In this final edited 2012 repost for Black History Month 2018, the Lord leads me to give sober warning to a new generation of black Americans and their leaders (Ezekiel 33:1-9). Their alignment and participation with those of the wider culture rebelling against God and the historic Christian faith of the Bible held to by our faithful Christian forefathers from slavery has not uplifted the entire community in a righteous and lasting way. It will not end well for the guilty since God shows “no partiality” and judges all in accord with their deeds (Romans 1:18-2:11, NKJV). My hope, then, is that rather than anger and resistance, this post will provoke heartfelt repentance to the saving of many!
Originally Posted September 30, 2012
As the Lord has led, I conclude my recent barbershop encounter with articles in the monthly Ebony Magazine by offering the following comments. First, Ebony (and its weekly little sister, Jet1) Magazine came into being only a short time ago when neglected by white owned media, black Americans needed an unbigoted window on themselves and their circumstances in a brutally oppressive and segregated nation. Founded by deceased black entrepreneur, John H. Johnson, in 1945, the nationally distributed magazine was a great encouragement and source of inspiration to black Americans; many of whom still believed God would make a way (Psalm 33). He did!
Ebony chronicled the black experience capturing the passion and suffering of our leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Civil Rights Movement and the tiniest of moral victories as blacks began to successfully cross color lines into previously restricted areas of participation in American society. We needed that then and I am one that was greatly inspired in my youth. However, my second comment is this. Just as a new generation “who did not know the Lord nor the work He had done for Israel” arose after the death of Joshua and the elders that outlived him, so, now, among black Americans a new generation in like manner has risen up (Judges 2:7-13, NKJV).
The top, mostly female leadership at Ebony is representative of the new generation that has risen up and it appears, wholeheartedly adopted the secular worldview of political correctness, tolerance, equality, fairness, sexual immorality, feminism, narcissistic ambitions, materialism, self-serving religion, situational ethics, pragmatism and the edict, “don’t judge.” They are joined by many other black owned and operated media outlets, businesses, politicians, educators, sports and entertainment stars and religious leaders with their churches in this worldview. Though until now, politely tolerated as I know from experience, a biblical worldview2 is not considered “in touch,” “relevant,” “realistic” or welcome among this new generation of black movers and shakers.3
Yet, the liberalized trend away from the faith of the Bible that many of our Christian slave and segregated forefathers had is not bringing something better to our community, but worse if statistics on the disproportionately high rates of black male incarceration, for example, are taken seriously. All of the things supposedly gained by aligning with those in rebellion against God are not benefitting the whole community, but only the relative well connected few. Apparently, forsaking faithfulness to the God of the Bible is having the same result in negative consequences for this new generation as it did Israel’s new generation after Joshua and the elders that outlived him died (Judges 2:14-15).
Indeed, the once inspirational presentation of blacks in Ebony “that had made it” into the “Promised Land” of success is now a sickening, self-indulgent, sinful celebration of covetousness fulfilled and idol worship of the privileged successful relative few. A generation after the unofficial end of the Civil Rights Movement and Ebony’s ongoing crusade to hold up and re-make our collective self-image as a race into the middle and upper class success stories of the likes of fictional George Jefferson in television’s, The Jeffersons, impoverished, underachieving, female led single parent households are still the predominant reality of black America.
The success idols today are led by President Barack Obama who has been and will be supported by a large number of blacks that see especially all opposition to his leadership by whites as just “hatin” (racial resentment, envy). No doubt, some of the President’s white opposition is due to racism. He however, should not get a critical pass by Ebony and other black owned media because he is the vaunted lead success idol to be protected in the black community. Truly, he personifies their liberal trend away from the faith of the Bible in his social policies. Even so, to them his success at attaining the office of President of the United States serves as a not so subtle ratification of the trend.
But not so fast. My final comment is this. The problem with the liberal trend away from the faith of the Bible embraced by the new Ebony generation is not just its obvious failure to bring about a tangibly brighter day for or even superior hope to the entire black community. Pressing this trend by advocating sin (all rebellion against the written Word of God is sin), the new Ebony generation in its narcissistic now, is actually hastening community degeneration; failing as they have to consider that the God they still attempt to acknowledge is real and calls for an accounting! When (not if) the unchanging God of the Bible judges this nation, wealth, power, achievement and success will be of no avail to anyone as a bargaining chip to escape (Ezekiel 7).4
In that day very near, without repentance this new Ebony generation will painfully learn too late that success by any means necessary including abandoning the faith of our Christian slave and segregated forefathers was not worth it (Mark 8:36-37; Hebrews 12:16-17). They may have been impoverished materially, but they were rich spiritually and in Christ-like character--the stuff God eternally recognizes! This is the most important take away lesson the new Ebony generation should have received from the experience of those that went before them. Therefore, judgment day will be even more painful for them as they remember how nostalgically, yet blind and deaf spiritually they sang James Weldon Johnson’s hymn, Lift Every Voice And Sing especially missing the prophetic warning of its last stanza.5
1 Jet Magazine ceased print publication in June 2014 and Ebony was sold to a black owned equity firm in June 2016.
2 Most faithful Christians would define this worldview with me as preserving, applying, living out and proclaiming the historicity, prophetic declarations and transcendent
spiritual truths as well as Christian specific instructions and commandments of God’s Word in the Bible as written! The fact pastors and professed Christians in what-
ever numbers are among those holding a secular worldview is clear evidence of unfaithfulness to God and the need for biblically defined revival at best--see my Jour-
nal article series, A True Revival Of The Heart on The From Slavery To Victory Education Project Web Site; at worse, the foretold apostasy in progress (1 Timothy 4: 1-2).
3 Consider Ebony’s content in the Black History Month 2018 posts that precede this one.
4 The nondiscriminatory, calamitous impact of 2017’s hurricanes and wildfires more than adequately demonstrate this truth.
5 View the lyrics on The From Slavery To Victory Education Project Web Site.
Willing Christian singles are encouraged to fight the worthy fight of sexual abstinence until marriage in part two of this edited 2012 repost.
Originally Posted September 23, 2012
Yes, you will be tempted at times especially when your resolve to faithfulness to God and abstinence weakens. But purposely call on the Lord at those times (1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:12-14)! Yes, you may yield to temptation and sin as the Ebony article commends T.D. Jakes’ movie, Jumping The Broom for accurately depicting (James 1:15). But you get back up from your failure in heartfelt confession and repentance being doubly resolved to walk in the love (it is your deepest motivation for obedience to God), victory of faith, obedience and power over all the lusts of the flesh God has called you to in Christ (1 John 1:8-10, 5:1-5).
Abstinence from sex before marriage is not some religious rule prudish preachers made up to practice in order to appear righteous or spiritual. God in His Word has made sexual purity before marriage a matter of honoring Him as its Author! He made man male and female and put them together in the lifelong covenant bond of marriage to fulfill His primary purpose for them to procreate (Genesis 1:27-28). Sex in marriage is the sacred vehicle by which God participates in the conception of a new human being. It is pleasurable as a gift to ensure the divine will would be accomplished. Beyond pleasure though, sex is also of the deepest expression of marital intimacy in oneness.
There is no double standard with God. Prospective male and female spouses are to save their bodies to exclusively share them with future mates. This leads to the difficulty of waiting for God to send the mate He has selected. This issue is hardest, in my opinion, for the person who was sexually active before becoming a born again believer in Jesus Christ. Virgins certainly know something about arousal and desire. However, not knowing exactly what they are missing in the actual act of intercourse, they will not have to deal like junkies with memories and phone numbers that could be called to find immediate gratification.
In my book, I talk about some sensible and supernatural things in the Holy Spirit that can be done to help one live celibate while waiting for God to bring the spouse He has selected. As was the case with Adam, it is God that we wait upon for our spouse (Genesis 2:18-22). That means faith and patience--even longsuffering because our Father knows best. Lack of faith in and patient waiting on God can lead to disaster both as a compromising single or spouse that has married outside of the Lord. A Bible on the nightstand and condoms in the drawer is a lowering of God’s standard of purity for Christian singles in a lack of faith, resolve and impatience.
While God’s love for us even when we are in sin is never to be questioned, the person in willful sexual immorality is claiming to love God as they blatantly offend His holiness. If “love does no harm to a neighbor,” then certainly our love for God is not to hurt Him (Romans 13:10; Ephesians 4:30, NKJV). I submit that this professing Christian’s love for God may be real as a sentimental emotion, but comes up way short of the love He wants. The standard of love God requires from us is proven by obedience and of His own love. Among its many superior attributes, God’s love is not self-seeking and never rejoices in iniquity (John 14:15-24; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
In typical, selfish human love, this person by implication is insisting that God accept their offense to His holiness and sexual sin out of His love. This is idolatry in an attempt to remake God into what they want rather than accepting Him as He is--the Holy One! The Father has already fully and finally shown His love for us and rejection of our sins in wrath at the cross of His Son. God only accepts us now through Christ crucified for our sins, buried and risen. He makes no special exceptions for anyone. Believers are to be completely respectful of that fact and run from sexual immorality to live in purity until and faithfully after marriage (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)!
Truly, our Lord Jesus Christ sympathizes with the plight of single Christians and wills to help if called upon (Hebrews 4:14-16). Nevertheless, after all else, writing about Christian singles the apostle Paul says, “…but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion,” (1 Corinthians 7:9, NKJV). This is not to be understood as urging marriage to the first person that comes along. God’s minimum requirement for our yoking together with anyone is that they be an authentic fellow Christian (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1). God will never send you an unbeliever to marry just to help you be sexually gratified.
The lack of Christian men in female filled churches is a major reason every Christian father and single woman ought to be standing with me to restore men by bringing them to Christ and the life of the aspiring strong man of God in His image! In all practicality, this will greatly expand the pool of single men worthy of marriage in the churches.4 That said, there are a few Christian men available to marry even now that are being overlooked by some sisters because they have set their standards patterned after worldly feminist ideology higher than God’s. As a result, some do end up waiting a very long time for “Mr. Right.”
There is a scene in Tyler Perry’s 2006 film, Madea’s Family Reunion where the matriarchs of the family (the old men present are portrayed as lust-filled and sexually perverted since they wickedly ogle one of their own young female relatives) call everyone together to aunt Ruby, the eldest. On land and in front of an old shack that used to house their slave progenitors who had purchased it, Cicely Tyson as Myrtle in the fictional family verbally chastises them. She rebukes the men for their gambling, fighting and abandoning their families; the young women for dressing sexually provocative. She does this after aunt Ruby had asked: “Is this what we paid for?” The question has lingered with me as I have labored in Christ to hold up a biblical worldview of the black experience.5
While in slavery sexual promiscuity was facilitated by the family destroying practices of our former masters and our own permissiveness in far too many cases, a number that became Christians sought to preserve and do marriage and family right. Christian singles: do not quit on God; you have a legacy of faith and patience in Christ they paid for with their lives! As fictional Myrtle declares, we their descendants exist to “thank God; giving Him the glory for getting us over.” Therefore, honor God and that legacy by keeping yourself pure until marriage; fighting the good fight of faith and patience. In the end, it will yield for you the rich blessings of God now and forever (1 Timothy 6:11-16)! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
4 This means many Christian single women must make an important decision at this critical juncture of history: continue pressing the usurping feminist agenda for the
home and in the churches with the result of seeing relatively few suitable men available to marry or repent and submit to God’s order for the home and in His house
to become aspiring great women of God attractive spiritually to the harvest of aspiring strong men of God He wills to bring forth with their supportive cooperation?
Read my November 16, 2014 Blog, Christian Women And Restoring Men, under the category, Instruction, to reflect more on this important decision.
5 Visit the Home Page of www.fromslaverytovictory.org to click through the short presentation.
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