The Scourge Of Racism
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Released January 5, 2024
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With great empathy for the men who serve as pastors in the churches of Jesus Christ among black Americans as I have also done, I must still declare the truth that far too many are the reason the churches they serve are stuck in the house of refuge mentality, spiritually immature and impotent as well as in rank rebellion against God! While over the years I have heard pastors say the people are to blame by being unwilling to grow--which is true in some cases, it is the pastors that are fully guilty before God because they are unwilling to repent from what they know is sin and spiritual immaturity in personal conduct and church priorities as they cling to manmade religious practices and traditions.
Since among many churches the culturally admired preaching skill of pastors cover a multitude of sins, character flaws and spiritual immaturity contrary to the teaching of the Bible (Titus 1:5-9), the spiritual state of members or impact on their surrounding community with the Gospel in obedience to Christ does not matter. Moreover, it is largely immaterial that a pastor may act out to the point of criminality because he is bound by the root ties of the continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism. Though we know not even the godliest pastors have arrived, we are not supposed to settle for being bound by Satan as normal (Philippians 3:12-16; 2 Timothy 2:22-26).
Pastors bound by Satan with any tie binding work of the flesh in sin (to include pride) or at the root, the continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism hurt themselves and their watching congregants because like it or not the Bible declares their leadership is primarily by example (1 Peter 5:2-3). A pastor can and will not preach Christ as the Deliverer superior in strength that breaks the ties Satan has used to bind up members of the church if he is complacently bound too (Luke 11:14-22). Satan stronger than sinful men has been able to keep such pastors and members bound even after their supposed new birth because they are unwilling to be set free by Christ.
As a result of being bound, the pastor’s preaching in the house of refuge majors on comforting himself and the people in their spiritual immaturity with God’s grace and mercy, railing against the system depending on his level of social activism and powerless moralizing. In the latter instance, while he might quote or take his text from Ephesians 4:26 wherein the apostle Paul declares from Psalm 4:4, ‘“Be angry and do not sin,’” and adds, “do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (NKJV), because he is shackled by the root tie of anger as a continuing mental and emotional legacy of slavery and racism, rather than obedience, he will urge all to join him in doing their best in their own inadequate strength to comply (Romans 7:14-23). Meanwhile, he remains an angry black man.
I know something about being an angry black man because I was until the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel and power of the Holy Spirit set me free (Romans 7:24-8:4) as I wrote in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics!3 And how did the Lord come to liberate me? In all confession and repentance before the Lord I owned my sin failures with anger and realization of being helplessly bound by it as a tie on my soul in the light of His Word (Genesis 4:1-8; Proverbs 29:22; James 1:19-20). I then asked Him for help! I have since learned that as sinners, it is why we are angry (Jonah 3-4) and what we do with it after it has risen up that will determine whether it is sin or not. Uncontrolled venting of anger or burying and letting the sun go down on it leads to sin every time.
Righteous indignation at evil, injustice and real or perceived personal injury naturally gives rise to anger which in and of itself is not sin since a holy God in whose image we are made gets angry too and judges (Genesis 1:26-27; Numbers 25:1-5)! Where petition for readdress of legitimate wrongs suffered can be made (to include peaceful protest), we pursue this (Acts 16:16-24, 35-40). In the meantime--regardless of whether or not we get relief, those of us aspiring to be strong men of God in the image of Christ willfully choose to call on the Holy Spirit for supernatural help to forgive the wrong done to us and trust God for vindication as it is written, ‘“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord,’” (Luke 23:33-34; Romans 12:19-21, NKJV).
Now, what I have just written is how the Lord Jesus delivers us one by one from every tie--root or otherwise--binding the soul. Indeed, whether the ties are of the sinful works of the flesh or mental and emotional, we must own them before the Lord and then soberly confront them with the truth of His Word and power of the Holy Spirit! We confront with the truth of God’s Word as the Lord Jesus modeled for us because it exposes and destroys Satan’s lies in sin lifted up against God setting us free (Matthew 4:1-11; John 8:31-32). Through Christ, we confront in the strength of the Holy Spirit as our help because we are truly weak against Satan, sin and self controlled by sin (Philippians 4:13). Alas though, one must want to be delivered by Christ to engage in the process of liberation!4
3 See p. 109-110. Pick up your Hard or Soft Cover Editions of The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics in the Strong Man Store. 4 Please support our Books To USA Prisons Project that will send two copies of my book for incarcerated men to over 800 prison libraries across the nation. Go to https://thestrongmanofgod.org/Books-To-USA-Prisons-Project.
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