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What is the antidote for racism, prejudice, hate, ethnic nationalism and supremacy?
First of all, there is no form of racism, prejudice, hate, ethnic nationalism, or supremacy that is justified. None.
In fact, God detests such things. Simply put, racism and hatred are sin. The devil’s big lie here is that our different demographics separate us and somehow make us more or less human, when the spiritual, scientific, and biological fact is that we are one blood, one human race (See Acts 17:26).
The Scriptures are not devoid of this topic.
When God gave the Israelites the law, he made very clear that they were not above foreigners living and worshiping among them and were to treat them well (Exodus 22:21; 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:19).
When the Israelites became ethnocentric, as recorded in Jeremiah 7:5-8, God rebuked them through the prophets.
When Jesus died on the cross and rose to life again, it was for all nations, tribes, and tongues (See Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Revelation 7:9).
When Jesus answered the question of the greatest commandment, it was to love the Lord God and your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:36-40).
Racism, prejudice, and hatred are not loving your neighbor as yourself. No, racism, prejudice, and hatred are sin and the wages of sin is death. These things lead to death. These things slowly steal from, kill, and destroy those who let it fester in their hearts and minds.
Racism and hatred are symptoms of the dying and hell-bound individual, culture, or nation. Do you want that for yourself, your community and your nation? Surely not.
Martin Luther King understood this effect. He said, “We must learn to live together as brothers [and sisters], or perish together as fools. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” He knew hate would destroy both ourselves and our loved ones, and those we were at odds with–and the blood would be on our own hands.
“Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8): There is no effective and lasting secular, humanistic answer to the hatred and animosity, let alone violence, caused by racial and ethnic differences. The answer is love from the true source of love: God. He is the Antidote.
For God is love (1 John 4:8). We must call on God to change, above all, our own hearts and minds; then, we can call on him for others around us and our community. He will answer every time and come dwell in our hearts to the extent that we yield to him.
As we yield to God, he transforms our hearts and minds and we begin to act, think, and speak differently. We begin to act, think, and speak like Jesus. The exact same Holy Spirit that Jesus had when He walked the earth will then imbue us with the exact same love, light, and life-giving virtue of God that Jesus displayed.
Today, many popular thoughts, actions and words are completely counterproductive. For instance, we cannot expect to solve problems by the following
-running from others (white flight, Middle East fear)
-talking about others when they’re not around (“Those black people across town . . . “)
-bitterness and anger (BLM, black supremacy: a.k.a. reverse-racism)
– violence.
Instead, we solve difficulties by building bridges of love and understanding, believing in one another– for God made all men– and helping one another realize the greatness that God placed in each of us.
This is only achieved by the virtue and power of God. We must see each other through God’s eyes and not through our own eyes. That brings us back to the necessity that we each must call on the Lord in Jesus’ name for his Spirit to come transform us.
When we do this, we enter into and walk in the kingdom of God. There is no racial or ethnic division in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the only way to achieve true and lasting harmony and unity.
Events in recent years have shown the need for people to yield to God and be transformed. We need true revival and awakening and it begins with calling on and yielding to the Lord in Jesus’ name– even if you’ve done it before, it will only benefit you to do it again– to be truly and increasingly transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Then and only then will we see true and lasting racial and ethnic unity.
A Prayer for Racial, Ethnic, and National Healing and Unity
Father God, lay the axe to the root of racism, prejudice and injustice in our hearts and minds, our communities, and our nation.
Bring down arrogance, pride, and hatred, and replace them with humility, love and righteousness.
Heal the soul of our nation from the divisions that have infected us.
Show us how to demonstrate unity and live and walk united in the power of the Spirit.
We are desperate for you! We need revival and awakening. Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Precious Holy Spirit, please bring peace and comfort to all who have been affected by racism, prejudice, hate, ethnic nationalism, or supremacy.
What the devil intended for harm and division, turn into healing and hope.
We stand in faith that you will turn all mourning into great joy and dancing! Hallelujah!
In Christ Jesus. Amen.
Copyright © 2020 by Scott Howell @ https://unambiguousvision.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-antidote-for-racism-prejudice-hate.html. Used with permission. No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org.