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Meditations of a christizen (christian-citizen)upon today's topics. |
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I, Brother James, cultivated through my imagination 'The Word Courier's Journal'. It is but one of several literary efforts so conceived to include the "Word", the mind altering, eye opening, lifesaving Gospel of Jesus Christ into the everyday conversation on those things deemed relevant to readers. I and all other followers of the Lord are called to witness. Jesus said "Go therefore and teach all nations..." (see Matthew 28:19 KJV Holy Bible) Here lies my modest attempt to introduce the unknowing people to the Lord and immerse they who know Him in discussion with respect to His outlook on all that matters. |
| A former Sunday school teacher of mine said that “if you can’t take it, you can’t make it.” Today we celebrate the legacy of #42 Jackie Robinson. He was the first black man to become a major league baseball player. He became such because he could take it. What he took is unfathomable to most people of today. And let’s not forget Larry Doby, the first black man to play in the American League. He went through the same experience. Imagine going to work each and every day and dealing with hatred and venom openly spewed at you by co-workers, customers, competitors and everyone else you come across. And you are alone in being targeted like this. Cat calls, death threats and the like a daily occurrence. The same sickness that made his life miserable played out on Bloody Sunday nearly 10 years after he retired. And what insanity is that? That which has always been a part of America. Too many in America since the beginning have had and continue to foment this infatuation with the genetic marker that denotes their race, the biologically challenged concept that’s always been a part of American life. How sick is it to simply look at someone and loathe him/her at sight? I get looking at someone and liking them for no other reason than how they look. I am guilty as charged of that. This seems a natural response. But how is it you look at someone and despise them to the core? Maybe I’m the outlier here but it seems unnatural and unholy, to hate on sight and on sight alone. To hate someone not having any real knowledge of their character, background or circumstance is inexcusable. Those that find themselves doing so need Jesus. And NOT the caricature heathen cultured Jesus image that so many in today’s phony cultural wars put forward but rather He of the Holy Scriptures. Their obsession is such that it’s not merely familial or ancestry pride or a celebration of cultural significance but instead a belief of God given favor. And that being favor or privilege that belongs to one simply based upon race. However, we’re supposed to reform ourselves into the image of the biblical Jesus Christ as opposed to changing his image to suit us. For those who subject the Lord’s image for theirs breach the first commandment given that “thou shall have no other gods before me.” As such, their racial pedigree is effectively their God. To give your race, skin color (or anything else for that matter) the reverence reserved for God is wrong. We have people here that idolize their genetic marker. This then is idolatry, and by default so many that want to identify as Christian are partaking in idolatry of the worse kind, self-worship. It is the enemy the devil who worships himself. It was Jackie Robinson’s faith and Christ like character that provided him the right and tough enough stuff to face the hate he encountered. Likewise, the Christ like faith of one Branch Rickey, the Dodgers general manager stood out. Here was a white man in a world of which being white was equated with being right who challenged the status quo. Here was a man more in tuned to the Christ in him than to the white on him, demanded that America live up to her lofty language and apply it to this most American of sports. The integration of baseball was a forerunner of the modern civil rights movement. This as many advances in our society is the fruit of Gospel ministry. When people of God practice authentic Christ Covenant behavior things get better for everyone. When we decide to minister outside the comfort zone of church and corrupt culture the world is made better. I |
| The oft quoted Scripture Leviticus 17:11 begins with “For the life of the flesh is in the blood:” Scriptural verses surrounding this verse expressly forbid the ingestion of blood as it concerned the children of Israel and their guest. The reason being when blood as the life-giving element belongs to the Lord. Now I have often said “life is in the blood” when encouraging people to donate blood on social media platforms. The reason being that life is in the blood. I understand that there are those who look upon my donation of blood and another person’s receiving of such (even for medical emergency) as going against the spirit of Leviticus 17:11 and other Scriptures that speak to the matter. I disagree with that assessment. But I won’t get into detail on that in this Word Courier blog entry. Rather I intend to write about the irony of giving blood on Monday April 10th, the day after the Resurrection Sunday celebration popularly known as Easter. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. It is actually Good Friday in which blood was shed. Having said that, people who died upon the cross didn’t bleed to death. The death came about by a suffocation from within the body’s internal organs. The end result was death nonetheless. The blood Jesus shed was akin to the Old Testament sacrifice of animals in which life was lost to atone for sin. Today, His one sacrifice is good for now and the future therein. We live and can live eternal life for that sacrifice. The Red Cross blood donations are not nearly as demanding as the sacrifice endured by doves, bullocks, other creatures, and our Lord. Yet these blood offerings save lives. And I am glad and proud to be a part of that. Blood does make a body live. When the need is there blood must be given. When a loved one goes to the hospital it’s often another’s blood that saved and or healed them. I like to think that I choose to save lives and heal. I get to metaphorically (but not actually cause then I’d need medical care) break my arm patting myself on the back. I really like it when weeks later Red Cross sends me an email that tells me my blood was used at X, Y or Z hospital for a patient in need. I also like the cool gifts they offer for giving blood. That’s why I say it’s ironic that I gave following the celebration of the ultimate act of life giving blood. |
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