God and Racism

by Leslie Trombly

Genesis 1:26-2:24

As young girl growing up, I lived in an adopted household.

My mother was a Blackfoot indian and my father was white
anglo-saxon. His ancestory went back thru the lines to
Abraham Lincoln and so on. My mothers went back thru the
Nez Perce Tribe and Chief Joesph…so my grandmother told
me. I lived in a multi-cultural town where we had everyone
from white anglo-saxon to the greeks and everyone
"seemed" to get along. Underneath, at least in my
household, was a boiling pot of racism and prejudice against
nationality and christian faith. My father hated anyone who
wasn’t white anglo-saxon and belittled them every chance
he got. This didn’t make any sense to me as he had married
a Native American. He was just as mean to her as he was to
everyone else. He had taught me to hate the catholics and
anyone who wasn’t a white anglo-saxon...including my
mother. If I showed so much as a caring or compassion to
anyone who was not of his belief or of his nationality, I was
bounced around the house like a rubber ball. It wasn’t until I
was older and the Lord taught me a few things about
prejudice, racism and bigotry. First of all it was WRONG!

Racism alone is bad enough, but when you couple that with
prejudice and bigotry it is a major disaster. as you see in the
verses above ..God plainly tells us that we are all the same
and fellow citizens with the saints. What the lord taught me
about racism and prejudice began in the book of Genesis,
chapter one, verses 26 and 27 and Genesis 2:7,20-24.

"(26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own

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image, in the image of God created he him; male and female
created he them.(2:7)And the LORD God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living soul. (2:20) And Adam gave
names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every
beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help
meet for him. (21) And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs,
and closed up the flesh instead thereof; (22)And the rib,
which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman,
and brought her unto the man. (23) And Adam said, This is
now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
(24)Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

Then I asked God, if this is the case...are you all these colors
too? He said, "My Child, I am all things to all people." I asked
him..."Why did you make people of different color and
national origin?" He replied, If
I made a thousand of you exactly alike would it not be boring
and without life and joy?" I said, "I suppose so." He said, "I
made everyone of you in my image and everyone is as much
a part of me as you are. I like a bright and colorful world as it
is in my kingdom. To make everything with one color, such
as just black or just red or just white would make my world
very dull. I made my people in color for the very same
reason and I also made people with different languages and
nationalities after Nimrod tried to build his way to heaven.
This angered me and I then confounded their language to
stop them" Then I understood. One of the first things that
popped to my mind when he said this was..."Oh! God wanted
a rainbow world so He made one in everything He created."
How beautiful!", I thought. God knew my thought and said,
"That’s right. If my children would see it the way you see it,
there would be no prejudice, nor racism and no bigotry.
When people look at others, no matter the color of their skin
or the national origin they are from…they see me." I then
asked the Lord, what about those who are physically and /or

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mentally disabled? They are subjected to the same things as
those whose skin or national origin may be different from
theirs?" He said. "The same applies in all cases. There is no
room for hate, bogotry, prejudice or racism in my
world...only love for one another as I have loved you."

Prejudice
=========
What is prejudice? The word "prejudice" actually means
making a pre-judgment; that is, before the facts are
considered, we already have our minds made up. It has been
said that prejudice is a great time saver, because you don’t
have to read the facts. So it doesn’t matter what the facts
are, what the background is; prejudice means that we make
our minds up, regardless or before reading the facts of the
matter. That’s the source of racism in our county: as little
children are growing up and see their parents’ behavior, and
what their parents teach them directly and indirectly. It is
passed on from one generation to another. A grandparent or
parent; society or others will teach a child to hate another
who is different, irregardless of race, color, national origin
and disability. They grow up with the same feelings of
ambiguity towards others who are not like them.

Did you know that there are some people who are foolish
enough to say that the Bible teaches us to be racist? When I
was growing up I kept hearing people whisper about the
curse of Cain. That this is where black people came from, the
curse of Cain. And later, I started reading the Bible and I
found that number one, the Bible does not call it a curse but
a sign, on Cain, in Genesis 4:15. When you read what the
Bible says there, Cain had killed his brother, Abel, and Cain
was terrified he thought someone was going to kill him. He
begged God for mercy, to do something so people wouldn’t
kill him. God said He’d give him a sign and this would stop
people from killing him. And people say, "Well, this is where
black people came from." That is not at all what that
passage says! Not at all! It was some kind of sign on Cain

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that stopped other people from killing him. We have no idea
what it was. That certainly does not support racism.

Where has racism come from?

===========================
It comes from Satan! And the sin that is involved here is a
foolish pride that people have in their own particular race. It
is nothing but the sin of pride. Someone might say, "Well,
aren’t you proud to be a white person?" My answer to that is,
"I’m not a white person. My skin isn’t white, is it? I think that
this is a beautiful shade of beige here, but it’s not white! If
my face were the color of a piece of typing paper, I’d be in
the intensive care center of some hospital." Are we truly
white people? No, no more than black people are truly black.
We are all different shades of brown and tan and others. Am
I proud that I have hazel eyes instead of blue eyes? Is the
fact that I have hazel eyes make me superior to someone
with green eyes? Is a green-eyed person superior to a brown
eyed person? This goes around and around; we’re talking
about external things. We ought not to judge by these
external things.

The Bible says, "God sees not as a man sees, for man looks
at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart."
That’s from I Samuel 16:7, where Judge Samuel had been
sent to appoint a new king and finally they got down to
David. And Samuel said, "You mean this is it, this is the new
king?", and God said, "God does not see as a man sees for
man looks at the outward appearance and God looks on the
heart". In other words, God is saying, "Samuel, his heart is
right. This is a godly young man here; he’s going to be the
new king. Forget about his other brothers, it’s David who will
be the new king." That’s what the Bible says, therefore, on
this subject of judging by skin color and by other racial
characteristics.

Well, let us look more at what the Bible says. I believe, truly,
that we could spend the next two hours looking at scriptures
that condemn racism. If we had time, we could look at

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Numbers 12. We find there that Moses had married a black
woman from Ethiopia or the ancient country of Cush. A Jew
with a black woman. The sister of Moses, Miriam, went
berserk! She rebelled, she said it was awful, she objected
strongly to that marriage and do you remember what God
did to Miriam? Struck her with leprosy! Moses intervened on
behalf of his sister Miriam, and because of what Moses said,
God just gave her leprosy for one week. But it’s obvious that
God was very upset with the attitude that Miriam had. It
would be good if we could discuss the golden rule. This one
verse, Matthew 7:12. If everyone on earth followed it, this
one verse would eliminate racism right at this moment and
we’d never hear of it again. "Whatever you want others to do
for you, do so for them." The golden rule would stamp out
racism.

Take a look in the New Testament to the book of Ephesians,

the 2nd chapter. Here the apostle Paul speaks of one of the
worse sins that mankind can be afflicted with.....the sin of
racism and prejudice. But I want to call your attention to two
particular passages. The first is Ephesians 2. In the first
century it was not so much black and white, but it was Jew
and Gentile. Two racial groups were at each other’s throats
constantly. In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul addressed the
question of first century racism between the Jews and the
Gentiles. Beginning in verse 11, and down through verse 16:

"Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the

flesh, who are called ’uncircumcision’ by the so-called
’Circumcision’, which is performed in the flesh by human
hands - remember that you were at that time separate from
Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who
formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups
into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by
abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of
commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He

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might make the two into one new man, thus establishing
peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God
through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity."

There’s a lot in those verses. And notice, basically, that Paul

is saying that here were two groups that used to be
separated. Christ tore the barrier down. They now become
one person in the body of Christ. There is not to be racism
between Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ. Christ put
that hatred to rest. It is gone. It has been destroyed by the
death of Christ on the cross. Paul, therefore, was making a
point that is directly parallel to our situation today with
racism.

Would you look at a second passage, please: James, Chapter

2. The word "racism" is not used anywhere in the Bible, but I
think you will see a second scripture here that is so like our
situation today; that is, showing partiality and judging by
appearances. James 2:1-9:

"My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord

Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a
man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed
in fine clothes, and there also
comes in a poor man with dirty clothes, and you pay special
attention to the one who’s wearing the fine clothes and you
say, ’You sit here, in the good place’, and you say to the poor
man, ’You stay over there or sit down by my footstool,’ have
you not made distinctions among yourselves and become
judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did
not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith
and heirs to the kingdom which He promised to those who
love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not
the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have
been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law,
according to the Scripture, ’You shall love your neighbor as
yourself,’ you are doing well."

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Notice verse 9: "But if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and are convicted by the law as
transgressors." Did you notice that three times in that
passage he warned against showing partiality? James says
here that is an awful sin. It is showing partiality and we are
condemned by our actions if we participate in that sin. Based
on these scriptures, the logical conclusion is that racism is
antithetical to the Christian faith. It is the opposite of the
Christian faith. If you have committed this sin in the past, I
hope you have asked forgiveness for it. If you are committing
this sin at this time, I hope that these scriptures will give you
something to think about. And if you plan to be a racist in
the future, remember what Paul said in Ephesians 2 and
what James said in James 2.

What am I doing to stop racism in this country?

====================================
==========
The only thing I know to do is to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Demonstrations aren’t going to do it. Riots aren’t
going to do it. Writing your congressman isn’t really going to
do it, in the long run.
What will change racism in this country is to work upon the
hardest object known to mankind - the human heart. And
there is only one thing that is able to soften the human heart
and that is the gospel of Jesus
Christ.

The United Nations General Assembly on december 10,1948

adopted Resolution 217a - UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS. It was ratified later on in 1965 and this is
what it says:

"U.L.C. Neberdjer Society is an independent religious

organization dedicated to the concept of human rights for all
human beings, (not just a select few) but all. Our goal is for
the end to all forms of racism in the United States and the
world. U.L.C. Neberdjer Society is dedicated to up holding
and promoting the International Convention on the

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Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which was
adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in
1963 and ratified into law in January 1965.

As an international religious human rights organization, our

philosophy and activities are grounded in the principle of
equality in dignity and rights for all people and individuals as
a spiritual and practical measure of natural law. Toward this
end with the present rise of racist groups and genocidal
actions of some organizations and governments, we the
church must stand in the breach to stop this growing
insanity. In the near future we shall call for the application
for return to the rule of international law if the present trend
continues and governments of the world hold their present
course. These non-complying governments keep failing to
uphold basic yet lofty human rights principles and laws, that
the God of the universe has ordained for all of God’s
children. We the U.L.C. Neberdjer Society support, in
particular, the objectives and principles espoused and
agreed upon through international consensus and articulated
through the United Nations in the corpus of international
law."

Is it working? No! Human rights have failed miserably in

every country in this world in one form or another. There are
nations that have been rising against nations (ethnic group
against ethnic group) for centuries and the Bible has spoken
of this often. It is man’s inhumanity to man. Martin Luther
wrote on how the Jews were to be hated and Hitler used
Martin Luther’s hatred of the Jews to summarily slaughter 6
million Jews. This was one of the most disgusting displays of
man’s inhumanity to man that History has ever recorded.
The next in line is the Native Americans and the Blacks. It
goes downhill from there to every nation, kindred and
tongue. Jesus didn’t teach hate, or racism or prejudice when
he walked the earth. He taught Love. He even gave us two
new commandments. The First and second commandments
are found in Matthew 22:37-40. This is the greatest
commandment. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the

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Lord, thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus then issued a new
commandment that is found in John
13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another."

If the country went back to Jesus Christ we would not have

the Ku Klux Klan, neo-nazi’s and the like anymore. There
would no longer be any skinheads because the prophecy has
been fulfilled in the Lord’s church:

"They will hammer their swords into plow shares and their
spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword
against nation and never again will they learn of war. And
the wolf will dwell with the lamb. And the leopard will lie
down with the kid. And the calf and the young lion and the
fattling, together; and a little boy shall lead them. And the
cow and the bear will graze together and the young will lie
down together and the lion will eat straw like an ox. And the
nursing child will play by the hole of a cobra and the winged
child will put his hand into the viper’s den. They will not hurt
or destroy, in my holy mountain, for the earth will be full in
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Those words of Isaiah were not about some 1000-year reign

in the future; those words were about the Lord’s church. It is
in the body of Christ that the lion lays down with the lamb. It
is in the body of Christ that we hammer our swords into
plowshares and never again learn of war. It is in the body of
Christ that racism is not supposed to exist. Therefore, the
answer to racism is to continue spreading the gospel,
converting people to Jesus Christ as they are baptized for the
forgiveness of their sins and enter in to the body of Christ.
One of the sins that have to be left behind is racism. If it is
not left behind, then there is not serious repentance going
on. The body of Christ, the gospel of Christ; those are the
only two answers that will end the problem of racism. Finally,

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I would like to leave you with this thought: Martin Luther
King said it well in his speech called "I have a dream." where
he envisioned watching brothers and sisters of all color and
national origin walking hand-in-hand and working side-by-
side in God and for the Glory of God.
……………………….

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