In recent days we have watched events unfold in Ferguson, MO following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. Circumstances surrounding this shooting are still unfolding and the full truth is not yet known. Americans, and certainly all believers, should reserve final judgment until all the facts are presented. However, this incident along with others in recent memory, expose a glaring problem in our nation.
No one can argue that there have always been divisions in America going all the way back to its founding. Further, no one can argue there have not been horrible incidents related to racism in the not-too-distant past. Even beyond that, no one can argue that racism has been eradicated nor is there reason to believe it will ever be totally gone from the culture. However, the question becomes – are we as Americans being presented a fair and honest picture of race relations in our country?
Some of you have read my weblogs since I first began sending them more than 7 years ago and you will recall several times I have addressed and analyzed the media which has become more and more agenda driven over the past few decades. We are long since beyond the point where we can ultimately trust the media to give fair, honest, and unbiased reporting on any issue that has any sort of political implication.
Another glaring reality is that there are a significant number of persons whose very purpose and livelihood seemingly consists of stoking the fires of racial tensions. The most recognizable names among them are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. These men have repeatedly exploited situations for their own advantage. They have looked the other way on far more serious matters such as black-on-black violence in Chicago, New York, and other places. Also, they have failed to devote any real efforts to help curb the break-down of the black family unit and the huge problem of out-of-wedlock births within the black community. They have publicly jumped to conclusions and often made passionate speeches and engaged in highly toxic rhetoric before the facts were known in multiple situations. The media has rarely challenged them on their statements, position, or interpretation of the facts at hand. They have, in essence, been afforded a platform by which to advance their cause without proper checks and balances.
In the case of Ferguson, MO, Al Sharpton, who has his own television show on MSNBC, went to Ferguson and spoke passionately about what he believed to be injustice and in so doing jazzed up the crowd thereby adding danger to police, business owners, and civilians then going back to New York to host his show. Perhaps never before has someone in the role of “reporter” actually been allowed to become a part of the story and then return to reporting on the story!
Americans elected a black president twice. Many believed in doing so it would largely put to rest racial tensions. But the reality has been that issues related to race have grown. This is not because racism is suddenly worse but because the race hustlers have come out in stronger force and the media, always selective in what stories it actually covers, are more than happy to oblige. Let’s face the truth. Stories related to race garner high ratings and sell papers and certainly can take other stories unfavorable to their worldview off the front page.
Are true racial tensions growing worse? In light of the events in Ferguson, I have to answer - probably. But I believe it can be unmistakably linked to one thing. That one thing is that good people who were never predisposed to see other races as anything other than simply “Americans” or “God’s children” or “fellow human beings” are seeing some among the black community exploit situations making them into racial issues, carrying signs, marching, destroying property etc. and it cannot help but anger anyone who sees it and then really does begin to divide people on the basis of race. I am deeply concerned that due to the behavior of protestors, the media, and some politicians we are becoming a more polarized nation. And it is all preventable.
We are an increasingly divided country on political grounds. Sadly, theDemocratic Party has been at the fore-front of attempting to divide Americans on the basis of women against men, black against white, Hispanic against white, homosexuals against straight people, gun owners against those seeking to ban guns, those supporting foreign interventions and those not supporting these interventions, and the list goes on. They have done so primarily for the purpose of gaining political power and winning elections, but the unintended consequences of their actions are having a toxic effect on the culture as a whole.
When there is no standard for which everyone looks to, chaos will always ensue. The days when Scripture was the standard are gone. We live in the days similar to those in the Book of Judges where “There was no king (standard bearer) in the land and every man did what was right in his own eyes.” We have seen a shift take place inside a few decades that Christian ideals of morality have been set aside in favor of a much more liberal pattern of thought. But even then, there is no standard. Often it is those shouting the loudest that are getting their own way while others with more traditional ideas are labeled as being racists, bigots, homophobic, war mongers, etc.
The issue in Ferguson is heavily tied to the overall state of America where people are pitted against one another trying to advance their cause and that cause is not really one of a better America and it is certainlynot the advancement of the Gospel which is the only real hope of this nation or any other. The tensions between all mankind are only a symptom of the much bigger problem of mankind’s need for God and to be totally yielded to His Word.
Only time will tell what really happened in Ferguson, MO and I, along with all other Americans, want to see justice served, but I know that mankind truly being able to achieve justice is a slim proposition. Proverbs 29:26 says “Many seek the ruler’s favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord.” We see people striving to use every tool from grand jury’s to the governor’s office, to the U.S. Justice Department, to The White House, to talk shows, etc. to achieve their definition of justice in this case; but Proverbs tells us that justice can only come from the Lord. Any attempt man makes at justice falls short. When we seek true justice from any other source than the Lord we are seeking something that ultimately does not and cannot exist.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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