The Mis-education of the Black Christian

 

If you spend any amount of time around some of our Bishops and Overseers in the various Protestant denomination you would think you were in the presence of a Pope. Some of our preachers are so pompous and aloof you would think you were in the Vatican. Many preachers today have become celebrities and idols. So often I hear Christians speak of their pastors and bishops with adoration that should be reserved for Jesus Christ. I believe we should respect and support our pastors and clergyman, but they are men! Men are fallible and are prone to make mistakes. We must remember that God uses fallible men to preach an infallible Word! We condemn the Roman Catholics because of their term “Papal infallibility”, yet we will get fighting mad if someone criticizes our favorite celebrity preacher! A good example of this is Kenneth Copeland, many noted and respected Bible scholars and teachers have exposed much of Copeland’s teachings as heretical, yet many Christian blindly and loyally continue to act like he is an “anointed” teacher. It is never popular to criticize or expose false teachers and prophets that are “celebrities”, why? Because we are just as bad as the Catholics, when it comes to how we treat our clergy. I am an ordained Elder in the Church of God in Christ. I love my church, but it is not perfect either. I listen to many of the members of my denomination and it is a sad commentary to hear people that have been saved for years, yet their knowledge of Bible doctrine is very minimal. Many will say “Well I believe what my pastor teaches” or “That may be in the Bible but my church teaches it this way”; The Bible IS ALWAYS the last word! I am appalled at the number of clergy that struggle with basic Bible doctrines that the average Christian should be well acquainted with. According to 1 Corinthians 3:1 all Christians can be divided into the two groups, spiritual and carnal. A spiritual Christian allows the Holy Spirit to guide and govern him to do the perfect will of the Father. A carnal Christian has been born again but has not overcome the sinful nature of his flesh. Instead of being governed by the Spirit he is ruled by feelings, emotions, desires, greed, good or bad intentions, intellectual interpretation etc. etc. Our churches are filled with carnal believers that don’t depend on the Word for their daily guidance. By rejecting the Word they also reject the Holy Spirit that speaks the Word to our spirit and mind. The Catholic Church doesn’t encourage it’s congregates to study for themselves because the priest is the source of revelatory knowledge, but the Bible (John 14:26 and John 15:26) and the Holy Spirit are all the help we need. Yes we need teachers (Spirit-filled teachers) to help us, but we are still responsible to study to show ourselves approved unto God. Pastors and teachers have to take the church from MILK to MEAT, I would be horrified to see an adult wearing diapers in church, but spiritually many saints are wearing diapers in the house of God. The reason we treat our pastors like gods is that we are babies and we are letting them carry us like babies! They should be taking us from milk to MEAT! We have to grow up so we can assist in the ministry and stop being a burden to the church. So many pastors quit because of burnout, but most of the time it is their fault! Imagine a woman trying to care for 20 to 30 babies at one time, she would eventually crack under pressure! We have to GROW UP SPIRITUALLY! We have to pray and study 7 days a week, not just on Sunday in the presence of your pastor. Martin Luther was a great man but we need MORE men and women like him today! Men and women committed to the truth of scripture over tradition, hype, and fluff!

Dr. M. Hamilton Stevens

Cults in The Hood

 

 

One of the most horrible evils in the inner-city is the growth of cultish churches. What is a CULT? A Cult  is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. In laymans terms a cult is a group that focuses it’s attention not to the truth of God’s Word but rather the leader of the group and his or hers teachings. Often Cult leaders hide behind titles like “Bishop” or “Apostle” and they claim to be the ONLY one that really can interpret the scriptures. Usually these people demand 10% of your income and will declare you cursed if you don’t sow a seed into their ministry. The real travesty is God called ministers to be SERVANT and these charlatans demand to be served. They usually claim to be “anointed” and cannot be rebuked or corrected by anyone.

No minister is above reproach, to often today’s “prophets” hide behind “Touch not mine anointed” of course taking the verse totally out of context. Paul rebuked Peter for the way he treated Gentile believers, The Bereans told Paul they would check the scriptures to verify what he said was TRUTH….my point is if Peter and Paul were NOT above reproof and reproach…why are these celebrity preachers today above reproof and reproach? Again the problem is too many Christians don’t study the Bible and are afraid to challenge false teaching. I am NOT afraid to challenge false teaching and I am not arrogant either, I have been rebuked and I continue to study to show MYSELF approved, Too often our people are drinking the Kool Aid of bad teaching and are scared to say anything for fear of being ostracized and shunned. Heaven help us, we need more men like Martin Luther TODAY that are not afraid to call out false teaching.

M Hamilton Stevens, Th.D.

Ignorance is Killing Black People

 

In the horrible days of slavery Blacks were punished if they tried to read or had possession of books. Before the Holocaust the Nazis burned books especially history books. The Bible says it best “My people PERISH because of the lack of knowledge” What type of knowledge are we lacking that is destroying us?

1. Knowledge of Self – Black youth need to know that out history didn’t start when we were herded off of slave-ships like cattle, our history is traced back to Africa where we were Kings, Queens, and warriors. I remember Richard Pryor did a skit on his short lived TV show about a group of Archaeologist that discovered a great cache of Egyptian artifacts, and Pryor played their servant….while they were examining things remarked “Wow all these drawings are of Black people”….when he said that they closed his Black behind in the  tomb with the TRUTH.
2. Knowledge of Finances and Business – Every race seems to understand this better than our people, we are a consumer race, and everyone else knows it. We don’t own a damn thing but we buy everything everyone else produces.
3. Knowledge of God – Yeah we know how to “have church”, but we don’t even know that the people in the Bible we study about were people of color. We also don’t value the power of God IN US. The same God that created the Universe is in YOU…not in a BUILDING…IN YOU!!!!

Dr. M. Hamilton Stevens

Past, Present, and Future

In 1966 I was 7 years old and my father drove my mother and I from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Chase City, Virginia. On the way we passed through a town named Crew, Va. while leaving the outskirts of the town around the early evening my father, yelled at me told me to be quiet and keep my head down, my mom was unusually quiet, and I didn’t speak until they told me I could, after a while my father sighed and my mother was visibly shaken, I asked them what’s wrong and I looked out the rear window and saw a cross burning for the first time in my life.

In 1977 I was sent to Biloxi, Mississippi right out of Basic Training. I had heard some horrible things about Biloxi from older Airman, they warned me about the racist activities there. When the bus pulled into the base at 4AM we where greeted by a huge Black Captain whose name was Captain Kirk (seriously), he was mean looking and stern and he yelled “All the Black guys off the bus”, we hustled off and followed him into his office. He made us stand at attention and he handed us each a sheet of paper with a list of the businesses in Biloxi that where not welcoming to Blacks.

People often ask me why racism and racist irritate me so much? I share this story and others stories about my experiences because I want people to know RACISM was a harsh reality in my life…sadly enough it STILL is in 2015. I just watched a video of a white cop treat a young black girl like she was a bag of garbage in a video and all it did was make me realize how far we HAVEN’T come as a nation in regards to racism.

M Hamilton Stevens

Everyone is NOT Cut Out for Law Enforcement

When I see that video of the young girl brutalized by the police officer, it reminds me WHY I got out of Law Enforcement. There are a lot of good police, sheriffs, and correction officers out there BUT there is always the A-hole that wears tight shirts, shades, and thinks he is TJ Hooker….this is the type that thinks all blacks and latinos are perps, and is really scared of his shadow but has a gun for heart and muscles. When I was a C/O back in the 80’s I had to wrestle and restrain an inmate by myself, when the Sgt who was like the TYPE I describe showed up AFTER the scuffle he proceeded to rough the guy up mind you, he was already cuffed. I just looked at the Sgt and said that was NOT necessary……these guys need to be OUT of Law Enforcement there is NO place for them. If you are scared of minorities you need to stay in the suburbs and watch COPS on TV and fantasize about how “tough” you are.

An Ex-Corrections Officer

A Real Hard Look at Racism, Reality, and Religion

All sin is fueled by a combination of flesh + demonic influence, and racism is also a sin, and the ONLY cure for sin is JESUS. Let me deal with Black folks first! It is a fact that OUR people have suffered horrendous acts of racism from the time we came here as slaves, beaten, raped, and castrated…..it was the American Holocaust! And today we still see a black life is still devalued in recent events….but if we don’t learn anything from Martin Luther King we MUST learn to NOT… retaliate with violence and to also FORGIVE! It takes the power of God to do BOTH.

I pray everyday about my own bitterness towards white people, I ask God to forgive me when I feel more like Malcom X than Martin….but prayer works. Now to the white folks, I am not asking you to feel guilty about the past, I just want you to stop acting like it DIDN’T happen or we will keep repeating the PAST. Something is wrong when white criminals that KILL people get apprehendedALIVE and yet black suspects without weapons never survive their encounter with police….JUST acknowledge the RACISM…and we can work on fixing it!

Last but NOT least, IF you say you are Christian (all of us both Black and White) LET’S START ACTING LIKE JESUS! Forget you political ideologies for a minute and ask yourself what would Jesus do…not Rush Limbaugh or Al Sharpton….JESUS! The ONLY cure for racism is have a renewed spirit and a renewed mind and THAT can ONLY come through faith in Jesus Christ. We must also have a willingness to have honest and open discussions about race issues without anger and hostility.

Dr. M. Hamilton Stevens

WAKE UP BLACK PEOPLE….WAKE UP!

As long as Black men continue this cycle of having multiple babies out of wedlock and as long as Black women ALLOW trifling brothers to impregnate them, we will continue down the path of ignorance and poverty. It is hard enough WITH an education for us to keep pace in America, oh don’t be stupid racism is as bad today as it was in 1959 when I was born, the difference is we as a people are LESS aware and educated to deal with it. Martin Luther King was successful for two reasons 1. He was EDUCATED 2. He was lead by God…..2 things WE (Black folks) have abandoned GOD and BOOKS!!!! Wake up and pray for wisdom and read books OUR history, science, and finances……we will continue to struggle until we have a paradigm shift. (That is a changed MIND)

We MUST love OURSELVES…..The Bible even tells us that we CANNOT truly love our neighbors UNLESS we love OURSELVES. And the self-hatred of our race MUST STOP. Have you ever noticed when a black person talks about loving their race or loving their people, white people get uncomfortable and often call US racist for being Pro-Black, Why is that? I’ll tell you why, when we were brought here as slaves, they changed our names, erased our past history and accomplishments, stole our family structure, introduced us to disease, beat us, raped us, and murdered those who resisted. So anytime a Black person even TODAY shows any kind of tenacity to improve, to learn, to advance, or to have an opinion about religion, history, or life in general they STILL try and censor or control it. Educated Black people terrify racist, because knowledge IS power. (With all thy getting get an understanding). They would beat a slave if they caught them reading a book, TODAY you have have to we voluntary refuse to read. WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Dr. M Hamilton Stevens