Posted on 07/11/2006 9:32:31 AM PDT by Baconian
With pandemic levels of AIDS, black genocide (i.e., abortion), black on black crime, drugs, calculated underachievement, disregard for life and personal responsibility, toxic levels of hatred, bitterness and a firm grasp on a theological construct that serves only to enflame and exacerbate – one would think black preachers would better serve their flocks by preaching Jesus and factual biblical standards – rather than collectively plotting new ways to cash in on their old playbook of extorting government, demanding race-based preferences and handouts, and blaming whitey for everything from tooth decay to polyester.
One might think so – but the officious triumvirate, or perhaps better put, "elipadae" of the Revs. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Joseph Lowery gathered hundreds of black ministers June 26 in Dallas, Texas, for a three-day conference "to discuss refocusing the political efforts of black churches back on fighting social injustice instead of the 'Christian right's' battle against abortion and homosexual marriage." I personally think it was more in keeping with "how to ensure your congregants fail in life and die unsaved," but I digress.
Whether in abject ghetto poverty or living in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., far too many blacks are lost when it comes to sound biblical precedents regarding bitterness, envy, forgiveness, how to be thankful and Christian service. And when the likes of Al Sharpton say, "Black churches need to get back to their roots of fighting for racial equality and stemming the tide of poverty," it is easy to understand why. It also becomes increasingly easier to understand why the so-called black community is in the shape it is today.
It seems lost on this "triumvirate of discord" that as ministers, theirs is to be about the "perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12) There is no biblical precedent for that what they espouse. The mission of the church is to be about the business of Jesus Christ – a mission that these people, and those like them, have miserably failed.
The stated purpose of the conference was to battle the evangelical church and withdraw association from same, because of said church's position on homosexual marriage and abortion. With AIDS and abortion being two of the single greatest threats to there being future black generations, one must ask why these so-called "men of God" would support a position that is shockingly hostile to future generations of their own.
We need look no further than the Democrat Party to find the answer to this question. No matter how this canard is packaged, it is nothing more than a transpicuous attempt to drive blacks back to the Democrat plantation. After all, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and party Chairman Howard Dean want to reach out to evangelicals. So it makes perfect sense to once again find a way to make blacks their useful idiots.
It is a sin against the God, whose moniker they claim, to use such treachery in an attempt to lead people down paths of destruction. Black Christians and legitimate black pastors who oppose abortion and homosexual marriage do so based on their adherence to Scripture, not based on political persuasion.
The fact that these "charades of ministerdom" are willing to curry favor with the very groups that are singularly committed to the destruction of their family nucleus and future generations is representative of an evil most closely associated with Judas.
What makes their evil even more heinous is that they gathered hundreds of pastors – many of whom come from churches on financial life support – to be indoctrinated on how to mislead their congregants under the guise of justice.
Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. was quoted as saying, "Jesse and Al are decent people who have done a lot for our community; they simply have different opinions on how to address our problems. …" ("Black churches urged to refocus"; Brian DeBose; the Washington Times; June 29)
I say that that mindset is as far off-base as Louis Farrakhan is from Christianity. Jackson and Sharpton have done nothing for blacks but submerge them in despair and immiseration. Jesse and Al are not decent people in any sense of the word – especially when put in biblical context – and neither is Joseph Lowery.
They are more focused on politics than preaching "you must be born again." They are more interested in a seat at Barmecide's table than preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified for our sins. Jackson and Sharpton are more interested in photo-ops and television appearances than they are the work of God Almighty. And while Bishop Jackson may not have a problem with that, as a born-again Christian, I certainly do.
What does it profit a preacher to gather unto himself White House visits, while watching his congregants go astray for lack of biblical teaching?
What I have read and understood from the Bible is that God and Jesus wants us to help each other by using our own time, treasure and talent and to give from our hearts ("Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." - 2 Corinthians 9:7). Nowhere have I found anything along the lines of "Go out and institute huge bureaucracies that will take money from some people at the point of a sword and give that money to other people as a politician sees fit."
Our Founding Fathers were Christian and very pious men. They founded this country under strong Judeo-Christian tenets and reflected on their religious beliefs on all their decisions. They wrote nothing into the Constitution of any type of government "aid" to help the poor, children or anyone else on purpose. They wanted a very limited government for good reason. Limited government is the best way to ensure that freedom will be preserved. The Scottish philosopher Alexander Tytler, who lived during the time of the American Revolution and writing of the US Constitution, summed these views:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure.
From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years.
These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."
There are many interesting questions if citizens rely on government to do "God's Work."
If a government takes a portion of a man's wages and does good with it, has the man also done good? If a government takes away a portion of a woman's property and does evil with it, has the woman also done evil? When a rich man pays more in taxes than a poor person, is he more Godly? If the government then does evil, is he more to blame? A woman works for the government and uses other people's tax money and does "God Work" with it, is this government woman now a good/Godly woman? If I legally try to avoid paying taxes, does that not make me an "Ungodly" man?
Today, the US government (federal, state and local) takes nearly 50% of a middle-class person's paycheck after all taxes are factored in (income taxes, Social Security, sales tax, real estate taxes, gas tax, death taxes, phone taxes, highway tolls, sad etc.). Uncle Sam will spend more money in just this year (2004) than it spent combined between 1787 and 1900 - even after adjusting for inflation. I cringe at those numbers. The Founding Fathers wanted nothing like the tax-consuming monster that we have as a government today. I also think of all the good work that could have be done if people were allowed to keep more of their own money and give it to organizations/people that they believe in their heart are doing God's work. Maybe it comes down to trust. Will people do the right thing with their own money or must a government take a huge chunk of it to do the "right things?"
Except government rarely does anything right except for those tasks that were explicitly outlined in the Constitution as the Founding Father intended. I could cite many examples (such as where would you rather put $10,000 in retirement money - in Social Security or in your own 401k plan?) but the plight of black America illustrates this failure beyond comparison.
In 1965, the US government was going to wipe out poverty by the "Great Society" programs, in which to date over 3.5 trillion dollars has been spent. These federal programs were designed to "help families and children" or "buy votes" depending on your political viewpoint.
At the beginning of the 1960's, the black out of wedlock birth rate was 22%. In the late 1975 it reached 49% and shot up to 65% in 1989. In some of the largest urban centers of the nation the rate of illegitimacy among blacks today exceeds 80% and averages 69% nationwide. As late as the 1970's there was still a social stigma attached to a woman who was pregnant outside marriage. Now, government programs have substituted for the father and for black moral leadership. The black family and culture has collapsed (and white families are not that far behind).
Illegitimacy leads directly to poverty, crime and social problems. Out of wedlock children are four times more likely to be poor. They are much more likely to live in high crime areas with no hope of escape. In turn, they are forced to attend dangerous and poor-performing government schools, which directly leads to another generation of poverty.
Traditional black areas of Harlem, Englewood and West Philadelphia in the 1950s were safe working class neighborhoods (even though "poor" by material measures). Women were unafraid to walk at night and children played unmolested in the streets and parks. Today, these are some of the worst crime plagued areas of our nation. Work that was once dignified is now shunned. Welfare does not require recipients to do anything in exchange for their benefits. Many rules actually discourage work or provide benefits that reduce the incentive to find work.
The black abortion rate today is nearly 40%. Pregnancies among black women are twice as likely to end in abortion as pregnancies among white and Hispanic women.
The "Great Society" programs all had good intentions. Unfortunately, their real world results are that they have replaced the traditional/Christian models of family/work with that of what a government bureaucrat thinks it should be.
I could make an excellent argument that if the US government had hired former grand wizards of the KKK to run the "Great Society" programs, and if they had worked every day from 1965 to today without rest, they could have hardly have done better in destroying black America than the "Works of God" that the government has done or is trying to do.
I have visited many countries in which the government "guarantees" that everyone has a job, a place to live, education, health care and cradle to grave "government help" for all children and families. It all sounds great except that the people in these countries are/were miserable. They wanted to escape but were forced by their governments, at the end of a gun, to stay. The "worker's paradises" of socialist and communist counties are chilling reminders of letting governments do "God's Work."
The Bible clearly states that we are to help those in need. The question is "Who should help those in need?" I firmly believe that scripture and the historical evidence strongly support that individuals, private organizations and churches should be the ones doing the heavy lifting. Government help should be the last resort. "Charity," enforced by the government, is not charity, it is extortion. "Charity," delivered by the government, is not charity, it is a bribe which corrupts both the giver and the receiver.
Very Sincerely,
2banana
I believe Christians have a civic responsibility to be involved in politics, charity and the rest. They can and should speak freely in those arenas about their Christianity and their values. But we must not let those things distract us from the work of the ministry. We should ask ourselves, where is our money going? If it is more to government and even charity than it is to preaching and teaching the Bible then we have our priorities wrong.
What's really sad is that it appears false teachers get more financial support than true gospel preachers/teachers. The self-centered, self-focused gospel is what sells.
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