This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --part0_905962582_boundary Content-ID: <[email protected]_out.mail.aol.com.1> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII --part0_905962582_boundary Content-ID: <[email protected]_out.mail.aol.com.2> Content-type: message/rfc822 Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-disposition: inline From: [email protected] Return-path: <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: A whole new perspective Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 12:13:42 EDT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit read this please! this is pretty heavy! Interested in finding out what you think..................Ciji WHO SENT THE SHIPS? In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships(Ez. 30:9). If you ever want to know the mindset of a black man, go to a black barber shop. When you do you will hear discussions about politics, religion, sports- and, of course, racial problems. One day after God healed me on the airplane, I walked into one of the main black barber shops in Orlando, Florida. The men in there were having a heated discussion about the injustices of the American system. The brothers were venting and protesting about how the white man's system was totally against black progress. This particular day the brothers were vehemently enumerating the many injustices each had encountered during their lifetimes. One manwas going on about the lack of jobs, the lack of recreational parks, the injustices of the school system, and the inequality of whites and blacks in general. "Look at our neighborhood," he said. "There are no parks in the neighborhood for our kids to play in like in the white neighborhoods. There are no jobs for our black men. Why should they work at McDonald's or Burger King for minimum wage when they can sell dope on the corner and make more in one day than they can in a month at a fast food place?" He got louder and louder, feeling justified in his rage. It was like they were having church and he was the preacher with all the other brothers saying, "Amen." Earlier in my life I would have joined in with them and stolen the man's pulpit. But there is something about the truth. When you know it, it will make you free-- and God had made me free on the airplane that day. I questioned whether I should sit and listen to their heated dismay about the system or if I should even enter the discussion. Then I heard this man say, "We were over in Africa, minding our own business, when all of a sudden the white man decided to enslave us out of his greed and hatred for blacks. They brought us over here in the ships..." --Who's Really To Blame? That was all I could take. So I stood up and said, "Brothers, we blame the white man for everything." They knew I was a preacher, so they listenedto me respectfully. "But our real problem is with God, not with the white man." That got their attention. All eyes were on me, as they waited to hear how I would explain this outrageous statement. "We were in Egypt," I continued, "in power for three thousand years. We are indeed the descendants of Egyptians. We were scientists and inventors, educators and writers." Well, they liked that. Because whenever you talk about blacks being descendants of the great civilization of ancient Egypt, you get our attention because we have been put down so much and so long. Whenever we hear anything that gives us any credibility or validation, we perk up. Then I added, "But that also means we were the first slave masters. We enslaved Israel for four hundred years." Now they were surprised. "We were on top, but now we're not because we picked a fight with God." Now they were very surprised. Then I noticed a Bible on thecounter, so I picked it up. Even with the Islamic influence in the black community, most blacks still fear and respect the Bible. I started reading some of the verses in Isaiah 19 thatspoke about God's judgement of Egypt because of its idolatry, witchcraft, and sorcery. I talked about the idols we worshipped in Africa. Then I showed them the first mention of slavery: And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts(v. 4). They cried in disbelief, "You mean to say God permitted that to happen?"So I responded, "Yes, because He did it before with Israel and any nation who turned from Him." But the real bomb dropped when I got to the ship. I flipped to Ezekiel 30 and read: In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh(v. 9). "The Lord sent the ships to pick us up," I said quietly, waiting for everything to sink in. "He raised up the white man to bring the ships to pick us up and enslave us." How there was absolute silence in that barber shop. One of the men there was in ministry and wanted to see where I read from. When I showed him, he confirmed it to everyone. "It's in there," he said. So I decided to continue in Ezekiel. Though they were shocked, The missing pieces of the puzzle had to be added. The Vexed Heart of the White Man "I now want to tell you why the white man can't stand us," I announced. Then I read: will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou has not known (Ez. 32:9). "God vexed the white man's heart against us-- the black race," I said somberly. His heart is irritated at us. "Well that was it. That was the knock-out punch. You could hear the parking meters ticking outdoors. Because He Loved Us A black television minister once said he was glad the ships came. So am I. They came because God loved us too much to leave us in idolatry. When I look at the tribal warfare that is going on in Africa and the multiplicity of problems there -- drought, dissension and political wars __ I'm glad that the ships came. God used drastic means to bring us out of a life of idol worship, darkness and ignorance, but He did bring us out into the knowledge of the one true God. Plus, the black slaves in America eventually gained their freedom. This historic struggle for liberation set a precedent for the whole world. God sent deliverers such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King to release the people -- both white and black -- from the horrid reality of the curses on them. Freedom and deliverance for blacks everywhere began in the United States. The struggle for liberation has now traveled to other parts of the world, such as South Africa, like ripples on a pond. Though the United States wasn't the original instigator of slavery, it became a model for deliverance from it. Black people don't want to admit this, but somebody needs to say it. Black people still believe this is a racist society, and it is in a sense. But America is where God's deliverance began. it is a paradox, yes. I'm sorry we had to be enslaved, but I'm certainly glad the ships came. A Loving God Hates Sin It is hard to believe that a loving God would allow such evil to happen to the black people. It shows us how intemperate God can get when it comes to the sin of idol worship. We know these things happened, and that they'restill happening because men need to turn to the truth. If God is for you, who can be against you? (Rom. 8:31). But if He's against you, the prophecy will continue. Because of the presence of sin on earth, life isn't fair, and it won't be until sin is removed. So don't expect things to be fair. The fact that God punished us so severely for idolatry by raising up so terrible a slave master lets us know how serious God is about sin. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Not just sickness, but death. Not just poverty, death. Not just suffering, death. There's nothing worse than death. So, in order to rescue us from it, God sometimes uses the executioner to carry out punishment. This is the other side of God -- the side that punishes sin to rescue the sinner from death. He does all this to curb our desire to go afteranother God. God is a jealous God. He doesn't want us to have any other gods but Him. Think about it. God allowed His only begotten Son to experience death through the most gruesome way to die -- on the cross. Jesus suffered for hours, to take on the sin of mankind, and none of us can imagine what that was like. So if God was willing to give up His only Son because of sin, you know He is willing to destroy anybody else who plays with it, especially the sin of idolatry. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth(Heb. 12:6). God told me to, "Tell the people that I did it. I did it because I oved them," because those whom He loves, He chastises. And He won't back down from the reality of what He did. God is a God of justice and a God of love. We provoked Him to the drastic measure of grinding idolatry out of us, so now we can sing: "Father, I stretch my hand to thee and no other help I know." Now we don't have to be involved in idol worship any more. We don't have to serve any other god but the true and living God through His Son Jesus Christ. I don't apologize for God. I believe He told me not to. He is God, Who does what He wants to fulfill His will. And I believe He wants everybody to know that He sent the ships. But the prophecies didn't end with the ships. They continued to follow black people today author: Rev. Earl Carter Again I encourage you to buy this book. Title: No Apology Necessary Author: Rev. Earl Carter --part0_905962582_boundary--