This is the most complex question you can ask out of all the profound questions in the world. How do I define me? At sixty-two years old, I have answers. Those answers come from the One Who created me. Whether you believe or not, someone had you in mind to live and walk on this planet Earth. I have found “me” in the purpose God shows me on a daily basis: to bless others in the spoken word, in the kind deed, and in the written word. Isn’t that the essence of God? Love? Yes, it is. Love was made Flesh in Jesus Christ, Who is fully man and fully God. Many of the blogs and short articles I’ve published on Word Press, appear in…

Victorious Truth   Race was socially constructed to justify the horrors perpetrated on Black, Brown, and indigenous peoples.  It is a carefully crafted body of lies. The only way to defeat lies is truth.  The only way to defeat darkness is light.  Pilate asked Jesus “What is truth?” while Truth was standing right in front of him.  Pilate was blind.  We can be blind to the truth by believing someone else’s interpretation of the Bible, as long as it coincides with the lifestyle we have chosen. Those beliefs become part of our value  system without us realizing it.  We act on what we value, no matter what we say.  We can also be blinded by society and culture.  Satan is a deceiver and a master manipulator. …

The more I read, the more I am inclined to believe that there are very few true heroes in history.  Those we have exalted as our national heroes turn out to be less than admirable.  They have brilliant minds and say brilliant things and have extraordinary accomplishments and we put them in the whitewashed history books to teach American children who they should look up to.   We don’t want to believe that they can be cruel, inhumane, evil, hateful, greedy, and immoral. We don’t want to believe they’d commit genocide, perpetrate lynchings, run human beings from their rightful land and enslave others for their profit and comfort.   I am reading the book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America…

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the phrase Black Lives Matter? All Lives Matter?  Do you take offense?  Why?  What do you think it is saying?  Well, here is the truth: Black Lives matter like everyone else’s.  We are all made in the image of God.  We are all human beings created by God. So why does the mention of race make people defensive?  That question is thoroughly answered in Robin D’Angelo’s book, White Fragility.  I want to spend this article, however, sharing a story from history that illustrates how Black lives were treated like trash as the myth of inferiority prevailed in the minds of white people. In the book Blood at the Root, A Racial Cleansing…

In the late seventies, I became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and began attending church regularly. My brothers and sisters in Christ were all white, but then race wasn’t relevant to me.  I was just happy to have new friends. There’s one thing  I didn’t know about my new church:  Racist ideology existed alongside their theology and led them to actions that were contrary to the Word they taught. We must understand this important truth:  racism is systemic and it shapes the policies that govern every institution, including the Church.  I was unaware of all of this at the time I accepted Christ. I was new to faith and spiritual things, and I believe God shielded me from the worst of it so…

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-2  In the beginning, there was freedom.  Adam and Eve were created with the freedom to choose, but instead of choosing God, they chose to obey their own selfish desire.  Immediately, the human race was plunged into the worst kind of slavery:  slavery to sin and self.  This kind of bondage opened the door for human beings to enslave and oppress each other. The Declaration of Independence was a document that declared freedom from the tyranny of the British.  It was based on the premise that all men were created equal.  But the premise was flawed because equality…

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  Your works are wonderful,     I know that full well.  Psalm 139 We speak of equality and justice and yet Black bodies and minds are systematically destroyed because society lacks the love and respect every human body deserves.  In the beginning, God created the first human beings. His commandment for us to love Him and our fellow human beings.  This truth is absolute and unchanging. Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in his book Between the World and Me about the systematic humiliation and destruction of Black bodies:  “all our phrasing–race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy, serves to…

In the Beginning: Christ is Supreme “How you have fallen from heaven,     morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth,     you who once laid low the nations You said in your heart,     “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne     above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,     on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon  I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;     I will make myself like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14 The archangel Lucifer wanted to be supreme.  Because of his arrogance, he was kicked out of heaven forever. The  fall of Satan was the  entrance of darkness into God’s universe. Sin did not begin with Adam;…

In America today equality is a buzzword that includes everything from race to sexual preference.  I want to explore what it means in light of  God’s truth.  In the beginning, we were all created equally in the image of God.  That image has been broken because of sin, but it did not change the fact that we are equal.  However, equal does not negate variety.  We were meant to be unique, yet that did not mean we were unequal. Whether we seek God or not, our equality is still in force.  Every single person born has the choice to  enter into a relationship with God. Once we have decided to engage, we have equal access to all He is.  The Bible says that in Him…

Real Life:  Self-Control “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 Control is something we all want to have in our lives.  When that control is lost, we grasp after it until we have it again, no matter what the cost.  In God’s kingdom, the only control we must have is control that is regulated by the Spirit of God.  Power, choice, and surrender are key elements to self-control.  We have the power to act, or not. We can surrender to God’s will, or not.  The resources of heaven are at our disposal every minute of every day to keep us in step with the Spirit, if we that’s what we choose.  There…