Godly Race Relations

I want to speak with you about a difficult topic to address. I will introduce it by reminiscing about an event that took place when we lived in Memphis, Tennessee, somewhere around 1982.

And yet, events like that happened to this very day. On one occasion, a police SWAT team moved in on a particular house where they had followed certain ones who had committed some crimes. It turned out there were six individuals inside that house. It ended up in a shootout.

And as chance would have it, those who were of the authorities were basically of one race. And all of the six who ended up being killed in the attack, the assault, because they were firing back, all of those who were killed were of another race. And the city of Memphis was just like a powder keg about to go off, because within the city limits, at that time, there was 51% of one race and 49% of another race. Now, that's only one random example. We live in a world with a 6,000 year history of racial tension. Our country has had, and still has, its fair share of racial prejudice, bias, partiality. And it seems that Satan the Devil has had great success in using the differences that are affiliated with race to drive wedges between peoples, even of the body of Jesus Christ. I think it's only the responsible thing to do is to address it from time to time, because God has called us to be a part of His very family. And as we'll look at the Scripture a little later, as Paul wrote on one occasion, there's neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, bond or free. If we're Christ's, we're Abraham's seed and heirs to the promise. And so, in the body of Christ, the color of one's skin should not matter. But again, we all have our own backgrounds. We have influences that we've been subjected to. Books I have read in the past, probably a dozen or 15 years ago, I read a history book titled, Out of this Furnace. The author Thomas Bell was telling the story of his family that came from Hungary over 100 years ago here to America. And through three generations, the Hungarian peoples, how they were ostracized, called names, that's where from Hungarian, that's where the term, first of all, hunky came from, which then morphed into honky, which was used and referenced in one of white skin. We have, well, I also read a book, Benevolent Assimilation. Read that a dozen years ago. And it was a story of the American conquest of the Philippines, 1898-1903. Spanish-American War, and then there was a conquest of the Philippines. There was a war between the Philippines and Americans, where our forces went in and ruthlessly followed down, traced down some of the leaders of the opposition, Aquinaldo and others, and summarily found them and hung them. But the term used at that time was that America had to look after our little brown brothers. And they are generally a shorter people, and they are brown-skinned.

And yet, that was the phrase that was used. But, you know, within any ethnic group, any racial group, there tends to be these racial slurs that develop and are used back and forth, and they have no part, any place, in the body of Jesus Christ. World War II brought some that then were in use when I was growing up a few years later. Basically, slurs toward those who had been our enemies. Surely, we all heard about japs and crowds and wops, probably, in growing up. Now, it kind of rocked my family when an uncle of mine, who was a career army man, he served in Burma during World War II and then stayed in and was sent back to, actually, he was stationed in Japan during the Korean War, and horror of horrors to the family, he married a Japanese woman.

Now, six, seven years earlier, Japanese had been our enemy, and my aunt Taiko still lives in Lawton, Oklahoma, because he ended his service at Fort Sill, and she's one of my special people on earth, and I went to see her with my sister last February. But I remember as a little kid, aunt Taiko coming, and she could speak a few words of English, and yet she learned it, and she went through, step by step, through all of the legal means by which she then became an American citizen. And I think we all have the great, greatest appreciation, and we applaud people who come and do it legally like that.

At any rate, our country is not the only one. It happens around the world. If you just think back across the last two, three decades, I mean, look at India. You've got some areas where you've got the Hindus, and you've got some of the Kashmir separatist state. You have areas where there are Muslims, and you always have something happening behind the scenes there. Down in Sri Lanka, you have the Tamil separatist group and the Hindus who are there. If you go back over 20 years ago, we had the Balkan War taking place, and you had some of your Serbs and Croats and Albanians, and you have different ethnicities and different religions, and the fighting back and forth at that time.

So we sometimes have racial, these undertones that come through with presidential elections and campaigns. Actually, the first one I remember was former President Bill Clinton accused President Obama of playing the race card in the election against his own wife, Hillary. So, you know, it has affected our presidential campaigns in this country. Now, in the Church, we have had a number of items that have come out. There have been a number of excellent articles.

It seems like we haven't had that much of more recent years, but we still have different materials. We have a study paper that was approved by the Council of Elders, August 2005, Interracial Marriage Study Paper. And I'll look at some of this, actually. The first few pages asks the question, where did race originate, and what is the definition of race, and looks at different examples of Israel, ancient Israel, with its relationship with some of the other nations around it. So, excellent resource. You can do like I did this week.

Just go to the website, trace down study papers, find this, and hit print. We have an article that appeared. This is Christian Race Relations, written by Dr. Ralph Levy. And this was United News, November 2002. As time may allow, I may read portions of this. But, well, let me just read this one sentence. The history of ethnic relations throughout most of human history, and especially in the 20th century, suggests that conflict, not harmony, is the default state of human affairs.

And then it goes on discussing that in the realm of race relations. And, as I said a while ago, Satan has had great success in using race to drive wedges between people. And sadly, sometimes it takes place within the body of Christ. This article was from the World News and Prophecy, which, of course, is no longer a separate issue. It's combined with the Good News magazine, which will become Beyond Today magazine next issue.

So this came from the September, October 2003 World News and Prophecy. Robin Weber wrote an article, This is the Way, a 40-year-old Dream with Shades of Eternity. And he went back and referred to Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech. And in that, he called for a time when the country, and I'd say when the whole world, does not judge anyone else by the color of their skin, but rather by the content of the character.

But it seems that's going to have to wait for the kingdom of God for that to take place. But we do have that article and some excellent points made. We have an article, Overcoming Prejudice, by Kevin Epps. So we have a number of works available to us. In the World News and Prophecy in September, October 2001, Darris McNeely wrote an article just titled Restoration. And he began by saying, Racism is an abhorrent evil that plagues the earth, but it will not be erased by conferences that continue to foster suspicion and mistrust.

Well, he went on. He was writing about, there was a conference done in Durban, South Africa, about xenophobia. Xenophobia is fear of the unknown or fear of anything different, fear of someone who's a stranger or a foreigner to us. And how that as they had gathered this World Conference Against Racism together in South Africa, the first thing they called for was they wanted Zionism and Israel, the little country of Israel in particular, to be deemed as racist states or as a racist state. And the whole thing fell apart and it didn't go anywhere.

One attending was American Secretary of State Colin Powell at that time. Most of us remember General Powell, Secretary Powell, himself an African American, but from his fairer skin, obviously, I would say of mixed lineage. But Secretary Powell was the one who asked the question because they were talking about compensation for abuses between races. And he said, would I get compensation for slavery or would I pay for it? I mean, I just, I thought it was very insightful. It showed the complexity of the problem. Somewhat of mixed lineage. Do I receive payment or do I give payment? And there is no real answer to that. No answer a man has anyhow. Well, toward the end of the article, Mr. McNeely said, where racism exists today should be exposed for the evil that it is. Yet, not until the heart of mankind is transformed by the Holy Spirit of God, will the evil tide of racism and intolerance be turned back from human society. And then he quoted the scripture Jeremiah stated of the time when God would put His law in our minds and write them on our hearts. I'll be their God, they'll be my people. Let's turn to Galatians 3 and notice verse 28. Galatians 3. This is where the apostle Paul addressed this topic. Maybe it wasn't his primary focus, but the area of Galatia within Asia Minor was kind of a mixing pot, a solid bowl mixture of various peoples who had come in from far and wide. And he was reminding them that if you're called of God, you're Christ's. And all these differences need to stop. 3 verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. Now, Jew refers to those who are from the tribe of Judah.

Or maybe more in general, the house of Judah, as it developed later and you had the tribes of Judah. The church of Benjamin and most of Levi. There is no, of course, up until a certain point, the early New Testament church was a Jewish church. And it's not Greek. And the Greeks, by lineage, are not from Shem. They're from another line. There is neither slave nor free. Of course, Mr. Ashley was just here in recent weeks and talked about the slavery. Very much a part of the Roman world at that time.

We have Paul's letter to Philemon about the runaway slave Onesimus. And so we see it was very much a real, genuine part of their society. There is neither male or female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So I think that's a good place to start with, that we are called to be a part of the body of Jesus Christ. And that is irrespective of race, social status, or gender. Because from the very beginning with the creation story, we read in Genesis 1 verse 26, let us make man in our image.

And as it goes on, it says, male and female created he them. And there was no concept of color of skin or of stature or of texture of hair or shape of eyes at all. It was the human family in the form of Adam and Eve. And God had, He said, they're in my likeness, they're in my image. They have the potential of becoming a part of my very eternal family. Well, let's ask and then seek to answer a few questions together. First of all, let's ask the question, what is race? What is race?

And from Webster's dictionary, the one that I have at home, it simply says, any of the major biological divisions of mankind, any of the major biological divisions of mankind.

But if we look at race, one item that comes out very clearly is that it involves more than color of skin.

It involves differences beyond color of skin. It involves eye color. And again, if I can properly use, I hope I'm allowed just to use the generic terms, black, yellow, and white, for your predominant peoples on the earth. Or I could say the Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasian. But basically, you're, you have darker eyes in the black and yellow peoples. In the fairer skin, the white peoples, so-called, you have more variety from blue, and green, and hazel, and brown. You have a lot of Latino peoples, Hispanic peoples, and they have more so brown eyes. You have also the shape of eyes. You have in some peoples the what are called the almond-shaped eyes, and your orientals will have more of that. You have hair color. Some peoples basically have a certain dark color, and in others there's a variety from black, just cold black hair, as we say, to brown, to blonde, to red.

All types, all different types there, and variations. There is hair texture. There is the skeletal configuration. In other words, how the body is basically built and put together. You have skeletal proportions. You have stature, and yet even in any of those, you have a tremendous variation. I think there was a time when it would be a true saying to state that, well, your white and your black peoples are generally going to be taller than your yellow peoples. And yet, if you look at the NBA, I forget the name of this guy who was out in the last few years, but he's from China, and he's seven feet. I forget what? A huge man. So you're seeing things that have changed quite a bit. Let's ask number two, how many races are there? How many races are there? Now, ethnologists generally recognize three main races, and we're going to go with that.

There's a book titled Race and Races. The author's last name is Goldsby. Goldsby says, everyone's classification includes three main races. But, of course, there are all types of subdivisions under each one. You have various ethnicities. But, again, as I said a while ago, the Mongoloid or Yellow race, you have the Negroid or the Black race, you have the Caucasian or the White race. So, again, generally it's agreed upon. You have three overall races. Number three, I think a very important question to ask is, where did race come from? Once in a while you will hear, I believe, a satanic accusation that race came about as a result of someone's sin.

That, well, Ham did this or Canaan did that, and therefore they were made of this. Well, again, I think the roots there is racist. Race has to be an issue of creation. How did God do it? We have lots of questions. Adam and Eve. In fact, do we really know what color Adam and Eve were? Is there a scripture we can turn to to prove? I don't believe there is. God designed, God created, designed within the first man and first woman the wherewithal, the ability to reproduce and bring about three distinct races. I submit that race is an issue of creation.

Now, let's think about that. Think of other, I mean, set human beings aside for a while. Think of other creations that God has brought about. There was a time, we know when the physical universe was created in Job, there is that statement that the sons of God shouted for joy at what they saw. So the angelic sons of God were around by that time. But as the Bible opens up a little window here and there, like in Daniel and Revelation and Ezekiel, you have some angels who are caribs. And a carib has four wings and it has four faces. And everything God creates is beautiful. It's hard to really imagine that, you know, a face of a cow and a face of a man and an eagle and a lion. And yet, how beautiful that must be. You have seraphs, seraphim. You have a description of a seraph from the throne of God there in Isaiah 6 when he said, I'm a man of unclean lips. And a seraph flew over and took a fiery coal and put on his mouth and symbolically purified his lips. And it had six wings and a hand from under a wing that got that coal.

So we have a variety within the angelic creation. And yet, there are times when they manifest as human beings. Three men came up to Abraham's tent and as the story unfolds, one of them was the God of the Old Testament, but the other two were the angels that went down to Sodom to see if the things that they were told were true. So they could manifest as if they were human beings. And, of course, Hebrews tells us to beware. We might entertain an angel unawares. I think we can also look at the animal world. Just simply take the cat family. You have everything from, I think, a tiger is the largest and the African lion not far behind it, all the way down, little feral cats or cats you may have around your house. You have everything in between. Pumas and mountain lions and sometimes are the same thing, just called differently in different regions. Bobcats and lynxes and ocelots and panthers and, you know, some of them, like the snowy leopard, is basically white because it lives at the high elevations and hunts during so-called. And others go all the way to certain panthers are black in color and jaguars.

You have then you have brown and you have yellows and if you get into the little kitty cat, you've got calicos and mixtures of various colors and some are spotted and some are striped. And God did that! Why would we not believe that He did the same with human beings? We're not all the same stature. We even find differences within our families.

My father was 5'9", but his four brothers were 6'1-6'4". There's a wide variety here within the realm of genetics. So much we don't understand, but we should appreciate and marvel at, like we heard in the sermon had, and just thank God for everything that He has done. Let's go to Acts 17. The apostle Paul went to Athens and those at Athens felt that that's where the human family began, that they were the purest of the pure. And so what Paul had to say had really rocked them to their core. Because here in Acts 17, we just pick it up into the story. Let's go down to verse 23 where he mentions in passing, he saw this inscription, To the Unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing Him, I proclaim to you.

Verse 24, God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Again, think of there at Athens, the Acropolis, all the great buildings there. God doesn't dwell in any of these buildings.

Nor is He worshiped with men's hands as though He needed anything, since He gives all life, breath, and all things, and He has made from one blood every nation of earth. To dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. So notice he says, created from one blood every nation.

And the word nation comes from the Greek ethnos, from whence we get our term ethnic or ethnicity. God created a variation, a variety within. And, yes, pre-appointed times and boundaries of their dwellings would speak back to when God originally sent people to certain places where He intended they dwell. It fascinates me. I read some time back about some of the peoples that live more so far north, but it would be true, those who live far south, that they have fewer capillaries, the little tiny blood vessels just right there in a part of their skin. Fewer, and it allows them to survive better than most of us could in an extreme cold climate. There are peoples who can live closer to the equator. I mean, the Filipinos, it must be them because they thrive, and I step outside away from an air conditioner, and I get drenched. I just soak out my shirt, and I look around, and I think, they're not even perspiring. They must be created to live at that, you know, eight or twelve degrees just north of the equator. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32, God was about to divide out the various parts of the promised land for the tribes of Israel, and as this is happening, Moses looks back at a time when God separated out the various lands to the different peoples all the way back to Adam. Again, why separation? In part, we don't know, but in part we do know, because Satan has had such success for six thousand years in playing upon the differences between peoples and getting them to where they just don't like anybody as different from they are than they are. But Deuteronomy 32 verses 7 and 8, Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show you your elders and they will tell you. When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. Now, you may have a marginal note, children of Israel. In some translation, the Septuagint has it, the angels of God, another one has it, the sons of God. But it refers back to the time when God divided out different lands to different people. This was about to happen within specifically the tribes of Israel. You know, Dan was going to go here and Judah there and Benjamin and Ephraim and Asher and all the tribes were about to be sent to a certain place that they were to live.

Let's look at Genesis chapter 3. It's good to also remind ourselves of the statement here.

Genesis 3 and notice verse 20, And Adam called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. And this speaks of the human family. When Adam and Eve were created, they were brought together and made as one and told to be one and in the process fill the earth. And yet as children were born over time, again a lot of the details we simply aren't told, but over time differences began to make themselves evident and what God had designed within them, perhaps in a way that is put into no one else. It became to be obvious. But again, Satan has used differences to drive peoples apart. Genesis chapter 10. Here we have the table of nations after the flood. As we remember, Noah and family went through the flood. His three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth came through.

Those three sons with their wives and through the process, God somehow preserved the differences that we call race. Genesis 10 verse 1. Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. So it focuses first on Japheth. Verse 2. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Medai, from whence comes the Medes, Javen, Tubal, Meshach, and Tyros. If we skip down to verse 6, it goes on and elaborates some of the sons of these sons. But verse 6. The sons of Ham were Kush, Mitsriam, from whence comes the Egyptians, Put, and Canaan. So the Canaanite peoples were actually through the line of Ham.

Then if we go down to verse 21, get down quite a bit, we come to Shem. And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth, the elder. Shem was a brother of Japheth. And it mentions the sons of Shem were Elam, Asher, our Faxed. Now, Abraham was to come through the line of our Faxed, Ludd, and Aram. And then notice verse 25. To Eber, that's of this line of our Faxed, it came to the point when one named Eber, this is where we get the name Hebrew, Eber was born two sons. The name of one was Peleg. Four in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. So Peleg, that was the time when there was a division of the lands of the earth. Again, God had started all over through Noah and family. And after a certain amount of time with the generations, they were told, some of you, you go and you live here, others of you go there, and the earth was divided once again at that time. God could have chosen to create humans to look like, I heard someone use the example of an endless line of yellow pencils coming off a factory line.

He could have chosen that we all look like clones of each other. Boy, am I glad Denise does not look like me. I can't describe how wonderful it is to look at her after I look at myself in the mirror. It's a great treat. But God's got a variety. We see that in any realm of the animal world, we see it in the angelic world. Why would it not be the same within the human family? And we're not talking right or wrong. We're talking about God and His sovereignty and His design. And He's the one who can create things as He good and well pleases. And it's our job to just be fascinated at that. And yet again, too many times, Satan drives these wedges and brings up, stirs up problems. We are to be unified, and yet we will be diversified. We will be multifaceted. We will be multi-skilled. It is interesting. Man has known for a long time that every set of fingerprints on the earth is different. And what a boon that was to criminal science whenever they began realizing and taking fingerprints, and they could pull fingerprints off of a crime scene and then tie it in with the person who owned those fingerprints because nobody else is going to have fingerprints quite like that. We find the true. It has been found that the human voice is that way. There are times, and I know we live in the South here, times when I pick up the phone and say, hello, and the person just starts talking. You know, where I grew up, it's when you call somebody, the first thing you do, well, this is David Dobson. Well, let them know who's talking. But we don't do that in the South, do we? I pick up the phone, somebody starts talking, and usually within, if it's someone I know, usually within a sentence, oh, okay. Seriously, science has found there is a distinction in every single human voice on this earth. I saw something recently, how Lindsay came out with, and it was related to 666, Mark the Beast, but you may have seen this in some, you know, usually your James Bond movies, things like that, they're way out ahead of where science really has gotten to, but it's based on something that man's looking at too. But you will have them, and it will scan the cornea. The cornea of the eye is distinctly different from any other person.

That is used as identification. Putting the hand down where it can scan and read the blueprint of the blood vessels in the hand, something Denise and I did last year, since it appears we will keep going to the Philippines for some time. We got the, what they call the GOES program, the Global Something Entry System, and they have a separate line where if you are approved that way and you've got your ghost card, you can zip back through when you come back into the country, and you're going through customs. And it really does help a lot, but when we came back from the feast, you have to go over there, put down your passport, and put your hand and hold it there for a certain way. I did not know until after the feast that that thing is scanning my hand because the blood vessels are a map of its own. So we have diversity that God designed in, and placed within us. Let's go on to another question. Where does the friction come from between races? And we don't need three guesses on this. Where does the friction come that is between races?

Well, the one word answer is Satan, Satan the Devil. The root cause of partiality, of racial bias, strife, the root cause of all prejudice is Satan the Devil, the one who hates the family of God and what God is building for eternity. He wants to destroy it, and he seeks to thwart it in any way he can. Let's go to James chapter 4. There is a principle here that I think we can rightly apply because James asks, from whence come wars and fightings among you?

Well, they come from your lust. And of course, Satan is the author of lust, improper, inordinate desires for things that are not ours.

James 4 verse 1, Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and can obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Verse 5, Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously? So, the instigator is Satan the devil. There is lust. Lust began with him. You read Isaiah 14, the I will statements. I will be like the Most High. He wanted power. He wanted authority. He wanted oversight of everything that God had not given to him. That's where lust came from. That is something that is reflected in human beings. John 8, verse 44. We have a statement made about the devil. John 8, verse 44. There were those of the Jews at that time. Jesus said to them, verse 44, You are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. Now, just pause there. Whenever there is this racial strife and we see things happen in what was it? Ferguson, Missouri? We have things happen. There is a racial powder keg about to go off.

It will happen again and things are going to get worse before they are going to get better. They are getting worse right before our eyes. Satan is the one who was a murderer. When people just drop everything and they want to kill every possible one of another race.

Again, think back to the Balkan War, the Serbs, Croats, Albanians.

They just hate and they want to kill each other because they are different. That comes from Satan the devil. And does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it.

So, the instigator is the devil. He is not only the adversary of the body of Jesus Christ. He is the adversary of all of humanity. Again, the word xenophobia. That starts with an X. Xenophobia, an unreasonable fear or even hatred of foreigners or strangers.

Now, let me go back to mention this study paper on interracial marriage.

I wanted to look here first of all. It has one of the appendices on interracial marriage in the Bible. And let me just mention, as the church has studied this, we cannot turn to Scripture to prove interracial marriage is sin. We cannot say that if we are going to be true to the Scriptures.

Is it advised? Well, that would be for the couple for their families to deal with. And then certainly it would be something for them to look at. But let me think of various areas providing a list of what would be viewed as interracial marriages and betrothels found in the Bible. It says one, again, this is a study paper from the Council years ago, 10 years ago. One might consider a marriage between any two of the three main lines, such as between a Hebrew and any Egyptian. One's from the line of Shem, the other one's from the line of Ham. They might consider that or a Hebrew and Oriental, someone from Japheth, as an interracial marriage rather than a marriage between two nationalities of the same line, such as Hebrew and say Moabite. You know, they're still of the line of Shem. All nationalities in this list are Hebrew where the nationality is not cited. Now, it refers to a lot of examples, and we won't take time to turn there, but there are a lot of them. Genesis 16 verses 3 and 4. Abraham becomes the father of Ishmael through whom? Hagar and Egyptian. The Egyptians come from Mitrium. Mitrium was a son of Ham. Whereas the scripture where God condemned that. Well, it doesn't exist. Now, was it the best thing? No, they were trying to help God out, and we have problems from that decision to this very day.

Next generation, Genesis 21 verse 21. Ishmael takes an Egyptian wife. Well, Ishmael was already half Egyptian. He takes an Egyptian wife. Their children are going to be three-quarters Egyptian. All right, Genesis 26 verse 34. Ishmael takes two Hittite women as his wives, and the Hittites came through him. And Ishmael, of course, was a twin brother of Jacob from the line of Abraham, a Shemite. We have Genesis 38 verse 2. Judah takes a Canaanite wife. Again, Canaan, one of the lineage of Ham. We have Genesis 41 verse 45.

Genesis 41 verse 45. Joseph marries the daughter of the priest of Aon.

Joseph marries the daughter of an Egyptian priest. Ephraim and Manasseh are born. What race were they?

Well, they were half Shemite and half Hemite.

Isn't it interesting that in Genesis 48 where Jacob or Israel crossed his hands, and he said, let my name be placed upon them? And they were half Egyptian. So, you know, God has mixed in different peoples into the very line of Christ more than we want to focus on sometimes. And I think he's done that all along to hopefully give us something to think about, to realize there is no reason to have racial pride that leads to hatred and animosity, as we see.

Okay, Exodus 2 verse 21. Moses married Zipporah, who was a Midianite.

And the Midianites, you know, they were Shemites, but still she was not of that same line.

Okay, Moses later in life, Numbers 12 verse 1, Moses marries an Ethiopian.

And the Ethiopians are through the line of Ham. And of course, that's the story where what was happening. His brother and his sister were complaining because Moses married this Ethiopian woman. And as the story proceeds, God does not single out the marriage as being the problem, but their attitude that they were speaking against their little brother.

A number of places, such as Deuteronomy 21 verses 10 through 14, Hebrews were permitted to marry virgin captives of any lineage from their conquests outside of Canaan. And they were brought into the fold of Israel. Joshua 6, 25, and Matthew 1 verse 5, it tells of how Solomon, a Jew, married Rahab the Canaanites. Solomon, a Jew, married, and again, this is in Matthew 1, this is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And it is specifically mentioned that Solomon bore so-and-so of Rahab, and God put that line into the line of Jesus Christ.

Now, Bathsheba married Uriah the Hittite, again, Hittites through the line of Ham. Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, an Egyptian. Solomon had many, many foreign wives and concubines. Ahab married Jezebel, who was the Phoenician of another line. So, you know, we could go on and on with examples there. There are many examples of marriages across racial lines, and we do not find scriptures where God condemned the fact that it was across racial or ethnic lines. We do find condemnation when it was inter-religious, where it was across religious lines. They were forbidden to marry so that their hearts would be turned by their spouse to the other gods. That was clearly condemned, and God was seeking for the faith of Israel and their relationship with God to be kept pure and clean. But that's the religion. I don't have time for a lot of this, but again, you can find this paper with a great deal of information there. I want to read a little bit from Dr. Levy's article. This is the United News, November 2002, Christian Race Relations. He wrote, The history of ethnic relations throughout most of human history, and especially the 20th century, suggests that conflict, not harmony, is the default state in human affairs. The deaths of some 6 million Jews in the 1940s in Central Europe attest to this. So does the cruel, barbarous conflict between China and Japan in the 1930s. There was a lot going on over there before we ever got to World War II. You had, I mean, re-read about the rape of Nanking sometime, and just the Japanese going in trying to just destroy the Chinese peoples. He mentions here, as I referred to a while ago, the former Yugoslav republics and the Croats, Serbs, Albanians, etc.

Then he wrote, Unconverted human beings seem unable to coexist when there are racial differences.

In the United States, ongoing ethnic tensions linger in many areas, often between Black and White Americans, but also at times involving Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and others.

Injustices, both historic and actual, continue to shape the psyche of many and to foment, continuing hostility and conflict. And surprisingly, even among God's people, we find that intercultural or interracial relations are not always harmonious.

But the New Testament shows clearly that the calling of Gentiles into the Church of God was traumatic and often unwelcome to the many Jewish Christians. The history is fascinating. It begins with the introduction into the Jewish nation of a relatively small number of people of other ethnic groups who became fully integrated into the nation as proselytes. They received circumcision, again, we're talking back in history, old covenant days. They received circumcision and participated in all the Jewish laws and rituals. One such is included among the seven deacons selected and ordained in Acts 6, where we read Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. Dr. Levy says the man was probably Greek, who adopted the Jewish religion, became a proselyte of the gate, as they were called, and then later called into the very Church of God and accepted Christ as his Messiah. We also read of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch there with the events of Acts 8 and the preaching of Philip. He goes on and refers to Acts 10 and how God used Peter, the vision that he saw that came down three times, and then the three men were looking for him. And the story led us to Cornelius, the Roman centurion, and his household being brought into the very family of God. Isn't it interesting that Peter was the one used in a powerful way there? And yet in Galatians 2, Paul wrote how that when he was at Antioch, he was at Antioch, and that Peter and even Barnabas got caught up in separating from the Gentiles where they had been feasting with them. And then some came from James at Jerusalem, and they backed away. And Peter said, I was stood him to his face. And he told him how wrong he was to do that. He goes on a little later in his article and says, remember that God is no respecter of persons. This is one of the major lessons of the Bible. The Church of God moved from being from being one people, one culture, and one ethnic group to a multinational, multi-ethnic body unified by the Spirit of God. What those early Christians had to learn was that membership in the Church of God is not dependent in any way on ethnicity, nationality, or color of skin.

A human being becomes part of the household of God by repenting of sin, being baptized, and receiving the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, which makes him or her a child of God by reason of that spirit, not the flesh. I can't read all of that, but it is interesting here. Let's ask another question.

How should Christians view church members from different races?

And the answer ought to be obvious. How should Christians view church members from other races?

Well, obviously we should see them as our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let's go to Matthew 24, first of all. This is where Christ was describing the signs that will lead up to his return. Matthew 24, and let's read verse 7. Verse 7, For nation shall rise against nation. Now, the word that's translated here for us as nation is from the Greek ethnos, which refers to a racial group. Isn't it interesting as we look at the strife around this world today, so much of it is racial in nature. So much of it. Whether it is warfare or whether it is community violence. We have racial differences, and Satan is having great success, and let it not be spoken of in the church of God. And kingdom against kingdom, and famines, pestilences, and that's as far as we need to read. Let's go to Matthew 28.

When he gave the church their marching orders, here at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we read verses 19 and 20. Matthew 28, verse 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Again, Greek ethnos. You go to all ethnicities. You go to all races to make disciples for Jesus Christ, baptizing them wherever they're from, whatever their home nation is. When they're repentant and when they believe, you baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ, excuse me, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things. Because they have the same right, the same privilege of access, the same opportunity to be in on the family of God that anyone else has. That I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. The Gospel first began among the Jews, for the most part, with a few proselytes here and there. It began with the Jews, and it was then to go to all peoples before the ascension back to heaven. Jesus reminded them, you start here, you go to Galilee, you go to the end of the earth. Take it to the uttermost part of the earth. It is the Gospel is for all people of all time. Let's go back to Leviticus 19. Notice, I think it's good for us to remember there are principles that can be applied here in the Church of God of today. Leviticus 19, and let's read verses 33 and 34. God says to Israel, And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.

That's pretty plain. You shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself. And then it reminds those of Israel, For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

You were slaves yourself. You were strangers and pilgrims yourself.

Don't get up on your high horse looking down toward others of other nations. But if you have a stranger among you, treat him the same way you treat others of your own people.

Deuteronomy 10.

Deuteronomy 10 and verses 17 through 19. Verse 17, For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore, love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Love them, accept them, serve them, share with them. Don't look down on them, because once upon a time you were in a position where you were looked down on. You were abused by those in Egypt. And now think of those who may have been old enough to remember some of the treatment they had in Egypt. Maybe some of these things were written because they had a mixed multitude, which may have included a lot of Egyptians that came out with them. And it would only seem natural for humans to have been hurt by an Egyptian people to look on other Egyptians and to resent them. But he said, you view them as if they're your own people. And don't show any partiality. Well, there are other scriptures we could turn to there, but you know, the challenge what God is asking us, I suppose we could sum it up by quoting from back in what the Apostle John wrote, that this is a command that we've had from the beginning, that you love one another. And that's what it gets back down to.

Deal briefly with another question. Will there be race in the millennium?

I mean, some people see it as being so evil, so you would assume it's all going to be swept aside in the kingdom. But lo and behold, what do we find? Peoples of all nations saying, come, let's go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord. He will teach us his ways. The law will go out from Zion. It will go out to all peoples.

Micah 4, let us read verses 1 through 3. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be established above all the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways. Verse 3, he shall judge between many peoples. And this is as the millennium is beginning. He's going to judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off. Let's go to Revelation 20. Revelation 20, verses 11 and 12.

Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I saw the dead, small and great. It does not deal with the issue of gender. It does not deal with the issue of race. It does not deal with socioeconomic status. The dead, small and great, standing before God. The books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. And then chapter 24. If you find Revelation 24, I'd like to see it.

21, verse 24.

Here it says, And the nations, again ethnos, the various ethnic racial peoples of those who are saved, shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. There will be distinction in the family of God, because God planned, designed, and authored race from the very beginning. And I think He intends it to be around for eternity. Times will become worse before they become better under the reign of Christ. The world, I think we've got enough record written. We can safely say the world will continue in its racist ways. There will continue to be fighting among different peoples. Satan will strive to stir up problems between mankind in general, and he will try to stir up differences within the body of Jesus Christ.

Humans, on their own power, it seems, are unable to get along with each other, and that leads to violence and warfare. Time is coming. That should be true for the Church of God now, when peoples will be able to dwell together in harmony and unity. Mr. Levy ended his article by saying, we are to be part of the people of God in every way. Just as the early church, part Jewish, part Greek, had learned the big lesson of Christian love across cultural lines, so we in the church today have a unique opportunity to demonstrate that we truly are God's people. And we do this by building genuine loving and caring relations in the midst of this multiracial, multiethnic, multinational church we are called to be part of. So, let us work to build a church of love and peace and harmony, even while the world continues to erupt in violence around us.