Where does He lead us from here?
Where does He lead us from here?
In a world where our mere displeasure about something sometimes leads to our great anger and on to our greater outrage, our raw intensity about the world around us apparently going insane surely has found traction in our day! When things that have been done by others don't line up with our own thinking or our own interpretation of what we think and presume to be right, we typically get bent out of shape and sometimes become really angry and really fighting mad! There is a type of anger the Bible calls righteous anger and indignation that is often not part of the anger that we commonly experience either individually or collectively. Righteous anger is the type of anger that God feels when his divine law and the laws that he has set in motion for our own good are either dismissed or blatantly broken.
When things don't line up with our own moral construct - with the way we as individuals have structured our own lives - we tend to think the way that we think that is clearly right while anyone who doesn’t see it our way is clearly wrong! So then we all get bent out of shape and all that we care about is for our family and certainly hope that all the people around us think the way we think! If they do not--great day!! We then begin to look at them with suspicious eyes, and not with any tender feelings, but with utter disgust, disbelief and even with anger!
Since the eternal, Almighty God is perfect, holy and pure in every way, He is the only One who can establish the moral law as it relates to the lifestyles of the entire human race that he created. Do you remember what Jesus later said about the essence of the moral law given to Moses to give to the Israelites? Jesus said that all the law and the prophets hang on these two commands: to love your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39).
So there it is. Whose standards are we living by--our own or those of God Almighty? What is really important to us in our core? Do we really not understand that on this planet there are two kingdoms that function simultaneously and have their distinct separate agendas? One is the kingdom of this world. This worldly kingdom has a king, and his name is Satan. Satan is all about himself and all he wants to do is steal, kill and destroy! Why? Simple! because Satan hates God and especially hates Christians and hates all the rest of the people on this planet! Since he rebelled against God and tried to overcome and usurp the position of God Almighty as king Creator and the all-powerful God of this universe he was defeated and cast down. Satan is doomed. One day he will be in the epicenter of the Lake of Fire; his presence, his person and his power all will be nullified. All his power will be taken away from him. While God still allows him to operate at present, he knows his time is short. Satan is angry, Satan is mad, and Satan is bloodthirsty.
His law goes something like this: “Dog eat dog, look after number one, get the first punch in, do it to them before they do it to you, I might not be right but I'm never wrong, listen to me I will never hurt you or harm you in any way, God is not telling the whole truth!” Let me tell you what He really meant to say. Satan wants the world to follow him and he promises us a reward that is “greater” than eternal life and “greater” than being in the kingdom of God. All of the words and promises of the father of all lies are delusional, maniacal, and insane, but without the Spirit-given ability to spiritually discern the spirits, millions are clueless to his lies because they simply refuse to know the Truth: Christ and His Word. Satan promises that if we listen to and follow him and do as he says then our future without God and without the Bible and without the Holy Spirit will be truly perfect and we will live in the true paradise led by Satan himself who will rule and give us everything that we want in any manner that we want it.
There is another Kingdom, however, that coexists over and above this satanic kingdom. It is called the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom also has a King. His name is Jesus--King Jesus. He is not only not selfish; he is sacrificial and loving. He gave His life for every single human being that he created. He died on the cross that His sinless blood might cleanse each human being of their sins. He paid our sin debt: He put Himself up as the ransom to satisfy God's righteous requirement for sin.
I'm convinced that if each one of us really understood the unspeakable price paid through His incredible love act of love, the magnitude of His sacrifice, the unspeakable truth and horror of being momentarily separated from His Heavenly Father for the first time in eternity, we would all be worshipping Him in a posture of utter brokenness, saturated with tears of pure joy and shouting hallelujahs! When scripture speaks of Jesus as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 3:8), it speaks of a God who knew before He created us that we would rebel against Him. Yet His love for us was so overpowering that He made a commitment to the Father to go to the cross that we, rebellious humanity, might have a way provided to still have the benefits of eternal life in the Kingdom of God in heaven with all of our sins forgiven. and the love of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit fully upon us. So how do we, the redeemed, begin to show our love back to Him? We need to know. We want our lives to count now. Clearly, we must go to Scripture to find out what He says about how we should now live. Just a small piece of instruction found all through Scripture on proper Christian behavior will suffice to start.
In the New Testament the book of Philippians, chapter 2 verse 1 through 3, it says this, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort comes from his love, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing in selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
You see, the true duality of God's nature is that God is love, (I John 4:16) and God is also a God who will not let the guilty go unpunished (Exodus 34:7). So in today's world, which king are you following and which kingdom are you living in and living for? Today, the interest of others is paramount in these United States. As Christians, how do we demonstrate our Christian love and support for the vast Black community throughout these United States and throughout this entire planet? If the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is not embraced by the body of Christ, then someone is missing the very heart of God! Does not the very word of God speak about not only siding with the oppressed, but also standing beside them and also being a voice for their cause against oppression, hatred and separation? “Black Lives Matter” must be the Christian cause as well! It is certainly, most certainly, the cause of the Lord's! Not the Marxist influence, not the infusion of the Boogaloos, and certainly not the other militant and radical groups who have infiltrated this movement for their own sick cause. But for the authentic and historical prejudice, hatred and violence Black people in this country and in the world have experienced and endured for centuries, Christians must speak up and live this love!
The truth is that Judas, one who actually betrayed our Lord, piped up and rebuked Mary Magdalene as she poured her spikenard over the very feet of her Lord (John 12:4-8). Upon this act of dedication, love and sacrifice, the Lord Jesus declared that what she has just done would be remembered. What Judas said at the same moment was a classic, selfish, cover-up, an attempted subject change spoken to Christ Himself--why wasn't the spikenard sold and given to the poor? Jesus's reply was simple. He replied that we will always have the poor among us! And so we will always, always, always, until the Lord comes again and takes us to the new heavens and the new Earth, always have racism, bigotry, prejudice and hatred one against another one race against the other!
This will never, ever, ever, be eradicated from this earth until Christ puts the universe back in order upon His return. But according to the words of Christ, we are not called to wait till then! We, the followers of Christ, are called to speak up for and come alongside with those whom the world hates, oppresses, and wants to see harm come to! The Beatitudes found in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5, spoken by Jesus Himself, are a centerpiece of mine that I and every other Christian should have ready to live out in our minds, hearts, hands, feet and voices during these days, when the spotlight is finally on rectifying the pain, suffering and unlawful destruction and deaths in the lives of all members of the Black race, from the unborn to George Floyd to Rayshard Brooks.
Beatitude #1 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
We must look past the looting and the destruction of both property and history, and acknowledge that racism in this world and its aftermath of brutality and death must be fought against. We must feel the pain of the ones murdered and of their families. The fight against the prejudice of hate of color or the life of an unborn black unborn baby or grown black man or woman, first this sin must be seen as despicable and clearly against the will of God.
Beatitude # 2 Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
As my wife and I watched the funeral services held in the same building that I myself have worshipped in, located in my adopted hometown of Raeford, North Carolina just a few days ago, we certainly mourned with those who were greatly distressed but even more so rejoiced and celebrated with the family as family, friends, and community members comforted the family and allowed the Holy Spirit to move one to another in Christian mourning, loving, and ultimately with empathy, prayers and love.
Beatitude # 3 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
We cannot allow our pride and our own sense of self-righteousness and our own standards of how things should and should not proceed to cloud, color, or confuse us on what the enemy historically uses to divide even Christian people on issues where they should be united. Never forget Satan's big three areas that human beings are always susceptible to succumbing to: The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
Beatitude #4 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
This spiritual discipline was prescribed by Christ Himself when the disciples were beside themselves in not being able to cast out demonic spirits. Jesus was teaching on the spiritual discipline of emptying one’s complete self, through the foregoing of physical sustenance. This fasting would replace physical nourishment with the filling of the presence of the Holy Spirit and demonstrate the earnest and radical desire to be filled with the knowledge and power of God rather than with the natural man’s nourishments. Fully filled, the spiritual man can then completely count on his faith in God to do all things through him, whatever is the Lord’s will and purpose at the moment.
Beatitude # 5 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
The prioritizing of the spiritual man and his/her will and mindset on the purposes of God is clearly what is needed at the juncture in history where the BLACK LIVES MATTER movement emerges. The blinding light of God’s justice and passion for truth along with the flavor of salt to add the desirability of leading the movement in a God-honoring direction is what my heart tells me would demonstrate the power of God’s justice, healing, restoration and reconciliation in the heart of His creation.
Beatitude # 6 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
The pure in heart are those few in this world who have found the narrow road and who have knocked on the door of the gate and let Christ come into their lives! We, the true followers of Christ, are pure in heart only because Christ has deposited his Holy Spirit into our lives forever! The Spirit resides in our hearts, minds and spirits to transform us daily into His image! Now having the Spirit to help us rightly divide His Living Word, we are now capable of seeing as God sees and understand this world and this universe as God understands all that He has created.
God boldly declared in Genesis, “Let Us make man in Our own image.” Just as surely as Lucifer fell from his divinely created position of authority due to abuse of his god-given choice to exercise his own free Will, so did Adam and Eve. With sin now as an alternative option for mankind, it only took one generation to find out how the satanic choices of the thoughts of bigotry, hatred, and murder led to their corresponding action. Life and humankind has not changed since the first race of humans walked this Earth. But that does not mean we shouldn't stop fighting for justice! The Holocaust Museum in our country's capital is a living, working Testament of how the hatred of racism must be stopped and must never be forgotten. The museum is a reminder of all who come afterwards that bigotry, hatred, racism, and murder cannot be left unnoticed or unchallenged. Black people have historically come into this fray in a most unique manner of all: slavery, being dominated, hated, butchered, lynched and murdered without a second thought!
In the day of Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation came out as a declaration that the Black race was free and the Black race had the same rights as all people, as they always should have. We all know that, as awesome that as proclamation was, there was the satanic counter-move that eventually took form as the Jim Crow laws, established in the days of reconstruction all the way until the mid-1960s. Almost a full hundred years of tearing down, destroying, and denigrating the integrity of a race--killing and destroying as many individuals and families as could be until change started to occur. Even in those days--although “colored only” signs and billboards have long been taken down--the mindset, and the action that broadcast it, has never gone anywhere. The days of “enough is enough” that started with God's chosen servant Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are now on the forefront again, but being lived out and brought to life in a way that no one ever would have imagined. Enough is enough! Even during Dr. King's day and his non-violent manner of protesting with the spirit of God in the spirit of love and in the spirit of Christ--even in those days, the militant spirit of the Black Panthers has not gone anywhere either. But never forget that the Jews--the race of all Jews--had their day in Nuremberg where the laws and the murder and assassination and the mass killing verdicts came down and came down hard. It is finally time for what plantation slaves sang about and what Sam Cooke sang in his song, “A change is gonna come!” to come, and for the spiritual anthem “We Shall Overcome” It was all about, simply put, “we can't breathe”!
Black lives matter! Yes, Black lives matter! Yes, indeed, Black lives matter! Yes, in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Creator of all races, Black lives matter! Now, the Black Lives Matter movement has the world’s attention! We must pray that the Lord will raise up godly men and women who will set the agenda in a manner that will please the Lord Himself. The new cry for this long time coming movement should find itself somewhere in the heart of God: Justice, in respect, in brotherly love and honor, in freedom, in truth, and in LIFE for all our Black brothers and sisters! The continuing question is, now, where do we go from here?
All that the Lord has put on my heart to say is, that as a mixed race citizen of these United States, I feel strongly that the beginning point is prayer for future direction and for this movement, that it will be headed up by godly men and women who know Christ personally, and who will wait, fast, pray and seek the very will of God, and who will wait until they have His direction from above to know how He wants us to proceed in this fallen world. I’m convinced that these beatitudes are a powerful place to unite in prayer, as the tenets and particulars of the future of the Black race and the Black Lives Matter movement unfold. Secular wisdom might sound great, but do not forget Prime Minister Chamberlain thinking and expressing upon his arrival back to England, as he so jubilantly expressed with a document signed by a madman-- none other than Adolf Hitler himself! Was peace in their time really secured by a piece of paper signed by a madman who was inspired by the spirit of the devil himself? I seriously doubt it. Just look up World War II if you are still not sure! In order for this movement to have the global impact it must have, it must have wisdom from above (James 3:17). It must be spiritually discerned and understood for the godly men and women, who will be given the global responsibility, to execute such a glorious enterprise.
Every historical document that we hold to be critical in our history, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, along with others, as powerful as they were, were NEVER adhered to perfectly. The Bible, a book that expresses the very mind of God and His desire of how men and women should live and love on this earth has NEVER been lived out in a perfect manner. When the final organizational structure and decrees are finalized in law and finally able for all to see and begin to integrate into their very lives, they will NEVER be lived out perfectly. But they must be conceived and formulated by the God of all Truth. The God who led more than 30 individuals over 700+ years by His Holy Spirit to write, under inspiration, the compilation of 66 books we now know as the Bible! The tenets and principles of the coming manifesto, if correctly penned, could be an incredible document and set of rules of law that could be such a force of love, understanding, respect and healing that no other generation in these United States ever had the insight to construct!
Beatitude #7 Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.
There is an axiom that I have both seen and heard. It goes something like this: No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, know peace. Again we already know that there will never be any lasting, pervasive peace on Earth until Christ once and for all rules here on this Earth. Nevertheless, every generation is called to be peacemakers. Since nothing will ever eradicate the spirit of this world and Satan, the “god” of this world until Christ permanently removes him, we are still called to make peace as far as we can with the tools that are at our disposal. Let us pray that the aim of the Black Lives Matter will be a road of peace.
Beatitude #8 Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This righteousness Jesus spoke of here is not man's righteousness, but that of our eternally pure, holy and righteous King Jesus. If you would like to know what the outcome of historical persecution is for Christians, Black, white and every other color on this Earth, please read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. For now, many of this country and in this world are against all things Black! All Christians must stand with and beside our Black brothers and sisters and their cause alongside and arm and arm. Yes, it is life or death. Yes, racism, bigotry and hatred that leads to persecution, death, and murder must end. Christ calls all of us to stand beside, walk with and speak out on behalf of our brothers and sisters against all forms of ungodliness. Today, I stand with the cause, with the movement, with the Black family of this world that have made their disgust clearly known. It has only started, but praise God in the name of Jesus, it has begun. Pray that the cause will be seen to the global Body of Christ as our cause as well. Pray that the ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ is lived at first on our collective knees, seeking true wisdom and guidance from our Creator.
In Christ,
Dallas