RECONSTRUCTION, SEGREGATION, AND THE WHITE CHURCH

Retired Professor of History and Black Church Studies and author of “Black Preaching,” Henry H. Mitchell, had been charged with “teaching Black Church history like it’s your own family album.” Mitchell admitted to the charge, adding that he had also written to raise the esteem of his Black people.

Nevertheless, Mitchell also has some good things to say about the White Church and their role in Reconstruction:

·       After the South was opened up to the missionaries, under protection of military occupation, the Protestant churches of the North launched a veritable crusade to bring literacy to the huge host of the newly freed. (Mitchell, Black Church Beginnings, 142)

Well, how great was this crusade? Mitchell investigated the annual reports of the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS):

·       I was stunned to see whole pages of names of people who had been sent south to do mission work. There were hundreds of these names, in tiny print, on page after page. (142)

·       Regardless of paternalism and hazards to African American self-esteem, it was this huge crew of volunteer and minimally paid instructors, of not just Baptist but all denominations, who laid the foundation for all the secondary and college work reported in the pages that follow. There may have been only a log cabin church to teach in at first; it may have been by firelight, but these volunteers taught their very hearts out. There simply isn’t room to begin to cover the host of primary reading classes that were begun in churches and elsewhere soon after the Union troops took over. (142-43)

Mitchell later lists a vast multitude of schools started by these White missionaries to train Black teachers, who gradually took their place:

·       There were, of course, some educated African Americans from the North hastening south to lift their sisters and brothers. But this vast number of newly freed African Americans required this white host at the outset… The first Southern generation of locally educated African American instructors was first trained in schools planted by white missionaries. (143)

Why am I writing about this? Well, for one thing, I was thrilled to read about this. I had been so tormented reading about how White Christians had failed their Black brethren during segregation. Reading about Reconstruction was a welcome relief.

This is certainly not because I am White and want to build my own self-esteem. Not at all! I am not White. Instead, I believe in the Church that Christ has purchased with His own blood and I rejoice when I see indications that our Lord still inhabits His people, and that this makes all the difference in the world.

Just the other day, a Black women solemnly informed me, “Whites do not love Blacks.” This perception needs to be countered.

I also do not want White Christians to carry undo guilt and to allow this false guilt to either silence them or to lead them into doing foolish things in a vain attempt to atone for their “sins.”

False guilt helps no one. As a panelist at a conference on racism, Professor Shelby Steele was asked what an ideal America would look like. He writes:

·       I said that what I wanted most for America was an end to white guilt... the terror of being seen as racist— [the] terror that has caused whites to act guiltily toward minorities even when they feel no actual guilt. My point was that this terror— and the lust it has inspired in whites to show themselves innocent of racism— has spawned a new white paternalism toward minorities since the 1960s that, among other things, has damaged the black family more profoundly than segregation ever did. I also pleaded especially for an end to the condescension of affirmative action... the benevolent paternalism of white guilt, I said, had injured the self- esteem, if not the souls, of minorities in ways that the malevolent paternalism of white racism never had. Post- 1960s welfare policies, the proliferation of “identity politics” and group preferences, and all the grandiose social interventions of the War on Poverty and the Great Society— all this was meant to redeem the nation from its bigoted past, but paradoxically, it also invited minorities to make an identity and a politics out of grievance and inferiority... their entitlement and that protest politics was the best way to cash in on that entitlement. (Shame: How America's Past Sins have Polarized the Country)

Steele believes that white guilt is now more destructive to the Black community than white racism. He argues that the very programs intended to help Blacks were not simply ineffective but actually damaged the Black community:

·       White guilt was a smothering and distracting kindness that enmeshed minorities more in the struggle for white redemption than in their own struggle to develop as individuals capable of competing with all others.

However, even more than this, I want to see the different races reconciled together as one in the Body of Christ. I want to remind my Black brethren that they are beloved, even though the White Church has often failed to show it in helpful ways that might result in healing and forgiveness.

Oneness in Christ was Jesus’ prayer (John 17:20-23). It should also be ours.

A PLEA TO MY BLACK BRETHREN IN CHRIST

You may not agree with everything that I say, but please know that I grieve about what you have experienced in our nation. I also grieve to see the Body of Christ torn apart by suspicion and resentment. I beg your forgiveness for whatever wrongs you have experienced, not only for Christ’s sake but also for all of us Christians:

·       “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15; ESV).

I long to see love and forgiveness prevail among us. However, so many churches seem to be going in an unbiblical and self-destructive direction.

Speaking at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Miami, Florida, Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam, preached that blacks "must" rise up and "…kill those who kill us"--if the federal government does not “intercede in our affairs" (The Blaze):

·       [Allah is] “looking for ten thousand in the midst of the millions, ten thousand fearless men who say death is sweeter than continued life under tyranny. Death is sweeter than to continue to live and bury our children while white folks give the killer hamburgers.”

·       “Death is sweeter than to watch us slaughtering each other to the joy of a four hundred year-old enemy…The Koran preaches persecution is worse than slaughter. Then it says, retaliation is prescribed in matters of the slave. Retaliation is a prescription from God to calm the breast of those whose children have been slain.”

·       “So if the federal government will not intercede in our affairs, then we must rise up and kill those who kill us. Stalk them and kill them.”

The fact that a Christian church would entertain such a message of hate, especially from a non-Christian, raises an important question: “Who is really your friend? Is it the one who agrees with your worldview and might use “agreement” to get what he wants? Or is it the one who has your ultimate welfare in mind but might not endorse the way you are looking at things right now in these heated, emotionally-charged times?”

Please, beware! The thief comes to kill and destroy. How? By posing as a friend, as a messenger of truth:

·       For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Farrakhan is not a friend of the Blacks, especially Black Christians. Although Muslims claim that they worship the same God as you, they are deceiving you in order to use you for their own advantage. In fact, they believe that you are damned:

·       Koran 5:75: They do blaspheme who say, “God is Christ, the son of Mary” …Whoever joins other gods with God—God will forbid him the Garden and the fire will be his abode.

·       Koran 3:85: If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the hereafter, he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).

Right now, the Muslims are making a big show of their solidarity with Black Lives Matter (BLM). Why? Remember the Scripture: “The thief comes only to kill and destroy.” Islam wants to use you for its own destructive purposes. Just look at the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood:

·       “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

Make no mistake—these are not your friends. They are those who want to exploit your feelings of alienation and anger, as they have done so effectively in the prisons.

Meanwhile, the Koran makes it plain that Muslims are forbidden to be friends with non-Muslims:

·       Koran Surah 3:27: “Let not the believers take the disbelievers for friends rather than believers. And whoever does this has no connection with Allah unless it is done [deceptively] to guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully.”

·       5:54: “O ye who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other.”

·       60:1: “O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies (i.e. disbelievers and polytheists) as friends, showing affection towards them, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth.”

·       60:4: “Indeed there has been an excellent example for you in Ibraaheem SHOULD THIS BE IBRAHIM, ? (Abraham) and those with him, when they said to their people: ‘Verily, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allaah, ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS SPELLING? we have rejected you, and there has started between us and you, hostility and hatred for ever until you believe in Allaah Alone.’”

How do Muslims understand these verses? One commentator writes (www.koranqa.com; fatwa 59879):

·       “Undoubtedly the Muslim is obliged to hate the enemies of Allaah and to disavow them, because this is the way of the Messengers and their followers.”

·       “Based on this, it is not permissible for a Muslim to feel any love in his heart towards the enemies of Allaah who are in fact his enemies too. Allaah says”: PERHAPS THESE LAST TWO WORDS SHOULD BE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FOLLOWING QUOTATION?

·       “But if a Muslim treats them with kindness and gentleness in the hope that they will become Muslim and will believe, there is nothing wrong with that, because it comes under the heading of opening their hearts to Islam. But if he despairs of them becoming Muslim, then he should treat them accordingly.”

Therefore, when the believing Muslim displays friendship, it is to deceive and to advance Islam. Muslims even regard Allah as the great deceiver. Consequently, it is totally okay for the Muslim also to deceive:

·       Koran 3:54; cf. 8:30:   “But they (the Jews) were deceptive, and Allah was deceptive, for Allah is the best of deceivers!”

·       Koran 7:99:   “Are they then secure from Allah's deception (makra Allahi)? None deemeth himself secure from Allah's deception (makra Allahi) save folk that perish.”  DOES THIS QUOTE MUDDY THE WATERS A BIT?

Yes, I can understand your feelings of anger, my brethren. I come from a people who have been persecuted for thousands of years. At one time, I too had wanted to kill Germans—to  settle the score—even if it meant my own destruction. Anger and hatred are powerful drugs. However, after Jesus laid claim to me, He began to release me from these damaging narcotics. He gave me something better—love and forgiveness.

Yes, we Christians had also failed to be your friends, especially during Segregation. I deeply grieve because of this. However, this wasn’t because of Christ or the teachings of the Bible. This was because of our own failures, our own sins. Please give us another chance. Please forgive. After all, Christ has called us to unity:

·       Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:2-6).

However, these are not the teachings of Islam. If you have any question about whether or not you are being deceived by Islam, just look at the genocide and sex slavery that Islam is waging against Christians in Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, and in Mali. Just look at the Black slavery that goes on even today--Muslims enslaving Blacks!

I grieve that “Christians” were also involved in the slave trade. However, there is a big difference here. While Islam sanctions the subjugation of Blacks, the Bible does not, not even in the slightest way. Instead, the Bible teaches against racial distinctions. Paul declared to the Athenians:

·       And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth (Acts 17:26; ESV).

It teaches that, in Christ, we are all one:

·       There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

We have failed you in many ways, but we are your friends, as we must be. Meanwhile, the Islamic religion teaches horrid things about Blacks from The Sayings of Mohammed:

1. 'Ubaidullah b. Abu Rafi', the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), said: When Haruria (the Khwarij) set out and as he was with 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) they said," There is no command but that of Allah." Upon this 'Ali said: The statement is true but it is intentionally applied (to support) a wrong (cause). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) described their characteristics and I found these characteristics in them. They state the truth with their tongue, but it does not go beyond this part of their bodies (and the narrator pointed towards his throat). The most hateful among the creation of Allah is one black man among them (Khwarij). One of his hands is like the teat of a goat or the nipple of the breast. When 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) killed them, he said: Search (for his dead body). They searched for him, but they did not find it (his dead body). Upon this he said: Go (and search for him). By Allah, neither I have spoken a lie nor has the lie been spoken to me. 'Ali said this twice and thrice. They then found him (the dead body) in a rain. They brought (his dead) body till they placed it before him (Hadrat 'Ali). 'Ubaidullah said: And, I was present at (that place) when this happened and when 'Ali said about them. A person narrated to me from Ibn Hanain that he said: I saw that black man.

2. Sahih Muslim 5:2334 “Shem, the son of Noah was the father of the Arabs, the Persians, and the Greeks; Ham was the father of the Black Africans; and Japheth was the father of the Turks and of Gog and Magog who were cousins of the Turks. Noah prayed that the prophets and apostles would be descended from Shem and kings would be from Japheth. He prayed that the African’s color would change so that their descendants would be slaves to the Arabs and Turks.”  (Al-Tabari, Vol. 2, p. 11, p. 11)
3. Ham [Africans] begat all those who are black and curly-haired, while Japheth [Turks] begat all those who are full-faced with small eyes, and Shem [Arabs] begat everyone who is handsome of face with beautiful hair. Noah prayed that the hair of Ham’s descendants would not grow beyond their ears, and that whenever his descendants met Shem’s, the latter would enslave them. (Al-Tabari, Vol. 2, p. 21, p. 21)

4. A man of B. al-'Ajilan told me that he was told that Gabriel came to the apostle and said, 'There comes to sit with you a black man with long flowing hair, ruddy cheeks, and inflamed eyes like two copper pots. His heart is more gross than a donkey's; he carries your words to the hypocrites, so beware of him.' This, so they say, was the description of Nabtal. (Ishaq:243)

5. "I have heard the Apostle say: 'Whoever wants to see Satan should look at Nabtal.' He was a sturdy black man with long flowing hair, inflamed eyes, and dark ruddy cheeks. He used to come and talk with the Prophet and listen to him. He would carry what he had said to the hypocrites. Nabtal said, 'Muhammad is all ears. If anyone tells him something he believes it.' Allah sent down concerning him: 'To those who annoy the Prophet and say that he is all ears, say, 'Good ears for you.' For those who annoy the Apostle there is a painful punishment." (Ishaq:2430)

6. It is your folly to fight the Apostle, for Allah’s army is bound to disgrace you. We brought them to the pit. Hell was their meeting place. We collected them there, black slaves, men of no descent. (Ishaq:450)

7. The black troops and slaves of the Meccans cried out and the Muslims replied, ‘Allah destroy your sight, you impious rascals.’ (Ishaq:374)

8. "Abu Darda reported that the Holy Prophet said: Allah created Adam when he created him (sic). Then He stroke (sic) his right shoulder and took out a white race as if they were seeds, and He stroke (sic) his left shoulder and took out a black race as if they were coals. Then He said to those who were in his right side: Towards paradise and I don't care. He said to those who were on his left shoulder: Towards Hell and I don't care. – Ahmad." (Mishkat, Vol. 3, p. 117)

9. Ahmad ibn Abi Sulayman, the companion of Sahnun said, “Anyone who says that the Prophet was black should be killed. (Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Qadi ‘Iyad, p.375)

10. And on the day of resurrection you shall see those who lied against Allah; their faces shall be blackened. Is there not in hell an abode for the proud? (Qur'an 39:60)

WORDS OF THE ISLAMIC SCHOLARS

1. Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was, among other things, an Islamic jurist, Islamic lawyer, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, and hafiz: "Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated."

2. (Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, 14th century) "beyond [known peoples of black West Africa] to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings."

3. Ibn Sina or Avicenna (980-1037), was, among other things, a Hafiz, Islamic psychologist, Islamic scholar, and Islamic theologian: [Blacks are] people who are by their very nature slaves. Quoted in “Blasphemy Before God: The Darkness of Racism In Muslim Culture” by Adam Misbah aI-Haqq

4. Ibn Qutaybah (828-889), was a renowned Islamic scholar from Kufa, Iraq: "[Blacks] are ugly and misshapen, because they live in a hot country."

6. Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274), was a Shia Muslim Scholar and Grand Ayatollah: "If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth -in no other peculiarity or property - except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent."

7.  [The Zanj (African) differ from animals only in that] their two hands are lifted above the ground,... Many have observed that the ape is more teachable and more intelligent than the Zanj.

8. Al-Muqaddasi (945/946-1000) was a medieval Muslim geographer "Of the neighbors of the Bujja, Maqdisi had heard that "there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people -- but God knows best. As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence." (Al-Muqaddasi (fl. 966), Kitab al-Bad' wah-tarikh, vol.4)

11. Al-Masudi (896-956), was a Muslim historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs.": "Galen says that merriment dominates the black man because of his defective brain, whence also the weakness of his intelligence."

12. Ibn al-Faqih was a Muslim historian and geographer: "A man of discernment said: The people of Iraq ... do not come out with something between blonde, buff and blanched coloring, such as the infants dropped from the wombs of the women of the Slavs and others of similar light complexion; nor are they overdone in the womb until they are burned, so that the child comes out something between black, murky, malodorous, stinking, and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions, such as the Zanj, the Somali, and other blacks who resemble them. The Iraqis are neither half-baked dough nor burned crust but between the two."

13. Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048), was an Islamic scholar and polymath: "The Zanj are so uncivilized that they have no notion of a natural death. If a man dies a natural death, they think he was poisoned. Every death is suspicious with them, if a man has not been killed by a weapon."

14. Hudud al-`Alam is a book dedicated to Abu l-Ḥārith Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, a ruler of the local Farighunid dynasty. "Their [Zanj] nature is that of wild animals. They are extremely black." "Among themselves [the Sudan] there are people who steal each other's children and sell them to the merchants when the latter arrive."

15. Hudud al-`alam, 982 AD: "[inhabitants of sub-Saharan African countries] are people distant from the standards of humanity" "Their nature is that of wild animals..."

16. Al Jahiz (781–869), was a famous Muslim scholar: "Like the crow among mankind are the Zanj [African Blacks] for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament."

17. Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2: "We know that the Zanj (blacks) are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions." (All of these quotations from Wikipedia)

Please forgive me for repeating such insulting comments. However, I think that it is necessary to warn you, my brethren. Why then are the Muslims embracing Black Lives Matter? To answer this, we must understand the Islamic agenda for world conquest:

·       Koran 8:37: “Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion (Islam) reigns supreme.”

·       Koran 4:5: “When the Sacred Months are over, kill those who ascribe partners [like Jesus] to God wheresoever ye find them; seize them, encompass them, and ambush them; then if they repent and observe prayer and pay the alms, let them go their way’.”

·       “…kill the disbelievers wherever we find them” (Koran 2:191) and “murder them and treat them harshly” (Koran 9:123), and “Strike off the heads of the disbelievers” (Koran 8:12, cp. 8:60)

Islam will use anything necessary to achieve world domination—violence and even false displays of friendship.

So then, who is your friend? I want to be your friend, and there are many White people who also want to be your friends. In fact, if we are true believers in our Savior, we MUST! Here is what our Lord prayed:

·       That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me (John 17:21-23).

Our unity is the last thing that the secular world wants to see. Therefore, they are busy trying to divide the Body of Christ by sowing political discord. Here is just one small example of this...

The charge of “racism” has often been issued by the Left against conservatives, but is it true? In "The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech," Kirsten Powers, a liberal democrat, details how leftists smear the right:

·       Mary Frances Berry, an African American and former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton, wrote in a Politico online discussion: “Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats.”

This should remind us of many similar charges, like the Republican party's imaginary "war on women." This is not just laughable, but also highly inflammatory! It is this kind of rhetoric that has caused racial division and even violence, but is it true? Powers continues:

·       Berry, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, added, “There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.”

Some African Americans might welcome such propaganda and even take it as evidence that the Left is on their side. But this political strategy has proved to be highly divisive and inflammatory, serving to further alienate black and white, even within the Church.

Finally, I do not believe that all Black Christians have been taken in by the deceptions I have described.  Some of my Black brothers and sisters are so intoxicated with the truth of Christ that they have honored our Savior with their forgiveness and love. They are my heroes.

I know that forgiveness is not easy. In contrast, for me to forgive the Nazis is relatively easy, since they are no longer a threat to me and mine. However, it might be more difficult for you to forgive if you believe that you are still the victim of “systemic racism” and “white privilege.”

I have purposely not touched upon these present concerns. Why not? Because it is more important to start with forgiveness! Why? Because unforgiveness is a drug that blinds! It had blinded me to such a degree that I had wanted to kill.

We have much to talk about, and there will be disagreements. As one brother had correctly stated: “Racial reconciliation is a not single conversation or even a conference but a long-distance marathon.” Let’s run it together!

Who is your Friend?

A highly respected Messianic Jewish leader recently announced that anti-Semitism is just Satanic, meaning that the Jewish people played absolutely no role in anti-Semitism.

I challenged him claiming that the Jews did play a part. Moses and all the Hebrew Prophets had warned the Jews that if they continued to turn their back on God, God would turn His back on them, and they would be hated by the nations.

Understandably, my words were offensive, but who is a friend of the Jews? The one who absolves them of all guilt or the one who calls them to confess their sins and find healing? Many regard their friend as the one who speaks comforting words. However, our Lord sees things differently:

• The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. (Lamentations 2:14)

The false prophets always spoke comforting and popular words. Had Israel’s shepherds confronted Israel with their sins, they might have repented and averted death and captivity.

I am certainly not suggesting that my Messianic friend is a false prophet, but this faithful leader is making the same mistake as the false prophets. Instead, the good shepherd must expose sin and not gloss over it, according to God’s instructions to Ezekiel:

• "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” (Ezekiel 33:7-8)

A friend will confront his people with their sins. Instead, the politician will tell them what they want to hear to get what he wants. In contrast, the faithful servant will seek the best for his friend and will not draw back from speaking painful but necessary words.

For many, Jason Riley’s words will be painful. He will even be called an “Uncle Tom” and a traitor, but in Please Stop Helping Us, Riley writes words we all need to hear:

• The intentions behind welfare programs, for example, may be noble. But in practice they have slowed the self- development that proved necessary for other groups to advance. Minimum-wage laws might lift earnings for people who are already employed, but they also have a long history of pricing blacks out of the labor force. Affirmative action in higher education was intended to address past discrimination, but the result is fewer black college graduates— particularly in the fields of math and science— than we’d have in the absence of racial preferences. And so it goes, with everything from soft-on-crime laws that make black neighborhoods more dangerous to policies that limit school choice out of a mistaken belief that charter schools and voucher programs harm the traditional public schools that most low- income students attend. 

Conservatives have oft spoken against the negative effects of the welfare system. For this, they have been labeled “racist.” The church has been widely criticized for betraying their mandate to care for the poor. However, if the entitlement programs have done more to hurt the poor than to help, there may be sound reasons for the church’s opposition.

Opposition to the welfare system is not merely anecdotal. It is both empirical and logical, according to Riley:

• Time and again the empirical data show that current methods and approaches have come up short. Upward mobility depends on work and family. Social programs that undermine the work ethic and displace fathers keep poor people poor, and perverse incentives put in place by people trying to help are manifested in black attitudes, habits, and skills. Why study hard in school if you will be held to lower academic standards? Why change antisocial behavior when people are willing to reward it, make excuses for it, or even change the law to accommodate it?

Conservative and Liberal alike can agree that the Black community continues to suffer. However, they differ greatly in their analysis. While Liberals blame the system for the fact that there is a disproportionate percentage of Blacks behind bars, Riley writes:

• Although black civil rights leaders like to point to a supposedly racist criminal justice system to explain why our prisons house so many black men, it’s been obvious for decades that the real culprit is black behavior— behavior too often celebrated in black culture.

If black behavior is the cause, then black behavior must be addressed and not the alleged racist system. Meanwhile, the disparity is growing worse in many areas. Riley writes:

• In September 2011 white unemployment was 8 percent, versus a unemployment rate of 16 percent. For black men it was 18 percent, and for black teens the jobless rate topped 44 percent. Nor was employment the only area where blacks as a group had regressed economically under Obama. According to the Census Bureau, black homeownership rates in 2011 had fallen to a point where the black- white gap was the widest since 1960, wiping out more than four decades of black gains.

• When Fox News’s Sean Hannity asked black talk- show host Tavis Smiley in October of 2013 if black Americans were “better off five years into the Obama presidency,” Smiley responded: “Let me answer your question very forthrightly: No, they are not. The data is going to indicate, sadly, that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category. On that regard, the president ought to be held responsible.” 

Many ascribe the problems to underlying racism and its determination to exclude blacks from society. Sometimes it is called “systemic racism,” a sinister and unseen master-plot to keep blacks in their place. Why do the Leftists invoke this imaginary conspiracy? Since it is an incontrovertible fact that there is no longer legal racism! All of the racist laws of the USA have been over-turned. Therefore, the blame-spinners must re-envision racism in another way. Even black-on-black crime is a product of this conspiracy. However, Riley resists the blame-game:

• Race consciousness helps cohere the political left, and black liberalism’s main agenda is keeping race front and center in our national conversations. That’s why, for example, much more common black-on-black crimes take a back seat to much less common white-on-black crimes. The last thing that organizations like the NAACP want is for America to get “beyond” race. In their view, racial discrimination in one form or another remains a significant barrier to black progress, and government action is the best solution. 

Is Riley a friend to his black people? Not according to most Leftists who instead regard him as an “Uncle Tom!” However, Riley wants to protect his people from certain destructive notions – namely, the belief that there is a plot against them. It is this kind of belief that will inevitably keep them down.

Such a belief might be comforting – the white man can be blamed instead of engaging in painful self-examination – but it will prove costly. What white employer will seek to hire a black youth after watching the Ferguson riots!

Truly, the human race will never reach a place where we will all regard our fellow humans as equals. There will always be racism - both black and white. However, we have made massive strides. Meanwhile, the attempt to spread the idea that blacks are still the victims of a massive, covert, and systemic plot to exclude them from society can only engender bitterness, resignation, and violence – the very things that we are seeing today in growing numbers.

How then should we be a friend? John and Charles Wesley prayed to the Lord about their disintegrating society, where the preaching of the Gospel was often accompanied by violent reactions. Nevertheless, by the grace of their Savior, they were able to organize new believers and seekers into home-fellowships where they studied the Bible, prayed, confessed their sins, and committed themselves to follow Jesus.

What was the impact? Charles White, professor of Christian Thought and History at Spring Arbor University, writes:

• The Methodists made such an impact on their nation that in 1962 historian Elie Halevy theorized that the Wesleyan revival created England’s middle class and saved England from the kind of bloody revolution that crippled France. Other historians, building on his work, go further to suggest that God used Methodism to show all the oppressed peoples of the world that feeding their souls on the heavenly bread of the lordship of Christ is the path to providing the daily bread their bodies also need. (Mission Frontiers, Sept-Oct 2011, 6)

• Coming to Christ through the Methodist movement changed the lives of a million people in Britain and North American in the eighteenth century….most of these people and their children moved from the desperation of hand-to mouth poverty to the security of middle-class life as they made Christ their Lord and experienced the impact of His power on their economic lives. As these people moved up the social ladder, they began to influence the political life of their nation. They helped to transform Britain from as eighteenth-century kleptocracy – where the powerful fueled their lives of indulgence by exploiting the poor into a nineteenth century democracy – which abolished slavery and used its empire to enrich the lives of every subject of the crown. (9)

This is what it means to be a friend!