Tag: racism in America

Christian Culture vs Jesus

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I have struggled the past 3.5 years, well a bit longer with American Christianity and the religious/political components. The more time I spend with Jesus, the less American Christianity makes sense to me. I have seen Christians betray the teachings of Jesus to adhere to their political ideology and religious traditions. I’ve encountered unjust and ungodly treatment at the hands of “Christians” claiming their ideology is the will of God.

All of it reminds me of the Pharisees. Mainly because they “thought” they were doing the will of God. They had their traditions and rules. They had their ideas of God. They were political and the expectation was to have a Messiah that came in like a war machine to free them of Roman rule. Jesus shows up in a completely different fashion. He is not involved in their politics. He challenges their religions customs. He calls out their hypocrisy. They are religious. They are political. They neglected what God valued more that their religious behaviors and self righteousness.

Sadly, I have witnessed the same behaviors in the past 8-10 years in what I call “Christian culture.” There are behaviors that have been made acceptable that have nothing to do with Jesus and they are stumbling blocks to evangelism.

I recall church focus on the Gospel of Jesus instead of “Here’s who you need to vote for,” or “If you don’t agree with us politically, you don’t belong here,” or “We will end all contact with you if you don’t vote our party.”

I also recall when people hid their racism at church, at least they used the phrase-“I don’t see color.” Which is not appropriate. I won’t go into why, look it up and do some research on cultural sensitivity. Fast forward to 2020 and Christians became quite vocal about their racism or demonstrated apathy regarding what was occurring in society to black and brown people. I would tell you to go back a few years and look at some of the responses by bible thumping Christians on my social media, yet some of it was so nasty I deleted and blocked people. I’ve also ceased having a public personal profile and removed thousands of people from my “friend” list. Not all removed were problematic, I simply decided it was time to simplify and modify my life .

I want to end on a positive note. There are profound revelations that came out of 2020 and even the 4 years prior. 1. Every person should place their faith and trust in Jesus-not the church. I believed people when they said, “We are family and I love you.” Now I understand that God loves me and I cannot place my confidence in Christians. I am not bitter. I am wiser. 2. Just because two people claim to know Jesus does not mean they can be connected in any way other than a shallow connection at church. 3. More religious people than I realized are racist or simply apathetic. 4. Politics matters more to some people than Jesus or how Jesus told them to treat you. 5. You cannot change the religious/political crowd. It is okay to pray for them and move along. I truly believe the political and religious spirits are antichrist and they were certainly involved in the murder of Jesus.

Shaking that leads to revelation may seem horrible at the time, yet it has benefits. I think every follower of Jesus has a moment where culture is moving differently than the Kingdom of Heaven. Follow Jesus. I am not telling you it’s wrong to vote, be involved in politics. I am stating just as the late Billy Graham said, “The church is unwise to link a political party to the Gospel of Jesus.” It’s not the job of the church to tell people who they need to vote for or they are going to hell (I heard a preacher say this). It is not the job of the church to shun people from God’s house because they don’t vote a certain way. It is not the job of the church to send out “prophetic words” to tell people God told them who to vote for!! The pulpit is not a campaign. Though it’s unpopular, it’s not the job of the church to control the lives of everyone and force Christianity on the world. God let’s people choose who they will follow.

My encouragement to all followers of Jesus is to actually follow Jesus. Treat people the way Jesus commanded you to regardless of their political views. Understand, the way you and I respond to the world impacts their views of God, the church, and Jesus. I don’t care how you vote, who you vote for, and have never mistreated someone because they held different beliefs than I do. Why? Because Jesus told me to love my neighbors and my enemies. I don’t view people who vote differently as enemies, even if I don’t agree with their choices.

The world is seeking an authentic Jesus. I don’t recognize the Jesus that is being promoted in Cultural Christianity. Yet history has continued to show us that people mix Jesus with their ideology and then find bible verses to supposedly authenticate it (examples: slavery, stealing land from Indigenous people, oppressing women and immigrants). My encouragement for people to seek to know God for yourself and please don’t allow modern day Pharisees to run you away from the One who genuinely loves YOU!

Warm Regards,

Erin

2020 Awakened Me to How Deep Racism is in America

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One of the greatest awakenings for me in 2020 has been how many people connected to me hold racist views or are racist. Especially on Facebook, I have been racially gaslight or in writing attacked by people. Some took their rants off social media and emailed me or sent me direct messages that were racist. These people will tell you that they are Christians. I am not certain what this term means to some people. What they live and demonstrate does not reflect the Jesus I read about in the Bible at all. 

If I post about racism, almost without fail along comes someone with a negative stat or story about Black people (even if the post has nothing to do with racism towards Black people). Anti blackness is needed to support the lie of white supremacy. The focus cannot be on what a white person has done that was wrong or is doing wrong. 

The largest part of racism is that white is right (morally, ethically, etc). If there is a hierarchy of “races”, the lie of white supremacy says, “White people must be on top.” Someone is needed at the bottom to fuel the monster of narcissism and delusion. Yes, racism is demonic and rooted in narcissism, delusion, deception, pride/insecurity. It is anti christ. The first people on this planet were brown and black people who reigned for centuries and ruled empires. Jesus was a person of color. 

White supremacy and even “white” people as a classification of a race came later in time, and it was rooted in a desire to steal, loot, murder, conquer, exploit, and colonize. It lines up with the mindset of Lucifer. Stealing, killing, destroying, lying, forcing people to conform, and desiring to be worshipped above God. 

In our current society, we normally do not hear about history until a white person showed up and quite a bit got changed to fit the European narrative. They repainted people from the Bible white, including Jesus. They taught that indigenous people were savages they saved. They hid accomplishments of people of color. Horrors committed against people of color were removed from history books. In America, the Daughters of the Confederacy rewrote southern history to promote the lie of white supremacy. Our media in America paints things to hold up the lies of racism. 

That’s why even when I post on things that are current or not even in current news, there is someone that pops up with “Well, what about black on black crime!” Or “The looters and riots,” or “A black person did this to me.” It is racist. It is racism rearing it’s head! People may not know that what they are doing is racist. 

White on white crime is higher, the media just does not talk about those statistics. White people do commit crimes against humanity, we simply do not normally mention their race in the story, the media often makes excuses for them, it’s marketed as mental illness or a one off situation, or they person may be offered leniency. All ethnic groups have areas of improvement. 

In a society built on racism, white people are treated like individuals, while people of color are treated like a monolith (group) and their race is constantly brought into the conversation because white is seen as the normative. 

I posted something earlier this year about Native Americans and someone jumped in my comments talking about something they felt Black people did wrong. Sometimes I think they subconsciously do it to try to slap my face, since I have African in my DNA. It is like, “How dare you expose something white people have done wrong, let me share this stat with you about Black people to try to put you in your place.” It is racist. It is racial gaslighting. It is being a bully. 

To the people out there who feel the need to attack, deny, or throw people of color under the bus when racism is brought up, ask yourself why? Why can I not objectively listen to information without feeling the need to gaslight this person? It could be because you hold racist viewpoints and part of you aligns with the lies of white supremacy. When someone says something that exposes the lie, you feel the need to defend it or attack the person who provided the information. 

Repeating racist talking points does not get rid of racism. Blaming someone else does not get rid of racism. There needs to be deliverance and coming out of agreement with the lies. What we believe, we empower. And it is possible to have friends, a spouse, or multiracial children and STILL hold onto racist views. At the root of racism is the lie that white is superior to other people. It’s not always manifested in violence or murder, though it can be. 

Anti blackness does not just come from white people. I have heard it from non white people of color. The bottom line is it’s from hell. It’s Lucifer’s work. Unfortunately, there are Christians who do a better job of promoting the work of evil than those who do not claim God. 

Why do I care so much? It is not just because I am a part of the BIPOC community, which stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (it includes Naives/Indigenous, Black or African Americans, Asians, Polynesians, Middle Easterners, Latinos/Hispanics). It is because Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor,’ and racism is not rooted in love. It is rooted in pride, narcissism, and self centeredness. Racism is demonic. It is the worship of self. Racism is anti Christ. He was a man of color, and how can any person claim to be superior to Christ and be a Christian? Yet, that is what racism says. It says that those who have European ancestry are the norm and superior to all others; it affirms the lie that, “white” traits are moral and good, and all others are bad. It invalidates 90% of the world’s population and the millions of people who ruled and reigned before white people existed. 

The race categories we have today are fruits of racism. There is truly one race, the human race with variations in cultures and ethnicities. We are not separate species. I believe we called to do more than talk about racism and protest. I think those who claim to know Jesus are called to fight against racism, to be anti racist because racism is anti-Christ. 

Books to Consider for helping with join team anti racist: 

-White Rage 

-How to Be Anti Racist 

-White Fragility 

-The Color of Law 

Watch the documentary 13th 

Watch the movies Selma and Just Mercy 

Study! Research. Renounce the lies. And if you find yourself needing to gaslight others, ask why. It’s not enough to simply denounce racism, we must be anti racist.

Warmly, 

Erin Lamb