Matthew 15:8 – “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips ; but their heart is far from me.”

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First I must say that the picture doesn’t really apply to the posting today, but I loved the poster so much that I  had to include it.  Okay now you can read on.

You remember as a kid, that friend who you thought was a good friend to you, but whenever he/she got around another group of people, he/she acted like he/she didn’t know you at all, and then you started hearing rumors that they were talking about you behind your back?  Well that’s the kind of relationship it seems that this administration has with some in our country and especially the state of Arizona.  The latest issue comes from our State Department, headed by none other than the Secretary of State.  The State Department in a report to the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, included the Justice Department’s legal challenge to the Arizona Immigration Law as one of the ways that it is fighting human rights abuse.   How insulting!

In other words, it’s not enough for our administration to challenge the state for attempting to enforce illegal immigration, we have to put them on report to the world body, the United Nations.  That is ridiculous on a couple of counts.

The first one is that the Arizona law mirrors the federal law, so if it is some type of human rights issue, the State Department should report themselves also.

Secondly, the United Nations is a feckless institution in the first place and to report a Human Rights abuse to them is a joke.  Their main goal since their inception has been to denounce Israel, which is the reason that President Bush refused to be a member of the UN Human Rights Council.  President Obama made joining that body one of his first priorities and we (the U.S.) did in May of last year.

There are countries around the world endorsing and sponsoring genocide, the rape and mutilation of women, torture of detainees who are opposed to their government and other such matters and we submit Arizona to belong in a group like that for enforcing illegal immigration?  We should be ashamed of ourselves and someone should apologize for that idiocy.

Our federal government is supposed to be working for us and in support of us.  They talk that way when I hear some of the things they say, but boy do their actions remind me of that grade-school back-stabber.

This of course  has a spiritual parallel in the way that we are with God oftentimes.  We say we love Him and know Him, but then we do things that make you go…what???  The scripture says that we “talk” about how tight we  are with God, but it’s not real.

Today, we might be saying to the government, “you’re not my friend,” and perhaps they may not be, but we need also wonder if perhaps in light of the verse above, if perhaps God is saying the same thing about us.

Mark 9:40 – “For he that is not against us is on our part.”

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Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.  That’s an awfully tough challenge for people who build entire careers out of being “against” things.  This was the case this past weekend at the Restoring Honor rally held by Glenn Beck in Washington D.C.  If you’re an objective person, you’re going to be shocked as I tell you the purpose of the rally and that some people actually came out to have a “counter-rally.”  I won’t even talk about the individual who led the counter-rally, although you would probably say, “oh that’s what he always does.”

Anyway, here is what the rally was about.  The rally, initiated by Glenn Beck, a conservative tv commentator, was to talk about faith, hope, charity,  and honor.  As he stated, “those are things that America needs to reclaim.”  So the rally was appropriately entitled, “Restoring Honor.”  I personally don’t see how anyone could be against that, but some were.  I love one of the other purposes for the rally as they addressed that “our children need to remember to love each other how to honor each other, their parents, God and their neighbors.”  Someone is counter to that???

I can only guess why some people would be against the principles outlined above.  They get caught up oftentimes in the person promoting the event rather than what the event itself is about.  However, it is simply arrogance, pride or hate, or in some cases maybe all three, to disagree with “right” because it is not presented by someone you like.  I guess that’s why the Pharisees rejected the message of Jesus.

Today, be more proactive in whatever you’re doing.  It’s awfully weak to wait on others to do something and then decide that you’re just going to be against whatever they’re for and that’s really tragic when they’re “for” God.  What does that make you?

John 4:10 – “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

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It’s been a long, hot summer in Texas, but of course that’s normal.   During that time, we decided to purchase a slush machine for our concession trailer.  The “slushees” as we call them are oh-so-cold and really sweet on a hot summer day and that’s been often so far, not to mention that we’ve got hot cooking instruments like a griddle, steam table and french fry machine to add to that heat.  You can work up a really good sweat.  That’s what makes the “slushees” even better.

Over the last 3 months I’ve had about 4 or 5 of the sugary cold treats, but I try to stay away from them because while I do eat sweets sometimes, I know how harmful sugar is.  I’ve passed some of this knowledge on to my fellow employees as I watched them struggle, well actually they weren’t struggling because they weren’t considering the sugar issue; but as I watched them drink those slushees one after another, I let them know how they were destroying their bodies.   Those who read this blog frequently know how I can go on and on about some things and that’s kind of what happened with me talking to my employees about sugar.  The analogy above gave me a great open door of ministry.

One day an employee said, “I keep drinking those “slushees” but I’m still thirsty.”  I responded, “that’s how sin is.”  He looked me like, “what’s sin got to do with this.”  After I said that, I realized how true that is and then I started. “Yeah you have a “real thirst” but you keep trying things that won’t “quench” your thirst.  Even after you realize your thirst is not quenched, you keep on.  Then you ultimately realize that it won’t work and you say “one more” and that will be it.”  I then told the employee, “boy you better get some of that “living water” out of that container and be satisfied.”  He responded, I had a little water but I’m still thirsty.”  I was on a roll and said, “You’ve drank too much “sin” and then you have a few drops of water and expect to have your thirst quenched?”  You need more “living water.”  The employee then had this really guilty look as if I were talking to him about something particular and he asked, “Mr Charleston what are you talking about?”

The sugar analogy continues today and now every time someone gets a slushee or even when they go for a soda out of the container that holds the sodas and the water, we jokingly ask, “will you have water or sin?”  Yesterday I looked in the container and realized that we were running low on the bottles of water, but there was a whole lot more sodas in there and I said to the employees, “boy there sure is a lot of sin in here, but little water.”  Isn’t that the truth?

I guess you get the point.  Sin really is like sugar, both in its physiological nature and in it’s psychological nature.  Just as sugar destroys nerve fibers in the human body, sin destroys our moral fibers and just as we think we can’t go without that sweet taste of sugar, when addicted to a sin, we think that we’ll never be able to get over it and that we have to have it one more time.

I could go on, but truly sin is like sugar and while both are bad for you; a little sugar in your diet won’t cause any long term problems as long as it stays “little,” but a little “sin” is much more dangerous as a habit because like sugar again, it comes in so many forms and in this world, there is so much more “sugar” to choose from.

Today, don’t go for the “slushee.”  Get a nice, cold, refreshing “Water.”  That will truly satisfy you.

Matthew 26:8 – “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?”

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I hate to start something that I don’t have a ready-made solution for, but that’s where I am on this issue: How can we let candidates spend so much money on elections?  I don’t know all of the ins and outs of election reform bills passed or pending, but when I look at what happened in primaries around the country last night, I’m shocked.  It’s just a primary and one contender spent $50 million and a lot of it was his own money.  That’s crazy.    John McCain, former Presidential contender, spent $20 million on his race and won easily.  There has just got to be a better way.

Admittedly I’m using the verse above out of context, but that’s the question I ask myself when I see the millions and millions of dollars spent each election cycle.  And given our collective opinions of those we elect year in and year out, why do we perpetuate this monetary process of obtaining elected office?

Well if you’ve got any ideas, lets hear em.  Here’s one I just thought of.

Every candidate for office is charged $100 and is allowed to spend no more.  All candidates will be required to appear at scheduled events/debates and other meetings so that interested voters can hear the differing viewpoints.  There will be three of these events and they can not start more than 3 months before the election.

Wow that seems too easy.   And in case you’ve got questions about the details, I can answer them.  OK think about it and lets fix this country.

1 Corinthians 11:31 – “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”

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If you’ve ever been in a courtroom before, you know how eerie it is.  Whether you are there on trial or even just attending, that place makes you really think about what’s going on.  As the litigants prepare their cases, you see family members and friends of those being tried milling about with serious expressions.  You also might see, as we did yesterday, some currently imprisoned personnel with their signature orange jumpsuits, bound by chains looking depressed for sure.  You see lawyers milling about and then the judge enters the room and the bailiff sounds off, “all rise.”  The judge takes his seat and he/she is in control and has the destiny of the individual(s) being tried in his hand.  Wow that’s a lot of power.

Yesterday while attending a district court session with my brother, we listened to one case where a woman was being sentenced for credit card misuse/abuse.  She made her plea to the judge about having to take care of a special needs child in an attempt to avoid hard prison time, but the judge, in the interest of justice, sentenced her to 6 months of prison time.  I personally thought the judge did a very good job of meting out the correct sentence.

As I listened to the woman’s plea and after I saw how distraught she was at being sentenced to prison, I immediately thought of the verse above.

People hate to be “judged,” but the main thing that we need to understand is that judgment is coming and it begins with God’s people.  God has given us the ability to be “self-judged.”  The Holy Spirit that He has given us judges us daily if we would simply hear him.  Now everybody doesn’t have this judge and that’s why ultimately those people are judged by “men” (earthly judges).   Of course like Paul, you could judge yourselves and still end up before earthly judges, but what you should know is that if you’ve already been judged and cleared by the “first judge,” the Holy Spirit, those earthly judges don’t matter.  You’re innocent regardless of how they rule.

The main point is that we should submit to “The First Judge” because He’s judging our actions and our thoughts way before man knows anything about it.  We need to make sure we are found “not guilty” on all counts.

1 Corinthians 2:1 – “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.”

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Ever seen such a flap over whether or not a President is a Christian?  He continues to proclaim that he is and many don’t believe him.  That’s really a sad commentary on our Commander-in-Chief’s personal testimony, were he a Christian.  This article came out yesterday and it’s an interesting read.   Obama skips church for golf yet again.  If you recall last month I made the bold proclamation that we should all be praying for the salvation of our Commander-in-Chief.  Lets continue that.

Sadly there are probably some Christians who voted for him who will talk about the great things he’s done as President.  Of course I could argue every point, but my point is that none of that even really matters in the eternal sphere.  Of course those same people that I would argue with said during the election that they didn’t want a “pastor-in-chief.”  Check the block on that one.  God gave those people what they wanted. 

Anyway, on the golf thing, our pastor talks frequently about how he, as a Christian, used to justify going to the golf course on Sunday mornings instead of church.  He would say “you don’t have to be in church to worship God.  I’m worshipping as I enjoy His creation.”  He now acknowledges the deception that he was under.

As for our President, I don’t really think he’s skipping church.  In order to “skip” something, you’d have to have that as part of your routine.  I mean you can’t skip class at school unless you’re enrolled. The President is a man of great intellect and wisdom, but as you can see from Paul’s writings (scripture above), it doesn’t take that to declare the testimony of God. 

So I want to tell everyone to just lay off of the President and stop harassing him about Christianity.  He’s not skipping church.  It’s just that sometimes he skips golf.

Ezekiel 16:30 – “How weak is thine heart, saith the LORD GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman.”

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“Sometimes we can be so darn weak.”

A friend made this statement in his comments posted to yesterday’s blog and I thought I would add to his comments about the fact that we as the United States of America can be so weak at times.  In reality, we’ve been getting weaker and I’m not going to get into an argument about whose fault it is that we are getting weaker.  It’s everyone’s fault.  As I read through Ezekiel this morning, it’s as though God was talking to our country entire.  Well I mean He is of course and while from the historical perspective He may have been talking to Israel, from the spiritual perspective He is addressing His chosen people as believers and His chosen nation states, such as the United States is.  Truly we were chosen and blessed by God and as the verse above says, we “done the work of an imperious whorish woman.”  Check out the Ezekiel 7 passage below.  I won’t provide commentary, but please pray that you will ask God to show you what he is saying to us as a country.  You might also want to check a version other than the King James to make it more plain to you.  Here we go:

Ezekiel 7

¹Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

³Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

⁴And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

⁶An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.

⁷The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

⁸Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.

⁹And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.

¹⁰Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

¹¹Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their’s: neither shall there be wailing for them.

¹²The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

¹³For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

¹⁴They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

¹⁵The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

¹⁶But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

¹⁷All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

¹⁸They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

¹⁹They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

²⁰As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

²¹And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

²²My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

²³Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

²⁴Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

²⁵Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

²⁶Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

²⁷The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Jeremiah 5:4 – “Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.”

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Seems like every other week, there is another controversy coming out of the current administration.  Now that we have a full-fledged lawsuit war going with the federal government suing states and the states suing the government back, we’ve got something else to add.  This week it happens to be referred to as the Ground Zero Mosque Controversy.  For those who don’t know what is happening, an unpopular Imam and his followers want to build a mosque two blocks from ground zero, aka the demolished World Trade Center towers.  On the picture above you can get the perspective of proximity.  The cleared area on the left is where the towers stood and on the bottom right corner is where the mosque is to be built.

The majority of Americans are outraged that Muslims, which happened to be the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack that killed almost 3,000 Americans, would even contemplate such an idea.  Well it got crazy when the President himself came out in defense of the Muslims building the mosque on the proposed cite, saying they had “the right” to do it.

Sometimes I wonder if the building on Pennsylvania Avenue and the Capitol have walls that don’t allow them to hear what’s going on outside of their institutions.  Everyone understands the first amendment in this country.  All you hear these days is “right” to do this or “right” to do that.  So the President surely must understand that no one questioned the “right” of the Muslims to build the mosque near ground zero, they only questioned the appropriateness of the matter.

There are lots of analogies you could make and one such would be like letting the Japanese build a shrine on Pearl Harbor.  Of course if they have the money and someone allowed them to do it, they would have the “right” to do it, but it would surely be “inappropriate.”

I personally believe that the Muslims have agendas that undermine the essence of our society by virtue of their beliefs and that could be what many “normal” people feel about them.  After all, it’s pretty obvious who the people are in this world strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up others in the name of religion.  Of course we could ignore those facts, but that would be foolish and I believe that’s what we are doing, because as the verse above says, we “know not the way of the Lord.”

I knew it would happen one day because we spent way too much time with everyone expressing their “rights.”  From burning the American flag to same sex marriage it’s all about what everyone feels they have “the right” to do.  Well just because you have the right to be foolish, doesn’t mean that you should be.  Choose God’s way and you won’t worry as much about your own rights.  You’ll worry more about what “is” right.

1 John 2:19 – “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

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I really do believe that there are tons of people walking around this earth right now, who believe that they are really Christians and are clueless about how they became one and what that means.  Such is surely the case for best-selling author Anne Rice.   Late last month she said this:

“For those who care, and I understand if you don’t:  Today I quit being a Christian … It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

She went on in the announcement to say that she refuses to be “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist,” “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.” Poor confused soul.

What lost people need to know is that Christianity is not about what you’re against, it’s about who you are for.  When we fully understand the call to Christ, it’s about Him.  We are “For Him.”  Now the issue of preferring Jesus Christ over everything else will itself make us “anti” a lot of things, but it’s really wrapped up in the fact that when we really to come to Jesus, we become “anti” sin.  We hate it when we do it and we hate to see others do it also.  So perhaps that’s where Ms Rice has the problem.  She doesn’t like the “anti-sin” part of Christianity.

Well I could only think of the verse above when I heard her statement and it’s not that I don’t feel bad because the evil one has seemingly won one, but God makes clear that they are not “all of us.”  That’s why they leave.

Philippians 1:21 – “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

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Over the weekend, ten members of a medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by the Islamic terrorists as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages of northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday.  The murderers themselves, Taliban terrorists, have declared that they shot and killed the team of missionaries, including six Americans, because they were ‘preaching Christianity.’  When I read the story, I noticed that one of the team members, an Afghan himself,  escaped the attack by starting to recite from the Koran and yelling “I am Muslim!  I am Muslim!”

Doesn’t it make you wonder what you would do in a situation like that?  I mean do we really want to die for Christ?  Paul, as you read all scripture where he is concerned was serious about that and so he wrote the verse above.   He lived a life of persecution and imprisonments and torture and was still ready to die for Christ.

I want to be like Paul and not be tied to this world because as Paul said, to die and be with Christ is really much better and to be killed “for” Christ.  Now that’s something special.

The missionaries may not have been “preaching Christianity,” but like so many of us, as we go about in our daily lives doing good and because we have claimed Him, He is preached.  The world and the prince of the world hate it when we do that and that’s why we are killed.

Today, let us all be found guilty of preaching Christ by word and deed.  We know that we will all die one day and we may not have a choice in the type of death that takes us, but if we daily live the Christ life, then we will ultimately die for Him

Leviticus 20:13 “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

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I’m going to shoot somebody.  OK maybe “shooting somebody” is too extreme, but if I hear one more person compare the plight of homosexual rights to that of blacks fight for equality, I’m going to go off.  I can’t make this point any clearer.

Here it is: God makes one black, sin makes one gay.  Your sexual behavior is not a civil right nor should the government attempt to defend it.  What should be defended are the God-given institutions like “marriage.”  Of course that only works for those who are “God-fearing” and if you look at last week’s  decision by the openly homosexual judge in California he himself states, “The evidence shows conclusively that moral and religious views form the “only” basis for a belief that same-sex couples are different from opposite-sex couples.“  Yes Mr Judge.  God calls that difference “marriage.”  In other words the only basis for not allowing homosexual marriage is “because God said so.”  By that he means it’s just the view of people who believe in God.  Well God’s opinion on everything is enough for me.

Sadly, judges and many other people in our country make their views based on things that have nothing to do with what God has said about the issue.  That’s where we are.  When our President decides that he wants to establish a national day of pride for something that God calls an abomination, you know that he has not consulted God in coming up with that decision or he has decided to disagree with God.

Can God be any clearer on this issue?  Look at the scripture above.  Homosexuals, like heterosexuals should all be thanking God for His grace, because if not for that, we would still be getting the death penalty for such acts as homosexuality, adultery, disrespect of parents and many other behavioral issues that result from sin.  And while today we don’t stone people for homosexuality or those other acts, we also shouldn’t endorse them or legalize them.

For you and me as believers, if our only rationale for everything in life is “because God said so,” we’ve got to as, is that be enough for us?  It is for me.  Pray that it be so for those whom it isn’t.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven..”

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Racism should be someone elses problem and not yours, unless it is.  What do I mean?  I mean that if someone hates you because of your ethnicity or the color of your skin why should you take that on as a personal problem?  Of course if they act on that hate and do something to you because of their hate, then that’s a different story, but too many times we get caught up in “fights of thought.”  If the guy in the picture above takes a different path because of what he might “think” about the other person, then he has the problem without regard to the other.

I was reading through the recent story about the black shooter at the beer distribution plant  in Connecticut this week.  He stated that he “killed all the racists” or “the racists that were causing him problems.”  Family members said he found a picture of a noose and racial epithets on a bathroom wall and that he was being harassed at work.  He would’ve done well to know that, if those things were true, it wasn’t his problem, it was theirs.

Today, the message is, we must choose our battles in life wisely and we must know that every issue of race is definitely not worth the fight, especially when it is not our issue.  There are a lot of people in this world and most all of them have some type of “issue” including you and me.  Those issues need to be addressed on  a personal level and I simply can’t force you to address all of yours nor vice versa.  However, I can live a life that makes a difference to you.  I can live as a light shining in darkness, doing deeds that bring glory to my Father.  If I am more focused on that, I will not only solve racial issues in our country and personal issues in my own life, but I will be an instrument to solve “the sin problem” from which the racial issues come.

For all people, racism is not your problem, but sin is.  Lets focus on bringing glory to our Father through the deeds that we do and we’ll see how God deals with us and for those who have the race thing as a problem, He’ll deal with that too.

2 Thessalonians 3:2 “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”

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Continuing on in our race discussion.  Thus far we’ve talked about “calling off the fight.”  We’ve got to get serious about dealing with race and not just as the media circus that it so often is.  Then we talked about not fighting to win.  We’ve got to stop simply trying to win “each round.”  We should be more concerned about living in harmony with our fellow race(s).  We then talked about the primary tactic to make it all work and that was to stop painting everyone with the broad brush of racism or racist.  People can actually dislike you for so much more.   The word “racist” is mis- and over-used.

So the next thing we want to deal with today is the fact that in this “Fight Of The Century,” when it comes to dealing with race in America in a positive and constructive way, some people don’t belong in “the ring.”  Yes, everyone is not a contender in this prize fight.

Some people have no other motive than to be seen or heard when it comes to dealing with race issues.  They aren’t trying to solve any problem and they aren’t trying to resolve any issues.  They only want to create that media spectacle that we talked about the first day.  I won’t mention any names, but I’m sure most have an idea of whom I speak.  A great example of this happened in a city council meeting in Dallas, Texas a while back.  One person talked about “money escaping into a black hole” and an offended African-American went on a racial tirade because the other person said “black” hole.  That my friends, is what we label as “a joke.”  That person would probably argue over whether or not a zebra has black stripes or white stripes.  That is not serious discussion.

As the verse above says, we can only pray to be delivered from such unreasonable and wicked men and bring real contenders in the ring as we battle in the fight of the century.   If we have “real” contenders, I’m sure that we can find that regardless of color, in the words of that “great philosopher,” we could all get along.

 

Philippians 2:3 ” Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in everything let each esteem others better than themselves.”

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The first point from yesterday was for us all to deal with race privately in order to prevent it from being the media spectacle that it has become today.  I used the analogy that it was like a big heavyweight prize fight and everyone hypes it up and the parties are trying their best to win each round and will do whatever it takes.

So the second point today is:

2.  Don’t Fight To Win

I know that goes against our competitive spirit and all of the things we were always taught as we grew older, but in this battle,the verse above would do us well to heed.

First of all,we’ve got to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.  People throw around the word “racist” like a strong left jab as they go for the knockout.  That’s simply not necessary.  Why are we trying to knock each other out?  It’s simply ridiculous and it will continue that way until someone has enough strengthof character to enter the ring without the objective to win the round.

These days winning the round for politicians means getting a bill passed or getting one defeated so the politicians don’t have a long-term view on resolving race issues.  They only want to win the round.  Winning the round could also be about establishing relevancy for your organization, so your organization would then use “race” togain support and membership.  Those organizations only want to win the round.  And sometimeswinning the round is simply an individual citizen using the “latest race issue” tofostersupport for and validate their inappropriate/wrong ideas and thoughts about “other” people.  Due to the web, that individual can surely find some others who agree with their thought regardless of how wrong it is.  They think they are winning the round because someone supports their ideas. 

Today, if we desire to make progress on race in this country, we’ve simply got to care more about others; “esteem others better than ourselves.” The other part of that verse is applicable as well.  We can’t address racial issues only when a crisis comes because at that point, there is too much strife.  So the message today is if we want to solve the race issue, it’s got to be about getting along with others and not about simply “winning.”

Tomorrow we’ll talk about tactics that will help us do that as we go to point 3.

 

 

Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

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Today’s race discussion centers on the tactics we must use in “The Fight Of The Century.”  This is really simple and easy to do, but it takes commitment and a desire from everyone to truly want to heal the racial divide that has persisted for far too long in this country.

Referencing the same verse from yesterday, we’ve simply got to think better of others.  In other words, we need to give others the benefit of the doubt.

The premier tactic to ensure that we all win “The Fight Of The Century” is to stop labeling people “racist” because they disagree with you or don’t like something you do or say.  This has gotten out of hand since President Obama took office and it started with ridiculous public statements by pelple like former President Jimmy Carter when he stated that many people disagree with the President just because he’s black.  That is what you call irresponsible public discourse.  That set up a wave of statements of support and surely justification by those who would later call people “racist” if they disagreed with the current President and as you know, there is a lot of disagreement with him these days.  Are all of these people racist?  Not hardly.

The term “racist” has simply become an offensive weapon to put those it attacks on the defense.  It sadly has worked, so much so that I used to hear many whites repeating the ridiculous assertion that “blacks can’t be racist.”  I don’t hear that so much anymore, but as the picture above says, once that word, “racist”, is used, all meaningful and constructive dialogue on any issue ceases.  Some know that and that is why they use it.  They know it is a WMD (weapon of mass destruction)wounding many.  Drop your weapons people.

While the current administration is imposing moratoriums, this might be one they want to consider.  How about a moratorium on the word “racist”?  The word has no use for those attempting racial reconciliation in this country.  Without the word “racist,” those who use that word would surely try to find anotherway to wound because some don’t have the objective  of reconciliation among  the races.  They are on the prowl using any means available to sow discord.  The bible speaks of those people.  Their end is not good.

“The Fight Of The Century” will never be won by continuing to throw punches.  The use of the word “racist” might be appropriate if the only aim is to hurt, injury, maim, kill or bruise other people.  It is not appropriate for those who desire to live in harmony with fellow mankind without regard to color or ethnicity.  Everyone needs to decide which camp they are in.

Today, drop your weapon and that will go a long way in ensuring that everyone wins or that no one loses “The Fight Of The Century.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;).”

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Well here we go again.  Race is once again center stage with the President.  He made some comments on “The View” television show last week that has many calling him hypocritical on race.  You can go here to read about his comments, but I’ll summarize here quickly.  He said that “We (African-Americans) are sort of a mongrel people.  I mean we’re all kinds of mixed up.  That’s actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it.”  Those were the comments that have many questioning his attitude on race.

I won’t even begin arguing one way or the other on this particular incident. I simply want to make clear that we still have much work to do on race in this country.  While we have made much progress on race over the last half century, we’ve done it in spite of stereotypical attitudes and prejudices that we continue to harbor.  Those attitudes and prejudices continue to rise up every now and then, we have a discussion for a few minutes and then like a heavyweight fight, the warring factions retreat to their respective corners with the same attitudes and prejudices that they brought to the debate as they attempt to be declared the victor in the previous round.  They then gear up for the next round.

I’m not the type to just complain about problems, so here are my suggested solutions for how we resolve what I call “The Fight Of The Century.”  I’m writing this in five parts and so I will cover one point each day this week.  If you’ve followed my heavyweight fight analogy then you will understand the solutions I’m posting here.

Carlen’s Solutions To Race In America

1.  Call off the fight…and reschedule it.  Every boxing heavyweight battle is surrounded by much-needed hype.  The carnival atmosphere is intentional for boxing as people begin to place bets and weigh in on who they believe the winner will be.  Both camps ratchet up the rhetoric and it all works to draw the attention and dollars of millions of bystanders and spectators.  That’s what we do in this country on race as well.  It is a spectacle and every single episode or incident that has racial overtones gets way more hype than it should.  The media, politicians, organizations and pretty much anyone can join in.  The all add in to the hype and many with less than pure motives.  Therefore, we need to figuratively speaking, “call off the fight.”

That’s right, if you’ve ever seen a heavyweight bout get canceled, you’ve noticed that all of the hysteria goes to zero when that happens.  That doesn’t mean that the camps aren’t still talking about having the fight, in fact they are usually meeting behind doors to schedule another bout.  That’s what we should do on race.  We should relegate all issues of race to the involved parties without the media spectacle.  Participants at every level need to call off the circus atmosphere that surrounds all of our race issues by taking the mature/adult attitude that says, “we (the two parties) will resolve this issue in our own way and on our own time.  Thank You.”  The involved parties should print that statement up and issue it to the TV stations, newspapers and anyone else and then they should go to work resolving whatever their issues are.  Of course the tough thing will be to get lawyers, civil rights organizations and all of those people who used to make lots of money off of these cases to “stand down,”  because many of those people are only concerned about winning “the round” as I stated earlier.  The problem with that approach is that winning the round today, in most all cases will prevent us from winning the bout.  To end the fight of the century, our chief concern must not be about winning.  And this leads to point 2. which we will cover tomorrow.

Point 2.  We must fight for a draw

Proverbs 1:5 “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:”

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Today is my 48th birthday (old picture above) and while many people (women) dread getting older, I love it.  I love it not just for the sake of age, but because I seem to learn so much more every year.  Each year it seems I look back and say to myself, “wow, I was really ignorant then.”  So I’m sure it shall continue to be.  I thank God for giving me this reflection because I don’t think everyone has it.  Witness the news and you’ll see prominent people (I won’t mention any names today) my age and much older than I am, getting caught up in childish things that should have been put away long ago.

I used to remark to my high school students that they should count it a privilege to “grow up,” because I know people in their 60′s and 70′s today who never did.  I heard a quote that said, “getting older is mandatory, but growing up is optional.”

Life is a great teacher and we must be willing students.  God’s classroom is the world in which He has placed us and it’s all about learning what His purpose and plan is in our lives and for this world.  In 48 years, one can learn a lot about God if they understand that this is the ultimate purpose of each and every year and when it is, boy does life get exciting.  I’ve got plans for things I want to do until I’m beyond 80 so there’s no time to be trifling.

I pray that my next 48 will be more productive than the past and I continue to march.

Ephesians 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

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I received a phone call the other day from one of my former high school students.  He is now a Private First Class (PFC) in the U.S. Marine Corps (displayed in picture above from his boot camp graduation).  He was in my Junior ROTC program and he always referred to me as Col, as did most everyone at the school.  That happens in the Marine Corps for Lieutenant Colonels as well as full-bird Colonels, which some of my friends are now in the Marine Corps.

Anyway, the subject of his phone call was to tell me his amazement that he, as a PFC in the Marine Corps, has direct access to a “Col.”  He went on to say that “some of these Marines will never ever get to talk to a Colonel their entire lives and I can call one up and talk anytime I want.  I thought about this for a second and told him, “you just didn’t understand the incredible privilege you had until now.”

What a message that is for us as believers.  We just don’t really understand the “incredible privilege” we have right now that we can “call Him up” and talk to Him about anything on our minds.  This is the incredible privilege offered to us by His grace.  We talked about this in bible study last week and how special we are that God chose us and it’s clear from scripture that He didn’t choose everyone so we have an incredible privilege that many don’t have.

Today just ponder the thought that you have access to the Greatest Source of everything.  That is mind-boggling in itself and it is so much greater than knowing some Colonel or even some General, some famous actor, politician or athlete.  It is some Super-Special privilege and it doesn’t stop with us just knowing Him, but to be chosen by Him to be called His own; now that’s INCREDIBLE!!!

Luke 6:42 “Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.”

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Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.  This is one of the 11 Leadership Principles that I learned while in the Marine Corps and it, along with the other 10, are in  a frame in my upstairs study at home.  I spent the last five years teaching this particular principle to high school students because I was convinced and evidence proves me correct, that much of the world is now steeped in a culture of irresponsibility or more easily stated, “blaming.”

It seems that there isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t find a politician, entertainer, athlete or a businessman trying to clear him/herself by blaming their problem on someone or something else.

Leadership is all about taking responsibility.  President Obama to this day still continues to harp on the actions of his predecessor as the reason thinks are as bad as they are in our country.  I don’t think the American people voted him in office so that he could tell us how bad the former President was.  They voted him in to fix the problems, but given that in most all areas things have worsened, I guess the “blame card” has to be played.

Then look to the south at our neighboring country Mexico.  Their President, Caulderon, came to our country last month and blamed us for lax gun control laws and discriminating against illegal aliens with the Arizona immigration law.  If you read this article, you’ll see that he’s got more than enough problems to fix inside of his country before he starts blaming those outside of it.

But here’s the clincher for irresponsibility.  Jesse James, the former husband of actress Sandra Bullock, blamed his infidelity on “whuppins” he got from his dad when he was seven years old.  He is now 40+.  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Even by his own admission, he cites no abuse unless you want to count spankings, but that’s a good enough reason for him to cheat on his wife 33 years later.

RESPONSIBILITY PEOPLE!!!

I don’t know how else to fix this except for us all to “do the scripture” above.  See the truth is that we’ve all got problems to fix, but the first step to fixing them is to own up to the responsibility that it is “MY” problem to fix.  Whether you were born into the problem or elected to fix problems, you are now responsible for them.  Lets seek responsibility and take responsibility for our actions.  Of course everyone can’t be a Marine, but you can do this.

Proverbs 28:1 “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

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You might remember the quote from Attorney General Eric Holder.  He made the bold statement, “that on issues of race, we have always been and continue to be… a nation of cowards.” So if that is a true statement, I think that the followup question to that statement should be “why?”  Why are we a nation of cowards when it comes to matters of race?  To me the answer is quite simple.  When people are put in positions, situations and circumstances to deal with racial matters, they don’t do it.  Now that should feel pretty condemning to Attorney General Holder given what he just did with the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party.  If there has been a racial travesty since the administration took office, and there have already been a few, this one is the biggest.  Here is one simple exchange that AG Holder had to overlook in order to dismiss the case:

Chris Hill, a Caucasian, testified about what happened when he got to the polling place.  He was responding to a desperate phone call for help from one of the two black poll watchers who were stationed at the polling place.  He was greeted by two uniformed, armed-with-night stick panthers who said, ‘What are you doing here, Cracker?’ Mr Hill in his boldness walked through them inside to see his poll watchers whom he described as visibly upset.  One of the New Black Panthers had stated to the black poll watcher that he was a race-traitor for being a credentialed poll watcher for the Republican Party and that he would “have hell to pay if he stepped outside.“  This happened outside of a polling place and no one in the administration sees this as voter intimidation?  This gets dismissed by our Justice Department?  We are a nation of cowards?  I can only shake my head.

Just in case you want to know more about the kind of people we’re afraid to challenge on racism, go here to find an article on Minister Shabazz, who happened to be the New Black Panther Party adherent that you saw in the video above intimidating voters.  While many liberals push “hate” crimes and “hate” speech, I wonder what they think about a man who stated this just recently, “You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You’re gonna have to kill some of their babies!” Perhaps this doesn’t qualify as hate speech, but saying homosexuality is a sin does.  Incredible!!!

We are a nation of cowards because there seem to be few willing to confront racism with the proper motives wherever it takes place.  The idea of combating racism draws many to it’s cause, but actions that may affect your standing in your community or among your ethnic group leaves many “dismissing” cases that need to be addressed.

We are cowards because we are not bold.  We are not bold because we are not righteous.  We are not righteous because we don’t fear God.  Bottom line, we are not tackling issues of race in this country because we’re scared.  Of course we won’t say that, but that’s what happens when we forsake God’s agenda for our human one.  Want to be bold?  Get right with God and we’ll stand toe to toe with injustice and not turn a winking eye to it instead.

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