January 2015
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Lk 12:48
We live in a world where there has been an abundant supply of everything needed for survival and comfort though power over resources has often fallen into the hands of the wicked. God ordained that the righteous would prevail in the earth and has had to overthrow the destructive forces of organized corruption time and time again. He placed the earth under the rule of the righteous with the intention that they would prevail against the wicked using His authority and power. If God is to prevail and He will, then righteousness must also prevail. Jesus Christ was sent into the earth to restore the knowledge of God’s righteous way for life on earth. That knowledge has come but men are still excelling in wickedness; and it is time for the righteous to make their voices heard.
At a time when technology and modes of communication dominate our society, one would not expect much hindrance in spreading the gospel to all parts of the world as Jesus commissioned His disciples. However, during this time of ingenious inventions and social ease, there seems to be little interest in propagating the true gospel to all men. There is an explosion of religions, many with man-lead organizations that suppress the Spirit of God and lead believers in a fruitless practice of religion. There is too little guidance that emphasizes the truth that Jesus Himself proclaimed and the gospel message has often been perverted to something that soothes rather than bring soul conviction. Nevertheless, Jesus proclaimed His church and the truth would prevail.
Christianity went into the nations after Christ’s crucifixion and has gone worldwide during the last millennium primarily by Caucasian Christians, who advanced exploration and exploitation of lands from Europe to China, to Africa and the Americas. The Caucasian people that made up the European continent, informally called white people, settled in lands around the globe. We have seen their Christian advancement of the gospel that started before the Christian crusades and that continues to the present day Sunday worship services.
It would be helpful here to study the term “Caucasian,” to understand where it originated and to whom it pertains.
The German philosopher Christoph Meiners (1747-1810) coined the term “Caucasian race” in his The Outline of History of Mankind (1875). The term “Caucasians” was used to relate to Meiners’ theory of only two races: Caucasians and Mongolians of which the Caucasians were considered more physically attractive than Mongolians because they had paler skin, were also more sensitive and more morally virtuous than Mongolians. Later he would make similar distinctions within the Caucasian group, concluding that the Germans were the most attractive and virtuous people on earth. (Writer’s note: And we know how this belief went terribly wrong through Hitler’s Holocaust that incinerated Jews.) Meiners put forth that Caucasians had the “whitest, most blooming and most delicate skin”. Europeans with darker skin he considered “dirty whites”, admixed, with Mongolian. Such views were regarded as the main difference between races. This view was shared by the French naturalist Julien-Joseph Virey, who believed that the Caucasians were only the palest-skinned Europeans.
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752 –1840), a German professor of medicine and member of the British Royal Society, who is considered one of the founders of the discipline of anthropology expanded on Meiners’ popular idea and defined five human races based on color,…Caucasian as the “white race,” as well as Mongoloid as the “yellow race,” Malayan/”brown race,” Ethiopian/”black race,” American/”red race. In the 3rd edition of his On the Natural Variety of Mankind, Blumenbach moved skin tone to second tier importance after noticing that poorer European people (such as peasants) whom he observed generally worked outside, often became darker skinned (“browner”) through sun exposure. He also noticed that darker skin of an “olive-tinge” was a natural feature of some European populations closer to the Mediterranean Sea. Alongside the anthropologist Georges Cuvier, Blumenbach classified the Caucasian race by cranial measurements and bone morphology in addition to skin pigmentation, and thus considered more than just palest Europeans (“white, checks rosy”) as archetypes for the Caucasian race.
Meiners’ classification was not grounded on any scientific criteria and it was Blumenbach who gave it scientific credibility and a wider audience, by grounding it in the new quantitative method of craniology. (Source: http://www.ask.com/wiki/caucasian)
“Wait, do white people really come from the Caucasus? It’s highly unlikely. There are scholarly disagreements about how and when some of our dark-skinned ancestors developed lighter skin, but research suggests humans moved across the Asian and European continents about 50,000 years ago. Some anthropologists think that natural selection would have favored lightening mutations as humans moved away from the equator and faced a diminished threat from ultraviolet exposure. In this case, it’s possible that light skin would have evolved in many places independently.”
(Source: Do White People Really Come From the Caucasus?; How Caucasians Got Their Name, Derek Thompson, Aug. 2008, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/08/do_white_people_really_come_from_the_caucasus.html)
The study of the term “Caucasian” helps us to identify the cause of so much racial tension, even in Christianity. So contrary to the sound, Caucasians do not originate from Caucasus, a land that exists between the Black and Caspian Seas. When we learn that this term was begun by some misguided individual who made up a race category using unchristian and unscientific reasoning in a prejudicial way, it should help us to overcome racial bias that originated from it and find a way to love all people. The Christian faith is intended to reveal the truth and destroy the lies of Satan, from whom dissension and division was birthed, and bring mankind back into the family of God. Whereas the Puritans sought to purify their religion and church, some men both past and present have sought to purify a race based on what they define as outward beauty. The Christian white church must come out of the closet, stand up and denounce this error and pattern that is destroying the unity of Christian believers.
The present day gospel is the story of promises God made to Abraham, the father of the Jews, and its fulfillment through the Immaculate Conception and birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Both believing and non-believing Jews were scattered around the globe after the destruction of the Jewish Temple and this aided dissemination of the gospel message to the nations by the preaching of the early Disciples of Christ. Apostle Paul, a Jewish believer, was commissioned to take the gospel to gentile (non-Jew) nations where it was advanced through verbal and written forms to the masses.
Not only is the history of nations riddled with violence and bloody battles as people sought to gain controlling power over territory but the gospel stories are also riddled with violence as people used the bible to promote their own causes. King James I of England sponsored translation of the bible into a form suitable for people’s personal use on the newly invented printing press. European nations had embraced the gospel but there existed a hierarchical order that denied commoners access to the bible or equal rights and privileges. The Christian Church of England also practiced selling indulgences or receiving money from believers to escape the punishment of God for sin. This practice was protested by the German Catholic priest, Martin Luther, who launched the present day Protestant churches.
The Christian message in Europe migrated to America where there was to be liberty and freedom to worship God without fear of church or government retribution. History records the variety of beliefs and how they overcame these differences to become a unified people. Even those who did not confess Christ (Deists), nevertheless, believed God ruled over the natural elements. United across ancestral and faith lines, the colonists worked for the common good of the nation of America. They were no longer identified by their ancestral heritage but were called Americans and generally referred to as whites, in opposition to those identified by dark skin: Africans, Mexicans, Indian, etc.
It took thousands of years for the Caucasian race to arrive at the unity of government, religion and social life now enjoyed as one society in America. They overcame the inherited disagreements of their native lands and settled into a civility that allowed for the nation to prosper as one people. But unlike the sharing and commonality realized by the European immigrants to America; the dark-skinned American inhabitants from Africa, Mexico, Indigenous People of Native America, and the Islands were not received into this commonality. This latter group of people were considered as outsiders and unworthy of equal enjoyment of the great freedom and privileges of America’s white population. America’s white populations ostracized their own race that were considered poor, ignorant or trash. The Europeans immigrants from across the waters still have not escaped their desire for elitism, privilege or class. Once the height of pride is reached, only the intervention of God can correct it.
Christ died to start a kingdom that would promote a sharing of wealth and resources among Christian believers. Contrary to the European kingdoms, it specifically rejects the discrimination of God’s benefits to people based on any physical attributes. Christ was crucified so that all people could be welcomed into God’s kingdom and share blessings based on faith in Christ alone. This was Christ’s message to the world. The Day of Pentecost saw people of various race, tongues and ethnicity enjoy the outpouring of Christ’s Spirit and birthing into the commonality that is Christ’s kingdom and true Christianity.
This commonality of faith in Christ and acceptance of people without regard to their European heritage is the spirit that started the nation of America. These ideals are why so many lives were lost to free America from Europe’s control. Issues of slavery had already been settled by the Europeans before the colonization of America. Slavery had been found to be ungodly, inhumane and illegal in Europe as Christian evangelists sought to deliver the conscious of the people from the prejudice and elitist spirit of that day. European preachers brought their evangelism against slavery to the American colonies. It took many years and even war to break the practice of slavery in America but it was abolished. Abolition of slavery came by force of war but it was not a total victory for the conscience of Americans as the prejudice of class, religion and color continued to separate its citizens.
American churchgoers today enjoy a great outpouring of God’s power and spirit. The worship of God has grown from solemn ecumenical services to high praise and worship of Christ with joyful singing and dancing like never before. But this nation recently expanded the definition of equality to include all familial situations and sexual orientations that jeopardizes modern Christianity. The religion of Christianity has reached a zenith in America where one can find a Christian church on most any block and yet it barely resembles the faith of the early Christians. Democracy has replaced the priority of Christian practices in America. It is amazing that after more than a millennium of Christian history and the revelation of God that the European immigrants would slide back into the prejudice of pre-American days. The European immigrants fought to abolish slavery; but after their more than 200 years of independence are courting a desire to disregard the Constitution and return to a cast system. What a mockery to its inception and original commitment!
The Christian message of love that should have propelled the European immigrants from abolition of slavery to true American liberty for all has reached a roadblock and rapid decline in the United States. Truly the saying that one-who-does-not-learn-from-his-past-is-bound-to-repeat-it has proven itself true. The Caucasian people set free from past European bondage now seek to return to days of darkness. The Christian message did not deliver their souls. Can one have this darkness of soul and yet obtain heaven? The Commandment of God in the New Testament is summed up in loving God and loving one’s neighbor. Hating a whole race or several races based on outward appearance or other attributes is not the love God commanded. Many souls that left this life with battered, bruised or mutilated bodies will meet those yet to arrive.
Where there were great men of faith (who stood up against the racial bias of the past, there seem to be little representation of that bold faith today. We have seen in America religious men possessing great revelatory knowledge, wealth, technology, hi-tech means of communication and transportation who fail to champion the charge to share Christ’s heart to all people. America has had great revivals that cleansed it of poor judgments, prejudice and habits as it swept the nation. We have even seen a great renewal and revival being birthed through a black man named William J. Seymour in the Azusa Street Revival that brought together blacks and whites from near and far to worship Christ in Spirit and truth. Great church organizations and movements still exist today that were birthed through that revival even though they have settled back into denominations divided by color. A pursuit of wealth and comfort on earth has silenced the tongue and conscience of many charged with representing Christ to the multitudes. Early Christian evangelists traveling from Europe to America kept their charge to reach the lost even under threat of death. Some early evangelists died from sheer exhaustion or bad weather as they traveled exalting the message of Christ. But many of today’s mega churches with cushioned chairs, hi-tech PA systems, and air conditioning will not herald the truth of God’s word.
It takes the naked truth to break the stronghold of lies the devil wants the church to believe. Too few ministers are teaching the unadulterated truth of the Word. Christ taught that you will know the truth and the truth would make you free. But the truth has to be heard for one to choose it over the lie. Perverted messages given to churches cannot deliver the soul from the grips of lies, prejudice and deception so widely accepted in society. There is an army arising against our faith at this hour that is not afraid to die for what they consider to be truth. But many people seeking the real truth have not heard it in these churches. If you wonder why America does not repent of her many sins, consider what the bible asks:
“… and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Rom 10:14-15)
Christ spoke boldly as did Paul that not everyone proclaiming to be a preacher speaks truth. Paul called it another gospel. The bible has been distributed worldwide and Caucasian descendants of many nations, especially America, have been given greater liberty than any previous people to impact the world. This advantage can be used for good or evil. But to whom much is given, much will be required. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (Jas 4:17). We saw in history how white Christians sat back as Hitler, seeking a pure race of whites, prepared to wipe out the Jews in Germany. They felt no responsibility to intervene in the problem until it came to their own doorstep. The white Christian church in America is similarly ignoring problems of race, immigration, morality and social issues while focusing on a perverted gospel of compiling wealth. The urgency of Christ’s message has taken a back seat to the promotion of riches. But Christ did not come to preach wealth. His message was salvation, healing and deliverance from captivity of sin and an open door for all people to be birthed into God’s kingdom. Where Christ’s message promised prosperity, it was through obedience to God’s voice. It was never to put the goal of wealth ahead of the other requirements of Christ. Believers are called to first receive Christ’s empowerment to love their fellow man. God’s power of love can dissolve divisive problems as it did after the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Christ was sent into the earth to teach us the way of love. Remember God created a plentiful supply on earth, so Christ’s Sermon on the Mount did not focus on wealth but instead on man’s crucial need of salvation:
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Mat 6:31-33
The congregants of the Church of England had many barriers to the truth that today’s church does not:
• The gospel was written in Latin and access restricted to leaders
• Many laypersons were not able to read and write.
• Personal bibles were not available for everyone to read.
• Many did not have the Holy Spirit.
• There was a lack of spirit-filled preachers.
• They were compelled by law to accept the state-run religion.
• They did not have liberty to protest their leaders.
Americans have liberty and a multitude of methods to understand Jesus’ teachings and escape religious lies. The information age has been very revealing of past and present inequalities. Once our sin is revealed to us, it is time to repent. God, the Father, nor Jesus ever told any people to seek things first and then try to love people but that is what is being practiced as Christianity. It is a lie straight from the pits of hell and Christians should know better.
America is not repenting because there are too few preachers preaching the real truth. It is the truth that sets people free not a white-washed gospel or inspirational messages of self promotion and well being. Christ never spoke to his disciples of promoting themselves above others or of compiling wealth for days of ease. That is a perverted gospel being preached to churchgoers in America. Everyone desires more wealth and churches are feeding people a message of prosperity rather than seeking the Savior. God demands to be first and will not take second place to any idol or money. So there are many people who have missed Christ while seeking wealth. Some of these churches may be mega but they are also poor. Its people are even poorer still while the truly poor in spirit are not helped and the unbeliever and world are still lost.
The Republican Party that fought to free the slaves through American laws are now turning to re-enslave them through enacting laws that restrict voter rights, employment crisis, black imprisonment, poor housing, abuse in policing, inadequate education, etc. The south that fought to keep Africans in slavery by force through war has now found a way to re-enslave African descendants by commandeering the legal system that once overruled them. And the irony of the whole matter is that African descendants, now physically free to choose, are insistent they have no home but America. Many have forgotten the lessons of history and are making foolish new commitments that are destructive. The threats against the nation today are leading the nation frighteningly close to the one world government that is prophesied for the end times.
The European immigrants that came to America to save their souls are now willing to give their souls to save a new version of America that has little resemblance to the past ideals of virtue and integrity. So what is the state of the souls of whites who practice racial hatred? God’s commandment is love and many whites are not showing that divine love for their neighbors who are black, brown, red or yellow.
A house is only as good as its foundation and America’s foundation has not only been weakened, but it has been ripped up and cast aside for a new virtual foundation based on the virtual American dollar. There is nothing new under the sun and God has already prepared His message for our current dilemma:
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Jer 2:1- 2.
And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. Jer 2:7)
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Jer 2:5
Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? (Jer 2:21)
The leading scripture above was taken from Luke Chapter 12 where Christ warned his disciples: “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy.” Today we would probably say, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.” But many have drunk the Kool-Aid of deception and refuse to deny the poison. Christ, Himself, warned His disciples of the deception of the religious leaders. No one is limited to the teaching of religious leaders today because every person can get the Word through the bible and God will give clarity. Jesus scolded the scribes and Pharisees for hypocritical leadership. Would He do any different to our leaders today? Jesus said,
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in (Mat 23:13 )”.
True Christians are those that follow Christ and His teachings. Everything outside of Christ is a lie and will not prosper in the end. Everyone will stand before God in judgment for the deeds done in their body, but greater punishment will go to those given the most as stated in Luke 12. Caucasians that came to America as European immigrants have risen to great privilege and wealth and they have come to realize together what they could not realize separately. But God has already spoken of people coming together as one people and setting out to do that which was evil and perhaps some remember the results.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: Gen 11:6
The nation of American must realize that the richness it has been privileged to obtain was for the purpose of doing good, not evil. This nation and Caucasians have been given every advantage and blessing and they will find no excuse before a righteous God. When it seems that God is no longer watching and there is liberty to do anything one chooses, consider: God removes His hand before allowing one to self-destruct (Rom 1:18, 24).
America derived its success through the transformation of various nations, people and beliefs but now pays no homage to any nation, people or god but itself. Everyone who graduates bestows honor on those that assisted the accomplishment. To credit no one, not even God, is the height of pride but God will not be denied His glory.
God said through Prophet Hosea:
Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteous upon you (Hos 10:12).”
Jesus proclaimed:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel (Mk 1:15).”
Repentance requires knowing you have sinned and changing the mind to turn from the wrong to the right.Truth can be difficult to receive because no one wants to admit error. The Holy Spirit said through Paul:
“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).” Jesus said: “There is none good but one, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (Mt 19:17).”
The indictment against the wicked of every nation, color, ethnicity or belief comes from God, Himself:
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Isa 1:4
God shows us our sin out of love so we can correct it and walk in truth with Him. The intercession of Christ through His death was atonement to save all people. His blood was shed to atone (offer forgiveness) for every sin of every person who accepts it. Christ alone is the way out of the wrath to come. Jesus said, “Surely I come quickly;” therefore every believing soul should cry, Come Lord Jesus.
Note to my white brothers and sisters in the faith: Efforts to always excel (even to the point of absorbing, assimilating and acquiring what belonged to others), may be evidence of a pride that will cause one to miss God’s ultimate calling for him. “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. (Mk 10:44). God promises to send His followers a prophet from among their own people. One of your own prophets spoke truths that some thought to be foolishness. I was blessed to receive of his impartations before he deceased. The biblical Jews missed their Prophet and Deliverer because of looking high when God often chooses to come through things that are low. May the hearts of the people become one in Christ as Jesus prayed to the Father and may we be ready at His coming. (Jn 17:11).
The writer is first and foremost called of God as a prophet to the church and is the author of the book, “Elephant in the Room: The Economy and Whose Job It Is To Fix It?” As an African American of more than 50 years and 30 years as a Spirit-filled Christian, she is prepared by God to speak to today’s dilemma without the hindrances of church dogmas that conflict with the Word of God. For further information, go to: joycerebapayneministries.com, joycerebapayneministries.wordpress.com or livingit4real@hubpages.com. The book is available at: http://www.amazon.com, http://www.lulu.com or the author at: PO Box 3325, Durham, NC 27702, jrpmail2003@yahoo.com
Truth and Life Ministries of Christ with Apostle Joyce Reba Payne 