11/27/10 NOT A TRACE OF PRIDE OF RACE OR GRACE
Listen, though I appreciate my diverse racial, ethnic heritage, I do not hold onto anything anti Christian. I don't paint myself blue, I don't worship nature or the demon gods of nature, I don't pillage the village, I don't glorify alcohol, nor follow in my ancestors pagan practices. Black Christians need to cut ties to Christ-less heritage and pagan cultures if they want to follow Jesus fully.
I made this post because our brothers and sisters in the black community are so often entangled with their past (heritage) and they want to hold onto and magnify customs and culture, practices and precepts that are contrary to sound Biblical doctrine and Christ centered living.
These un-holy alliances give them a stronger relationship with the black community, at the cost of being in tune with the faith community. Faith before color and culture.
It is more important to be Christ centered than culture centered or race centered or ethnic centered. The focus and commitment to racial/cultural/ethnic/geographical distinctives often builds a camaraderie that is allied to paganism and destroys the unity that can and should be experienced and enjoyed with believers in Christ.
This is one of those subjects that people want to avoid, because it sounds racist or demeaning. But I am so tired of people being robbed of victorious living and Biblical faith. Look, we all have to cut our ties with the debilitating influences of our pagan past. We all have to clasp hands with the family of faith and turn from unholy alliances.
God condemns PRIDE in Face, Place, Lace, Grace and Race (of every kind).
The Above Comments Also Apply;
To those who get involved in the so-called Messianic Movement. While it is true that recognizing the Jewish origin of certain beliefs and practices can help us appreciate our Christian heritage, it can also become a stumbling stone or form of bondage to legalism and the religious beliefs and practices of a modern Judaism. Jesus died and rose again to save us from sin and set us free from the dietary and ceremonial laws of Judaism.
I have observed that those who become more "Messianic" actually do become less Christian. I understand a Christan Jew using Jewish ceremonies to reach other Jews for Jesus.
Paul said,
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
(19) For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
(20) And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
(21) To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
(22) To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
(23) And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
But there is no reason for a gentile Christian to become entangled with that which was only a shadow, rather than the substance of the gospel. It changes the focus of the messenger and clouds the message to the lost.
