Written: 7/21/05
There are so many ‘isms’ in our society, there should be a place of sanctuary for us to go. Across this nation, all over the world, there are people suffering without hope and no one to turn to. Used to be a time when followers of JESUS CHRIST followed His example, but no more. Although this situation affects every segment of society, national and international, I must address where the pain and suffering is most evident, within the Black race and community.
There used to be a time when Black people knew who they were and although there were always the bad seeds in our community, we were family. Now we have the so-called equality that was fought for; the ills that those in power once dealt with, is now ours also and we have nowhere to go to re-group, spiritually or otherwise. Gone are the days when ministers where examples of true men of GOD. When they gave unselfishly of themselves; when they made sure the poor in the community was taken care of. Gone are the days when the church was the family we could turn to for strength, for laughter, for fellowship.
There is an epidemic of single women raising children without a male in the home. Many of these kids are tired of suffering from the economic disadvantage they’re living and so they turn to crime. Where is the church? Where is the support for these kids and their mothers? The church and alleged Christians have been mandated by the Word of GOD to take care of the fatherless. The church and alleged Christians have been mandated to have compassion of the lost and weak as JESUS CHRIST did. What is the response of the Black church and those within its walls? They put together their little committees within the churches assuming they can truly effect change from there. They have their revivals but for whose benefit? They join up with civic groups and get to know those in the seats of power to expand their reach. The Black church has become an elitist, bourgeois gathering place for those who have. They’re busy doing everything else but what they were called to do which was to “go out into the world and teach”,{Matt.28:19-20 & Mark 16:15-17}. Instead, they have created their own little world and are satisfied with it. If a person in economic distress requests help, the first question asked is “are you a member of our church?” I understand that there needs to be an order of things but the order should be the example that JESUS CHRIST and His disciples set for us. They lived as one, the first form of communism, (a negative term coined by those in power but that’s for another article), and in the Book of Acts, we see the sincerity of their hearts and spirit when “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need”, {Acts 4:32,34-35}. Ask some economically established Black Christians to do that and see what the response is. There are some Black churches and those within the walls who walk the walk but unfortunately finding them is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Black folks in the church have a tendency of telling other folks about “how they need to be in the church”. Those folks need to remember they are not all that and until they are truly living as the Lord instructed, they have nothing to say. You play favoritism when the Bible instructs us not to do so, {James 2:2-4}. The very people you look down on are the ones GOD uses, {1 Corinthians 1:27-29}. You folks like to talk the talk but you don’t walk it. You hold on to your material possessions by any means necessary rather than share; excusing yourselves by saying how hard you worked or how the person in need is not trying enough. Hypocrites, the Bible states clearly, “But whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of GOD abide in him? My little children let us not love in word or tongue but in deed and in truth”, {1 John 3:17 – 18}. The interesting thing is that most of you wouldn’t know JESUS if He walked the earth today. In our modern society, folks “in the church” would ignore Him. He didn’t have a stable address, so he’s homeless; He was not educated and He always had the “wrong” kind of people around Him. You know the kind; the socially challenged of society, the kind you look down on because they don’t dress, talk or behave as you do.
I will close by saying just because you’re “in the church” doesn’t mean you’re in the Lord. Know that the very people you refuse to stand up for; to help, are the same that JESUS dealt with. The religious right of His day and our modern times are no different from those of you “in the church”. Know that it’s not about what you have; it’s what you do with it and how you do it. On Judgment Day, there will be two groups of people, the sheep and the goats. The sheep “gave Him food when he was hungry; gave Him drink when He was thirsty; took Him in as a stranger; clothed Him when He was naked; visited Him when He was sick; went to Him when He was imprisoned”. The goats “gave Him nothing when He was hungry; gave Him nothing when He was thirsty; did not give him shelter as a stranger; did not cloth Him when He was naked; did not visit Him when He was sick; did not see Him when He was imprisoned. “Inasmuch as you did or did not do to the least of these His brethren, you did it to Him”, {Matthew 25:32-46}. Need I say more?
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