Law Enforcement and Race!

Law Enforcement and Race

The United States of America has some unfinished business in the area of race.

There are emotions reflecting differing perceptions of the extent of the problem and the proper solution.

One is the "eye for an eye" solution. Exodus 21:24.
This solution was updated by Jesus to Matthew 5:38-48 some form of turning the other cheek (if that decision is within your job description).
Luke 18:27 acknowledges some things are not possible with man but God can do them.
We may either have to wait another generation for this to be worked out as those steeped in racism (both directions) die
and
new people are born and take over
OR
we can turn to Jesus who changes our hearts while we are yet alive.
The preferred solution is to collectively allow our hearts to be changed by God through Jesus Christ.


This video of the Newsboys singing "We Believe"
addresses the problem of getting along as individuals at large
by first uniting with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord
and after that
with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
.
This video is not new but we are fortunate to have it now.
You may have seen the Newsboys minister and perform in the movie God is Not Dead (2014).
You know they live what they sing.

The writing on the paper reminds me of Colossians 2:14.
The things we have done wrong, the handwriting that is against us in a legal court of law,
is nailed to the Cross where Jesus died for it
and it becomes powerless against us.
The charges are dismissed.

My Commentary
In 1968 a friend and I rode a bus in Detroit MI to the Ford Factory where her father gave me a personal tour.
I had just become a Christian a few days before.
We were the only white persons on the bus on the way and had to sit in the back.
I began to get angry.
The Lord God asked me plain as day,
"Why are you angry?"
As I thought about it, it became clear God created black people and Jesus died for them and that we are all equal in the eyes of God.
I never answered God as I realized there was nothing I could say to him. Unlike Cain, I accepted his gentle prod.
In a few minutes God changed the effects of my upbringing.
In a few weeks I found myself representing the Quaker's social arm, the American Friends Service Committee,
in the South speaking publicly in many settings against racism and the Vietnam War.
I came to love and be loved by the most wonderful people I might have missed.
I find it interesting that dealing with race issues in my heart was the first God required of me to change.
Perhaps this issue is his #1 issue for the United States although we have many other issues.

The second video is the same song sung by the same group.
It highlights that real change in our hearts can only be accomplished by God when we allow him to change us.
I would like to point out that if you as a law enforcement officer could lose your life as a casualty of our unfinished race business,
the Person to turn to for eternal safety is Jesus Christ who alone can give you eternal life.
As the checker board moves the piece called death closer to you, I must push my Piece called life closer to you as I care about you.
I include this video to point this out.
It's the same song but with Billy Graham and the lyrics instead of the individual seat of the first.
Same song, different presentation.

If I am allowed to speak as an individual,
law enforcement, please be open to what Jesus can do within your profession, job, and personal life.
people at large, please be open to what Jesus can do within your understanding of the past, your current frustrations, and your eye for an eye solution.
politicians, please stop defining every issue and every person and every action in terms of race which makes you look good but only stirs the pot.
preachers, start influencing for change biblically. Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing preacher. He was a true witness, the name of which in Greek is martyr.
Summary: make the move God would have you make. Do not be like Cain.

Decide to make a new friend who is not like yourself.
Make sure the relationship is uplifting for you and your new friend.
Ask questions. Walk a mile in that person's shoes. Understand.
Accept most things as differences not show stoppers.
Hello is a good start. Smile. Just be you.
You may meet other new friends through this new friend.
The U.S. Population Monitor states that there are over 300,000,000 Americans alive today.
If even 1% made a new friend unlike oneself, that would be .01 x 300,000,000 = 3,000,000
new friend makers or 6,000,000 people in new relationships. Some are babies, some are incapaciated,
but most can find a new friend. If it doesn't work out, try to figure out why for real but try again.
This applies to the world population also. 7.3 billion (rounded up) x .01 = 7,300,000,000 x .01 = 73,000,000 or
73 million new friend makers or 146 million people in new relationships. Go watch some movies such as
Dances with Wolves to see how differences can lead to life or death depending on what you do with them.
God always says, "Choose life." (Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV)

On the spiritual side,
Daniel 9:1-19 (NIV) refers to the
prior choice God gave in Deuteronomy 28 (NIV)
and the exile prophesied by Jeremiah would last 70 years. Jeremiah 29:1-14.

Daniel's choice is to confess as personal sin the sins of his people and to repent of this evil
to clear the slate of sin between God and his people, to make possible the return home to Jerusalem.
I believe the application for us is to be sorry for and turn 180 degrees around (repent) of our part in
race issues, to clear the air between us and God and then see return to his perfect plan how we wer meant to interact.
The flesh surely is repulsed at this as it is surgery on the soul.

I sought to find a black person when I was in Atlanta in 1996 for the Olympics as a volunteer security guard with YWAM
in order to apologize as a white person for things that my forebears had done and my part in that.
My goal was to bring the measure of healing possible by this one act.
I asked a person on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street if I might ask him a question.
He agreed so I asked. I was blown away by his answer.
He said, "Oh no, it is I who must apologize to you!"
Astonished, I asked him why. He responded, "Because we make you pay over and over and over.
No matter what happens, we bring race up and demand you pay."
I certainly hadn't expected that. Be careful, but launch out! Live!

When we repent and turn to God, good things happen.
I would like to say, repent quietly and see what God does.
Repent as a person,
repent as the position of influence you hold,
repent for your actions that sometimes are just those of current societal norms, not those God would want.
Repent as a group, a willing group.
Just start to let God be even more good to you.
This is a high standard.
Sometimes people won't take action until and unless it requires more of them than ever before.
Sometimes people want a high challenge, high enough to pledge their life and sweat to.
Please go for it.

End Law Enforcement and Race

Last updated: 02/24/2017