was related to me that a black man came to visit one Sunday with his white, blonde, girlfriend or wife. No one knew if they were married or not, just that they were together. During the song service, one of the deacons went over to the man, and said, "You will have to leave...we don't want your kind in here!" They got up, and walked out.
Do your own research...in the old south, there were plantation owners who forced their slave women to have sex with them, and fathered many, many children, and it was legal. Why do I bring that up...I think that there are many white men today that are angered when they see a white woman with a black man, for the sole reason that this black has one of our women, and they look down on that woman as a piece of trash. I don't mention all of this to anger anyone, but to just tell it like it is, and to help people to see that we are all just people, and we all will be
judged by God one day, irrespective of color. I understand that there are cultural differences to overcome, and maybe in America it has been mostly a black/white issue, and many times, in order for an Oriental person to marry a White, Caucasian person,for example, the differences
in religions already make the "unequally yoked" principle a problem for that type of inter-racial union. That is all I have to say about inter-racial marriages; the bottom line is that each individual must make their own decisons about it, and I don't have the right to make disparaging remarks about them, even if they are out of God's will. If I am asked, I will give my opinion, but I am obligated by God to try to love everyone.
Am I condoning evil deeds done by members of a different race than mine?I have had white people tell me, over the years, that those blacks are different from us; they are animals; they are a bunch of drug addicts; they have babies right and left; the prisons are full of them; after all, they hate us, too;or the classic one for me is "Just wait, you love them blacks now, but wait until one of them rapes your daughter!" Again here is the deal...we are all sinners; I don't have all of the answers, but doing wrong has nothing to do with skin color; it is a natural inherant behavior for all of us; maybe there are more blacks in the world than whites; I do know that there are certainly many more blacks on the poverty level than whites, and poverty breeds crime many times, but so does the greed that breeds amongst the rich white people of the world who steal millions of dollars, time and time again; Do you think that the Enron scandal is an isolated one? NO, it just happens to be the one where people got caught; the ones that get away with it have not been exposed yet. No, I am not condoning evil or tolerance of wrongful deeds from any race of people, at all. What I am saying here, plain and simple, is that people from every race have the obligation to do what is right, and many do. Part of that "doing right" is to love thy neighbor as thyself.
What is the solution for racial disharmony?I thought you'd never ask...you thought I'd never get to my point of all of this. What we need is the kind of love that Jesus preached and exemplified to us; loving everyone. What we don;t need more of is the kind of racial disharmony and division that people like Mr. Al Sharpton and Mr. Jesse Jackson promote;every one spewing hatred, just for the love of money, prestige, and power. By the way, of all of the black men on the planet that I know of, the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson is an awesome man who is giving his life to fulfill the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King; he's not a hater, but he is very outspoken, and stands up to those who promote hatred amongst the races. Go tohttp://bondinfo.org
I also know of another fine man in the Atlanta area that tells it like it is, and remains a gentleman, and has a sincere desire to see reconciliation between the races; and he is Mr. Herman Cain. Go to http://hermancain.comI can do nothing about what any other man does or says concerning racial harmony or disharmony, except maybe try to vote him or her out of office at the polls, but I personally can do my part every day to "hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land", as the old song "If I Had A Hammer" says. I am doing it, and I will continue to. I am a bridge builder...You can be one, too. Ask God to open doors of opportunity for you to be a bridge builder. Bridges have many parts, and they are almost all structural or important, except maybe for the paint. The abutments, girders, cables, trusses,towers, and the railings, all have a function. Remember that all bridges have some sort of passageway, like a road or rail, to communicate travel. Plan now to be a part of the bridge. God will show you...help someone of another race in some way, every time the occasion arises; I live in an almost all black neighborhood; the occasions arise for me daily. Give a helping hand, an encouraging word, a smile, and...WOW! maybe a hug. And the most important thing that anyone can do is to help someone, anyone, bridge the gap between them and God, by telling them about Jesus. Do yourself a huge favor, don't allow anyone to dictate to you as to how you should feel about other races, and if you need to change, ask God to help you. Since we are made in the image of God, then we are not made to hate anyone.
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