Was Jesus Black

 "The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance." Revelation 1:14-16

Does the skin color of Jesus matter? 

What color is a Jew? 

Resources: 

https://96tolife.blogspot.com/2014/02/was-jesus-black.html?m=1

https://biblehub.com/revelation/1-14.htm#commentary

Truth or Consequences

Shortly after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead we read, "Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation ... So from that day on they plotted to take his life (John 11:47-48, 53)." Here we have Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, living, breathing and walking among mankind. In the midst of a large crowd of onlookers, He raises a man from the grave who had been dead four days! And what do some of them say? Basically, they say, "We have to kill this man or we will lose our position in life." You would think they would just drop to their knees in worship or at least ask, "Who is this man?" No, we have to kill Him so my life won't be effected by Him, His message or His followers. This same attitude permeates the world today regardless of whether it pertains to the truth about Jesus or some other aspect of life. For example, I was recently involved in a debate about these recent shootings of Black men by police officers. Despite my attempts to interject facts about police shootings into the conversation, those I debated with weren't having it. It didn't matter that police officers shoot more whites than Blacks. It didn't matter that a police officer is 18 times more likely to be shot by a Black person than vice versa. Regardless, of what the facts state all I kept getting was,"Well, facts can be manipulated." Never once was a fact produced to defend their point of view. Nor was anything I said refuted. But, you see, it is not simply about whether something is true, it is about the consequences in a person's life if they accept a truth they previously denied.

In the case of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, what did his detractors do? They plotted to kill Him because, "the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation." Jesus, who later on in the same book of John, would refer to Himself as, "the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6)" was the "truth" that the chief priests and the Pharisees did not want to believe in because of the consequences of doing so. In my debate the truth that suggests police officers may not be the racist, killing machines they are being portrayed as is not accepted because of the cost that may have to be paid in order to accept it. When believing the truth after accepting a lie for so long, there is a lot that can be lost in the aftermath. Family, friends, jobs, social and political connections, and more, may all be lost once it is revealed you no longer believe as you once did. It took me years to find a church I was comfortable with attending after I accepted the truth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we are to live as Christians. I know many Christians who believe as I do who still don't have a church home.  It is no fun when you feel you need to leave a church because you're at odds with the teaching. It is no fun when you no longer believe like many in your family believe. It is no fun when you suddenly become at odds with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for what you believe. It is no fun when you believe the Holy Spirit is leading you to the truth about the Bible and life in general, but the result is being called names by your family or falsely accused of teaching something you're not by supposed friends and other Christians. But, what did Jesus say? "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26-27)."  Hearing the truth is one thing. Believing the truth is another. While you may stand alone, you must stand! Does truth matter? If it does than you must hold onto it regardless of the consequences that may come your way. People will try and tear you down, ridicule you, isolate you and be stiff-necked in their opposition to you. But, stand firm, regardless. The truth matters. Let Jesus deal with the consequences.

The Burden of Responsibility

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." James 1:22-24

There is a video going around of an answer rapper T.I. gave to a question asked by talk show host, Trevor Noah, of the Daily Show. Many people feel that the rapper's response was "excellent," including the host. Here is what was said: Trevor Noah: "[There are] people who say, 'I hear you guys saying you want justice. I hear all the hip-hop stars and fans say, 'This is not right.' But then in hip-hop people are talking about guns. People are talking about shooting. People are saying things like, 'F--- the police!' They are like, 'How is this helping the dialogue?' As a hip-hop artist how do you reply to that?" T.I.: "Well, first of all, I think that people need to take into consideration that hip-hop, traditionally, has always been a reflection of the environment the artist had to endure before he made it to where he was. So, if you want to change the content of the music, change the environment of the artist and he won't have such negative things to say." The audience applauded T.I.'s answer and Trevor Noah complimented him for giving an "eloquent" response to the question. While I can see why people enjoyed the answer given, my problem is that Trevor Noah did not follow up with at least one more question; "Who's responsibility is it to change the environment these artists live in and make music about?" Is it the responsibility of the police? Is it the responsibility of the Government? No! While the actions of the police certainly play a role and the Government has played a large role in this, in my opinion it is the responsibility of the people who live in these environments to change them. The easiest, and almost natural, thing to do when faced with a problem is to blame someone else for it. Just look at the Bible. During the Fall of Man, when God confronted Adam and Eve about their sin, what was first thing they did? Eve blamed the serpent for her transgression. Adam blamed both Eve and God. In actuality, it was their fault for being deceived into eating the forbidden fruit because they didn't believe God. But, it is hard to look at ourselves and ask, "What role have I played in this problem?" For the Black community, it is way past time for us to look at ourselves and how we are at fault for the environments many of us live in that lead to all of these problems that rappers like T.I. and other entertainers and artists talk about.

A lot of the recent conversation about race relations stems from the tragic stories of Blacks dying at the hands of the police. However, when you remove the emotion, sound bites and viral videos from the conversation, what do the statistics say? An analysis of the Washington Post’s Police Shooting Database and of Federal Crime Statistics reveals that fully 12 percent of all whites and Hispanics who die of homicide are killed by cops. By contrast, only four percent of black homicide victims are killed by cops. According to the most recent study by the Department of Justice, although blacks were only about 15 percent of the population in the 75 largest counties in the US, they were charged with 62 percent of all robberies, 57 percent of murders and 45 percent of assaults. In New York City, blacks commit over three-quarters of all shootings, though they are only 23 percent of the city’s population. Whites, by contrast, commit under two percent of all shootings in the city, though they are 34 percent of the population. New York’s crime disparities are repeated in virtually every racially diverse city in America. The real problem facing inner-city black communities today is not the police but criminals. In 2014, over 6,000 blacks were murdered, more than all white and Hispanic homicide victims combined. Who is killing them? Not the police, and not white civilians, but other blacks. In fact, a police officer is eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer. If the police ended all use of lethal force tomorrow, it would have a negligible impact on the black death-by-homicide rate. In Chicago, through just the first six-and-a-half months of 2016, over 2,300 people were shot. That’s a shooting an hour during some weekends. The vast majority of the victims were black. During this same period, the Chicago police shot 12 people, all armed and dangerous. That’s one half of one percent of all shootings. Police officers are backing off of proactive policing in black neighborhoods thanks to the false narrative that police officers are infected with homicidal bias. As a result, violent crime is going up in cities with large black populations. Homicides in 2015 rose anywhere from 54 percent in Washington DC to 90 percent in Cleveland. Overall, in the nation’s 56 largest cities, homicides in 2015 rose 17 percent, a nearly unprecedented one-year spike.

But, what is causing all of this criminal and murderous behavior? I say it is the destruction of the Black family. It was President Barack Obama who said, "We all know the statistics. That children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of school and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.” The Journal of Research on Adolescence confirms that even after controlling for varying levels of household income, kids in father-absent homes are more likely to end up in jail. And kids who never had a father in the house are the most likely to wind up behind bars. In 1960, 5 percent of America's children entered the world without a mother and father married to each other. By 1980 it was 18 percent, by 2000 it had risen to 33 percent, and fifteen years later, the number reached 41 percent. For blacks, even during slavery when marriage for slaves was illegal, black children were more likely than today to be raised by both their mother and father. Economist Walter Williams has written that, according to census data, from 1890 to 1940, a black child was more likely to grow up with married parents than a white child. For blacks, out-of-wedlock births have gone from 25 percent in 1965 to 73 percent in 2015. For whites, from less than 5 percent to over 25 percent. And for Hispanics, out-of-wedlock births have risen to 53 percent. What happened to fathers? The answer is found in a basic law of economics: If you subsidize undesirable behavior you will get more undesirable behavior. In 1949, the nation’s poverty rate was 34 percent. By 1965, it was cut in half, to 17 percent -- all before President Lyndon Johnson’s so-called War on Poverty. But after that war began in 1965, poverty began to flat line. From 1965 until now, the government has spent over $20 trillion to fight poverty. The poverty rate has remained unchanged, but the relationship between poor men and women has changed – dramatically. That’s because our generous welfare system allows women, in effect, to marry the government. And this makes it all too easy for men to abandon their traditional moral and financial responsibilities. Psychologists call such dependency "learned helplessness." And let us not forget that while Blacks are only 13% of the population, they make up 28% of the abortions. Depending on what numbers you look at there are anywhere from 1,300 to over 1,800 Black children aborted daily!

It is sad to think that in 2016 Black families were stronger 50 to over 100 years ago then they are today. You can't solely place the blame on the legacy of slavery or institutionalized racism. You have to place the blame primarily on Blacks. We have replaced faith in God with dependence on the Government and our families, specifically our children, are the victims. Even worse, we cannot depend on the local church as much to be the moral backbone of the communities. Sound, biblical, teaching has been replaced with the false gospel of selfish indulgence and the pursuit of worldly gain. And people have been robbed of their time, treasure, talent, hope and, in some cases, belief in God because of it. In an era of slogans like, "Black Lives Matter," "Blue Lives Matter" or "All Lives Matter," the question must be asked, "Does Truth Matter?" It would seem that the answer is, "No," because what a person believes is more important than the truth. And when the cost of believing the truth is too high, the comfort of living in a lie is more appealing. Until people are willing to believe the truth and take personal responsibility for their own lives and families, these terrible numbers will only go higher and more fingers of blame will be pointed in the wrong direction and the problems will only continue to get worse. As a friend and teacher of mine once said, "You can't have international peace without peace in your country. You can't have peace in your country without having peace in your city. You can't have peace in your city without peace in your neighborhood. You can't have peace in your neighborhood without without peace in your home. And you can't have peace in your home without peace with your God." Change starts by looking at the man in the mirror and taking personal responsibility.

 [Special thanks to Prager University, Larry Elder and Heather MacDonald]

Black Lives Matter

"Tell the Israelites: If Israelites or foreigners living among you give one of their children as a sacrifice to [the god] Molech, they must be put to death" Leviticus 20:2

By now we have all heard the slogan, "Black Lives Matter." Well, I have one question to ask, "Do Black Lives Matter?" First we had, "Hands Up, Don't Shoot!" This is a saying and gesture originating from the August 2014 shooting death of Black teenager, Michael Brown, by the police in Ferguson, Missouri. Around the same time another Black man, Eric Garner died after the police subdued him with a choke hold. This resulted in another slogan, "I Can't Breathe," based off Eric Garner's own words as he struggled with the police. There have been other deaths of Blacks that have contributed to the rise of the "Black Lives Matter" campaign, including the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012, but only recently has it gained national and global attention. Regardless of how one feels about the cases mentioned, I have to say, in answer to my question, that Black Lives Do Not Matter! I don't say this because I agree with the movement, I say this because the movement ignores the biggest problem facing Blacks in America today; Abortion.

This week marked the 42nd "anniversary" of the Roe vs. Wade decision which basically imposed a woman's right to an abortion across the United States. As I type this, since 1973, when the decision was made, 17,268,028 abortions of Black babies have taken place in the United States alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as of 2012 there were 39 million people in the United States who solely identified themselves as African-American (Black). That equates to about 13.1% of the total population of the United States. If we took the number of abortions and added that number to the 39 million, we would have over 56 million Blacks in the country. That would equate to about 17% of the population. My math may be off, but you get my point. In general, we are talking about over 404,000 abortions a year of Black babies; 1,100 a day! As for Blacks who were shot and killed by the police the numbers I've seen range anywhere from 123 to 313 depending on the year surveyed and who did the study. That is less than one a day on average. While tragic, those numbers pale in comparison to the number of abortions in the Black community. So again I ask, "Do Black Lives Matter?" Again, the answer has to be a resounding, "No."

Where is the "campaign" about the Black lives lost in the womb who are unable to put their tiny "hands up" or who are unable to say they "can't breathe"? There was a "controversial" billboard put up in New York City a few years ago that showed a Black child with a statement that read, "The Most Dangerous Place for an African-American is in the womb." According to the numbers no truer words have ever been uttered. For the record, I must say that All Lives Matter. But, if "Black Lives Matter," and they do, why is there so much silence in the greater Black community about those lives that never got the chance to see the light of day? If 1,100 Black lives a day were being taken by the police there would be a second Civil War. If 1,100 Black lives were being taken by disease there would be an outcry louder than the one we see for things like AIDs or even Ebola. Yet, 42 years ago this week women were given the right to take the lives of their unborn children and apparently, in the Black community, those lives do not matter. If a police officer kills a Black man, regardless of the reason, we get a global campaign. But, when a Black mother murders her unborn child we say and do nothing. After all, its her "right." I am afraid that just like those who sacrificed their children to Molech, we are doing the same thing.

By the way, the number of Black babies aborted since 1973 now stands at 17,268,061. Thirty-three (33) more babies have been murdered since I began this post. God help us.

Michael Brown

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same (Romans 13:1-4)."

By now everyone is aware of the decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. It is almost cliche' by now for those disappointed by such a decision to react with violence and destruction which, all too often, is aimed at innocent victims. Like with many things in life, the facts are often ignored because there are those who would rather hold onto their beliefs rather than subjecting themselves to the facts to see if their beliefs hold up. Unfortunately, the moment Michael Brown was shot Officer Wilson was guilty of murdering an innocent, African-American teenager, in the minds of many. But, what are the facts of the case? According to one report, here are some facts that have not received much, if any, attention:

1. Surveillance video showed that shortly before the confrontation, 18-year-old Brown stole cigarillos from a convenience store and shoved a clerk who tried to stop him.

2. The autopsy report showed that Brown had marijuana in his system when he died.

3. Officer Wilson, driving to the call of a medical emergency, first encountered Brown walking in the middle of a street and told Brown and his friend to walk on the sidewalk. Brown responded with an expletive.

4. Wilson chose to confront Brown only after he saw the cigarillos in his hand and recalled the radio report of a robbery at the convenience store.

5. Wilson said when he tried to open his car door, Brown slammed it back shut, then punched Wilson in the face.

6. Fearing another punch could knock him out, Wilson drew his gun, he told the grand jury, and Brown grabbed the gun, saying "you are too much of a pussy to shoot me."

7. An African-American witness confirmed that Brown and Wilson appeared to be "arm-wrestling" by the car.

8. Another witness saw Brown leaning through the car's window and said "some sort of confrontation was taking place."

9. After Wilson fired a shot that struck Brown's hand, Brown fled and Wilson gave chase. Brown suddenly stopped. An unidentified witness told the grand jury that 6-foot-4, 292-pound Brown charged at Wilson with his head down. Wilson said Brown put his hand under the waistband of his pants as he continued toward Wilson. That's when Wilson fired.

10. A witness testified that Brown never raised his hands.

11. Gunpowder found on the wound on Brown's hand indicated his hand was close to the gun when it fired. According to a report, the hand wound showed foreign matter "consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm."

12. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said the gunpowder "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has particulate matter in the wound."

13. Wilson said Brown was physically uncontrollable and "for lack of a better word, crazy." He said that during the confrontation, he was thinking: "He's gonna kill me. How do I survive?" Legal experts say police officers typically have wide latitude to use deadly force when they feel their safety is threatened.

Assuming these facts are true, and I believe that they are, the only reaction is that Michael Brown was not murdered in cold blood, he was killed in self-defense. In other words, Officer Wilson was within his right to shoot Michael Brown. There are no winners here, but thankfully, we didn't have to witness two tragedies stemming from this horrible incident. First and foremost it is sad to see a teenager struck down in his youth. But, secondly, at least the authorities didn't cave to public pressure to indict a man who was only defending himself while executing his duties as an officer of the law and public servant.

The Bible tells us that the authorities that exist have been put there by Him. Furthermore, when we run afoul of the authorities we risk experiencing the wrath of the authorities; up to and including the loss of our lives. The problems surrounding the death of Michael Brown are deeper than any rift between the African-American community and law enforcement. This tragedy can be traced back to a community and a country that has increasingly abandoned the authority of God. The family structure, particularly within the African-American community has been destroyed and it isn't because of "murderous" cops or "racial divides." It comes back to our lack of having the Lord in our in our lives, in our homes, in our communities and, ultimately, in our country and world. If we do not believe in the One true God of the Bible and do not put faith in Jesus Christ, we have no ultimate authority to be accountable to. Therefore, how can we expect to see anybody have respect for the authority that God has allowed in this world to govern over society? Yes, there is racism. Yes, there are bad police officers. Yes, there is injustice in the world. And, yes, innocent people do suffer. But, while we focus on what is here, we have forgotten to focus on what no longer is here; faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to govern our hearts. 

Jesus Christ said, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God (Matthew 19;17)." if only God is good, and people don't even believe in Him and His authority, how do we ever expect people to do "what is good"? My prayer is that we get past the lies, rhetoric and emotion of this case, and those like it, and turn to the truth of God, His Word and faith in Jesus Christ. 

Was Jesus Black?

“The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance (Revelation 1:14-16).” Was Jesus Christ black? Sometimes in an effort to counter the predominant portrayal of Jesus as white or European in His ethnicity, which is inaccurate, blacks will create Jesus in “our image” in order to make Him more palatable. The problem is that we end up focusing on things that take us away from God’s true intent with the Lord and scripture. We will take the historical fact of Jesus being taken to Egypt as a boy and automatically assume that God wouldn’t have sent Jesus and His parents to Egypt unless they looked Egyptian. While that is understandable, they miss the fact that God told Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s attempt to kill Jesus and to fulfill prophecy not as some proof that Jesus could pass for an Egyptian. Another thing that is done is how blacks will see similarities between the Jews enslavement in Egypt and Africans being enslaved in the United States and the Americas and start to claim the blessings and promises God made to the Jews for themselves as if God has made a covenant with African-Americans. However, the biggest violation of scripture occurs with the passage from Revelation 1. 

People will read John’s description of Jesus and assume He is describing a black man. They see His hair described as being “like wool” and equate it to the curly hair of blacks. They will see His feet described as being “like bronze” and equate the “brownish” color of bronze to mean that this is describing the color of Jesus’ skin. But, what are we to do with the rest of the description of Jesus; hair as white as snow, eyes like blazing fire, and a voice like the sound of rushing water? Are these descriptions of blacks? And what about Jesus holding seven stars in His right hand and having a double-edged sword coming out of His mouth? What does this have to do with being a black man? Not to mention that the size of His hand and mouth must be huge to hold seven stars and a sword! Finally, John says the face of Jesus was brilliant like a shining sun. Well, the last time I checked the sun was yellow and when looking into it the light is almost white because it is so bright. To say this is a description of the ethnicity of Jesus is evidence of just how far people will go to prove their error instead of admitting that they are just plain wrong in their assumptions. This is a description of Jesus in heavenly form, not His appearance on earth. For the record, the use of wool to describe Jesus’ hair is to symbolize His purity and holiness. Describing His feet as being like bronze is to symbolize His strength and majesty. In the attempt to make Jesus a black man, we end misrepresenting scripture and totally missing the point of scripture and Jesus Christ. If you must put an ethnicity on Jesus, the Bible clearly tells us that He was a Jew. What color is a Jew? Regardless, Jesus did not come to establish one racial identity over another. “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost (Matthew 18:11).” Jesus came to save people from eternal separation from God in hell by offering them forgiveness and life through faith in His death, burial and resurrection. That is something offered to all mankind regardless of their skin color. A friend of mine once asked me, “Will God hold it against me because I didn’t accept Jesus because I thought He was white?” I answered, “Yes, He will.” Jesus already asked the ultimate question, “But, who do you say I am (Matthew 16:15)?” Peter correctly answered with, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).” Jesus does not care what race you think He belongs to, He only cares about who you say He is! My prayer is that you respond as Peter did because when you do all this focus on race becomes meaningless in comparison to knowing your God!