All Born Under The Same Sun

"Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him"

Introduction

Fifty years ago they marched in Washington D. C. and Dr. King talked about a dream. Since then America has elected and re-elected President Barack Obama its first black president. But not without any backlash from some of our white brothers and sisters who were not opened to the change. It seems as if now what Dr. King spoke of is simply the dream deferred that the late poet Langston Hughes lamented.

However, some believed that Obama’s historic election meant that racism had vanished in the U.S., many did regard it as a sign that strife between the nation’s racial groups had dissipated to such a degree that Americans were willing to cross the color line in the voting booth. However, this could not be farther from the truth, during the 2012 presidential election there was rampant and very blatant voter suppression being done primarily in the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida. Racial epithets became a normal use of expressing dissatisfaction for having to endure with a president whose skin color was not quite right in the viewpoint of some.

And now, the SCOTUS has overturned a key provision of the landmark voting rights act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson and declared it unconstitutional. Just last night a jury of six women in the trial of George Zimmerman has found the neighborhood watchman not guilty in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman, 29, was acquitted on charges of second-degree murder in the death of Martin, a 17-year-old black boy whom the defendant shot during a scuffle in a nearby-gated community on Feb 26, 2012. The jury also found Zimmerman not guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

I will not comment very much on my personal beliefs and thoughts concerning this particular trial and verdict (actually because it may get me in trouble). However I will deal with the hot button topic of racism in America today. Because I honestly do believe that the American judicial system is designed for the extermination of the black male. And the verdict of not guilty in the Zimmerman trial has all but proven my point. When I accepted my calling to preach back in 1994 I committed myself to preach all of God’s Word and not be shy about preaching on any topic regardless of who should like or dislike what I have to say. And I submit to you this morning that America is still a nation filled with racist and bigots, this not a rant because I shall use God’s Words instead of mine.

We have to go to our final authority in all matters and I will remind you that it is not the U. S. Supreme Court, it is the Bible. One of the greatest weapons of satan is division. Simply because if he can divide he conquer, and the fact is, there is only one race, the human race! People may have white skin, black skin, brown skin, yellow skin, red skin, or any other color skin, they may have different ethnic backgrounds, but they are all part of the same race, the human race!

The Bible says that ALL MEN are created in the image of God. God created all men equal. Satan is the father of lies, and he has for generations planted in the minds of foolish men and women that the color of their skin has somehow innately made them to be superior over other races. It is satan, not God, who seeks to divide men by their skin color, ethnicity, financial means, and any other way you can dream up to divide people. Why do people have their bigotry and their prejudices? It is because they have been influenced by the devil himself.

1. God Looks At The Heart

“People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). I cannot tell you how many times I have walked down a street or entered an elevator minding my own business only to find someone glaring at me as if I wanted to take something from them. I can be reasonably attired, no hootie, no dark shades, no tattoos, just my black skin, and all of a sudden I am viewed as some sort of disturber, or agitator, or malcontent ready to do some mischief and/or harm to someone else of lighter complexion. They do not know me from Adam, but that’s okay because in their mind I look like the crook they seen on “Law & Order” last night and that is more than enough for them.

There are those of us who by prejudice based on a past experience will endeavor to assume a stranger is simply up to no good due to his/her outward appearance. Unlike us God does not judge on the basis of appearance, and since He doesn’t, neither should we. When something appears a certain way to us, we had better make sure of it through proper investigation, lest we misrepresent and do a great deal of damage. Since we cannot know men's hearts unless they tell us, we have to be very careful to not jump to conclusions about situations and people. Stereotyping and racial profiling has no place in the kingdom of God.