Racism: Satan’s Greatest Weapon

What a Super Bowl. Defense, defense, defense. But that is not what we are here about today. Today, I mention one of the words on everyone’s mind but never on their lips.

Racism

– a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities, and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

One of Satan’s greatest schemes, tools, and weapons of all time. Ever since the dawn of humanity and that fateful day of Adam and Eve eating the fruit, there has been division sown in our hearts that is not of our Creator. I cannot even imagine how God must have felt and continues to feel when He looks at His world, the one we have corrupted and thrown into chaos.

Satan

–  the rebellious angel who, in Christian belief, is the adversary of God and lord of evil

There are many names of Satan.

• Satan (שָׂטָן) – Hebrew: “adversary, accuser” (Job 1:6, Zechariah 3:1)
• Diabolos (διάβολος) – Greek: “slanderer, false accuser, one who throws across/divides” (Matthew 4:1, Revelation 12:9)
• Prince of this World (ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου) – (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11)
• God of this Age (ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου) – (2 Corinthians 4:4)
• Accuser of the Brethren (ὁ κατήγωρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν) – (Revelation 12:10)
• Deceiver (ὁ πλανῶν) – (Revelation 12:9, 20:10)
• Father of Lies – (John 8:44)
• Murderer from the Beginning – (John 8:44)
• Enemy (ὁ ἐχθρός) – (Matthew 13:39)

The one I want to focus on today is Diabolos (διάβολος), “the one who throws across. divides.”

Racism perverts the image of God, or Imago Dei. We are made in the image of God.

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV)

How can a humanity that is made in the image of God tolerate and take part in racism, which destroys the world?

Children do not naturally see race. Growing up in school, I remember having black friends, Latin American friends, white friends, and even Indian friends. I had no clue what race was or meant; I did not even understand why my friends were a different color than I was. This shows that racism is learned and not something innate in humanity. This world is under the control of Satan, as decreed by God, so racism, or anything that is not of God, and is learned from the world, must be demonic.

In today’s world, this name of Satan, Diabolos (διάβολος), is more present than ever. Across the world, we see it. In Pakistan and India, China and Taiwan, Russia and Ukraine, the USA and immigrants, African countries and tribes, and even within religious sects. Within the Muslim world, different groups tolerate none but themselves; it is the same in Jewish culture, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and all religions across the world. One must think to themself, why is hatred so prevalent in a world made in God’s image? Especially in nations that claim to be of God and destined by God.

None is as present, at least for me, as America. In a country that prides itself on being the melting pot of the world, they are today rejecting the foundation that built this nation. It amazes me that America, which is outraged at immigration. Listen or read this quote by Ronald Reagan, one of the few Presidents that the Christian right loves.

Ronald Reagan on Jan. 19, 1989, during White House ceremonies presenting the Medal of Freedom to Mike Mansfield and George Schultz.

“Since this is the last speech that I will give as President, I think it’s fitting to leave one final thought, an observation about a country which I love. It was stated best in a letter I received not long ago. A man wrote me and said:

‘You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.’

Yes, the torch of Lady Liberty symbolizes our freedom and represents our heritage, the compact with our parents, our grandparents, and our ancestors. It is that lady who gives us our great and special place in the world. For it’s the great life force of each generation of new Americans that guarantees that America’s triumph shall continue unsurpassed into the next century and beyond. Other countries may seek to compete with us; but in one vital area, as a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws the people of the world, no country on earth comes close.

This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation.”

How can a country change so much since 1989? It makes me wonder if we have ever destroyed the idol of racism.

In the ancient world, it was the Greeks vs. the “barbarians.” The word barbarians comes from the word “Barbaros” (βάρβαρος), meaning “those who babble, bar-bar.” Aristotle in Politics stated that “Barbarians are more servile in character than Hellenes… therefore barbarians are slaves by nature.” These so-called ‘natural slaves’ included the very peoples who would later conquer, enslave, or outlast the Greeks themselves: the Persians, Egyptians, Thracians, Scythians, Phoenicians, Celts, and Romans. Within a few centuries, these ‘natural slaves’ would conquer Greece, with Rome ultimately enslaving the Greeks who had invented the category of ‘barbarian’ in the first place.

The pattern was already visible: Greeks who survived Persian invasion attempts at Marathon (490 BC) and Thermopylae (480 BC)—where the Persians sought to enslave them—turned around and justified their own imperialism through the same ethnic superiority logic. They became what they feared

Rome then conquered Greece in 146 BC and adopted the identical rhetoric, calling Germanic tribes “barbarians” worthy only of slavery or death. The Roman poet Horace admitted the irony: “Captive Greece took captive her savage conqueror”—Rome had absorbed Greek culture while enslaving Greeks. The weapon rotated again.

Even God’s chosen people fell into this pattern. The Israelites, enslaved in Babylon (586 BC), later participated in slavery themselves in diaspora communities, as documented by scholars like Catherine Hezser in “Jewish Slavery in Antiquity.” No group remained immune to the diabolos—the divider.

The medieval period revealed the same demonic pattern wearing religious garments. The Crusades (1095-1291) began with European Christians attacking Muslims in the Holy Land—but Crusaders also massacred Rhineland Jews en route to Jerusalem in 1096. Riley-Smith’s “The Crusades: A History” documents how the movement that claimed to reclaim holy sites for Christ left a trail of Jewish blood across Europe before ever reaching Muslim territory.

The Spanish Reconquista (718-1492) showed the rotating door in action. Christians expelled Muslims who had previously conquered Christian Spain in 711 AD. Then Spain turned on the Jews—the Alhambra Decree of 1492 expelled all Jews from Spain. The irony? Many Spanish Jews fled to the Ottoman Empire, finding safety among the very Muslims that Christian Spain was fighting. The oppressed became oppressors; the oppressors became refuge.

The Ottoman Turks, who gave sanctuary to Spanish Jews, simultaneously oppressed Christian minorities through the devshirme system—forcibly taking Christian boys, converting them to Islam, and training them as Janissaries. Armenian Christians faced systematic discrimination for centuries before the genocide of 1915. Those who were victims in one context became perpetrators in another.

Meanwhile, European Christians accused Jews of ritual murder (blood libel)—first in Norwich, England (1144), then spreading across the continent. Jews were expelled from England (1290), France (1306, 1394), Spain (1492), and confined to ghettos like Venice (1516). Gavin Langmuir’s research shows how Christian Europe spent centuries perfecting the art of religious-ethnic hatred.

The colonial period demonstrated that Satan’s weapon of racism could travel across oceans and adapt to new contexts. The Spanish, who had been conquered by the Romans, the Visigoths, and the Moors, turned their accumulated resentment toward the New World.

Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest who witnessed the conquest, wrote in “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” (1542): “They attacked the towns and spared neither the children nor the aged nor pregnant women nor women in childbed, not only stabbing them and dismembering them but cutting them to pieces as if dealing with sheep in the slaughter house.” An estimated 56 million indigenous people died, 90% of the pre-Columbian population, according to research published in Quaternary Science Reviews (2019).

The Valladolid Debate of 1550-1551 reveals the theological corruption: Spanish scholars literally argued whether indigenous peoples had souls. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda invoked Aristotle’s “natural slaves” theory, applying ancient Greek racism to justify New World genocide. The same philosophical weapon, sharpened over millennia, now slaughtered millions in the Americas.

The British Empire perfected industrial-scale racism. The Bengal Famine of 1770 killed 10 million under East India Company rule. The Amritsar Massacre of 1919 saw British troops murder 379 unarmed Indian protesters. Shashi Tharoor’s “Inglorious Empire” documents how Britain extracted $45 trillion from India while claiming to bring “civilization.”

But perhaps no example shows the rotating door more clearly than the Irish. Under British Penal Laws (1695-1829), Irish Catholics couldn’t vote, hold office, or own land. The Great Famine (1845-1852) killed one million, while Ireland exported food to England. Irish nationalist John Mitchel wrote: “The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine.”

Here’s where Satan’s weapon reveals its full cunning: Irish immigrants fleeing British oppression arrived in America and promptly discriminated against Black Americans and Chinese immigrants. Noel Ignatiev’s “How the Irish Became White” documents how the oppressed became oppressors within a single generation. The Irish learned that in America, you gained power by pushing someone else down. The weapon rotated again.

Native Americans suffered their own genocide. Between 1492 and 1600, the population declined 95%, from 56 million to 5-6 million, according to David Stannard’s “American Holocaust.” The Trail of Tears (1838-1839) forced-marched 15,000 Cherokee; 4,000 died. President Andrew Jackson justified it:

“What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic?”

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 codified ethnic cleansing into law.

America’s particular sin was chattel slavery, a system so comprehensive, so generational, so racialized that it created a new category of evil. The Atlantic slave trade forcibly transported 12.5 million Africans, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database; 10.7 million survived the Middle Passage. Of these, 388,000 arrived in North America.

But American slavery was unique. Unlike ancient slavery based on conquest or debt, American slavery was:

• Generational: Children born into slavery with no hope of freedom
• Racial: Justified by pseudoscientific theories of Black inferiority
• Permanent: No path to citizenship or equality
• Dehumanizing: The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 legally defined enslaved people as property, not humans

Southern Christians corrupted Scripture to defend it. They twisted the “Curse of Ham” (Genesis 9:25) to justify enslaving Africans. Pastors preached Ephesians 6:5 (“Slaves, obey your masters”) while ignoring Galatians 3:28 (“neither slave nor free”).

The church that should have been the loudest voice against racism became its theological defender.

Even after slavery ended, the weapon didn’t disappear; it adapted. Jim Crow laws (1877-1965) created American apartheid. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) enshrined “separate but equal.” Poll taxes and literacy tests blocked Black voting rights. Between 1882 and 1968, 4,743 lynchings were documented by the Tuskegee Institute, and many more went unrecorded.

The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 destroyed a prosperous Black community and killed 300 people. Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and murdered in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 killed four little girls.

Frederick Douglass’s words proved prophetic: “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from Birmingham Jail in 1963: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

He understood what we often forget: Satan’s weapon of racism doesn’t just destroy the oppressed, it corrupts the oppressor. It poisons both victim and perpetrator. It perverts the Imago Dei in every person it touches.

The 20th century proved that technological progress doesn’t eliminate racism; it makes it more efficient. Three genocides demonstrate how the rotating door accelerated to industrial speed.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) killed 1.5 million people. The Ottoman Turks, who had themselves been victims of European imperialism, turned their rage on the Armenians, Christians who had been called the “loyal millet” of the empire. Death marches through the Syrian desert. Starvation. Mass executions. Ottoman Minister Talaat Pasha declared: “The Armenian question no longer exists.” Peter Balakian’s “The Burning Tigris” documents how a people who had lived in Anatolia for 3,000 years were nearly erased in eight years.

The Holocaust (1933-1945) murdered 6 million Jews with industrial efficiency. Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938) saw 91 Jews killed, 30,000 arrested, and 267 synagogues destroyed in one night. The Wannsee Conference (January 20, 1942) formalized the “Final Solution.” Auschwitz-Birkenau alone killed 1.1 million people. Josef Mengele conducted sadistic medical experiments on twins and children.

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, wrote in “Night”: “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.”

The Rwandan Genocide (1994) killed 800,000 Tutsis in 100 days, 10,000 per day at peak efficiency. RTLM radio broadcasts called Tutsis “cockroaches” (inyenzi), dehumanizing them before the killing began. Philip Gourevitch’s “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families” documents the horror.

The background reveals the pattern: Belgian colonizers (1916-1962) favored Tutsis, giving them power over Hutus. After independence, Hutus gained political control and reversed the oppression. Romeo Dallaire, the UN commander who tried to stop the genocide, asked the haunting question: “Are we all human? Or are there different kinds of humans?”

That’s the question Satan has been asking since Eden. And humanity keeps answering wrongly.

THE PATTERN COMPLETE

Look at the rotating door across history:

• Greeks who survived the Persian invasion enslaved others
• The Romans conquered the Greeks and enslaved the Germanic tribes
• Muslims persecuted in Spain oppressed Christians in Ottoman lands
• Jews were persecuted in Europe; later, the Israel-Palestine conflict
• The Irish oppressed by the British; Irish immigrants discriminated in America
• Armenians as loyal subjects; genocided by Ottomans
• Tutsis favored by colonizers; later genocided by Hutus

Every group, given power, has used racism against others. The victims of one generation become the oppressors of the next. The rotating door never stops turning because the diabolos, the divider, never stops working.

This cannot be human nature. Children don’t see race until taught. The Human Genome Project (2000) proved that all humans share 99.9% of DNA. Race isn’t biological; it’s a demonic lie that humanity keeps believing, generation after generation after generation.

Satan’s greatest weapon isn’t racism itself; it’s the lie that this time will be different. That our group is justified. That our oppression was worse. That our superiority is real. The weapon doesn’t just divide races, it divides us from truth, from each other, and from the Imago Dei stamped on every human soul.

Linguistic/Cultural Deception

Then comes the question of language and culture. Is there one that is over the other? In America, everything revolves around English and Western society, and there is nothing wrong with that. But when it becomes a question of choosing one over the other based on superiority, I have a problem.

Jesus was not white. He did not speak English. He did not even come close to England, let alone America. Yet, in our current culture of Christianity, we make Jesus out to be this white savior who spoke English. Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, and possibly Greek.

One of Lecrae’s songs, Facts, goes over this in a perfect way.

I will not oblige to your colonized way of faith
My Messiah died for the world, not just USA
They say, Jesus was Conservative

Tell ’em, that’s a lie

No, he not a Liberal either if you think I’ll choose a side
They say, ‘Crae, you so divisive, shouldn’t be a black church
I say, Do the math, segregation started that first…

…And I love God
I love Jesus, the one out of Nazareth
Not the European with the ultra perm and them soft eyes and them thin lips

The early church centers were not in Europe; they were Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. The only European center was in Rome.

In fact, Europe is not the center of Christianity in today’s world either.

Pew Research Center (2020): Christianity by region, North America: 11%, Europe: 26% of the world’s Christians, Sub-Saharan Africa: 26%, Latin America: 24%, Asia Pacific: 13%.

Scripture itself warns us of drawing the line at nation-states, race, and culture. Galatians 3:28 declares, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”

God’s vision vision for the end times is not a white evangelical America.

Revelation 7:9-10 describes true unity: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Every nation, tribe, people, and language. Not one dominating all others. Not English speakers only. Not white Christians leading everyone else.

However, in the end, Satan will use such means to dominate all other cultures. Not one religion over another, but his religion above all else. A religion of intolerance, hatred, manipulation, and one that puts self above all else.

The Antichrist’s false unity in Revelation 13:7-8 will force conformity across “every tribe, people, language and nation.” True gospel unity celebrates diversity under Christ’s Lordship. False unity demands everyone look, speak, and worship the same way.

So why do we put God into a box? I think I know the reason. Racism. It is easier to say, “My God is my God, not yours,” than to accept others and their differences. It is easier for whites to think that Jesus was white to whitewash all of our past sins against God and humanity. The same goes for Muslims using their agenda to become jihadists to attack nonbelievers. It is the same for the Jews; they mock and attack their true Savior because Jesus did not come as they wanted to. They expected a warrior in its truest sense, one who would overthrow the Romans, and instead they got a warrior who fought with peace and truth. They rejected the Messiah because of His differences and their own opinions on who God was supposed to be. Everyone does the same, whether it be via their beliefs in God or in other people.

It baffles me the state of the white evangelical Christianity that has its claws in the highest office of the land. I will not speak ill of the dead, but TPUsa is not an organization that Jesus would have followed or endorsed. TurningPoint USA is instead the Sadducees and Pharisees of our present time, and it is time someone said it. I have had an article draft in the vault for a long time, even before certain events took place in September.

The Bible has harsh words for religious leaders who cared more about appearance, connections, and popularity than actual righteousness.

Ezekiel 34:2-4 pronounces judgment: “Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.” Do not be mistaken when you read Israel. Do not think that this is for Israel alone, we have been grafted into the tree, so we must also take part in the warnings and condemnations of Israel.

WAKE UP. Even the “secondary” Super Bowl that took place tonight enrages me. Instead of actual Christian worship music performed by Christian artists, music was instead performed by the headliner Kid Rock and other artists. (KID ROCK, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett). The one artist whom I love to listen to, Gabby Barrett, and her song “Jesus in a Train,” did not even headline the show.

You’re telling me that this is what Christianity has to offer? A lukewarm, politically driven musical show that is borderline blasphemous, the way it does not shine Jesus in every way possible. Why did they not get Brandon Lake, Chris Tomlin, or Lecrae? Because that kind of Christianity, the one that puts God at the forefront and embodies Christ’s teachings, is not a popular one. Brandon Lake literally did the memorial service, yet he did not get picked for the “alternative” American halftime show? Maybe there were scheduling issues, but KID ROCK??? I am all for a changed man, but to have that as the mainliner for the show just baffles me.

The main problem with this country and its issues with Christianity is made simple.

“Kid Rock Christianity”

One that uses God as a nationalist symbol, Jesus as a political mascot, faith as a tribal identity, rebellion without repentance, and patriotism conflated with gospel. A Christianity more worried about appearances and getting the vote, one that would rather forget about the injustices of this land. One that would rather turn their eyes from the homeless, the sick, the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the ones without an “American dream.”

Jesus warned about this exact problem. Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”

John spoke truth in the first century and it still holds true today, 1 John 4:20, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

DO NOT GIVE ME THE ARGUMENT OF “at least they preach some of Christ’s values.” I am so tired of it. “The lesser of two evils” argument boils my blood, simply due to the fact that EACH EVIL IS BACKED BY THE SAME BEAST AND WILL END WITH THE SAME RESULT.

James 3:1 reminds those who would lead others: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Those who claim to speak for Christianity while promoting division, hatred, and political tribalism will answer for corrupting the gospel message.

Two Super Bowls

I can remember since Bad Bunny was announced to perform during halftime of the Super Bowl how much outrage was spoken against him. I found myself asking why in the world would a Spanish speaker be singing during one of the most watched events in sports. I remember the controversy and hate spewed against such an act happening in America, and up until it started, I thought it was going to be true.

But, when he took the stage, I saw nothing of ICE, nothing of politics, when in my mind I thought would have been understandable for someone to do. Instead, I saw the beauty of Spanish culture and heritage. I heard nothing I could understand, yet I could see what the words meant through the stages and sets. It was beautiful. I thought to myself, man, what is so wrong with this? In a world full of hate and one that expects it, it was a nice alternative to the hate. A couple actually got married, I saw Spanish culture in a way that reflects my own. A group of people who love music, food, family, sports, and who are not afraid of showing it. The ending of the show had Bad Bunny hold up a football that said, “Together, We are America.” Behind him were all the flags of the Americas. It was humbling. Nothing seperates us except borders and preconcieved notions.

Now, I am not endorsing Bad Bunny at all, instead I am endorsing the embracing of different cultures. I actually have been listening to Spanish worship music since last night and man, LANGUAGE IS BEAUTIFUL! I highly recommend you to listen to praise music in a different language (My go-to is the spanish version of Chris Tomlin’s ‘Holy Forever’).

I can also remember the outrage and its solution, an alternative halftime show that was anti-woke. It makes me laugh knowing that if this dude just spoke English or sang country that people would have eaten it up, even if he was Puerto Rican, which is a U.S. terrority and every citizen holds American citizenship. But it just puts a foul taste in my mouth about how much marketing was used to put down a celebration of Latin American culture just to promote the Christian right. I honestly get enraged by it. It is such the opposite of what Jesus taught. You really think that Jesus would promote the Christian right in its entireity? Especially with this President who spits in the face of the cross daily, which yes, almost all Presidents have.

But what gets me is how politcized everything is. How everything must have an absolute wrong and an absolute right. How the fence does not exist anymore to allow for critical thinking as opinions are shoved down our throats daily. I hate to break it to you, but the only absolute right in this world is the Bible and its teachings.

We forget that the world does not revolve around America, and God is not only affectionate towards America.

Our God is the God of this world. All peoples, all languages, all cultures, all leaders, and all citizens.

We often forget these wise words from leaders:

Russell Moore (former SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission president): “When the church is no longer being salt and light but has merged her message with an earthly political platform, she has ceased to be the church.”

Francis Schaeffer: “The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the dying culture going to consider us? Jesus says, ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.'”

A.W. Tozer: “We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.”

N.T. Wright: “The gospel is not ‘you can go to heaven.’ The gospel is that God is now in charge, and the way he’s running the world is through Jesus.”

Timothy Keller: “If your gospel is ‘become like us and then you can be saved,’ that’s not the gospel.”

Then we also forget these Scriptures on Nationalism vs. Kingdom:

Philippians 3:20: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

John 18:36: “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.'”

Acts 17:26: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”

Colossians 3:11: “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

How Do We Break the Cycle?

We remember the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his own brothers. How he rose to power in Egypt and then had the opportunity for revenge. He chose the opposite, he chose to have mercy and provide for his family.

Genesis 50:20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good”

He broke the cycle of hate and perpetuating evil.

We also need to remember Jesus’ teachings.

Matthew 5:38-48 (Sermon on the Mount): “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also… You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

Luke 6:27-36: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

On the cross, Jesus the Son of God, who holds all authority and power broke the cycle that we humans continue to take part in. Instead of destroying us as He had the right to, He said, Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 1 Peter 2:23 (describing Jesus), “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

I find it hard to not cry when reading those passages. Oh how wretched we all are. The God of the Universe had mercy on us sinners, yet we cannot find it within us to forgive someone for a simple mistake.

I feel God calling us to realize where we are in history. That the same patterns that took place over 100 years ago, have the same chance of happening again, this time with technology.

We must follow Jesus, the disciples, the apostles, and above all Christ’s teachings.

How to Live: Lessons from History

Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced Nazi genocide and didn’t stay silent. He spoke out, resisted, and ultimately died for opposing Hitler. His example shows us that silence in the face of evil makes us complicit. We must act, even when it costs us everything.

Corrie ten Boom hid Jews during the Holocaust, was arrested, tortured in concentration camps, and after the war came face to face with the Nazi guard who had tormented her. She chose to forgive him. Her example shows us that forgiveness is not a feeling but a choice, an act of the will that breaks the cycle of hatred.

Desmond Tutu fought apartheid in South Africa and then led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to heal his nation. He refused to be neutral because neutrality sides with the oppressor. His example shows us that justice and forgiveness must work together to rebuild what racism destroys.

John Perkins watched his brother killed by police, was himself beaten by Mississippi officers, and chose to forgive and build bridges. He founded a movement based on relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution. His example shows us that forgiveness doesn’t mean ignoring injustice; it means actively working to restore what was broken.

Martin Luther King Jr. understood that darkness cannot drive out darkness and hate cannot drive out hate. He stood firm in moments of challenge and controversy, not comfort and convenience. His example shows us that love is the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Satan’s weapon of racism.

Each of these people chose humanity over themselves and their own comfort to speak out against hatred and the enemy’s plans.

They knew that we all bleed the same. That we all shed the same color of blood. That we all are loved by the same God.

I leave you with this, all humans are 99.9% genetically identical. So love your neighbor as yourself.

Maranatha,

Watchman