THE FACE OF TRUTH? or THE FACE OF EVIL?

A  new HuffPost/YouGov poll, asked Democrats and Republicans about their opinions on a range of political proposals (universal healthcare, the Iran nuclear deal, affirmative action, etc.).  Half of the time the researchers said that the proposals came from Democrats (President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and/or John Kerry).  The other half they said the same ideas came from Republican Donald Trump.  The poll found that people’s positions on important political issues were more influenced by whom they thought the idea came from than by what the idea actually was.    (Read more here on the Huffington Post website.)

One of the poll items asked people if they supported or wanted to repeal the 1975 Public Affairs Act.  Republicans were more likely to support the 1975 Public Affairs Act when they were told that President Obama wanted to repeal it.  Democrats were more like to support keeping the 1975 Public Affairs Act when they were told Republicans wanted to repeal it.

P.S.  There is no 1975 Public Affairs Act.

In other words, for Democrats and for Republicans, for liberals and for conservatives, the party mattered more than the truth.

In John 3: 20, Jesus said “everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light.”  In verse 21, Jesus said, “he who does the truth comes to the light.”

Truth comes to light.  Evil doesn’t come to the light.

Jesus said that the opposite of truth is evil.

Political parties are not inherently evil.  But, absolute loyalty to a political party, or to any human institution, does and always has led to all kinds of EVIL.  Most Nazis during WWII never saw a concentration camp, but they supported their party.   Most White Southerners ,ca. 1781 – 1955, never murdered a Black person, but they revered the Klan and supported segregation.  Most of the ugliest episodes in human history have been carried out by people who personally knew little to nothing about the people they raped, murdered, and displaced.  They didn’t know the truth.  They only knew what their party told them.

Kill the Savages.

Hang the Niggers.

Death to America.

F*** the Police.

When historians arrive in the aftermath of party instituted atrocities, they pick through the rubble, and ask, “How could people have done such terrible things?”

Because the people didn’t know the truth.  And without truth, all you have is evil.

More and more, each of receives news tailored to our socio-political digital profile.  More and more, we see, hear, and read only what our party says.  We are increasingly isolated from the truth.  We are progressively conditioned for evil.

My side’s position isn’t true because it came from my side.  Your side’s either.  You and I have to put in the extra work to read the other side’s opinion, to dig into the mechanisms behind the study, to go 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 sources back to figure out how two equally qualified experts can reach such different conclusions. We have to discipline ourselves to stop immediately believing the expert who’s on “our side.”

We must pursue the truth, or we’ll end up serving truth’s opposite.  According to Jesus, the opposite of truth is evil.

Jesus said “ And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

(John 8: 32-34)

So you can either be a slave to your party’s sins (John 8: 34), or you can know the truth and counter the impetus to evil.

Only THE truth can make Americans free.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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WHO, MAY I ASK, IS CALLING?

My cell phone died (again) a few days ago, so I had to find an old phone and transfer my sim card.  However, my contacts didn't transfer from phone to phone.

Now, people who talk to you somewhat frequently don't give their names when they call or text  (because they assume that you have their names show up as one of your contacts). 

Soooo, I have a lot of missed calls, voice mails,  and text messages from disembodied numbers. 

The texts include:
WELL WHAT DID U DECIDE
DID U GET IT?
WILL THAT DATE WORK FOR U
PICK ME UP ON UR WAY IN
LOL
IKR
Y HAVNT U CALLED ME BACK

Detached from a specific name, these messages make no sense to me.  I don't know who said it, so I've no idea how to respond.

In the immediate sense, this means that when you send me a voice or text message, you should include your name so I can save your number in my contacts.

In a larger sense, there is a spiritual lesson here:    YOUR CALLING ONLY MAKES SENSE IF YOU UNDERSTAND WHO'S CALLING.

If your pastor, deacon, elder, or bishop asks you to do something it may seem pointless, like just another frivolous religious thing.  When you learn of a tragedy or social need in your community, your engagement can seem irrelevant, a wasted drop in the bucket of activism. 

But maybe, maybe the reason you don't feel compelled to do more is that you don't understand Who is actually calling. 

 

 

Jesus preached social activism (Matthew 25). 

The apostles asked members of the early church to step up to greater leadership (Acts 1; Acts 6).
The anointing of God is often revealed through the intercession of human beings.  Think of Samuel calling for David to be brought in out of the pastures (1 Samuel 16).

Before you respond to the offer or ambition of a new task or responsibility, pray and watch.  Discern if and how this opportunity fits with what you're supposed to be accomplishing.  Point blank ask God to show you whether this chance is part of or outside of His will.

Maybe the calling is actually from the Lord.  And, maybe not.

 

Remember that even genuinely anointed men/ women of God can make the human error of calling on you to do the opposite of what God wants simply because they think it's a good idea (1 Kings 13: 11-32).

You gotta know who's calling.

As for me and my phone situation, when I get a call or voicemail now, I listen very carefully to discern the voice and identity of the speaker.  If I can't figure it out, I confess my ignorance and ask point blank, "Who's this?"  When I get a text now from an unknown number, I send back the message: LOST MY CONTACTS. WHO IS THIS?

I do feel a little embarrassed, but I understand that unless I know WHOM THE CALL(ING) COMES FROM, I WON'T UNDERSTAND HOW I'M SUPPOSED TO RESPOND.

I  hope that you learn this lesson, too (preferably without your phone dying).

BLESSING AT THE SCHOOL INTERSECTION

At certain times in my life, God has positioned me with a particularly gifted group of people who are only together in a certain place for a limited time.  Those intersections of person, place, and anointing teach you things about your work and yourself that you could not have learned any other way.
 
I like to think that those intersections happen for all of us.  I know that when they happen we often don’t realize how special the moment was until it’s passed.

This past Friday night I realized that I had been at such an intersection, ironically in a context that supposedly excludes God.

Friday night, the youth praise dance team of the church I pastor performed before a packed house at the most powerful youth worship service I’ve ever been a part of.  The worship was at Anointed Remnant International Ministries, which is pastored by Rev. Willie Bradley.  I worked with Pastor Bradley/ Lt. Col. Bradley  when he was commander of the JROTC unit at Stanhope Elmore High School.

The youth conference was sponsored by the Gateway Youth Initiative, a ministry of the church pastored by Rev. Emmett Johnson.  I worked with Rev. Johnson/ Sgt. Major Johnson when he was JROTC instructor at SEHS prior to Pastor Bradley.

The M.C. for the youth conference was a young brother named Jhae Ray.  Brother Ray was my office aid while I was assistant principal at Stanhope Elmore High School.

The offering was blessed by a young minister named Damian Williams, who was a student while I was A.P. at SEHS.

The praise team that led devotion included 2 other graduates from my time as A.P. at SEHS.

The adult praise team of the host church was led by a man my wife taught at Carver High School.  His wife, one of the lead singers of the praise group, was my student at Carver Jr. High School. 

As youth choirs, soloists, praise teams, and youth preachers came forward to minister in an evening of mind blowing praise, prayer, and petition, I saw student after student and graduate after graduate who love Jesus with all their hearts and are deeply and dynamically engaged in the work of their churches.

We complain sometimes about the government taking God out of the schools, but I don’t think God ever actually left.  

I think that a lot of people in our schools stopped talking to God, but He never stopped being there.  

All the while some of us have been acting as if God was gone from public education, God has continued to work with and work on those of us who still seek him at school.  All the while God has continued to save, anoint, call, and commission students and educators to serve Him in magnificent ways.

I realize now how blessed I have been to walk the educational halls I’ve walked.  I see a little more clearly that Holy Spirit filled Christians in the public school system are not the powerless, nearly extinct species that we thought they were. 

I don’t quite understand it all yet, but I do see that those intersections inside the public school were more than progressions in a professional career.  They were Divine appointments as part of an eternal agenda. 

It’s not “just” school.  It’s an intersection of God’s people involved in God’s agenda.

I’ll remember that.

You, remember that.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer and consultant for education and ministry.

Call him at 334-288-0577
Email him at atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend Anderson at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

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