The Scourge Of Racism
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Happy Father’s Day! I am posting the following blog after praying through reservations that came to my heart due to the racially motivated murder of nine and wounding of other black Americans at the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC this past Week. The issue I deal with is that urgent! Indeed, both racial prejudice leading to violence and the concern of my blog have existed together since slavery and as those martyred in the church slayings instantly learned in His presence, equally occupy the heart of God. That said, I continue to stand with all who are praying for God’s comfort of the grieving families and the church along with the salvation of the gunman.
This is an important post-script to my two-part Blog, 150 Years After Slavery in which I was led by the Lord to examine especially the spiritual condition of America’s freedmen at the 150th Juneteenth. In this Blog, I address a severe consequence of one of the generational patterns of sin that has followed black Americans from slavery: the beyond crisis number of boys without fathers at home primarily due to sexual promiscuity. If as an unmarried father you are now handling your business, I commend you. But we still have a problem and since I was an unsaved, teenaged father of twin children born out of wed-lock, I am part of it too.
I make this acknowledgement to avoid any charge of hypocrisy for not disclosing the truth and also because I want absent fathers reading this to know that I have been there. I continue to feel the sting of my irresponsible conduct now over forty years later as I deal with the reality that all of my grand-children and great grand-children to date have been conceived out of wed-lock. Illegitimacy will sadly continue unless there is repentance in the thinking and sexual behavior of our community. That truth was painfully brought home to me at a mentoring event when several usually unruffled by cool black male teens came to tears as they spoke of fatherless homes.
It used to be that calling a young male "mama's boy" was fighting words. That was because he was being insulted as weak, tied closely as he was to his mama's apron strings. In those days as today, young males that were teased as mama's boys came just as easily from intact families as those headed by single females. I confess to having been a bit of a mama's boy due to my married mother holding us kids very close while my dad was away in the military. As the streets go, the mama's boy moniker could be escaped if a guy could act cool, be tough and fight. Today, being a mama's boy is not as much of an insult as it is a description of the facts.
As I share in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, over 70% of black children are born out of wed-lock and live mostly in female headed households. Why? Many single fathers (as I once was) are purposely and irresponsibly absent doing their own thing including impregnating other women with children they do not plan to fully embrace either. A few of these even proudly boast of their many children by different mothers as a badge of masculine superiority and sexual potency. Other fathers are on lockdown or in the graveyard due to early deaths caused by their engagement in “the life;” the urban mindset of hustling, survival and fast living.
How much harm does 70% of a community’s children born out of wed-lock and into households largely governed by single female parents do long-term? Much! Damage is done to the entire community, for example, as the economic cost of supporting and dealing with the many adverse needs of fatherless households is in the billions. The spiritual, psychological and sociological impact on the children is generally negative and still being tabulated. However, hurt the most are young black males as they become part of a longstanding generational underclass of spiritually and materially impoverished mama’s boys; boys that are supposed to develop into responsible men and future family leaders with few positive role models to emulate.
In God’s design of the human family, children are imprinted on by both of their parents (Proverbs 1:8-9). Men as His designated lead teachers teach whether we do so intentionally or not. Mama’s boys learn from and imitate their absent fathers, the bad example of other men from the streets and media as well as each other. This is one reason gang love is so attractive. It is male bonding complete with a leadership structure and rules where there is punishment for violations and rewards for conformity. Additionally, the full expression of natural and fallen masculinity such as risk taking, conquest through violence and all forms of pleasure seeking are encouraged.
The unrestrained seeking for sex as pleasure, of course, with the cooperation of all too willing females desperate for scarce male interest and relationship, leads to mama’s boys becoming fathers as young as Middle School! For them like many of their fathers it is a status thing. At the end of the day mostly female grandparents are left scrambling about if they bother, to take care of another mouth to feed.
When the baby is a boy, he will soon enough be ready to perpetuate the endless cycle of out of wed-lock births if he is not killed first since murder is the leading cause of death among young black males. Meanwhile, many surviving mama’s boys angrily vent through media on females that at once draw them because of hormones, but also repel them out of bitter resentment for their ambitious self-assertion, societal favor, achievements and ubiquitous dominance.1
1 This Blog is not my first trek into the harsh realities of urban life. Besides dealing with responsible fatherhood from God’s Word and my own failures in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, Strong Man Ministries has used radio in which I transparently share positive encouragement with males young and old in the Strong Man Minute as part of our Urban Radio Campaign. I invite you to take a look and listen to the newly re-launched page on our Web Site then e-mail the link to someone you would like to hear these still timely public service announcements.
Generational patterns of sin are evident too among those relative few freedmen that have “made it” in the world with great jobs, fat incomes, fine homes, big cars, major achievements and acclaim who are also amid the world’s spiritually poor. The poor in spirit is anyone separated from the eternally rich life of God and as a result are spiritually dead in their sins. Though they live large, possess everything they want and have reached the pinnacle of success, at the end of the day their lives lived in and controlled by sin has left them guilt ridden, ashamed, empty, unfulfilled, despondent and painfully aware something money cannot buy from worldly sources is missing.
Outwardly, it does not look that way. Those that have “made it” even through unscrupulous means seem to have it all together (Psalm 73:1-12). Stars of entertainment and sports smile carefree for the many cameras while successful looking business tycoons and professionals disappear each evening into gated, upscale communities apparently unburdened. Also, in the face of many mother’s tears pleading for an end to gang violence, it continues among happy looking young freedmen because their media glamorized culture of idolatry and self-destruction is profitable. They famously display their wealth on gold rimmed teeth, their ears, necks and fingers.
Everything though, is not what it seems. Spiritually impoverished well off freedmen (yes, those too that wear the church going, outward façade of religiosity) have many sin driven troubles in this life including debilitating addictions, incurable sexually transmitted diseases, divorce (which contributes its share of children to our outrageously high number of female single parented households), incarceration (we have former congressmen and preachers on lockdown too), fear of and early death, increasing suicides etc. Moreover, at death, their greatest trouble now is remaining separated from God in their spiritual poverty and being tormented forever (Psalm 73:13-28; Luke 9:25)!
All that they were sold as a bill of goods contrary to Scripture about money, things, success and fame from the ultimate oppressor in part through his equally duped human agents from the former slave owning majority culture; all that was envied and desired from the shackles and forcefully imposed impediments of centuries of oppression turn out to be futility (Proverbs 3:31-35). Material prosperity does not equal abundant life or righteousness with God as the Lord Jesus warns (Luke 12:13-21). And, while there will have been those that were quite generous with their prosperity, their works can never redeem their souls to God (Psalm 49:5-9; Romans 3:9-20).
Because you are reading this, there is yet hope and an opportunity to be visited by God’s grace in the midst of your spiritual and/or physical poverty. For the living God could have destroyed our pagan forefathers in their native land as they deserved and the remedial judgment of slavery for sin from which we were freed would not have been. But then we would not have collectively known the depths of His mercy as no other people in recent history; the ancient invitation to come to Him for what is in fact life in abundance first issued to our slave forefathers in their chains still open (Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-7; Matthew 5:1-4, 11:28-30; John 10:7-10, 14:6; Romans 3:21-27, 10:6-13).
A number enough among our slave forefathers came to Jesus and a faithful remnant was raised up to have obtained God’s continuing mercy and grace on us to this hour or why are we still here? The proud among us whom God resists do not like to hear the truth that He “gives grace to the humble,” (1 Peter 5:5-7, NKJV). Thus, among the humble physically poor there have been those that are spiritually rich in all faith, abundant life, love, forgiveness and generosity through God’s provision; bringing glory to Him as He wills in the midst of the ones that oppressed them since slavery (Psalm 37:25-26; Matthew 5:14-16; Ephesians 2:1-10). Of these have come that fewer still of the relative few that emerged from physical poverty trusting in Christ.
This spiritually rich and materially blessed of the faithful remnant has given tangible witness and more glory to God in their well known abilities and accomplishments. Their names are too many for this space, though one such Christian was George Washington Carver. He was convinced until death that God had given him the multiple uses of the peanut we enjoy today. One hundred and fifty years later there can be so many more out of poverty and used of God to witness His life-changing power in the Gospel as well as bringing Him glory in all thanksgiving; aspiring strong men and great women of God in Christ’s image! Therefore, this Juneteenth we sound God’s trumpet in the Gospel anew throughout all the land. Let him hear who will hear and become the Lord’s truly free freedman (John 8:34-36).1
1 Visit https://fromslaverytovictory.org/Donate to learn how to obtain a Commemorative Cassette of the award winning, From Slavery To Victory: One Man's Journey Radio Special .
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