Race Matters
"Besides these revealed and indicated assignments of government
over nations and groups of nations on the national level [during
the Reign of Jesus Christ], there will be positions of great
magnitude on the international level in the areas of scientific
and social functions. And there are a few indications of what
some of those operations will be, and the possible--if not
probable--personnel.
Since Noah lived first, we now take a look at Noah. In Noah's
day, the chief cause of the violence and chaos of world
conditions was racial hatreds, interracial marriages, and racial
violence caused by man's efforts toward integration and
amalgamation of races, contrary to God's laws. God had set the
boundary lines for the nations and the races at the beginning
(Deut. 32:8-9; Acts 17:26). But men had refused to remain in the
lands to which God had assigned them. That was the cause of the
corruption and violence that ended that world. For 100 years
Noah had preached God's ways to the people--but they didn't heed.
At that time, even as today, that world faced a population
explosion. It was when "men began to multiply on the face of the
earth" (Gen. 6:1). Jesus said, of our time, right now, "But as
the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be" (Matt. 24:37)--or, as in Luke 17:26, "And as it was
in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son
of man." That is, the days just before Christ returns. Today
race wars, race hatreds, race riots and race problems are among
the world's greatest social troubles.
Noah merely preached to people in his human lifetime. But Noah,
in the resurrection, immortal, in power and glory, will be given
the power to enforce God's ways in regard to race.
It seems evident that the resurrected Noah will head a vast
project of the relocation of the races and nations, within the
boundaries God has set, for their own best good, happiness
and richest blessings. This will be a tremendous operation. It
will require great and vast organization, reinforced with power
to move whole nations and races. This time, peoples and nations
will move where God has planned for them, and no defiance will
be tolerated.
What a paradox. People are going to be forced to be happy, to
have peace, to find abundant and joyful living!"
Excerpt from Mystery of the Ages, written by Herbert
W. Armstrong (emphasis mine).
As a firm believer in the plain truth of the Bible that Herbert
W. Armstrong boldly taught, using it as my basis, I've defended
our doctrines in many forums, and share this one example:
I'm sure you're aware that the Bible is an ethnocentric Book
dealing with the Hebrew people, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and
only mentions other nations insomuch as they come into contact
with our Israelite people. Brit Am Israel shares
the modern identity of these peoples.
There is the NATION and there is the CHURCH. God's
Israelite nations have the distinct Law of Moses that grants
resident aliens/Gentiles various rights to be treated fairly,
own property and such, but not the right to have any say or part
in the exercise of the GOVERNMENT. The Voting Rights Act
should be repealed and treated as a treacherous and leprous
lapse in national judgment.
The Church is Israelite-based (the Root) but gladly includes
many Gentiles (Branches) who have been grafted into the
spiritual Family and have the same incredible human spiritual
potential as Israelites: to be literally born again into the
literal Kingdom-Family of God that transcends this flesh. The
Church of God needs to clarify and make widely known the
biblical position on race and grace.
The Bible is a Christocentric book.
WRONG. The Bible is an ethnocentric book that includes at the
heart of its divine message Israel's King would save Israel and
Gentiles, "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans
1:16). It would be politically-incorrect today to reach out to
the Jews (representative of all Israelites) first and then to
the Greeks (representative of all Gentiles). But it is biblical!
Romans 9:3-5
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are
Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the
promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according
to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the
eternally blessed God. Amen.
Some would vainly argue against Paul for even taking note of the
legitimate differences or making a distinction between his
brethren, his countrymen, and all mankind.
The entire focus of the New Testament is breaking down the
divisions between people on the basis of race, class, and
status.
Again: There is the NATION and there is the CHURCH.
The same New Testament that breaks down divisions, obstacles in
the way of our equal opportunity for entrance into the God
Kingdom-Family, still preaches women shouldn't preach, that
wives should be submissive to their loving husbands and children
obedient to their patient parents and slaves to their masters (1
Corinthians 14:34, 1 Timothy 2:12). There is a biblical order to
follow and unique roles for all to play whether in the Church,
family or nation (Isaiah 19:25, 1 Corinthians 12:18).
Yet some folks would rather follow their fickle feelings,
getting swayed by their emotions, and rebel against the Word and
Will of God, refusing to submit, proud and stubborn, failing to
see this isn't about their inferiority complexes or others'
superiority complexes, but what is right and what is wrong as
God has decreed! Men are men, women are women, Israelites are
Israelites and Gentiles are Gentiles!
Spiritually we all have an equal opportunity, once called, for
various administrative offices in the Kingdom-Family of God.
Some former Gentiles and women will be greater than some former
Israelites. It's what we do with what God has given us, and God
has given us various roles and positions and boundaries to work
with within this life of living and learning. Women shouldn't
feel jealous of men, or Gentiles of Israelites, or Joseph of
Judah or Judah of Joseph, or Israelites of Levites or Levites of
Priests. Satan can use a bitter root of anger or resentment,
jealousy, covetousness, to defile those who let their guard
down. We all have our proper place whether within the Church,
nation or our family of nations.
The division of a unified mankid was not a gift, it was
punishment for a generation that was arrogant and decided that
being unified they would build a tower to the Heavens.
It was both a blessing and a curse. Deuteronomy 32:8 and
elsewhere reveals God had predetermined to divide the Earth, the
land, with the Israelites uppermost in mind (knowing He would
create them) as various inheritances regardless of sin, just as
there are divisions within the Holy Land for the 12 Tribes of
Israel that are not divisive (Ezekiel 47:21). And those
representative Gentiles, who have adopted our ways, shall remain
separate but equal (to a degree), given designated areas as an
inheritance (Ezekiel 47:2).
Any warning against intermarriage was on the basis of keeping
their religious practices pure, not keeping the race pure.
It appears to be both, as there is DUALITY in Scripture,
something physical often representing something spiritual (Ezra
9:2). Genesis 30:34 and 35:2 reveals Laban's family were idol
worshippers, including Rachel and Leah. Yet Jacob went out of
his way to marry within his own kind, from his own kindred, just
like Isaac did (Genesis 24:4, 28:1-2). Any intermarriage is the
Bible is documented and is an exception to the rule, and the
person follows the religion of Israel.
God did create the races and we do create a beautiful
picture... IF... we intermingle. If I handed you a pallate of
100 colors of paint, and you kept those colors separate by huge
white spaces on a canvas how beautiful and intricate could your
painting be?
God didn't make a mistake in making us each beautiful but not
wanting us to blur our own unique colors and characteristics.
That is a form of adultery, adulterating, diluting our
respective peoples and disrespecting our kinfolk. We're to stay
within the bounds that God has set: kind after kind.
We are the body of Christ. One body, one spirit.
Again, that's the CHURCH. Regardless, women still can't preach
and it's still "to the Jew first and then to the Greeks." There
is an order that we must follow if we're to be faithful to the
God of the Hebrews, our Great Creator God, the God of the Bible.
You seem to be implying that there is a racial root --
possibly with biblical origin -- to the poverty and immorality
that led to the incident in Toledo.
I believe there is a spiritual root to all sin. We're all
sinners and in need of grace. However, aren't you aware that God
said He would punish Israelites and Jews with some specific
Gentiles who would act like animals, culminating in the Gentile
confederation of kingdoms led by THE BEAST? Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and
Fall warns about this rising BEAST POWER IN EUROPE!
Is God racist? Were Isaiah and Daniel and others who referred
to various Gentile countries and leaders as animals, racist? Or
realist? Does this mean every Gentile is a wild animal?
Definitely not! Just as every Israelite certainly isn't a pure
lamb! Yet how can God refer to "the worst of the heathen" that
HE would bring against our hypocritical Israelite nations if
some people aren't worse than others, all things considered?
I don't know you well enough to classify you as a person so I
will not do that, but the viewpoint you express here is
racist.
I'll gladly be as "racist" as the Bible teaches me to be,
however politically incorrect.
There is no question that the Jews are God's chosen people.
But the Bible was not written to bring us closer to and to teach
us more about the Jews.
The Jews are only a part of the TWELVE Tribes of Israel, as
brought out in T
he United States and Britain in Prophecy, but you're
wrong about the Bible isn't written to bring us closer to and
teach us more about the Jews. Apparently you disagree with
Yashua's statement that "salvation is of the Jews" and "we know
who we worship," and how the Prophets reveal the whole world
will soon go after the Jews to learn more about the biblical God
and how Israel (all 12 Tribes) will be God's Servant Nation, His
Light to all nations, when all nations come up to learn about
the God of JACOB-ISRAEL (Zechariah 8:23, Isaiah 2:3).
Please don't be offended at God. God has ordained that the world
will learn all about His Plan of Salvation, and His Son, through
His People Israel, predominately through the Anglo-Saxons and
Jews. It's our NATIONAL calling, based on race and grace (Romans
11:28-29).
Gentiles can and must learn and adopt as their own our God-given
higher standard for living (1 Corinthians 12:2). It was revealed
to us to share with the world!
You are insisting that somehow God does not know that a
Caucasian women and an African man can make a beautiful caramel
or tan-colored baby that is uniquely beautiful. The same is true
of all other races that intermingle.
If God wanted that, He would have created it. Instead we have
the three major races and those who have been
diluted/adulterated through no fault of their own. Mind you one
of my sisters is married to a nice Mexican man, and one of my
other sisters is married to a white man, and the other yet
unmarried only likes black gentlemen (not the ghetto type). And
I love all my sisters and their spouses, even though they know I
believe IDEALLY we should all stay within our own race, our own
God-given natural division. Celebrate diversity! Don't destroy
it. Our God-given differences don't have to divide us. Look at
the Rainbow where each color remains separate and special!
I am saddened that you distinctly think that the body of
Christ is a racial experience when spiritual beings are not
bound by definitions like race and ethnicity.
I'm sorry you continue to be blind to the great differences
between THE NATION and THE CHURCH. Spiritually minded people are
still guided by God's law, trusting Father knows best, and it
consistently says a woman can't preach and Gentiles aren't to
rule over Israelites and every nation has its proper place.
When we're totally spiritual beings, we'll be members of God
's Kingdom-Family, having been literally born again,
transformed from human to divine, and we'll then transcend the
flesh, becoming literal Spirit-Beings just like God the Father
and Jesus Christ in character and composition!