The Scourge Of Racism
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In follow up to the two-part post, Christ’s Message To His Faithful, under the categories Bible Prophecy and Encouragement I concluded this past February 23, 2020, the Lord has led me to write this post specifically to Gentile Christians of any ethnicities that may have been offended He might actually retain a kinship love for His own ethnic people, the Jews. Though some would try to rebuke me on what they consider biblical grounds, the Lord rebukes and calls all that are guilty to repent from willfully forgetting biblical Christianity is of Jewish origin--He is first of all the promised Jewish Messiah and as He asserted to a Samaritan woman, “salvation is of the Jews,” (John 4:19-26, NKJV).1
Though Christianity after the end of the 1st century to this hour appears to have become a distinctly Gentile thing because the Jewish number of believers became so small, nothing could be further from the truth. The numerical dominance and power of Gentile Christians and their churches does not mean God had permanently cast aside the Jews, intended their full cultural assimilation to the abandonment of their own or cared nothing about their tiny presence in the midst. Only the most arrogant of Gentiles could believe this in willful defiance of Scripture and thus, scoff at any prospect Christ might speak to His Jewish brethren in their midst and would even attempt to replace Israel.
However, their historic small numbers and being dispersed throughout the earth has nothing to do with a plan by God to eliminate the Jews as His chosen people or replace Israel with the Church. The Lord Jesus affirmed what the Old Testament prophets beginning with Moses foretold that a day would come when the Jews would be scattered to the nations by God as judgment for disobedience and unfaithfulness to Him to include rejecting His Anointed (Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Luke 13:34-35, 19:41-44, 21:20-24). Specifically in Luke 21:24, the Lord indicates the Jewish dispersion and trampling of Jerusalem by the Gentiles is tied and limited to “the times of the Gentiles,” (NKJV).
The times of the Gentiles about to be up is the period of time God has allotted for the punishment of the Jewish people, global dominion of Gentile nations and proclamation of the Gospel to them before His predetermined end (Hosea 5:14-6:3; Matthew 24:14). Indeed, God has foreknown the number of Gentiles to be saved from eternity as the great Jewish apostle to us Gentiles, Paul, intimates in Romans 11:25! And without coincidence, the apostle’s strongest statements about the proper attitudes saved Gentiles ought to have toward God and the Jews is made in his letter to the church at Rome that later became the largest professed Christian Gentile persecutor of the Jews.
Not arrogance and proud boasting, but humility, fear and thanksgiving to God for His grace and mercy to save from among us Gentiles; loving concern for the salvation of the unsaved Jew, love, admiration toward and support as needed for the Jews that are our brothers in the faith Paul instructs are our proper attitudes (Romans 11:11-24, 15:25-27). Always consistent, Christ through this same apostle teaches that our spiritual unity and equal standing in Him does not now, somehow obliterate our ethnicity, social condition or gender (Galatians 3:26-29; Colossians 3:9-11). As a result, Christ does not lose sight of His Jewish people within His Church nor should we in all joy for them.2
Therefore, the Lord had me uncover and unpack the truth of His continuing vigilant observance of His Jewish faithful among all in Revelation 3:7-13; the truth obscured because interpreting eyes for centuries have been European Gentiles in dominance that refused to believe the Lord would care to make sure His Jewish brethren among them heard from Him too.3 Being part of a despised ethnic minority, I fully understand how the sin of racist superiority works to discount those considered inferior and of no account. Consequently, I praise and thank God for giving me the illumination, interpretative wisdom untarnished by Eurocentric or my own prejudices and courage to declare the encouragement the Spirit gives to the Jews amidst all of the Lord’s faithful in the churches.
Among all that enter the approaching hour of testing as Christians will be Jews to be martyred or protected in accord with the sovereign Christ’s criteria of previously proven faithfulness.4 Among all of those raised from the dead or translated alive to immortal glory at His Second Coming will be Jews (Daniel 12:1-3; Mark 13:14-27; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)! Stunned in great sorrow at first, but relieved in His forgiveness will be the unsaved, elect Jewish remnant who had been marked out, protected and preserved for the Day of their Messiah’s appearing (Ezekiel 9, 20:33-38, 39:21-29; Zechariah 12:10-13:1; Romans 11:26-36; Revelation 1:7, 7:1-8, 11:15-12:9, 13-16, 16:12-16, 19:11-21).5 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 The Lord has had me write to remind us Gentiles of these truths in several previous posts. See for example, the two-part post that begins on January 28, 2014, Jesus:
The Jewish Messiah, under the category, Holidays.
2 So much for any rebuke on biblical grounds for discussing ethnicity at all in His Church much less Christ as the consummate Israelite who eternally loves His people
whoever they stand among. I wrote about the corrupt abuse of Galatians 3:26-29 and Colossians 3:9-11 as it concerned gender in the September 8, 2019 post, Con-
fusing The Issue, under the category, Call To Repent and urge you to read it.
3 These are the same folk in religion that guilty, presented the world a white, blue eyed, feminized Jesus with long flowing blond hair in their image, false justification
from the Bible for their cruel enslavement of my forefathers and the mis-timed “rapture” with supporting fiction in part, to avoid enduring anything like the same kind of
painful suffering their kindred nations have dealt and will yet deal out upon others until Christ intervenes in judgment at His coming and Kingdom (Daniel 2:31-45).
4 The Lord led me to proclaim a timely six message series, The Hour Of Testing, now available in the Strong Man Store that instructs Christians on God’s biblically taught
purposes behind why He tests His people and fully explores the prophetic implications tied to the coming hour of trial our Lord speaks of in Revelation 3:10. Listen
to the series sample.
5 Read the June 12, 2016 post, The Day Of Israel’s Comfort, under the category, Bible Prophecy. How wonderful beyond words as the Lord showed me that even in His
glorious coming, imagery depicting the correspondence between Him and their forefather, Joseph, is used Jews can relate to (Genesis 37:31-36; Revelation 19:13)!
The Lord Jesus Christ loves His Church and speaks correction to and chastens those within the local churches that supposedly make it up (Revelation 3:19). This is the why and what for of His end of the first century specific messages to seven churches of Asia and their messengers in His Revelation I wrote about to open this New Year (Revelation 1:9-11, 19).1 The mere fact the Lord has something to say about what goes on in the churches demonstrates not only His knowledge, but concern that things be done in accord with His will, way and Word! He did not go away back to Heaven and turn the business of the Church over to us. He is Lord (Ephesians 1:15-23)!
In exercising His ever active Lordship over His Church from birth, the Lord Jesus presents Himself to the messenger of the church at Sardis as “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” With authority granted by His Father (Mathew 28:18), the Son asserts His control over the fullness of the Holy Spirit represented as “the seven Spirits of God” in His activities among men and church messengers as “the seven stars” He earlier interpreted to John (Revelation 1:20). Then, after declaring He knew Sardis’ works, He drops a spiritual bomb shell on them with shock waves that reach to this very hour: they had “a name” for being “alive,” but were “dead” (Revelation 3:1, NKJV)!
The church in Sardis had a name or reputation for being alive whatever that meant for them at that time. Perhaps like some churches that were before and many that have followed them down through the centuries, professed Christians in the Sardis church were intensely engaged in sensational spiritual practices such as speaking in tongues which the apostle Paul warned against over emphasizing (1 Corinthians 14:1-19). Maybe it was passionate preaching or spirited singing and dancing that were carried out as a telltale sign God was present. Possibly too, it was all of these elements that are found variously in numerous churches among the ethnicities on earth today.
Few however, would argue with me that among the ethnicities, those of my own either on the African continent or scattered among the world’s countries including this one engage in all or most of what is described in the foregoing during any given service of what we call worship. The reputation for being alive among black Americans in their churches draws tourists to observe us from all over the world. And we typically do not disappoint; putting on emotion charged performances sometimes that are hard even for the most stoic of souls to resist being caught up in.2 I do understand such services have been historically cathartic for us and in loving empathy have written about why.3
Nevertheless, without the Holy Spirit whose living, working presence the Lord Jesus controls, none of what professed Christians do in the churches lives now or eternally before God (John 6:63). Clearly, from the Lord’s judgment of the church at Sardis, sensational activity and high energy emotional worship are not surefire indicators of the Holy Spirit’s living presence and work as many want to falsely believe. By default, works not empowered by the Holy Spirit are of the sinful flesh. Those acting in the flesh do not please God (Romans 8:5-8). And while there may be “liberty” when the Holy Spirit is present, such times are never a license to sin (2 Corinthians 3:17, NKJV)!4
The verdict of the Lord Jesus on the reputation of the church at Sardis was that they and their efforts were spiritually dead as is the case in every church where the Holy Spirit is not actually operative in what is going on! Apparently though, the church was not completely dead since after pronouncing them so, the Lord commands them to “Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die;” He not finding their works complete “before God.” Then, He exhorts them to go back in memory to what they had been originally taught, grip it tight and repent from their departure. If they don’t, He warns, He will come upon them suddenly for what will surely be retribution (Revelation 3:2-3, NKJV). The Lord says the same to guilty churches today.
Always in God’s economy there is a faithful remnant. At Sardis, there was one that by implication in their life and deeds were alive through the authentic work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord acknowledges them and promises a reward for their faithfulness--“for” He says, “they are worthy.” They will also never face the possibility of Him blotting their names out of “the Book of Life.” They will be alive in the Spirit forever! The Lord will also confess the names of these faithful saints before His “Father and before His angels.” He urges every individual in the church at Sardis and the one you attend too, if you will, “to hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” (Revelation 3:4-6, NKJV). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the two-part post that begins January 5, 2020, Revelation’s Seven Churches In Time, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
2 Save attempting to shame me for telling the truth on “us” since I have been black all of my life and even before I was a believer, as a child I witnessed how we do. And
as it concerns performing, while I know a relative few individuals among the musicians and audience may be having a genuine encounter with God, my teen years
were mostly spent in bands entertaining; I know performance, entertainment and being moved by the music when I see and hear it as still happens to me in all trans-
parency when I allow it (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Just because you are feeling it in what is called worship, does not mean God is and it is idolatry to think so, since He made
us in His image not the other way around (Psalm 50:16-23; Isaiah 1:10-20)!
3 Read the two-part repost beginning February 8, 2015, Strong Through God, Not Religion, under the category, Black History.
4 Examples occur whenever an assembly is thrown into disorder by folk lacking self-control and women in disobedience and defiance of God’s written Word are allowed
to lead worship where adult men are present (1 Corinthians 14:20-40; 1 Timothy 2:11-14). Women freely empowered by the Holy Spirit to prophesy (Joel 2:28-29,
Acts 2:1-18, 21:8-11) are not free to do so as they please or as sinning church leaders command in disobedience to God’s perpetually set order of mankind. Or are we
now blasphemously teaching that the “Holy” Spirit sanctions sin in rebellion against Himself? Knowing this not to be the case, no wonder the false escape is to lie on
God and declare He has spoken (Jeremiah 23:30-32), changed His mind (Malachi 3:6), updated His Word (Matthew 5:17-20, 24:35) or abandoned the temperance of
His eternal nature He wills to display in us (Galatians 5:22-23)! It is not nor will it ever be the Holy Spirit that pushes the guilty into sin, but the prince of darkness and
the lusts of their sinful flesh draw them into it (James 1:12-18).
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