Oneness In Christ During Racial Unrest

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. As a Christian black man living in America, I'm very disturbed by what I am seeing and hearing in our nation. It seems that every direction you turn, there are images and narratives expressing blacks facing injustice at the hands of whites. I want to state up front that I do not buy into the broad brush depiction that blacks are being targeted by whites.

More on that in a moment. In Matthew chapter 24, verse three, the disciples went to Jesus on the Mount of Olives and asked him, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Jesus responded with a very thorough outline of signs of the times he mentioned that nation will rise against nation in verse seven. In the original Greek, this is written ethnos against ethnos, which is where we get the word ethnicity. In other words, our Lord said that ethnicity against ethnicity would be a sign of his second coming.

That is an extremely important fact to make note of as we examine the racial tension in the nation. Satan has been sowing division since the garden where he pitted Adam against Eve. Jesus prayed that our oneness would be an indicator to the world that he had been sent by the father in John 17, 20 through 23. So division is a work of the enemy, whereas unity is a work of the spirit. As we examine the climate, we must remember this, along with the fact that we wrestle against principalities in wicked places, not flesh and blood. When answering the disciples, Jesus also stated that the love of many would grow cold due to lawlessness at the season of his return in Matthew 24 12. All we have to do is turn on the news and we see how cold love has grown due to lawlessness.

Many are defying curfews, rioting and looting. The spirit of lawlessness and anarchy comes directly from the spirit of Antichrist, which is detailed in Second Thessalonians chapter two, verses seven through 12. What makes it obvious that this is a demonic spirit to just look at the transgressors actions? What does a business owner in New York City have to do with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis?

Absolutely nothing. But those who have been taken over by the spirit of lawlessness are looting entities that are literally thousands of miles away from the epicenter. They are not truly seeking justice for blacks. They instead are motivated to create chaos, division and ultimately destroy the nation.

Jesus stated the spirit would be a sign of the end of the age. The buzz phrase that we are bombarded with today is systemic racism. The liberal media pushes this narrative by inciting the masses with emotion provoking headlines every time a white police officer shoots a black man. The headlines shout white officer shoots unarmed black man. They could just as well state police officer shoots unarmed man, but they highlight the race because they have the goal of inciting people's rage.

Forget the facts. They just want people to react. So they play the race card and anyone in their right mind knows this country at one time had unjust policies towards blacks beginning with slavery through Jim Crow. But just because it existed then does not mean it exists now. I'm not so naive to think racism does not exist in any capacity. There are pockets of racism in the world just like lying, stealing and coveting.

They are all seeing and they will continue to exist until Jesus returns to set up his eternal kingdom and bring an end to all sin. But I did not accept the systemic racism narrative. I was watching the local news with my wife one evening and the anchors mentioned systemic racism repeatedly.

The newscast then cut to press conferences being delivered by local chiefs of police. Of the three largest cities in my area, each police chief was black. So I turned to my wife and I asked, how can there be systemic racism against blacks when so many chiefs of police are black? Our nation is 13 percent black and 77 percent white. When we consider the fact we elected a president who had a black father, along with numerous black chiefs of police, black mayors, black councilmen, how does one come to the conclusion that there is systemic racism?

The reason is due to believing a lie rather than the truth. And by the way, the progressives ignore the fact that Planned Parenthood was founded by a white racist for the purpose of eradicating blacks. If that was not systemic racism, I do not know what is, but they never speak of it in that light. Instead, they ostracize law enforcement while applauding killing of the unborn.

We are witnessing the depravity of minds of Romans Chapter one. The law that so many are accepting is that all cops are racist and all whites are racist. It is simply not true.

I personally know numerous police officers and whites who are born again followers of Christ, and they are not racist. But the liberal media is seducing people into believing a lie. It is conditioning the world to accept an even greater lie of the future. That great lie will be that of the Antichrist, who will require that all must worship him.

The Bible declares that he is the father of lies in John eight, 44 through 45. What is even more disturbing is the position of many churches. I have seen numerous churches immediately align themselves with Black Lives Matter in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, even though its platform is in direct contradiction to the Christian faith.

A discerning church would never align itself with such thinking. But this is another sign of the times that a great apostasy would occur at the end of the age with many churches falling from the faith. Christian leaders ought to be a calming influence, not stirring up fury by posting a picture to social media of a black man hanging from a tree 80 years ago next to George Floyd on the pavement as one black pastor chose to do. Scenes are playing out all over the country of people bowing at the knee in the streets, assembly halls and churches. The theme is that they are taking a need to represent solidarity and apology to blacks for systemic racism in the actions of our nation's forefathers. A video has surfaced of a black man demanding a white woman to kneel and apologize for her white privilege.

I watched footage of a church congregation assembled under an outdoor tent. The pastor who was white led the white members who were positioned on one side of the tent to kneel before all of the blacks who were standing facing them on the opposite side of the tent. In a separate incident, a police officer was criticized because he refused to kneel to protesters in the streets. He stood while all of his comrades kneel because he declared that he only bows to our Lord. People branded him a racist. It reminds me of Romans chapter 11, verse 4, which gives a count of those who would not bow the knees before bail. Satan has tried to get mankind to bow the knee before anything but God throughout history.

Now people are bowing to an ethnic group, but the Bible declares that one day every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus. Whenever there is conflict between a white and a black, why does so many assume that it is motivated by racism? I stated immediately upon seeing the George Floyd murder that it was a social injustice, but I did not know if it were a racial injustice.

Declaring it a racial injustice would mean I knew for a fact what the officer's motive was, which I did not. Did the officer shout a racial slur? Did he pin a manifesto stating hatred towards blacks? Were there social media posts declaring his hatred for blacks?

I have yet to see any of that presented, but everywhere you turn people are calling him a racist. Why? It is because people have unforgiveness in their hearts. The devil causes people to run even when no one is after them.

It is called paranoia. Yes, slavery was brutal. Jim Crow was wrong. But there must come a point when we must move past it. When one holds on to past transgressions, he becomes a prisoner held captive in his own unforgiveness. How many times must whites apologize for the sins of some, not all of their forefathers? Every time there is a conflict between a white and a black.

If I have a conflict with my wife, does that mean that I have to apologize for every incident where I offended her since the beginning of our marriage? Rehashing all of that serves no benefit. How did Stephen respond when he was stoned to death? He asked God to forgive them, even as the stones were being hurled that ultimately killed him.

And look at our Lord Jesus. While being mocked and crucified, he asked God the Father to forgive his transgressors. We must follow the same example of Stephen and Jesus if we want to be set free and have true racial reconciliation.

The apostle John looked into the future and saw a great multitude in heaven composed of every ethnicity from Earth in Revelation seven, nine. Our Lord is for all people, not just whites, not just blacks, not just fill in the blank. If you want eternal life in the kingdom of God, you must forgive. If you want freedom and peace, you must forgive. If we want Jesus to forgive our sins, we must forgive others.

He died for us all. So let us embrace one another as brothers and sisters of the human race and display the love of our Lord. Unity is a work of God, a gift from above.

There is a reason Jesus prayed for oneness. May we look to our Lord and stand together against the enemy in the last days of this age? But we are not in the battle of white versus black. It is a battle of good versus evil. It is a battle of light versus dark.

Do you recognize the signs of the times? You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles, and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage, and the significance of Lesson Israel, just to name a few.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message. When we think about the racial tension. When we think about injustice.

We have to bring ourselves back to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which I touched on earlier. And without a doubt, the arrests, the beating and the killing of Jesus Christ is the most unjust act that has ever happened, for he was perfect. He never did any wrong.

He was not guilty of anything. But when they came to arrest Jesus, one of his followers took out a sword and he struck the high priest and cut off his ear. And what did our Lord do? He turned to his follower and he said, put that away. And then he reached out to heal the ear of the high priest. Jesus did not respond with violence. He responded with love. He responded with compassion.

And if we want to have true peace and we want to have racial reconciliation, we need to follow the same example of our Lord. I was having a conversation with the lady a couple of weeks ago. And she mentioned that she had watched a video which outlined the. In justices, the the way in which blacks have been treated from slavery through Jim Crow and through segregation, and she made mention that she watched this video with her kids and at the end of the video, her kids said they can understand why blacks are angry. They see why blacks are so angry. And I responded to her by saying blacks don't have to be angry. Yes, maybe there were some injustices done.

There were some great injustices done through slavery, through Jim Crow, through segregation. But you don't have to live with anger. And I told her that if we just simply would release it to give it to Jesus Christ, the change can come in our hearts. Because she was stating that change cannot come until whites repent and blacks offer unforgiveness. But I said to her, what if your transgressor never repents? What if your transgressor never asked for forgiveness?

Because that does happen in life. Do we do we have the right to to hold on to anger, to hold a grudge? Not according to the Bible. I learned a long time ago to release those who have committed transgressions against me. It's not saying that their transgressions were OK. It's not saying that what they did was acceptable, but I'm saying I'm releasing them. I'm forgiving them. I'm not holding it against them.

I'm not holding it to their account. And when I did so, then I felt true freedom. And so I'm calling today, my black brothers and sisters, I'm calling on you to forgive and to release what was done in the past, because being held captive by anger makes you a prisoner. Yes, we can have anger. There is a such thing as a righteous anger, but the Bible tells us to be angry, but seeing not. And when you are holding on to a grudge, when you're holding on to resentment, when you are thinking about things that happened centuries ago and decades ago, and you're you're viewing the whites in the light of it, then you have became a prisoner of anger.

You have crossed over into seeing. But if you will release it to Jesus Christ, he will give you that peace that surpasses all understanding. If you will give it to Jesus Christ, people can see injustice is done to you as an individual or injustice is done to your your people.

And they will see that response and they will say this is something that surpasses all understanding. He will give you a peace. Martin Luther King practice and preach peace.

Yes, we can be angry, but do not sin. I want to also say to my white brothers and sisters, don't allow false guilt. Don't allow the narrative of white privilege to weigh you down. Because, you see, whites do not owe an apology for the sins of their forefathers. There is no white person that owes me an apology for anything because I was not any one slave and they were not anybody slave master.

But there is a pressure today. I've heard from so many whites that say they feel a pressure to say something to do something, but they don't know what to do. They're afraid of saying and doing the wrong thing because they are afraid they're going to offend somebody. Blacks, we have to stop demanding that whites apologize for something that they did not do. There are a lot of whites today that are not racist. They did not own slaves. They did not push Jim Crow.

They were not in favor of segregation. Matter of fact, there are many whites in the past who fought on the side of freeing the blacks. And so for my white brothers and sisters out there, don't allow that to weigh you down.

Don't allow people to make you feel guilty for something that you did not do. If you do have racism in your heart, then you need to repent. But if you know that you're not a racist, if you know you've not mistreated people because of the color of their skin, you don't owe an apology to anyone.

That was between our ancestors, what happened decades ago and centuries ago. And I've heard from so many today, blacks who had great friendships with whites. But in light of this, this racial tension over the last several months, they they're saying their friendships have became awkward because whites are constantly bombarding them with apologies and and sympathies and saying that their heart goes out to them. And they're saying it now feels weird. It feels awkward because to the black people, they're saying they didn't do anything to me.

So why are they feeling so sympathetic? We must not hold on to what our forefathers did. There is racism.

In the world. Racism exists, just like all other scenes exist, and it will continue to exist until Christ comes and bring it into all racism. But to paint the the broad brush that all whites are racist is simply not true. Yes, there are some whites who are racist against blacks and there are some blacks who are racist against whites. But we cannot put everybody in the same category.

We cannot say that all police officers are racist. And we must remember that the true enemy, who the true enemy is, that true enemy is Satan. And he's trying to cause division. Our Lord said that would be one of the signs of his coming. Ethnicity against ethnicity.

We must be wise to the tricks of the devil. I have a friend of mine who's from Africa. And she was speaking of the fact that in Africa they have a lot of tribal wars.

Tribes are against one another. And she said, we all look the same. Our skin color is the same.

Our hair texture is the same. You can't tell one from the other. But yet there is a hatred. There's division. And that is because Satan is the enemy. He seeks to steal, to kill and to destroy. He seeks to bring division. Yes, they all look the same, but he divides them over socioeconomic reasons. Maybe it's because one is from the north and one is from the south. But Satan, that is his method, is to bring division, is to bring chaos.

So if it's not the color of your skin, it's going to be another thing. Do you recognize the signs of the times? I believe many churches are asleep at the wheel.

Many churches are not recognizing that Christ said this would be what to look for before he comes. And we see lawlessness. There are cries to dismantle police, to defund the police. And you ask yourself the question, what is going on in people's minds?

But this is a spiritual battle. Because there was a woman who was out protesting the police, saying that the police are wrong, saying that the police need to be dismantled, defunded. And then the woman was sexually assaulted. And when she was sexually assaulted, who did she call on?

She called the police. The very ones who she's out protesting saying to get rid of. It makes no logical sense. And the only thing you can come up with when you look at it is that it's simply a playing out right before our eyes of Romans chapter 1, in which the Bible says they will be turned over to depraved minds, to where people cannot know truth.

They cannot see what's right versus wrong because they have been turned over to a depraved and debased mind. And our Lord said that in the days before he comes, that the love of many would grow cold. And we see it playing out today. People who have had close relationships, close bonds for all their lives, and all of a sudden there's division. There's brother turning his back against brother. There's father turning against son. There's mother turning against daughter. And it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking to see the love grow cold of family members, people who love one another, people who were there for one another. And now all of a sudden they have nothing to do with each other. The love has grown cold.

You see it within couples who were married and they end up hating one another. Our Lord said this would be a sign of his coming. Do you recognize the signs?

Do you recognize that it would be nation against nation, that it would be ethnicity against ethnicity? There are things happening in the world that gives us a feeling of darkness. But I'm reminded of the great pastor Adrian Rogers, who stated that it is getting gloriously dark. And what he meant by that is, yes, it's getting dark in the world. We see the spiritual darkness, we feel the spiritual darkness.

And it's not a good feeling. But it's getting gloriously dark because it reminds us of the fact that our Lord says this is what would happen before he returns. So if you're looking forward to the Lord's return, no, you're not happy about the darkness, but you are happy about the fact that he is coming soon.

That brings joy to my heart to know that this is not going to last always. Not this chaos, not all of this division, not all of this sin. But I will last always in eternal life with my Lord. And the day is going to come in which there will be the sound of a trumpet. And there will be the voice, the shout of the archangel. And our Lord is going to descend. And the Bible says the dead in Christ shall rise first. And then those of us who are alive, who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ will be caught up together with them.

And we will all go away to be with our Lord and have eternal life. Are you ready to meet Jesus Christ? Are you ready to see him face to face? Are you ready to behold him? I look forward to the day when he will call my name and I'll be able to stand before him. I'll be able to embrace him.

I'll be able to put my arms around him and say, Lord, I thank you for dying on the cross. Lord, I thank you for all that you've done for me. Lord, I thank you. I give you honor. I give you glory. I give you praise. And then I'll take the crowns that he gives me and I will lay them at his feet as a sign of worship. And I look forward to going into eternity, giving praises to our Lord. Will you be ready when Jesus comes?

These are signs to look for. He said it would be like in the days of Noah when they were going about their lives and they were not thinking about the Lord's coming. They were not thinking about the flood that was coming, the judgment that was coming.

But then when the rains began to come, it was too late. Will it be too late for you? Will you be ready when Jesus comes? The church, we need to wake up. We need to talk about Jesus Christ in his coming because he is coming again. He said that there would be great division in the earth as a sign of his coming. Jesus is coming soon.

We look forward to that day as we close. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel until the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, GodFirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. . . . . . . . . .