The voice is the most powerful resource a human being has been given by God. Part of my calling is to help you find your voice, craft your message, and speak it clearly to the world. Your voice matters!
Yes, I have taken some heat because of my support of my Christian black brothers and sisters who last Sunday, in prayer, asked God to help Americans see that black lives matter. I again want to commend the Church of God in Christ for using their voices to bring a deep wound to the forefront of the national Assemblies of God consciousness.
Today, if I understand the story correctly, a man greatly sinned against God, the people of our nation, the entire family of police officers in our country, the by-standers, his girlfriend, two police officers, and all of their friends and families.
Murder is among the worst of all sins. Murdering a person properly placed by God’s shared authority for the protection of the population is among the worst of the worst sins. In no uncertain terms the intentional, pre-meditated, surprise attack against peace officers, today and always, is not acceptable for any reason, ever.
To say “all lives matter” isn’t adequate. Officer Rafael Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu’s lives matter. These officers have been robbed of their breath, joys, future and their lives. No more Christmases, birthday parties, weddings, or sunsets on the beach for them. They have experienced Cain’s sin against Abel.
Allegedly the accused, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, then committed the cowardly sin of suicide. If this is accurate, Ismaaiyl Brinsley completed sin in 360 degrees- he was wicked, in ways that defy reason, to the entire world and in every dimension.
It is clear. The human heart is capable of EXTREME evil. Morality, decency, respect, and honor can quickly be replaced by hatred, vile violence, immorality, indecency, disrespect, and dishonor. In a flash, a human being can become, as it were, a demon of hell.
Brothers and Sisters, this is why it is VITAL that we learn to find our voice and allow the other to find their’s too. As followers of Jesus we fight injustice with our words not weapons, language not Lugers, sentences not swords, grammar not guns, prayer not pistols, and verbally not with violence.
In my world of wishes, Ismaaiyl Brinsley would have been walking down a Brooklyn street last Sunday and heard some amazing music wafting out of a local Christian church, maybe one like the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Interested in the terrific sound and feel of the music, he decides to walk in and check out what’s going on.
He can hardly fathom what he sees. People of all ethnicities are harmoniously and energetically worshiping with song and dance. The love flowing in the racially diverse crowd is so different from the feelings he has inside; feelings of oppression, white aggression, hate, anger, and murder.
The next thing he sees rocks his emotional world. The pastor walks to the center of the stage and says, “Folks, today we will be in prayer for our nation. Today we are honoring Black Lives Matter Sunday. If you are here today and your heart is hurting, you can’t make sense of Grand Jury decisions, it seems to you that the world is intentionally stacked against those among us who are black, and your heart is full of rage, please know that you and your pain matters to us and to Jesus. The best way to deal with life’s injustices is to use your voice to cry out. The Bible is full of people crying out against injustice. Please come and talk with us. We won’t argue against you and your position, we won’t demean you, in fact we will honor you and your voice.”
If only.
Maybe Wenjian and Ramos would be alive today.