Sleight of Hand (Politics in the Pulpit)
Lately I have been shaking my head! As of late groups like the Black Hebrew Israelite's have used the sad truth that some white slave owners attempted to use the Gospel of Jesus Christ to control their slaves. Now, what type of evil makes one take a Gospel that should be liberating and uses it to control people, I can not define. How one justified their selfish desires, and through reading a Gospel of peace, found a way to take a verse or two, while omitting entire paragraphs, I will never understand. How one can read Genesis and see that God created Mankind, and then make those of different skin hues less than or half of a human being is truly far beyond my imagination. Their major claim to convert African American’s to their faith is that the white man used the faith to manipulate our ancestors, and thus the whole truth is not truth, rather a lie.
And while there logic is solid, it still does not make complete sense. The same Bible that evil men thought to use to control people; once read, liberated them. Those that could read (and by those, I mean a 1 or 2) began to read the Word of God for themselves, and the truth was revealed to them. They then stood on the Word and were able to obtain God’s will for their life and for those to come.
We need the same spirit to exist today! We need to read God’s Word for ourselves. We are facing the magic of the sleight of hand that prior generations faced. It’s not that of government printing propaganda, but from pulpits who are attached to political groups. Our faith interacts like a super pack contributing money to press an agenda, while exchanging votes for favor and prominence.
I watched clips of some of our most famous magicians, I was mesmerized at how they took the items which we had visual contact with, and were able to manipulate them in such a way, that even while paying attention, crowds of 100 were not able to catch the trick. People watch carefully to catch the trick, but lack the training to have a full understanding of what they are watching. This is what we face today. Not enough people are knowledgeable of God’s Word and have a personal relationship with Him to identify when they are being tricked by the sleight of hand.
Much of the sleight of hand is the character or personality with the cards. The voice and presentation of the magician makes the trick believable, thus making it magic. People are so trusting of a well tuned vocal chords or a trusting face, that they are easily fooled by that which they know is false.
They go home duped, and impressed that someone spent so much time figuring out how to trick them.
Ladies and gentleman, there are magicians among us. They omit and ignore scriptures, treating God’s word like a yo-yo, walk the dog, making it sleep, and go around the world while we watch in amazement and accept their deception as truth.
This blog is important because the hypocrisy of the people of God is the catalyst for many leaving the faith, or distancing themselves from it and staying away from the house of God. It is amazing to watch people demand that our current president not be questioned and followed, while they spent the past 8 years challenging authority and encouraging people to rebel. We can not stand on the scripture only when it benefits our position. God can not be manipulated. He knows the heart of us all, and is set against those that do evil. Being obedient to two scriptures does not make you right with God. If you break one law, you broke them all and are a law breaker.
It is sad to see people manipulate and massage the scripture to justify their political views and ungodly actions. It’s sad to see the pursuit of wealth being paralleled with the pursuit of righteousness or a sign that God is pleased with ones actions. Many people have chosen to do what is expedient as opposed to what it eternal, and this simply is not right. This, friends, is what led to previous evil and wickedness. It was further established by a quiet majority who remained silent while the country prospered from trade and goods. Though not all accepted this truth, someone had to speak up and read for themselves. Men and women of God who understood truth through God’s Word grew confidence and shared God’s Word and then took action to fight for what was right.
My heart goes out to those sitting in the audience of these magic shows. I cry for them, as they are caught in a deep fog because they chose not study for themselves. Much like a bull being led by a nose ring, is one who’s relationship with God and
knowledge of God’s will for the world and their life, is found through a person and not by seeking God for oneself.
I had a good laugh today, as so many of my conservative friends struggle to rationalize, how everything was the former president’s fault, and nothing is the current president’s fault. I laughed to tears as one of my friend called the prior president an embarrassment because he apologized for prior wrongs, and reached across the aisle to live at peace with our neighbors, and then found pride in one who speaks ill of our neighbors and threatens our neighbors. I crack myself up as evil is now identified as a country arming to defend itself, and as we are led by one who responds to talk-shows and tweets, and we insist that we are the only nation being led by someone responsible enough to manage nuclear power! I suppose those countries need to get America to Amend its constitution for the right to bare arms?
Is this the Christian Church? Or is this the American Church? Is Christ our head or a president or a pastor?
Why are our pews and seats are empty? The enemy is no longer identified as the Satan the adversary, but liberals, conservatives or other countries who are not democracies and who do not agree with American values (not christian values). Our members value free enterprise more than freed souls, and for this, we find ourselves blinded by lights and financial dreams that are painted by 1% who distance themselves from us and with the sleight of hand, created an ever changing road map to join their ranks.
In our foolishness, we have interpreted Christ as a business man more so than a humanitarian! This is a sleight of hand! This is Christianity Today. We can only pray that with our foolishness, we can say there will be Christianity Tomorrow.
#PastorJDO3
