The Scourge Of Racism
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A brief, but amazing exchange occurs between Christ and Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor during the period of His arrest, interrogations and before His crucifixion. After answering Pilate’s question about being ‘“a King’” in the affirmative, the Lord further asserts He ‘“was born’” and came ‘“into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’” Pilate, representing human skeptics from all time was not impressed retorting in reply, ‘“What is truth,’” (John 18:33-38, NKJV)? Standing before the governor was truth Personified in perfection willing to suffer and suffering for it to the point of the death He was about to die!
Pilate’s skeptical question echoes down through the centuries to this hour where truth in the eyes of many is a relative matter that exists only in the minds of those who embrace their own view of it. This is absurd of course, since even in the non-Christian world truth is testable. Tell yourself all you want in your truth that jumping in front of a speeding car will not harm you and the reality of the truth will prove you wrong every time if in fact you would survive to engage in such foolishness again! Objective truth exists because it originates with “a God of truth” who brought His creation into existence resting on many principles of His own nature and character (Deuteronomy 32:1-4, NKJV).
Indeed, truth is intrinsic to the nature of the Triune God. Since God is a God of truth, God does not and “it is impossible for God to lie,” (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:1-2, Hebrews 6:16-18, NKJV). When the Lord Jesus Christ the Second Person of the Triune God came into the world, He came in the absolute fullness of His divine identity as “the Word” and consequently with other attributes of God, fully displayed “truth” (John 1:1-2, 14-18, NKJV). Near the end of His ministry, He identifies the third Person of the Triune God as “the Spirit of truth,” who in turn also displays truth as part of the eternal Family’s living emblem (John 14:15-17; Galatians 5:19-23; Ephesians 5:8-10, NKJV).
The whole special revelation of God’s written Word in the Bible is truth exactly because it is inspired of God (Psalm 119:160; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). The Lord Jesus Christ validated the written Word as truth as He quoted and upheld as well as taught from it, (Matthew 4:4, 5:17-26). Representing, living out, speaking and teaching the truth as He did during His years on earth fulfilled the very important part of His mission disclosed to Pilate about Him being born and coming into the world to bear witness to the truth; truth about and from God. The truth He proclaimed was so powerful, it could set those who believed in Him free from slavery to sin (John 8:31-36)!1
Conversely, those who reject Christ’s words of truth about and from God in unbelief not only remain slaves to sin, but deception since their father and ruler is ‘“the devil’” who murders and lies as a matter of course (John 8:37-46, NKJV).2 As with Pilate that day, unbelief in Christ and His words renders men blind and deaf to the truth even standing right in front of them. This is why it is only those ‘“of God’” and ‘“the truth’” through faith in Christ who hear it and His ‘“voice,’” (John 8:47, 14:6, 18:37, NKJV). For this cause we who believe in Christ have also been the beneficiaries of His prayer to the Father seeking our sanctification by His truth (John 17:16-19).3 Before cynical Pilate, Israel and the world Christ bore final witness to the truth by suffering and dying for it (John 18:39-19:30).4
1 Read the March 24, 2024 post, Christ Came To Save Sinners, under the category, Call To Repent.
2 Scripture teaches “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one,” (1 John 5:19-20, NKJV). Thus, if you are not rolling with Christ, by default you are rolling with the devil! This sobering truth should jolt wayward professed Christians to the core! Graciously, Christ at this hour is calling His strayed ones to return to Him. Watch this Minis- try’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel to hear Him.
3 Having been sanctified by the truth of God, Christians are supposed to also represent, live out, speak and teach it in the image of Christ. This is certainly the heart of every aspiring strong man of God I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and what the Lord through me rebukes in His Church as failure in my latest release, The Scourge Of Racism. Both are available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book versions are also available at major E- Booksellers.
4 Christ did not walk back anything He had proclaimed or taught in truth about and from God to save Himself. Our willingness to suffer and even die as Christ for the truth is fully expressed as His will in the charge and example He gives His disciples (Matthew 16:24-27; 1 Peter 2:21-23) and displayed in His apostles (2 Corinthians 11:22-28, 13:8).
As the Lord led in last week’s post, we saw how representing God, Jesus Christ by His own testimony came into the world as part of His mission “to bear witness to the truth,” (John18:37, NKJV). As God in eternal unity with the Father and Holy Spirit, He is “truth” and ‘“the truth’” as it concerns the message of salvation He was also sent into the world by the Father to proclaim (Deuteronomy 32:3-4; John 8:13-30, 14:6, NKJV). It is in the context of salvation that He asserts by remaining in His ‘“word’” believers in Him would truly be His ‘“disciples,’” ‘“know’” Him ‘“the truth’” and they become ‘“free,’” (John 8:31-32, NKJV). Only Christ in the Gospel can set men free from sin!1
‘“…the truth shall make you free’” is one of a number of words and phrases lifted from the Bible and corrupted by misapplication while being used in many ways by professed Christians and rank unbelievers (John 8:32b, NKJV). Though it is true having knowledge of the truth in a matter can be very liberating, this is not what the Lord Jesus is speaking of when He makes His statement to the Jewish listeners who had believed on Him. Indeed, they got their hackles up in offense right away at the statement because they did not receive it from Christ as something beneficial. But they correctly heard in the Lord’s statement that they were in some kind of bondage.
In smugly refuting the Lord’s statement they cited their connection to Abraham and did not tell the truth in saying they “have never been in bondage to anyone” since God reveals to him his descendants would be slaves for over four hundred years as they were in Egypt (Genesis 15:12-16; Exodus 12:40-42; John 8:33, NKJV).2 This was followed by localized oppressions in the land as well as the major Assyrian and Babylonian captivities in which they were removed from it (Nehemiah 9:36-37). Following those days, though they were not enslaved, the Medo-Persians, Greeks and currently Rome oppressed them. Even so, the Lord spoke of a deeper form of bondage that is spiritual.
He said, ‘“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin,’” (John 8:34, NKJV).3 Human slavery to sin began when the first man, Adam, yielded to it in Eden and brought upon him and his progeny the promised divine penalty (Genesis 3:1-11, 17-19, 22-24, 4:1-7; Romans 5:12-14). Rooted in the body, sin exerts such power, influence and control in the desires, thinking, attitudes, words and deeds of its hosts that they can be described accurately as nothing but slaves. Sin in presence and its works originating in the heart also spiritually pollute or “defile” a man before the holy God who has no fellowship with it whatsoever (Isaiah 59:1-8; Mark 7:14-23, NKJV).
However, back in Eden God showed how He could cope with sin in man on a temporary basis by shedding the blood of an animal; taking its life instead of man’s (Genesis 3:21). He developed this in the Law given to Israel which when done right gave the people an annual temporary atonement for and release from their sins (Leviticus 16). All along though, God’s plan called for eventually setting willing men free eternally from sin’s penalty, power, presence and pollution as He intimated at another of the great feast days of Israel, Passover (Exodus 12:1-14). What the Jews who believed on Christ yet disputed with Him that day did not realize is He was God’s Passover Lamb (John 1:29-34)!
Christ goes on to instruct His would be Jewish followers the slaves of men do not have a permanent place in the house of their masters, but a son does (John 8:35). They stood in the presence of the only begotten Son of God with an eternal standing in His Father’s house. If He as the Son of God therefore, set them free from bondage to sin through the truth of His finished work in the Gospel, they would “be free indeed,” (John 8:36; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 9:22-10:18, NKJV). For it was Christ alone who enabled the Father to remove sin’s penalty through forgiveness; who broke its power, made a way for eternal freedom from its presence and pollution through His cross (Romans 3:21-26, 5:1-8, 6, 7:7-8:17)!
Thus, by remaining in His word, we as those Jewish believers should have been, are to be earnestly seeking to know the truth better and deeper rather than arguing with Him.4 Then we would understand more fully and “rejoice” in all that Christ accomplished for us (Romans 5:9-11; Colossians 1:3-14; 2 Peter 1:1-11, NKJV). This includes having access to God’s forgiveness of our sins through confession and repentance as often as needed (1 John 1:5-2:2). Then too, we will have eternal freedom not only from sin as sons made gloriously immortal, but every evil and hurtful thing that would enslave us; living and reigning with Christ “forever and ever,” (1 Corinthians 15:47-57; Revelation 21-22:5, NKJV)!
1 Read the April 7, 2024 post, Suffering For The Truth, under the category, Glory To God!
2 Many professed American Christians also falsely believe themselves to be grandfathered into salvation because of heritage or parents that were Christians. If you are one of them please take heed and realize you can only be saved by making a personal decision to repent of your sins which like everyone else you have and believe the Gos- pel of Christ. Watch this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Reconciled To God, on our YouTube channel.
3 Committing sin is the evidence we are slaves to it! Among the sins many white conservative evangelical Christians commit daily is the practice of racism. Learn more by getting my book, The Scourge Of Racism. It is available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book version is also available at major E-Book sellers. Also, please watch another Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel to hear Christ’s call for you, O professed Chris- tian, to turn back to Him in obedience and faithfulness to His Word.
4 This is the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in Christ’s image I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It too, is avail- able at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book is also available at major E-Book sellers.
As the Lord leads me to instruct in the two-part post beginning August 18, 2019, Lined Up Behind Jesus, under the category, Instruction, to avoid being deceived in these latter days professed Christians that would be faithful must anchor God’s Word as it is written in our hearts! The only way to anchor God’s Word in our hearts is to purposely internalize it through regular study and practice. Study and practice will not be regular if we do not zealously love the Word as the truth with an intentional desire to apply and obey it even with many failures (2 Timothy 2:15, 3:14-17; James 3:2a).
How does a man get to the point of willingness to regularly study and practice the Word of truth? A hunger and thirst for God and His Word is actualized in every truly born again new follower of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. It manifests for some more quickly than others depending on the depth of surrender at spiritual birth (Acts 2:36-42; 1 Peter 1:22-2:3).1 Purposely making time to study God’s written Word is typically not the issue for hungry and thirsty newborns in Christ. It is how to get enough milk! Those that press to fruitfulness in understanding and practice despite Satan’s effort to take the Word, tribulations and worldly cares have developed a love for it (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).
Loving God’s Word is the motivational key for both anchoring it in our hearts and deliberately practicing it through obedience. One major reason sold out, faithful Christians come to love God’s Word is because it “is truth” as the Lord Jesus asserts in His prayer to the Father (John 17:17, NKJV). God’s Word is truth that we not only can rationally appreciate because it is perfectly sound, righteous and just, but also experience since it is spiritually alive having originated with God (John 6:63; Hebrews 4:12). We want more of, desire to go deeper in as well as practice the Word causing us to spiritually mature because the Word of truth we love is alive in us and so good!2
Indeed, just as in our Holy Spirit fired love we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Mark 12:28-30; Romans 5:5), so, we love the Word of truth written that in the awesome mysteries of God is embodied by God the Word from eternity (John 1:1); Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord who spoke God’s final Word to the world when He came to us from Heaven in first century Israel (John 1:14-18; Hebrews 1:1-4)! As a result of loving God and everything about God, we love the Word of truth that flows naturally from God--the Person and Source of the Word, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honor forever (John 14:6)!
For after He completed His work to save us from our sins by dying on the cross and being buried, He was raised from the dead on the third day following. Among the first disciples to encounter and recognize Him in Luke’s account specifically declared to each other how their hearts burned with what could have only been the same spiritual fire we enjoy as “He opened the Scriptures” to them (Luke 24:28-35, NKJV). He spent forty days on earth teaching and preparing His apostles for His return to Heaven. Then, upon giving final instructions to them, He ascended into Heaven where He, the eternal Word, has been seated again at His Father’s right hand (Acts 1:1-11, 2:32-35)!
In the love we have for Christ, the living Word of truth and all that is written from Him and of Him in the Bible, faithful Christians are ready to stand firm whatever the cost against demonically inspired deceit and falsehood and testify to the most prominent of officials as have all of the saints through all time. Many professed Christians have a misinformed tendency to arrogantly believe we are the only ones that know something about Holy Spirit fired love for God and His Word. Not so, and the writer of Psalm 119 is a classic example of an Old Testament saint--to include Spirit empowered king David (1 Samuel 16:13)--that enjoyed this experience with the living God! This saint wondrously writes in Psalm 119:41-48 with the heart of one that intimately knows and loves God and His Word!
He waited like we do now for the fullness of God’s mercies in salvation to come according to His written Word (vs. 41). He like many of us are was persecuted for his faith and needed to trust God’s Word for a right answer to his persecutors (vs. 42). He sought God’s help as we must also to keep the “word of truth” in his mouth because it was his hope; his eternal preoccupation and source of blessing (vs. 43-44, NKJV). He like us was free in and ready to witness to kings boldly standing on the Word (vs. 45-46; John 8:31-32). Lastly, he delighted himself in and loved God’s commandments; lifting his hands in praise for them and meditating on God’s edicts (vs. 47-48).3 Is that you?4 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Read my February 17, 2019 post, Surrendering All To Jesus, under the category, Glory To God! I am one of those whose hunger and thirst for God and His Word
took some time to kick into high gear--22 months after I prayed to receive Christ--because of still trying to cling to my sinful ways of living. But after my total surren-
der to the Lord, I have sought Him and the Word of truth has been my food daily for which my soul yearns throughout the day (Psalms 63:1-8, 119:17-20)!
2 Sadly, the opposite is true for professed Christians that are not inclined to go deeper in the Word and become “dull of hearing;” remaining spiritually immature babes
that still nurse on “milk” and not the “solid food” of the Word. God expects every follower of Christ to grow and mature in the faith made possible only through the
regular intentional study and practice of the Word (Hebrews 5, NKJV). Otherwise, those that purposely remain spiritually immature are easy marks for the deceiver
(Proverbs 14:15; Romans 16:17-20), risk becoming “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” and open themselves up to the possibility of falling away with no re-
course (Hebrews 3:12-13, 6:1-6, 10:26-31, NKJV). Read my December 4, 2016 post, Now Is The Day Of Salvation, under the category, Call To Repent.
3 Even though the Lord Jesus Christ purposely sends us out to preach the Gospel and witness Him helped by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 10:16-20), we are to still make
purposeful preparation for the task through study to possess knowledge of the Word we love the Holy Spirit can readily bring to our mouths to speak as He wills.
4 It is certainly the heart of every faithful Christian as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Jesus Christ I write about in my book, The Strong
Man Of God: Back To Basics. Get a print copy or digital download of the book at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com
and Apple (digital only). You can also get a print copy of the book in the Strong Man Store.
Either you believe every word Jesus Christ the truth spoke is true or you do not. No one is left a middle ground! Of the many truths He proclaimed and taught about among first century Jews was ‘“the kingdom of God.’” They expected and were looking for it to tangibly and visibly appear at the coming of God’s Anointed. He did not deny this as He offered Himself the fulfillment of their expectation while redirecting their thoughts about the Kingdom’s initial form and visibility in Him (Luke 13:18-21, 17:20-25, NKJV). Just as Christ is the truth, so, He is the Kingdom (Luke 9:27-36)! Unbelievers and not a few professed Christians too, reject the Kingdom of God in Christ as King.
At His interrogation by the Roman Governor, Pilate, not denying He was a King,1 Christ said to him, ‘“My kingdom is not of this world…not from here,’” (John 18:33-36, NKJV). Christ’s statement meant His kingdom did not originate in nor was it from this earth world. Though He did not elaborate with the unbelieving Gentile, Pilate, the Lord had spent more than three years walking up and down Israel proclaiming ‘“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven’” or alternately though semantically the same, ‘“the kingdom of God is at hand,’” (Matthew 4:12-17; Mark 1:14-15, NKJV). Heaven speaks of the Kingdom’s place of origin and homeland while God, identifies its Originator from eternity (Isaiah 66:1)!
Scripture presents three heavens: the first is earth’s physical sky, the second is the expanse of the physical universe called “the heavens” and the third is the spiritual environed abode of God above all named Heaven (Genesis 1:1-19; Psalm 19:1-6; 2 Corinthians 12:1-2, NKJV). Heaven is where Christ came from and returned to after His successful mission on earth to pay for the sins of fallen mankind (John 1:1-2, 14, 3:16-21, 31, 7:32-36, 8:21-24, 20:17; Acts 1:9-11). He sits at the right hand of His Father on the throne and is ruling even in the midst of His enemies in the heavens and on earth (Psalm 110:1-2; Matthew 26:62-64, 28:18-20; Ephesians 1:15-23, 6:12; Colossians 1:13-18).
Many professed Christians rooted in this world stumble over, choke on, are ashamed of and scoff in unbelief at the substantive reality and coming of the Kingdom of God Personified in Christ. This is clear evidence that they as the unsaved are not experiencing the rule of Christ in their inner being and daily lives for this is the initial display of the Kingdom since the first century birth of the Church (John 3:1-8; Acts 1:4-8, 2:1-41, 10:36-38; 1 Corinthians 12:3). To the farthest extent there are bona fide, obedient Christians on the face of the earth, so, the invisible Kingdom of God in Christ is manifested as He reigns as King and Lord in our hearts (1 Timothy 6:11-16)!2
However, many that profess to be Christians are spiritually dead religionists as Israel’s first century religious leaders and stumble over King Jesus to their demise (Matthew 21:33-46; 1 Peter 2:6-8). Others choke themselves resisting His Lordship (Luke 6:46-49). Still others are ashamed of the King’s Kingdom that conflicts with the ways of the world (Mark 8:34-38).3 Finally, a number are scoffers with unbelievers rejecting the Lord’s promised visible return and rule on earth (2 Peter 3:1-9). Despite that, the interim display of the invisible Kingdom of God in Christ is shortly to be succeeded by its foretold glorious visible manifestation at His Second Coming (Psalm 97:1-6; Matthew 24:23-31; Mark 13:21-27; Revelation 1:7-8)! ‘“Now, the just shall live by faith,’” (Hebrews 10:37-39, NKJV).4
Indeed, Christ must return to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth for He taught us who believe to pray for this majestic event as we have for nearly two millennia wherein the will of God is ‘“done on earth as it is in heaven,’” (Matthew 6:9-10, NKJV). Rebel angelic and human kingdoms have always been temporary in the face of and subject to God’s eternal Kingdom (Matthew 6:13b). Truly, those professed Christians that minimize or outright reject the Kingdom of God in Christ as King invisible or visible are also rejecting having any part in His promise to reign with Him at His Second Coming (Luke 22:28-30; Revelation 1:4-6, 2:25-29; 5:9-10, 20:4-6). Reigning with Christ has been God’s absolute will for man from creation (Psalm 8; Hebrews 2:5-13; Revelation 22:1-5).5
2 The rule of Christ in our hearts is wholeheartedly embraced by every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in His image I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It is also available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book is also available at major E-Book sellers.
3 They are ashamed of Christ and His words because of being ridiculed by unbelievers and worldly religionists that hold to the sin and demon driven values of this fallen world they really also want to continue to possess.
4 If as a professed Christian you do not believe any part of His Word, Christ bids you repent! Receive His call to return to Him with a fully sold out heart of faith through this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel.
5 To reign with Christ in the Kingdom of God made manifest after this mortal life filled with suffering including from the oppressions and persecutions of men is an exceedingly great blessing from God (Matthew 5:10; Luke 12:32)! The closest mortal experience in terms of turnabout and magnitude is when Mordecai is made a ruler after Haman’s heinous plot to kill him and destroy all the Jews in Persia (Esther 7:1-9:4).
In last week’s post, instruction to Jewish and all would be believers came from the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth about His ability to free from slavery to sin.1 Slavery to sin is the most serious form of slavery among men due to it being both temporally detrimental and eternally consequential. A man can die suffering in physical bondage and be freed of it forever though, if he also dies in spiritual slavery to sin, he will be judged for his sins and condemned eternally to “the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15, NKJV). Although physical slavery is used punitively by God, He cares ultimately that men be set fully free from every vestige of evil oppression through faith in Christ (Luke 4:16-21)!
As a black American descendent of those once physically enslaved in this nation, I write with a heavy heart for what I have learned was one of the most brutal practices of slavery in the history of men on earth; its legacy combined with systemic racism still affecting many. Yet, rather than through the lens of a victim, I also write as a victor with the purposely intended biblical assurance the painful oppressions of physical slavery that my slave forefathers experienced were not of God’s perfect, but permissive will to punish sin and accomplish His purposes of good in the end.2 Physical slavery has been tolerated and used by God for His good purposes and to punish human sin for millennia.
As last week’s post pointed up, Jewish history was launched by their forefather, Abraham, who God informed He would be purposely allowing his descendents to be slaves for four hundred years ‘“in a land that is not theirs.’” That land turned out to be Egypt where Abraham’s descendents served and were severely afflicted. God also tells Abraham His good ends in that He would judge the oppressing nation and bring his descendents ‘“out with great possessions.’” Their time as slaves was preparation for something far greater that involved a return to the land currently occupied by others whose sin needed to reach fullness before He judged them (Genesis 15:13-16, NKJV).
When Israel came to the edge of the land, God warned through Moses that among the curses for disobedience to Him and His commandments He would bring upon the nation were oppressions and slavery (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Israel’s history bears out how God kept His Word! Of the many ways the victims and their doctrines of victimization among my people condemn themselves before God is the attempt to portray our West African forefathers in their various kingdoms and tribes as innocent of having done anything that would provoke His offense enough to allow their suffering and slavery when He has declared His verdict of universal human sin guilt (Romans 3:9-20, 23).
Beginning with Israel, judgment has been upon all earth’s nations from the 6th century B.C. for their sinful and wicked practices (Jeremiah 25:15-29). Such practices include making idols to worship in idolatry, the worship of the sun, moon, stars, earth’s sky and nature including animals, rocks, trees and bodies of water (Exodus 20:1-6). They also practiced witchcraft, sorcery, sacrificing their children and attempting to speak to dead ancestors (Deuteronomy 18:9-14). Truly, what men admire as culture and tradition in those practices, God most holy rejects and judges!3 West African kingdoms and tribes were guilty of all of the foregoing practices along with rejecting the Gospel of Christ.
Thus, in not treating their sins as they deserved in every case (Ezekiel 18:4), God allowed the sorrows of oppressions and slavery to come upon the West Africans forcibly brought to the New World to punish their sins and humble their hearts before Him as I have written in other places.4 Now, here is where those black Americans that have chosen victimization also greatly offend God in implying that we are somehow better than His Son who endured painful oppression at the hands of those who arrested and put Him on the cross and should not have had to suffer oppression of any sort (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:47-68, 27:1-26).5,6 However, Christians are even exhorted to have Christ’s mind who came into the world as a slave to God for our sakes (Philippians 2:5-8).7
And what was the good end of Christ’s servitude? How about the salvation of the world! Also, please note He did not go unrewarded by God for His service (Isaiah 53:4-6, 8-12; Philippians 2:9-11)! Those of our slave forefathers that recognized the grace and mercies of God in the Gospel of Christ repented of their sins, put faith in Him who knows all about the stifling oppressions of men and were freed from sin’s bondage. Rather than rebel or run away they served often cruel masters prayerfully waiting for God to free them from His remedial judgment. Many were freed through death (Psalm 116:15-17); countless faithful others lived to see God’s reward of perseverance in the day of freedom! All who waited will reign eternally free with Christ in His Kingdom (2 Timothy 2:11-13).
1 Read the April 14, 2024 post, The Truth Frees From Sin, under the category, Instruction.
2 As I write in my book, The Scourge Of Racism, black males in anger as a natural reaction to our historic and ongoing experiences with systemic racism’s sting and as slaves of sin tragically embrace the victim mentality. Christ’s ability as the truth that frees from sin’s bondage paves the way to the mindset of a victor through faith in Him! The book is available for purchase at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book version is also available at major E-Book sellers. Learn about it at https://www.opendoorcommin.org/featured-publishing-resource.
3 So, for example, those that admire the practice of communicating with ancestors in Marvel’s film franchise, Black Panther, are celebrating what God despises and bringing judgment upon themselves.
4 See for example the March 3, 2024 post, When God Fights Your Battle, under the categories, Black History and Glory To God! ‘“God shows no partiality,’” (Acts 10:34, NKJV). Therefore, it cannot be that throughout the Scriptures the bad and ugly of Israel’s “fathers” are transparently presented (Nehemiah 9:1-2; Acts 7:51) as God has led me to do with my West African forefathers in this post and somehow give white professed Christians a pass because the truth about the wicked deeds of their fathers sullies their heritage as they choose to see it (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6).
5 While there is a God ordained place to oppose the injustices of oppression, this should not supersede calling on and trusting in God to help in accord with His sovereign will and timing. Submission to His being oppressed as part of God’s will and trusting in His vindication brought forth no complaint or protest from the mouth of Christ. Until He directs otherwise in the situation, Christ’s example of submission trusting in Him is what God wills (1 Peter 2:18-23).
6 Unless one can demonstrate the sinless perfection of Jesus Christ, it is the height of evil arrogance to consider oneself not worthy of divine punishment for sin (John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 1:8)! If you possess such arrogance as a professed Christian, you have surely strayed from the truth and need to repent. Hear the Lord’s gracious call to return to Him in this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel.
7 This is the mind of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in Christ’s image I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It is also avail- able at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book is also available at major E-Book sellers.
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)!
Because Jesus Christ and His message are an offense to a hostile world, His faithful preachers have suffered as He from the 1st century (John 10:31-39, 19:1-22; Acts 4:1-3, 5:17-32, 7:51-8:3, 12:1-4, 26:1-29). Suffering in some measure up to and including death for His Word as absolutely spiritually, morally and ethically true is the lot of God’s appointed faithful preachers who would rather suffer than compromise or corrupt God’s Word as it is written (John 15:18-16:4; 1 Corinthians 15:29-34)! Indeed, willingness to endure even severe persecution for the Word preached is one of the sharp differences between faithful preachers and those that are not in Christian history.
Faithful preachers of the Word of God beginning with the Gospel have themselves first been brought to salvation and spiritual regeneration by it! They intimately know and love the indwelling Person of the Word, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14-18), the Holy Spirit and Father with all submission and obedience (John 14:15-24). As a result, they also love and keep God’s written Word (Psalm 119). Their obedience includes confessing and repenting from their sins as they occur so they might continue to enjoy unbroken fellowship with God (1 John 1:5-10). The apostle Paul was greatly humbled by the magnitude of God’s grace and mercy to save him and all sinners. His faithful and diligent service to God as His appointed preacher was a manifest token of eternal gratitude (1 Corinthians 15:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17).
It is out of such a spirit of humility and gratitude for personal salvation that the apostle Paul exemplifies and is God’s enduring template for the zeal and service He expects from all of us as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ and His appointed preachers. His faithful service as a preacher of the Gospel is one reason he is so passionately direct about God’s authorized declaration of destruction for the one who preaches another gospel other than the one God has given (Galatians 1:6-9). The other reason is his question of whether he (and by implication all Christian preachers) are preaching to persuade and please men or God (Galatians 1:10)?
If it is true with God and men that one appointed is to serve to please the one who appointed him as surely it is, then Paul and us after him appointed by God to preach His Word in the Gospel and otherwise are to please Him with the mind of Christ to the point of even considering ourselves His slaves in all faithfulness (Philippians 2:5-8). And right here is where the wheels have come off for many genuinely God appointed preachers throughout history to this very hour. For to their disgrace through any number of motives not the least of them being men rather than God pleasers, many Christian preachers have willfully compromised and corrupted God’s Word in all falsehood and deceit.
A perfect example of this in action is the not so subtle satanically inspired transformation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday into a day of good works in this 21st century. No accident or product of natural progressive community evolution, it has come about as the polite, but purposeful effort of secular individuals and morally tolerant professing Christians and preachers to separate King from the offense of his spiritual roots as a Christian preacher of biblical morality; the ground on which he stood to call white America to do right by its black and other disenfranchised citizens. While King did preach service to humanity, he did so explaining the biblical motives of Christians to serve and his own in stepping up to help his people and others hurt by America’s failure to live up to its ostensible Christian heritage as he did in a message he preached two months before being assassinated.1
To morph the totality of Dr. King’s biblically rooted cause and message into only a day of do good works in the community is to white wash over the deeply oppressive and blatant evil of American racism he challenged as an appointed preacher of God. No, King and his preaching in the matter of Civil Rights for black Americans cannot be successfully surgically removed from its biblical moral underpinning anymore than the preaching of John the Baptist who rebuked Herod for his adultery and other evils or the Lord Jesus who preached against the hypocrisy of Israel’s religious leaders (Luke 3:15-20; 11:37-54), Martin Luther who called the Catholic Church to reform its corrupt practices or Europe and America’s abolitionists who advocated slavery’s end.
Not so subtle either in this King Day service emphasis is the growing wider effort to spin “real” Christianity into a salvation by works which is very plainly not taught in the Bible (Romans 3:21-4:4; Ephesians 2:8-10). Yet, many preachers have embraced this false gospel of works undergirding the King Day and other assorted heretical doctrines applauded by the world. Moreover, a great number of preachers even trample on God’s Word in rejection after preaching it by leading the people to disobey it in practice seeking to please them rather than God. This latter thing is especially prevalent among preaching pastors in the tradition minded churches of manmade Christianity the religion in spite of God’s rejection of such folly (Mark 7:1-23; Luke 6:46-49; James 1:21-25, 4:17). The guilty should immediately repent!
While I could wish too with some of his godly black American preaching contemporaries such as Rev. Howard O. Jones that Dr. King and other preachers around him had preached the Gospel as intensely as the biblically rooted moral imperatives of the Civil Rights Movement,2 nevertheless, faithful preachers in these latter days understand we must do so with the “whole counsel of God” as was done by our example, Paul, in the 1st century (Acts 20:17-27, NKJV). And like him too, we must be ready in what is shaping up to be the closing opportunity to publicly preach unfettered in the West to suffer for it to the end, not being ashamed of Christ, the Gospel about Him or the whole counsel of God in His Word (Matthew 10:16-39; Mark 8:34-38; Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 1:8-12); in the power of the Holy Spirit, pleasing God in preaching to lost and wavering souls so that many may be saved (Jude 20-25). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, “Who is on the Lord’s side?”
1 Dr. King preached a message entitled, The Drum Major Instinct at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on February 4, 1968 in which his text and content regarding serving hu-
manity was taken from Mark 10:35-45. The sermon can be heard as a sound recording and easily found for purchase online.
2 Howard O. Jones, For This Time (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 59-61.
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