It's time to end the killing on America's streets. Stop the violence!

What Would God Say About All These Police Killings?

By Rev. Paul J. Bern

The United States of America is coming apart at the seams! That's an observation of current events in America, not just my opinion. Police shootings of unarmed Black men and youths are epidemic and notorious. Lately I have begun to learn, much to my own horror, that civilians have begun taking matters into their own hands by assassinating police officers while they are on duty and in uniform. We had two more such incidents this past Friday – one where a cop was shot execution style while fueling up his patrol car, and the other where an officer was dragged for several miles and was later pronounced 'DOA' at the hospital. So does this mean we have descended into a deadly game of tit-for-tat on American streets? Does a state of civil war now exist between African-Americans and law enforcement? I can sum up the answer in one sentence, and it's a quote from Christ: “He/she who lives by the sword will die by the sword”.

Of course, there are always two sides to every story. In several of the shootings of unarmed Black men, police officers have been charged with murder just recently, as you know. Yet by the same token, there was a nationally reported incident earlier this week where a man who had carjacked someone started shooting at the police when they cornered him, for which the perpetrator paid with his life. In cases like that, I believe police shootings are without question fully justifiable. God gave me a passage of Scripture earlier today that would fit this very well. It is a prophetic bit of Scripture taken from the first 11 verses of Jeremiah chapter 7 in the Old Testament. For those who don't know where this is in the Bible, it's between Isaiah and Ezekiel. I am going to take this just a verses or two at a time, because there is so much of the Holy Spirit in here that one cannot simply breeze through this and quickly move on.

“This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 'Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message. Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.'” (Jeremiah 7: 1-2, NIV) How would we say this in 21^st century English? Allow me to paraphrase: 'Stand at the entrance to the church, right in the middle of the doorway, and tell all the people who come here to wait outside and hear this message before entering the sanctuary.' Church services, it seems, will be starting a little late today. God is telling the modern church in America to stop what they are doing and hear these words. Otherwise, He is saying, you have no business coming in here. You would then become invaders in my house, encroaching on My holy territory, says the Lord. This, says the Bible and the prophet Jeremiah, is extremely serious and at the top of God's priorities.

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” (Jer. 7: 3-4) Reform...and I will let you live in this place. What place is this? When it was first written by the prophet Jeremiah, it was a reference to ancient Israel in the years leading up to its downfall and being taken into captivity by the Babylonian Empire. But in a modern context it is a prophecy from the past that is equally applicable to the near future. Applicable to Israel just like in days of old, you ask? Partly, but also equally applicable to Israel's chief protector and ally in modern times, the USA. Prophecy, you see, is multidimensional – just like the God who we prophesy about.

“If you really want to change your ways and your actions and to treat each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless, and the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers forever and ever. (Jer. 7: 5-7) Do we treat each other justly when we're shooting at each other like it's the end of the world? Who is worse, the cops who are killing the unarmed Blacks, the Blacks who are killing each other, or everybody else who is shooting and ripping off everything and everybody else? Is there anybody reading this who seriously believes that God is pleased with America in its current state of affairs? I should think not!! If nobody is right, then everybody's wrong! Does America oppress the alien? As long as racial profiling is allowed to continue within the ranks of law enforcement, this will continue to be the case. Moreover, all those people crossing our southern border into our country are not an invading hostile army such as the likes of Donald Trump have implied. The ugly truth is that they are economic and war refugees from Mexico and Central America. The war refugees are escaping the civil wars being waged by the drug cartels of Central America and Southern Mexico – wars that are being fomented by America's very own CIA. The economic refugees come here looking for work – work that is simply unavailable in their former countries. Also, there is a huge wage disparity between those countries and the US. According to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC, a factory worker in Mexico has an average take-home pay of about $55.00 per month USD (as of 2014). A person in the US working full time at a minimum wage job takes home approximately $640.00 after taxes. So these “illegal” immigrants, as they're called by all the right-wingers (many of whom identify as Christian) see their take-home pay increase ten or 11 times just by relocating to America. Is it any wonder they are coming in droves? If the US used its foreign aid that it so freely distributes to create enough new jobs down there in Mexico or Guatemala, etc., those people wouldn't have to come to the US looking for work. Instead, the taxpayers spent $35 billion on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a plane America does not need.

Can I go on? Does America oppress the “fatherless”? All one has to do is visit America's jails and prisons. Eight out of every ten people who are incarcerated either grew up without a dad, or are estranged from their fathers – often because of prior abuse. It's a cycle that can often get passed down from one generation to another, a cycle that can run in families. Does America “oppress the widow”? Is there evidence of this ever occurring? All over America we see boarded up old houses in blighted neighborhoods, houses that people used to live in. But some smooth-talking mortgage broker came along one day and talked the homeowner, who was usually elderly and minimally educated, into taking out a new mortgage on a home that was decades old and sometimes in need of repair, only to have the homeowners fall behind on the payments and find themselves homeless. For another example, visit any nursing home in America, and you will find multitudes of elderly people who have been long forgotten by their families. In many cases, they have outlived everyone they ever knew and loved. America's elderly have become a disposable people just like America's workers, its former middle class. Is God pleased with this? On the contrary, He is deeply offended!

What about “shedding innocent blood?” Does America, or has America ever, shed innocent blood? For me, a guy who genuinely loves his country but despises and fears his government, the answer is hard to look at and still more difficult to receive, but look I must. America has shed innocent blood in millions of civilian casualties in the two Iraq wars, Afghanistan, Viet Nam, and both world wars. But there is more – America has shed innocent blood right here at home. We have killed innocent men on death row, men who were not guilty of their crimes, but who were executed because they were presumed guilty because they were African-American. So many more Blacks have been executed in lynchings since the end of the US Civil War that the country lost count. So yes, most definitely, America has shed much innocent blood. Does anyone seriously believe that God has not noticed, or that He was looking the other way at the time? What about that last one? Have we “followed other gods to our own harm”? This is evidently talking about addictions, although this can have to do with substance abuse just as easily as it could addiction to a spouse, sports hero, career, or getting a bigger house whether you needed one or not, the latest computer and electronic gear, yet another new car that you really didn't need, always wearing the latest fashions, and so on. Try unplugging from the world! Turn off your cable TV and save money, watch Christian stuff on the Internet instead, become a minimalist. Despise materialism, shun worldly wealth and those who crave it. Go green or live 'off the grid'. Do something, please don't just sit there! And now I'll conclude this message, beginning at verse 8.

“But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come before me and stand in this house, which bears my name, and say 'we are safe' – safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching!', says the Lord.” (Jer. 7: 8-11, NIV) How are we trusting in deceptive words that are worthless, you ask? What is God talking about here to us through the prophet Jeremiah? I strongly believe this has a double meaning. In one sense, God is telling us our country's leaders can no longer be trusted because they have their own interests at heart instead of, or ahead of, “we the people”. Undoubtedly this is one point I need not explain to anyone! But why aren't we more outraged about all the waste and corruption in Washington? To me, if we are not opposing it then we are condoning this criminal behavior of our nations leadership. That makes us accomplices, and under no circumstances do I ever want to be seen that way by God. If this were to ever occur, that would be the day I would begin to pray in vain. Since I “work out my own salvation with fear and trembling”, I could never in my right mind go there or do that anyway. 

 

But what is the second part of the meaning? This time, instead of talking about political and corporate leadership, God is speaking to us through the Prophet about the leadership within our churches. The Bible says, “Judgment begins in the house of the Lord”. That's us, Christians. It's talking about us. Those who teach falsely and know it, and there are a dismaying number of “preachers” who do, will pay the ultimate penalty in eternity. Will we continue to commit sin after sin, hop from one affair to another mating like rabbits, lie, cheat and steal and think we got away with it because nobody saw us? Those who do those things are only kidding themselves. Have our churches become a den of robbers? As long as certain preachers continue to demand 10% of everyone's income, whether they can afford it or not, then the answer is yes. The money-changers have once again occupied the temple, and Jesus will soon return to throw them out again, since they apparently didn't learn their lesson the last time our Lord administered it 2,000 years ago. “But I have been watching, say the Lord”! God sees all of it, He is totally fed up, and judgment is coming to America as a result. As I write this in late August 2015, judgment is only weeks away, mark my words.

Lost your dad? I did too. I got a new one, so can you!

Dedicated to All Those Without Fathers

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

I came across some Bible quotes today that cover the often-painful subject of the loss of a parent, or of both parents, or of never knowing one's parents at all. This can happen in any given person's life at any time for a variety of reasons. I'm not writing about watching our moms and dads growing old and dying of natural causes. I'm writing about, mainly, people without dads. The most common reason for the loss of a parent is due to divorce, as we know – some of us all too well. The second most common reason is, most unfortunately, due to the unexpected and untimely death of a parent. This is always a difficult thing, but particularly for the children left behind when a parent dies prematurely. My dad died of a heart attack when I was twelve, and I can still clearly remember how totally shocked everybody was about his passing. The abrupt loss of a parent by a child is always a traumatic experience, no matter how strong that kid is (I'm speaking from experience). But I think the most tragic instance of all are those people who simply grew up without a dad. Single parent homes are ubiquitous these days. I have observed that there seems to be a mind-set among some women that says or thinks, “What do I need a man for?” To those women I would respond, “Just ask your school age son or daughter if they like growing up without a dad, and see what they tell you. A large majority of them would tell you 'no'.” There is another small but growing category of kids without dads – namely children, teens and adults whose dads are incarcerated. The monstrous US prison industrial complex swallows up more people daily, and a large majority of them are people of color and other minorities. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a social injustice!

I had some serious family issues of my own when I was a kid. My dad who died was actually my foster-dad. Since I started out in life as an orphan, I was told as a child that I had been adopted. That later turned out to be untrue, although I didn't find out until I was in my twenties – a long time ago if you get my drift. As you can imagine, I carried some of this emotional baggage into my adult life, and I didn't begin dealing successfully with this until I got my hands on a Bible for the first time at age 26. Even after that, being able to mentally absorb these truths was a process that took quite a few years for me. It is my most sincere hope that, by writing and posting this week's message, what I have to impart will make as big or an even bigger impact on someone who urgently needs to read these words than it had on me.

The first of three quotes I will be using will be from Romans chapter 8, verses 14 through 17, which reads as follows: “... because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son-ship. And by him we cry, 'abba, Father'. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs with God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are one of the sons and daughters of God. By the same token, anyone not being led by the Spirit of God is simply not one of God's kids. I realize I am putting this rather bluntly, but I believe this subject is serious enough for serious talk. You're either one of His or you're not. You either believe Jesus saved you or you don't. But if you are with Him, God will adopt you into his family, making us heirs to the Kingdom to come. When the apostle Paul wrote that we receive the “Spirit of son-ship”, as it says in my New International, he was alluding to family adoption. I believe the Amplified Bible reads that we 'received a Spirit of adoption', or very close to that. When Paul wrote that, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children”, he evidently meant the Holy Spirit testifies on our behalf to God that we belong to Him.

The second verse that has to do with fathers and children comes from Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 through 7, which has similarities to the previous quote I used: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit that calls out, 'abba, Father'. So you are no longer a slave but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” The word 'abba' is a little child's word for 'daddy' in Hebrew, and there are similar sounding names in other Middle Eastern languages as well. The picture Paul is painting here becomes more evident. Remember what Jesus said when he rebuked the apostles for preventing a group of children from approaching him? “Be patient with little children, and let them come unto me, for I tell you the kingdom of heaven is made up of such as these” (Matt. 19: 13-15) So, those believers who become like little children crying out, 'abba, Father' for their heavenly Dad are the ones who will make up the kingdom of heaven – that is, the new earth prophesied about in Revelation chapter 21. We are no longer a slave, says the Word. Slaves to what? Why, slaves to sin, of course! What else could Paul be writing about here? Now we have full legal rights as sons and daughters of the Most High God to make our requests and petitions known to God, who is more than willing to provide generously to those who obey His commandments. We are heirs to a kingdom that will last for an eternity! And if we are heirs, then why would we continue in our sins any longer? Why live for anything or anyone else other than Jesus Christ?

The third and final example of our adoption as sons and daughters through our belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God will come from Ephesians chapter one, verse 5 which reads, “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasures and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” God knew in advance which one of his creations would become his sons and daughters. That's why it pleased him to freely give, and it is through grace that we are receiving it. Grace is defined as being the unmerited and unwarranted favor of Almighty God – in other words, grace and favor that we don't deserve, but God gives it to us anyway because that's how gracious He really is. When Paul wrote, “to the praise of his glorious grace”, he meant grace that accompanies our adoption as sons and daughters of the Most High God, and as joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

This, in turn, brings us back to where we started – to men, women, boys and girls who are going through life without their fathers, or without their mothers, or even both. Those who lost their dads, or who never knew their dads, have always had a Father in heaven. This is something I had to learn not long after I first gave my heart to Christ over 20 years ago. But more importantly, I had to learn to let go of the anger and the bitterness about the loss of my own father combined with having never known my biological parents. Having the feeling of being left high and dry twice in life – that's how it seemed to me sometimes – was something I had a hard time with, even after becoming a Christian. Occasionally I still catch myself going back to that time in my own mind, and I have to correct myself to break out of that pattern of thought. I sincerely hope that my own success in dealing with this issue encourages everyone who has ever lost a dad, or who has never known their real dad. You can and should take heart! Not only do all without fathers have a heavenly Father, but we're adopted into the Family of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This means we can all have as many moms, dads, sisters and brothers as we want!! There are no limits in God's family, so let's take advantage of this free gift from God. One way we can do that is to stop looking at the opposite sex as someone to sleep with, and to treat them as brothers and sisters instead. It's not that I see anything wrong with sexual attraction – it's just that brotherhood and sisterhood are more important. That's also why fatherhood is so important in all cultures. All this has a common denominator – fractured families. When we treat others as we would our own brothers and sisters – or as we would treat ourselves – it is a reflection of how we regard ourselves. If everybody did this, there would be fewer fractured families, and fewer traumatized individuals.