<rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><channel><title>blackmen</title><description>blackmen</description><link>https://www.blackmen.church/blog</link><item><title>#TheJesusChallenge - 365 Days of Minimalism (Starting 5/1/19)</title><description><![CDATA[THE INVISIBLE JESUS: MY 365 DAY JOURNEY TO REDISCOVER THE SON OF GODby Jomo K. JohnsonABOUT BOOK When a disgruntled and wandering Christian finds both life and ministry unfulfilling, he decides to do something unimaginable...literally live like Jesus. The Invisible Jesus: My 365 Day Journey To Rediscover the Son of God, is a engaging, almost unbelievable, yet inspirational journey of one man's year of surrender, minimalism, and faith to find true purpose in following in the footsteps of Christ.<img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/RdDuEarDrh4/mqdefault.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/08/04/365-Days-Like-Jesus-Excerpt-from-the-book</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/08/04/365-Days-Like-Jesus-Excerpt-from-the-book</guid><pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2019 17:38:00 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RdDuEarDrh4"/><div>THE INVISIBLE JESUS: MY 365 DAY JOURNEY TO REDISCOVER THE SON OF GOD</div><div>by Jomo K. Johnson</div><div>ABOUT BOOK When a disgruntled and wandering Christian finds both life and ministry unfulfilling, he decides to do something unimaginable...literally live like Jesus. The Invisible Jesus: My 365 Day Journey To Rediscover the Son of God, is a engaging, almost unbelievable, yet inspirational journey of one man's year of surrender, minimalism, and faith to find true purpose in following in the footsteps of Christ. From attempting a literal 40 day fast, willfully becoming homeless, giving his possessions to the poor, to having the police called on him in a church service, The Invisible Jesus, will inspire and challenge you to live the life God always intended...no matter what the cost.</div><div>Book Includes #<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agos1BvEZsc">TheJesusChallenge - 365 Days of Minimalism</a>.</div><div>Includes Paperback Book, E-Book, and Audio-Book Combo</div><div>Daily Video Message,</div><div>Weekly Zoom Video Community Call,</div><div>Personalized Minimalism Plan.</div><div><a href="https://www.smsnovel.com/product-page/the-invisible-jesus-my-365-day-journey-to-rediscover-the-son-of-god">Order Here:</a></div><div><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SO8OPWmPiq8SEP1MHMj4yeT4oU7i5aMLYTSOzzpxGtI/edit?usp=sharing">Click Here For Full Book Sample</a></div><div>(Don't want book but still want to participate in #TheJesusChallenge?</div><div><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tpHhini3R6H98jn-Lw-b4TaXAP7eZW_pyVDE_sP7-YM/edit?usp=sharing">CLICK HERE FOR CHALLENGE INSTURCTIONS.</a></div><div> Challenge starts May 1st, 2019)</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>#WeKilledNipsey: Why It Is Time To Kill Gangsta Rap Once &amp; For All</title><description><![CDATA[(Picture courtesy of Pitchfork)On Sunday March 31st, hip hop artist, businessman, and urban philanthropist Nipsey Hussle was shot dead outside of his Los Angeles clothing store. The death of the rapper came as a shock to the entire music industry. His passing was especially felt in the NBA community as he was known by players such as Lebron James, Steph Curry, and a plethora of other NBA stars for being one of the most authentic and inspiring rappers to come out of California in decades.I myself<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_0440ae8eb2e64535b6decbf17a195d33%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_790%2Ch_395/2352b6_0440ae8eb2e64535b6decbf17a195d33%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/04/01/WeKilledNipsey-Why-It-Is-Time-To-Kill-Gangsta-Rap-Once-For-All</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/04/01/WeKilledNipsey-Why-It-Is-Time-To-Kill-Gangsta-Rap-Once-For-All</guid><pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2019 16:01:36 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_0440ae8eb2e64535b6decbf17a195d33~mv2.jpg"/><div>(Picture courtesy of Pitchfork)</div><div>On Sunday March 31st, hip hop artist, businessman, and urban philanthropist Nipsey Hussle was shot dead outside of his Los Angeles clothing store. The death of the rapper came as a shock to the entire music industry. His passing was especially felt in the NBA community as he was known by players such as Lebron James, Steph Curry, and a plethora of other NBA stars for being one of the most authentic and inspiring rappers to come out of California in decades.</div><div>I myself as a Pastor and rap-music fan came across Nipsey’s music last year with the release of this debut album “Victory Lap.” As an African-American male in my 30’s I enjoy hip hop, though with discretion of the content. Despite Nipsey’s past gang affiliation and violent story-telling in much of his past music, I was impressed by not only the musical quality of his latest album but also the motivational slant of his songs. Listening to Nipsey was more than just trunk-rattling bass or upbeat hip hop to workout to. Nipsey’s album was lyrical hood-manual on how to leave the negativity of your past behind while working hard to achieve your goals and dreams, no matter what what those dreams are.</div><div>Coming from Los Angeles, the rapper was the embodiment of his own message. Although he still kept social ties to his former Crip gang family, he would be a major proponent for personal entrepreneurship, creating minority-owned business, discussing alternative health for those who couldn’t afford traditional health care. Along with many business ventures that he had he also worked to start “stem school programs” that was seeking to help underprivileged students in Los Angeles and beyond.</div><div>Despite his mostly positive message, Nipsey was still considered a gangsta rapper. Going through his music catalog, you will hear stories and tales of murder, death, robbery, shootouts, and more. But for most rappers like Nipsey, rapping about what they see is the natural byproduct of living in impoverished areas in which shootings and gang life are a natural occurrence. Like the famous poem by Tupac Shakur - The Rose From The Concrete - it was the concrete or hardness of life that would actually be the very thing to showcase both the talent and brilliance of Nipsey. Yet it would be that same concrete of violence that both Nipsey and other rappers like Meek Mill, YG, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent would come to monetize and weaponize. And the reality has to be considered, despite how uncomfortable the declaration, that it has been us as Gangsta Rap music consumers, that have contributed to the perpetual cycle of Black on Black crime and violence.</div><div>THE EXAMPLE OF BOBBY SHMURDA </div><div>I remember when the rapper Bobby Shmurda song “Hot Nigga” became a viral sensation. What many people do not know about the viral hit is that the song had been out 6 months before it went viral. Even the instrumental track that was used for the song had been used by another gangsta rapper Lloyd Banks years prior. But with the combination of the song’s catchiness along with the viral video in which the “Money dance” was created, the song became a mega-hit inspiring memes, video re-enactments, and remixes.</div><div>I remember watching a clip of the 2017 BET awards in which Bobby performed the song. What troubled me was not the violent lyrics of the song being sung on such a mainstream platform. But what troubled me most was seeing scores of actors, executives, and music artists from all genres stand and dance and repeat the lyrics as the artist performed. If we have forgot the first lines of the song say:</div><div>I'm Chewy, I'm some hot nigga</div><div>Like I talk to Shyste when I shot niggas</div><div>Like you seen him twirl, then he drop, nigga</div><div>And we keep them 9 millis on my block, nigga</div><div>And Monte keep it on him, he done dropped niggas</div><div>And Trigger, he be wildin', he some hot nigga</div><div>Tones known to get busy with them Glocks, nigga</div><div>Try to run down and you can catch a shot, nigga</div><div>It would later become know that these were not just lyrics, but an actual murder confession. For close to a year after the song became viral the NYPD would arrest and convict numerous members Shmurda’s GS9 Crip gang for various crimes including firearms, racketeering, drug dealing, and murder. Many of the same names referenced for committing these murders were themselves convicted and are serving life sentences. Similar to the songs of joyful exuberance sung by lynch mobs in the 19th century south, it is a harrowing reality that everyone who danced or repeated the lyrics was dancing and singing to the death of another Black man.</div><div>Rappers such as Jay Z and Meek Mill are apparently seeking to make strides in the awareness of the Black struggle. Jay Z executive produced a recent series on the Kalief Browder tragedy while Meek Mill, whom I once had a heated radio debate with, has become an advocate for criminal justice reform. I commend both of these men for these and other socially conscious acts. But there is no work that can be done that can substitute that of true and heartfelt confession and wrongdoing. And for every rapper who has ever glorified violence, even in the name of “just telling the news of their neighborhood” should acknowledge that they were wrong in advocating the death and murder of Black men, including Nipsey.</div><div>Growing up in the hood does not give any of us the right to monetize murder. And for any rapper who continues to express an unrepentant use of misogyny or violence in the current era of #MeToo #BlackLivesMatter and other social justice movements, should be called out.</div><div>WE KILLED NIPSEY</div><div>This accountability should not stop with the artists. We who African Americans, business owners, or in marketing, should think twice how we consume and export our hip hop music. I have made the choice to no longer listen to or support any artist that makes light of the murder of other men aka “enemies, haters, or opps” in their music. I also will not listen to any artist who was a former Gangsta rapper who failed to acknowledge that their music has been detrimental in some ways to the Black community. This includes Dr. Dre, who despite his amazing business acumen and success, has never apologized for either his domestic violence or his contribution to gang murders in Los Angeles during the 1990’s via the outlet of Chronic album. This is in part why I never felt comfortable purchasing Beats Headphones.</div><div>One of the mantra of today’s rappers is that their art is more than music. I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. Music is more than music. Research shows that music is a message that inspires, motivates, tempts, leads, empowers, and can even possess the minds and spirits of the listeners. And in a culture in which Black men like Nipsey Hussle are 4 times more likely to be killed by another Black man than any other race, it is due time to kill gangsta rap once and for all.</div><div> ABOUT THE AUTHOR</div><div>Jomo K. Johnson is the lead host for Church For Black Men &amp; Families. As an author he has written Deadest Rapper Alive: The Rise of Lil Wayne and the Fall of Urban Youth and Social Surge Theory: Killing Black on Black Homicide in Chicago. He is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Dear Mama - The Eternal Gift of Black Women</title><description><![CDATA[“In a child's eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.”― N.K. Jemisin Memory can be the damndest thing, especially to a child. With it our minds record and recall the most wonderful moments of our lives while shaping the innermost fabric of our identities. With one firing of the brain’s synapses, memories are translated into moments from which we<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_af413d38b94c498b835e26c4527c2ac8%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/02/20/Dear-Mama---The-Gift-of-Black-Women</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/02/20/Dear-Mama---The-Gift-of-Black-Women</guid><pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2019 15:38:05 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_af413d38b94c498b835e26c4527c2ac8~mv2.jpg"/><div>“In a child's eyes, a mother is a goddess. She can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.”― N.K. Jemisin  Memory can be the damndest thing, especially to a child. With it our minds record and recall the most wonderful moments of our lives while shaping the innermost fabric of our identities. With one firing of the brain’s synapses, memories are translated into moments from which we can derive inexplicable joy or utter fear. A mother or father doting over us, a childhood game, a school play, a first crush; all have the ability to arouse within us emotions of sheer nostalgia and bliss. Yet with these stored reservoirs of psychological and mental treasure often come memories of pain, neglect, or deliberate abuse. Consider the child living in poverty or the willful neglect of his or her basic needs. Think of the young girl that has experienced the horror of sexual abuse. While it may have occurred decades earlier in her life, it still has the ability to emerge out of the shadows and haunt her. Or take into consideration my own memory as a four-year old: the image of a gaping bullet wound in my mother’s chest inflicted by the hands of my own father. </div><div>An expert on childhood memory from Chicago Medical School, Dr. Lise Eliot writes, “Anything you learn (in the first five years) is said to store a memory. But we distinguish conscious and unconscious memory. Probably ninety percent of what we do happens at this unconscious level, especially in young children.&quot; Seeing that such a large percentage of our ability to remember information comes from our early childhood, it would serve us well to begin to reexamine our childhood memories of the role of the black woman - as mother, wife, and provider. REMEMBERING MAMA </div><div>In 1992, First Lady of Gospel Music, Shirley Caesar released the classic Gospel track “I Remember Mama.” Although the song was released relatively late in Caesar’s famed career, the song embodied the spirit and soul of the history and culture of the black woman throughout the 20th century. Born in 1938, Caesar was raised and lived through some of the most tumultuous times of the African American experience. She was the product of a generation that saw the end of slavery, the institution of voting rights for blacks, and the civil rights movement. This song serves as a lyrical time capsule by which the listener is able to peer through the struggle, plight, and triumph of the black woman. Caesar writes: <div>I remember mama, And the love that she gave Kneeling by her bed side I can still hear mama say,  &quot;The people are depending on you, Shirley, Don't you let them down&quot;  I remember mama in a happy way.</div>We went to school with holes in our shoes </div><div>We didn't have much but the Lord saw us through </div><div>Mama kept the family together I remember mama in a happy way </div><div>She packed our lunch in an old greasy bag </div><div>It might've seemed empty, </div><div>But it was more than others had It had a lot of love way down deep inside and </div><div>I remember mama in a happy way </div><div> The tenth of 12 children, Caesar grew up seeing her mother forced to raise the family after her father, a North Carolinian tobacco worker, died when she was 12 years old. Because of this reality, the future Grammy award winner and spiritual inspiration for many in the black church, would receive a panoramic view of black motherhood during arguably the most challenging time in African American history: the civil rights movement. The song strikes an emotional chord with many in her generation and serves as a prototypical model of what the black woman, as mother, is meant to be. The black woman as mother is the personification of enduring strength in the face of constant struggle and challenge. This strength is intensely magnified when one dissects it through the lens of American social and cultural life. From the very onset of the African woman's advent into America, she had to endure brutal and egregious treatment at the hands of her American slave captors. The black African woman was delivered to America through the womb of the slave ship - that torturous vessel that will forever be associated with the worst of American ills.  The slave ship was particularly malevolent to the black woman. She was instantly and without warning separated from land and home. This created the immediate severing of the family relationship which, at the core, was motherhood. She would not only lose her statehood of native mother by being instantly separated from her children through slave trade, but now she would be subjected to the subhuman environment of the arduous slave ship. African Americans know far too little of the black woman's plight in coming to the Americas. For African women, the slave ship was a place of isolation and sexual vulnerability; women were valued in price by their bodies and genitalia and not their God-given dignity or as human beings. In her book Slave Women In Caribbean Society, Barbara Bush writes, &quot;Officers were reputed to 'indulge their passions among [slave women] at pleasure’ and were ‘sometimes guilty of such excesses as disgrace human nature.’&quot; Common sailors were also allowed intercourse with “such of the black women whose consent they [could] secure.&quot; The very unique features of African motherhood, the bare breasts to nurse and the stoutly hips and thighs to carry and bear children, were exploited as European males saw these characteristics as traits of sexual depravity and vulgarity. It was only natural that these characteristics would be used to create stereotypes that could be used to justify the abuse and enslavement of black women. It could be argued that the forced submission, subservience, and sexual slavery of the black woman were part of a greater indoctrination. How could it be that such a strong race of women who served historically as the backbone to the sub-Saharan African family and government were now being reduced to mere property that was used more for procreating, picking cotton, and pandering, than nurturing and nourishing a family? The African woman would forever be changed because of slavery. If she was going to continue to exist in America, she would have to evolve from Matriarch to Survivor. </div><div>THE ETERNAL MOTHER </div><div>The survival of the African American woman would come, in part, through motherhood. Despite being beaten and bullied, raped and ravished, subjected and enslaved, it would be through motherhood that the black woman could possess something that belonged entirely to herself (even for a moment in time). In essence, Motherhood would become the salvation of her soul, redeeming past recollections of position and prominence which once again could be portrayed through the progeny of her offspring. Motherhood was something that gave the black woman a sense of pride and responsibility. Motherhood was also embedded with pain. How could a mother bare the trauma of witnessing her children sold on the auction blocks? For many of these mothers, infanticide seemed to provide the innocent child an escape from a life of slavery. Even more of these women chose to abandon the possibility of escape in order to raise their children. The black woman's love for her children was undeniable, uncontainable, and eternal. In her famous poem, The Slave Mother, Frances Harper recalls a mother's personal hell of being separated from her children as they were sold in the slave trade. She writes: <div>Heard you that shriek? It rose so wildly on the air, it seemed as if a burden'd heart was breaking in despair.  Saw you those hands so sadly clasped-- the bowed and feeble head-- the shuddering of that fragile form-- that look of grief and dread?  Saw you the sad, imploring eye? Its every glance was pain, as if a storm of agony were sweeping through the brain.  She is a mother pale with fear, her boy clings to her side, and in her kirtle vainly tries his trembling form to hide.  He is not hers, although she bore for him a mother's pains; he is not hers, although her blood is coursing through his veins!  He is not hers, for cruel hands may rudely tear apart the only wreath of household love that binds her breaking heart…  She is a mother, and her heart is breaking in despair.</div> The last line of this gut-wrenching poem is unmistakable. Yes, the woman is having her heart torn out - but still, she is a mother. Her son has been ripped away by cruel hands - but still, she is a mother. She desperately fears the moment her child will be taken away - but still, she is a mother. She can hear the shriek of fear coming from her baby - but still, she is a mother. The black woman will always be a mother. There is no whip, slur, theft, rape, bondage, and no pain that could ever deny this truth: still, she is a mother. </div><div>MOTHER OF ALL </div><div>The concept of mother for the African woman goes much deeper than the immediate context of antebellum slave life or even the tribal life that she knew before her transfer to the Americas. This reality is spiritual and theological to the very core of everything we know about God, religion, and spirituality. The location of the Garden of Eden, the place where the first man and woman were created, has been debated by theologians and anthropologists for centuries. But new scientific data seems to coalesce to the conclusion that our first parents derived from Africa. Africa has long been considered the cradle of human civilization. In the early 1970s, anthropologists discovered the oldest human skeleton in East Africa. This human fossil remains one of the best preserved human remnants on record. With this and other recent findings from scientists Andrea Manica and Simon Armitage, history seems to affirm Africa as the birthplace of human existence. It should be no surprise that the black mother – having her roots traced back to the very matrix of creation – has been embedded with such a distinctly unbreakable maternal disposition, even in the face of such pandemic abuse and objectification. MOTHER OF A MOVEMENT </div><div>History gives witness that at the most critical moments of black history an African American woman was at the forefront. Entire movements that have saved the lives of thousands, freed an innumerable number of those in bondage, fought for the rights of the oppressed – have been amazingly birthed by black women. When one connects the Theo-spiritual origin of Eve, the mother of all living, these historical accounts only give further witness that the African woman is not only the mother of men, but she is the mother of life-giving movements that are designed to liberate and empower men. Often times, the black woman’s greatest maternal seed has been those whom she has served through historic movements. Harriet Tubman was one of our mothers. Although never giving birth through her own womb, she would give birth to countless generations through her underground railroads. After living as a slave under the constant tyranny of beatings by masters and enduring violent seizures and narcoleptic attacks as a result, Tubman’s suffering would be the soil by which “Moses,” her alter ego, would be formed. After escaping from her captors in 1849, “Moses,” not content with her own freedom, sought the liberty of her other family members. On a cold December night in 1850, Tubman’s first pilgrimage into the south would begin a movement that would go on to secure the freedom of at least 70 slaves – forever freed by their mother. And to think – this mother would never have children.  Zora Neale Hurston was one of our mothers. Labeled by many critics as “generations ahead of her time,” she would shed light on the black woman’s experience through her powerful literary gift. Hurston's 1928 essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” is a powerful and life-changing work that stood out from the usual embittered pro-black rhetoric of her day. Through her writings, including her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston argued for equality and civil rights with such skill and cunning that most of her contemporaries did not notice it. Even now – 50 years following her passing – a new generation of thinkers are being challenged by her writings, seeking to provoke and conjure up the same spirit of literary contemplation, communication, and call to action. And to think – this mother would never have children. </div><div>Rosa Parks was one of our mothers. Her name is now synonymous with the idea of movement. The name of this precious yet frail woman would become indelibly impressed upon the pages of history during the black civil rights movement. Her stand for equality on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 would catalyze the greater civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. And to think –this mother would never have children. FORGOTTEN PAST </div><div>The current generation of African Americans has, in large part, forgotten our mothers. We (I speak for my own Generation X) are not familiar with the Barbara Jordans, Fannie Lou Hamers, Sojurner Truths, and Alice Walkers of our past. In forgetting them we have forgotten their struggles, triumphs, and the inspiration that their memories are beckoning us to embrace. As Spanish philosopher George Santayana so eloquently wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.” In forgetting the memory of our mothers, African Americans have dangerously begun to fall into the same deception of objectification and abuse that those dear women on the slave ship were subjected to. DEAR MAMA </div><div>In February of 1995, rap star and actor Tupac Shakur released one of his most memorable and heartfelt songs. “Dear Mama” was the first single of his classic Me Against the World album. In this song, Shakur poignantly communicates to his mother his appreciation and awe of her love for himself and his sister through the difficult and poverty-stricken years of his adolescence. Tupac raps: &quot;When things went wrong we’d blame mama I reminisce on the stress I caused, it was hell Huggin on my mama from a jail cell and who’d think in elementary? hey! I’d see the penitentiary, one day and runnin from the police, that’s right Mama catch me, put a whoopin to my backside and even as a crack fiend, mama You always was a black queen, mama I finally understand for a woman it ain’t easy tryin to raise a man You always was committed a poor single mother on welfare, tell me how ya did it There’s no way I can pay you back but the plan is to show you that I understand. You are appreciated.&quot; This song had a unique effect on many urban males who were enthralled with the gansta rap era of the 1990s. Tupac gave license for ‘thugs’ to express their feelings about something other than ‘dead homies.’ This song was one of introspection – again, something that was rare in the genre. And when Tupac showed this unique side, it allowed men, even if momentarily, to express love and appreciation for their mothers. When “Dear Mama” is dissected at a deeper level, one should understand that the song is exceptional, not only because of Tupac’s willingness to make himself vulnerable, but because the woman and mother to whom the song is dedicated is also exceptional. WEARY AND WOUNDED </div><div>Afeni Shakur was much more than the mother of the world's most famous rap star. Born in 1947, she is an example of the transition of America’s black woman from strength, wisdom, and endurance to poverty, addiction, and brokenness. A former political activist and ex-Black Panther, Shakur was an example of the triumphant cause and the disheartening causality of the civil rights struggle. The question must be asked: why is it that following the civil rights movement we began to see the devolution and relegation from matriarch, activist, author, and abolitionist, to as Tupac would write, “a poor single mother on welfare?” Again, what happened to Mama?</div><div>Leading up to the year 1970, we saw the peak of the black family with the highest rate of black family and marriage in history. Sadly, the unity and commonality of spirit that the black community had forged in their common struggle against racial injustice and oppression quickly began to dissolve. In 1945, sixty-percent of black women were married by the age of twenty-four. That percentage would remain steady until 1970 when suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere the African American family would shift, with more than half of all black children being raised in single-parent, female led homes. It should be noted that children that being raised by mothers alone are two times more likely to be impoverished when compared to those raised by two parents. THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE BLACK FAMILY: WHEN, WHERE AND WHY? </div><div>Since 1960, the number of black women who were married by the age of twenty-four decreased by an astounding sixty-four percent. The one institution that African American men and women had embraced for two centuries prior was slowly disintegrating before our very eyes. For those black couples that did get married, a 2003 study by Dr. R. Kelly Raley and Dr. Larry Bumpass discovered that 70 percent of black women’s first marriages will end in divorce. Seeing this rising trend in the midst of the civil rights movement, sociologist Dr. Edward Frazier wrote in his book, The Negro Family in the United States: The widespread disorganization of family life among Negroes has affected practically every phase of their community life and adjustment to the larger white world. Because of the absence of stability in family life, there is a lack of traditions. Life among a larger portion of the urban Negro population is casual, precarious, and fragmentary. It lacks continuity and its roots do not go deeper than the contingencies of daily living. This affects the socialization of the Negro child. With a fourth to a third of Negro families in cities without a male head, many negro children suffer the initial handicap of not having the discipline and authority of the father in the home. Negro mothers who have the responsibility for the support of the family are forced to neglect their children who pick up all forms of socially disapproved behavior in the disorganized areas in which these families are concentrated.  Writing his work in the 1950s, this extensive sociological work on the black family serves as a modern day prophecy of the danger of the dissolution of black marriage and family unit. Given that this trend sprung forth from the civil rights movement, a movement that has been widely heralded as the crowning achievement of black history, one must dare to ponder: what the hell happened to the black family? THE MORAL COST OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT  Every movement has a cost. It costs not only those who are being confronted with the need to change, but it directly costs those insisting on change. The deaths of Medgar Edgars, Martin Luther King, the three civil rights workers, the four beautiful innocent black girls that were killed in bombing of the Birmingham church, and the 33 unsolved civil rights murders prove this fact all too well. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German saint who would lose his life fighting the injustice and inhumanity of Nazism during the 1940s, would pen in his epic tome, The Cost of Discipleship, “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace.” The civil rights movement was one of divine grace to all future generations who would be its recipients. It was not cheap and was not easy. But upon looking further at this movement, there were costs to that generation, and every preceding generation as well. Part of that cost was to the black woman and subsequently to the black family. “The biggest danger in fighting your enemy is not defeating him, but becoming like him,” goes an old southern proverb. This saying summarizes the moral effect of the civil rights movement upon black Americans. During our metamorphosis and struggle for equality, we spent so much time fighting an enemy outside that we forgot that we too had the potential of becoming our own worst enemy. With new found freedom, rights, and opportunities, we, in particular black men, began looking for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness at the expense of the black woman and family. BARBARA </div><div>There are many social and cultural factors that led to black men’s abandoning of the black family. But for now, I would like to show how this personally affected my life. Both my mother and father were the products of the immediate post-civil rights movement. Both of my parents were born in the 1950s and experienced firsthand the peak and decline of the African American family. My mother (Barbara) had her first child at the age of 16. She was the product of a teenage pregnancy. Her unwed mother, Anne, gave birth to her during her last year of high school. Both Anne and the baby's father Joseph were brilliant students. Therefore it was mutually decided by both families that instead of settling down to raise the child, the grandparents would be left to care for the child while Anne and Joseph went on to college. This occurrence was a normal routine during the 40s and 50s: the abandoning of the family for the sake of progression and better opportunity. As a teenager, Barbara never knew her father and only saw her mother on holidays. She was left to be in the care of her elderly grandmother. Without proper guidance and supervision, she soon found herself in the bed of Sam, a 20 year old high school dropout. At the age of 16, my mother gave birth to her first child; a beautiful baby girl. And Sam, far removed from the concept of marriage, would never hold his daughter in his hands. In her ongoing quest for love my mother hastily married Charles, an army soldier from Ft. Benning, Georgia. She didn't know him well but was allured by his charm, discipline, and promises of family life. This was something that she had never had. So with the hope of having a father for her child and real love for herself, she wed against her grandmother and mother's wishes. After no longer than a year of matrimony, things began to change. &quot;Where was the husband and father I was promised?&quot; she thought as violent blows struck her face and torso from all directions. She had believed a lie. While at times a compassionate and loving father, Charles had an angry streak that would leave her bruised and bloodied. What was it about Charles’ past that made him this way? Was it the military? Was it the pressures of being a black man in a white man's world? Was my mother doing something wrong? Was he sick? Had he not been taught how to raise a family since he too was raised by a military father? The Lord knows. But whether it was one or all of those variables, Charles was an unstable ticking time bomb…waiting to explode.  Barbara worked hard for her family. Soon she had three children, two older daughters, and me, the youngest. She worked multiple part-time jobs as Charles was away, seeking to be a mother and provider for children who by all intents and purposes - lived a seemingly normal life based on outward appearances. When Charles continued to show erratically violent behavior she was encourage by a military officer to flee. &quot;You need to take those kids, and get away. Something is not right with him,&quot; she remembered the officer stating with a serious glare. She would take his advice, completely unaware of what the near-fatal result would be. A CHILDHOOD MEMORY </div><div>The black woman is a survivor. I learned this all too well during a late fall afternoon as a four year old. With the help of family, Barbara had settled back in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia in order to make a new life for her and her kids. Charles was apparently unaware of the move at the time, but through a series of interrogative steps discovered where the family was living. The knock on the door was not unusual. We lived in a neighborhood with many children including a few cousins and aunts that would frequently stop by for different reasons. But this knock was different; more forceful, more direct. I was the first one to the door and was surprised and overjoyed to see my daddy at the door, &quot;Mommy, Mommy. It's daddy!&quot; I cried out. I cannot imagine what my mother must have felt when I pronounced those words. What did she think? What did she remember? What did she expect? I remembered nothing that transpired immediately after. I did not recall, as my mother would tell me, that my father played with us at the house for an hour. I do not remember the frantic phone call that she would make to her grandmother, being told by the elderly woman, &quot;Get those kids and get them out the house!&quot; Nor do I remember how she loaded me and my two older sisters into the car with plans to get us away from Charles as soon as she could. But would I do remember is the blood. Blood that flowed from my mother’s breast like milk after my father shot his wife three times with a 45 revolver. I do remember the blood. Memory can be the damndest thing. SURVIVOR</div><div>My mother would live. She would live because of the same reason that that all black women who have been abused, raped, molested, accused, enslaved, or objectified would live. She is a survivor. From the slave ship to the picket lines, to the back of the bus and back of a bastard's bedroom to the hospital room - the black woman is a survivor. She has survived independent of men and despite men. And as the first Eve, and just like the Virgin Mary, she will always survive in order to give life to men who would be given new life by Christ, the perfect Man.</div><div>LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR JOMO K. JOHNSON <a href="https://g.co/kgs/kq9Hwg">HERE</a>:</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>95 THESES REMIXED - 25 QUESTIONS FOR PASTOR ROBERT JEFFRESS OF FIRST BAPTIST DALLAS TO ANSWER PUBLICLY OR RESIGN</title><description><![CDATA[“These ‘Never Trump’ evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons, and they cannot admit that they were wrong. We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there, I think there’s a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now, and we must push back against that tide.” - First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress On February 13th,<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_ee4bbc1ba1b74e62b763b583ffeb4a50%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_810%2Ch_450/2352b6_ee4bbc1ba1b74e62b763b583ffeb4a50%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/02/14/95-THESES-REMIXED---25-QUESTIONS-FOR-PASTOR-ROBERT-JEFFRESS-OF-FIRST-BAPTIST-DALLAS-TO-ANSWER-PUBLICLY-OR-RESIGN</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/02/14/95-THESES-REMIXED---25-QUESTIONS-FOR-PASTOR-ROBERT-JEFFRESS-OF-FIRST-BAPTIST-DALLAS-TO-ANSWER-PUBLICLY-OR-RESIGN</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2019 23:51:05 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_ee4bbc1ba1b74e62b763b583ffeb4a50~mv2.jpg"/><div>“These ‘Never Trump’ evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons, and they cannot admit that they were wrong. We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there, I think there’s a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now, and we must push back against that tide.”</div><div> - First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress</div><div>On February 13th, one day before Valentine’s Day, Robert Jeffress, the love-filled pastor of First Baptist Dallas spoke on conservative radio personality Todd Starnes' show to talk about evangelicals and their support for Donald Trump. Jeffress, who has been an ardent Trump supporter and was one of the first evangelicals to publicly endorse the then candidate, went on to say some of his strongest words of support and harshest words of condemnation for what he would label “Never Trump Evangelicals.” He stated: “Let me say this as charitably as I can,” These ‘Never Trump’ evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons, and they cannot admit that they were wrong.”</div><div>Jeffress goes on to justify his comments by alluding that evangelical support falls into one main category: that of abortion. He stated on the talk show: “This is an issue of life and death. This is so black and white, so much about good versus evil. I don’t get it,” Jeffress said. “It really goes to the core of who we are as a country and what kind of a country we have in the future, and if we can’t get this issue of life right, I just don’t know where we’re going to go down the road.”These would be crude words from a politician let alone a pastor. But they might be the greatest diagnosis of the heart of the Evangelical Right who still pray for, endorse, and support our current President for the sole cause of his pro-life stance.</div><div>25 THESES AGAINST ROBERT JEFFRESS &amp; OTHER PRO-LIFE TRUMP-SUPPORTING EVANGELICALS</div><div>It is no secret that this pro-life issue is the major sticking point for Evangelicals. This issue has been a major crusade for Jeffress himself. In 2015, he stated that the horrific attacks of September 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were God's judgment for our nation's acceptance of abortion.</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_16b8c2c0a88346a79a6afebccf6cfea9~mv2.png"/><div>As an evangelical, pro-life advocate, (yes, I've stood outside abortion clinics and calmly spoken to people about pro-life options) and according to Jeffress, a “Never Trump Spineless Moron” I choose not to respond with a lengthy argument about why he himself and men and women like him are the problems in American Evangelical Christianity. I've already done that in the form of protest both publicly, in book form, and in advocacy. No. For the sake of time, like the great reformer Martin Luther, I will just post a short 25 Theses to Jeffress and Evangelicals that would choose to support a candidate that is the complete antithesis to the very faith that our Lord taught us. Simply put, it is the goal of this 25 Theses to show why Jeffress and others like him are unwittingly playing the role of hypocrites while using the blood of unborn babies to justify their actions.</div><div>25 THESES - QUESTIONS FOR PASTOR ROBERT TO ANSWER PUBLICLY OR RESIGN</div><div>Do you support God’s choice to give free will to mankind?If abortion is a matter of personal free will, do you support taking away a person’s free will?Does your answer to question number 2 contradict your answer to question number 1?If you are pro-life and the largest percentage of aborted babies are minorities and Black, how many Black and minority congregants do you have in your church?How much money of your church budget goes to urban and minority outreach?What is the percentage of minorities in your church compared to Whites?How many Black babies have you personally adopted or offered to adopt?If all lives matter, did you and your church speak out against the death of Botham Jean, who was murdered by a Dallas Police officer in his home?If the answer to question eight was no, does All Lives Matter in your opinion simply mean lives that believe the exact same way you do?Is eternal life more important than temporal physical life? Do aborted babies go to heaven when they die? If your answer to question number 9 is yes, and your answer to question number 10 is yes, would it be more reasonable to advocate and minister to those who are still living and are not guaranteed eternal life? Does your answer to question number 11 contradict your answer to question number 9?How many abortions has Donald Trump actually stopped so far?How many abortions has Donald Trump paid for in his life?Would you be willing to ask him and encourage him to repentance?If character doesn’t matter in a leader, why does God state in Proverbs 19:22 “What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.”Would it be better to have a loving man as a leader or liar?Is the president a liar or do you believe he has ever lied since coming to office?If your answer to question 19 is yes, and one of the seven things that God hates most a “lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17) how can you say that the President is God’s Candidate if he is a liar?What is worse in God’s sight, shedding innocent blood or lying?If your answer to question 21 is “both the same,” would it have been better for Donald Trump to have been aborted and go to heaven in order to stop lying?Besides the abortion issue, what’s the real reason you still support Donald Trump?Is real answer to question 23 found in the Biblical passage 1st Samuel 8 :6-20? What king will you serve: the heavenly or earthly? You cannot do both.</div><div>POINT OF AGREEMENT</div><div>Just a while ago, Pastor Jeffress said, &quot;I think there’s a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now, and we must push back against that tide.” Amazingly, I can agree with the Pastor here. But where we deviate is that it is my belief that the wave of godlessness that he speaks about is not simply rising in our country, it is arising from the American Church. Both the Catholic sex abuse scandal and pastors like Robert Jeffress are direct proof that he is correct.</div><div>ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</div><div>Jomo K. Johnson is a graduate of <a href="https://www.wts.edu/">Westminster Theological Seminary</a> with a Masters of Divinity Degree. He currently is the founder and main host of Church For Black Men and Families in Washington D.C. As an author, he has written several books including <a href="https://www.wbez.org/shows/morning-shift/fighting-chicago-violence-with-a-reverse-exodus-into-struggling-neighborhoods/a079cc61-9ba4-45de-8bf7-e94df513f1b1">Social Surge Theory</a> and the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-black-lives-matter-bible-christ-king-donald-trump-jomo-johnson.html">King Trump Bible</a>.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Sabbath Rest - A Dollar and A Dream...(One Year Later.)</title><description><![CDATA[Today is almost one year to the date that I left Savannah, Ga and came to DC with a few dollars and a dream of helping Black men know Christ through the home church setting. Last Sunday, after one full year...we hosted our first Sunday Am House Church. (See picture above.)During the first year...Nothing worked out like I thought.I was assaulted and robbed the first month. I had no home or job to host.I had a mini-stroke the 2nd month and collapsed in the metro.I came down with Shingles during<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_92a8910578b84fb7921a96db45c19686%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_926%2Ch_695/2352b6_92a8910578b84fb7921a96db45c19686%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/01/21/Sabbath-Rest---A-Dollar-and-A-DreamOne-Year-Later</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2019/01/21/Sabbath-Rest---A-Dollar-and-A-DreamOne-Year-Later</guid><pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2019 03:07:57 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_92a8910578b84fb7921a96db45c19686~mv2.jpg"/><div>Today is almost one year to the date that I left Savannah, Ga and came to DC with a few dollars and a dream of helping Black men know Christ through the home church setting. Last Sunday, after one full year...we hosted our first Sunday Am House Church. (See picture above.)</div><div>During the first year...</div><div>Nothing worked out like I thought.</div><div>I was assaulted and robbed the first month. </div><div>I had no home or job to host.</div><div>I had a mini-stroke the 2nd month and collapsed in the metro.</div><div>I came down with Shingles during month 3.</div><div>Depression hit month 4.</div><div>Homelessness came in month 5.</div><div>Near despair came in month 6.</div><div>Plans of giving up came in month 7.</div><div>But God -</div><div>Help from friends, brothers, and partners came in month 2.</div><div>Encouragement from DC For Jesus came in month 3.</div><div>New ideas came in month 4.</div><div>A new ambition came in month 5.</div><div>My spirit was uplifted in month 6.</div><div>God derailed my plans in month 7.</div><div>Renewed faith came in month 8.</div><div>Luke 10 provided financial support in month 9.</div><div>A wonderful home came in month 10.</div><div>But God - </div><div>Came and was there all along.</div><div>He is faithful. His word is true. He is worthy.</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_2faedc134025440392a33b95e304d7a1~mv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg"/><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_a6fc8dd4c89d43058d1b6d296338bf6a~mv2_d_4160_3120_s_4_2.jpg"/><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_846f2289535a4466a685d98c42aab2c4~mv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg"/><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_8dc4e54953fb4b649d5f8ef6fcd8d3aa~mv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg"/><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_d585e6fe83654829bff9248a32e1a2c8~mv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg"/><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_9b193fae8ae34a699c10cb06534c94c8~mv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg"/></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Weekly House Church Update</title><description><![CDATA[We praise God for his goodness to us through Jesus Christ. Every blessing we receive was purchased with the most precious blood of Jesus. And for that we are eternally grateful. Please take a moment to read our weekly newsletter for Church For Black Men. Hosts - Jomo Johnson1. Who attended:Jomo, Kenny, and Maurice2. Were there any first-time visitors? How did they learn about the house church? Kenny and Maurice - Outreach3. Were there any special appreciation stories? Kenny expressed gratitude<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_d585e6fe83654829bff9248a32e1a2c8%7Emv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_620%2Ch_466/2352b6_d585e6fe83654829bff9248a32e1a2c8%7Emv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/10/25/Weekly-House-Church-Update</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/10/25/Weekly-House-Church-Update</guid><pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2018 16:22:58 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_d585e6fe83654829bff9248a32e1a2c8~mv2_d_2560_1920_s_2.jpg"/><div>We praise God for his goodness to us through Jesus Christ. Every blessing we receive was purchased with the most precious blood of Jesus. And for that we are eternally grateful. Please take a moment to read our weekly newsletter for Church For Black Men.</div><div>Hosts - Jomo Johnson</div><div>1. Who attended:</div><div>Jomo, Kenny, and Maurice</div><div>2. Were there any first-time visitors? How did they learn about the house church?  Kenny and Maurice - Outreach</div><div>3. Were there any special appreciation stories? Kenny expressed gratitude for another day and also gratitude for being part of the group. Maurice the same.</div><div>4. Prayer requests for individuals or the group? Several needs were expressed. Maurice is wanting to get his CDL license and begin travelling. He hasn't seen family in a while. Kenny, that he can walk with God and that life would be better. For Jomo, that I would learn to be content in my singleness and not get into ungodly relationships out of loneliness. Pray for Jomo as he is preaching at Peace Fellowship Church this Sunday as well. (First time preaching in 2 years.)</div><div>NEXT MEETING:</div><div>Tuesday the 30th, at 4pm, Shaw Library. NW DC</div><div>INTERVIEWS WITH BLACK MEN ABOUT THEIR CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE</div><div>Last weekend, I did two interviews with Black Christians about their experience as Black men in the church. Feel free to listen below.</div><div>Interview with Akin Walker.</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_f3ebf33a4eac40c9874b0f0b07b67b0a~mv2.png"/><div><a href="https://zoom.us/recording/play/Djmpa99JN_htWgxmmtEjjffqqoEjuUqTZBKMdmjnCyvSqdKZukK-yz_2bIGe6YQd?startTime=1540053540000">https://zoom.us/recording/play/Djmpa99JN_htWgxmmtEjjffqqoEjuUqTZBKMdmjnCyvSqdKZukK-yz_2bIGe6YQd?startTime=1540053540000</a></div><div>Interview with Joseph NJoku Obi Jr.</div><div><a href="https://zoom.us/recording/play/ntqhuq45WvwdpZvMgFeGsVfrCvnOIEyuNYf0AO3mvo9XnIDsYUTloCcvwde5Pzpp?startTime=1540055966000">https://zoom.us/recording/play/ntqhuq45WvwdpZvMgFeGsVfrCvnOIEyuNYf0AO3mvo9XnIDsYUTloCcvwde5Pzpp?startTime=1540055966000</a></div><div>GOD IN THE SHOP: PODCAST &amp; YOUTUBE CHANNEL</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_aa02c958f6284575a3f6c93b468341fc~mv2.png"/><div>For decades, the Black Barbershop has always been a place of honest discussion, dialogue, and debate on the most important and social topics. Starting in December, God in the Shop will seek to bring spiritual check-in, listening to Jesus, and open discussion to Black Barbershops in DC. Starting in December. Stay Tuned!</div><div>WEEKLY DEVOTION: Waking Up With a Gift</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_84d022d348084b1c9d972b63c301e473~mv2.png"/><div>&quot;It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” Lamentation 3:22-24</div><div>As a child I greatly anticipated Christmas morning. I usually could not sleep in expectation of receiving all the new gifts I was promised. Even after Christmas day had past, I would wake up the following mornings with great happiness. I would arise from my bed and say to myself, “Hey! I've got a new toy!” I then would start my day with the knowledge that I had something new.</div><div>Now as a grown man, I experience an even greater joy every morning. No longer is it the pleasure from material gifts, but I arise with the knowledge that I have received the greatest gift of all: the love of God. This surpasses everything I have ever possessed. The love of Jesus is a gift that keeps on giving.</div><div>With this love I have the gift of forgiveness of sins, the amazing peace of God, the knowledge that he utterly and unconditionally loves me, the Spirit who dwells inside my heart, and the greatest being eternal life with Him. This wonderful present that God has given me does not get old or become outdated. It can not be stolen or lost. It also is not dependent on my current circumstance or situation. Because this gift was given by God, it is forever preserved in Heaven and forever preserved in my heart.</div><div>It seemed that after a few weeks of having my Christmas gifts that the allure of them would slowly diminish. It is not so with the love and mercy of God; for they are new every morning.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Peace Be Still...Here: Moving To DC - Prayer Requests</title><description><![CDATA[Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I thank God for his steadfast grace in the journey of life and ministry. What is my only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Amen I am now in the process of moving to DC the first week of October. I am staying at a inexpensive Air BnB this week. The last two weeks have been a co-mingling of attempting to find a place which I could possibly host a<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_6d48b15da375442598d2faaa7e73ff47%7Emv2_d_1920_2560_s_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454%2Ch_606/2352b6_6d48b15da375442598d2faaa7e73ff47%7Emv2_d_1920_2560_s_2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/09/25/Peace-Be-StillHere-Moving-To-DC---Prayer-Requests</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/09/25/Peace-Be-StillHere-Moving-To-DC---Prayer-Requests</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Sep 2018 14:32:51 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_6d48b15da375442598d2faaa7e73ff47~mv2_d_1920_2560_s_2.jpg"/><div> Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I thank God for his steadfast grace in the journey of life and ministry. What is my only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Amen</div><div> I am now in the process of moving to DC the first week of October. I am staying at a inexpensive Air BnB this week. The last two weeks have been a co-mingling of attempting to find a place which I could possibly host a small group but also be close enough to the men in DC that I've already been working with. And as many of you know, staying close to DC is expensive. But I believe that I will be able to find a place that strikes a balance of both closeness and affordability. For that, I am thankful.</div><div>PEACE, BE STILL</div><div>This year, I had planned to travel from place to place working with people on house church. I had set apart 12 months to do this. But after working with 2 men in the DC area that did yield a sustainable family for Jesus, it seemed like earlier this year, I began to sense that the peace and stability of being in one location could foster a more viable means to be part of a healthy house church for Black men and families. It is with that because of this sense and the support of others, that I'll be able to do this work here. I'm also seeking part-time work that will help me also be able to become more of a staple in a community that I hope to reach.</div><div>CHURCH 101 FOR BLACK MEN/FAMILIES</div><div>I've enjoyed connecting with James and Ros, Leona and her husband from the conference. We have spoken about doing a Church 101 for Black brothers and sisters to listen to the voice of Jesus for our local and national communities. If anyone knows someone that might be interested in taking part of the Church 101, please feel free to forward this email or share my email with them. Jomo.K.Johnson@gmail.com</div><div>PRAYER NEEDS</div><div>Please be in prayer that God would provide faithful Black Christian men to take part in this work and be willing to listen to the voice of Jesus in opening up their homes. Jorge and I did speak with a young man about taking a Church 101 for the sake of being able to host. Please pray with us that the Lord will lead men to us and lead us to men.</div><div>PRACTICAL NEEDS</div><div>As I get settled here, I am asking that if anyone is able to contribute to the following items for my move next week, please consider the following items. If you're local, you can contact me to donate, or if you want to send a card or cash, you can do so below. Thank you in advance.</div><div>1. Small Twin Bed</div><div>2. Microwave</div><div>3. Plates/Cutlery</div><div>4. Sheets/Blankets</div><div>5. Groceries</div><div>6. Light Computer Desks</div><div>7. Few Pots/Pans, Cups</div><div><a href="https://www.blackmen.church/missionary-support">DONATE HERE:</a></div><div>Thank you all for your prayers and support as I move into this next chapter of doing ministry here. I am thankful for the gift of perseverance that Lord has shown to me and others whom I have worked with. I am expecting good things to happen the remainder of this year.</div><div>To God Be The Glory.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A Change Gonna Come - God's Work In Black American Men</title><description><![CDATA[The journey is not over. Forty-nine years ago in Washington D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King stood before a countless number of God's children, some black, some white, some Jew, some Gentile; but all God's children - and told them of his personal dream. This dream was both a stern plea and humble demand that the country of black men's captivity and oppression would no longer be our tormentor, task master, or executioner. Almost a half century ago, this day was just the beginning of the journey. It<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_50a00cc56a3e4c58822ccf3b88d145e5.jpg/v1/fill/w_927%2Ch_626/2352b6_50a00cc56a3e4c58822ccf3b88d145e5.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/09/07/A-Change-Gonna-Come---Gods-Work-In-Black-American-Men</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/09/07/A-Change-Gonna-Come---Gods-Work-In-Black-American-Men</guid><pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2018 23:43:44 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_50a00cc56a3e4c58822ccf3b88d145e5.jpg"/><div>The journey is not over. Forty-nine years ago in Washington D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King stood before a countless number of God's children, some black, some white, some Jew, some Gentile; but all God's children - and told them of his personal dream. This dream was both a stern plea and humble demand that the country of black men's captivity and oppression would no longer be our tormentor, task master, or executioner. Almost a half century ago, this day was just the beginning of the journey. It was from this movement that blacks, by our own blood, sweat, and tears, began to take hold of freedoms from a nation that was hesitant to relinquish them.</div><div>Fifty years past that momentous movement of liberty, many African-Americans were still in a state of oppression and bondage. No longer are our oppressors white men with sheets over their faces, unjust racist political figures, or crippling Jim Crow laws. A half-century removed from our civil rights victory and our lives have fallen into a pit of moral and spiritual poverty. The black man has been marginalized and shackled by chains of his own making while finding himself in a voluntary exodus from the Promised Land that he was so near to embracing. As painful as it is, I as a black man consider it a moral responsibility and an absolute necessity to expose our own shame of iniquity.</div><div>We were brought to this country to sow and reap the land and we have done this; from the cotton fields in Atlanta, Georgia to the sugarcane fields in New Orleans. For centuries America denied us our God given promise which states, &quot;Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap.&quot; We did not reap the benefits of this nation's prosperity or the wages we were owed. We did not reap the success of our hard toil or the fruit of our labor. Therefore it was necessary by the sowing of our own blood in struggle, peaceful resistance, and protest, that we would begin to reap the change that was so desperately needed. The movement that transpired 50 years ago was only the first harvest of our reaping.</div><div>Yet now, both exasperated from our labor and negligent in our diligence, we have ceased from sowing those same seeds of sacrifice, discipline, and progress. We have blamed others for not sowing for us in this vast land of freedom and opportunity. As the Prophet says, we have &quot;sown the wind, and reaped a whirlwind.&quot; We have come to a crossroads. A decision must be made as to which direction we will go. We can choose to look back at the injustice done to us by past generations and transfer that pain on to every white face we see; we can lay down in the moral filth that is stagnation, finding our pleasure in the carnality of thug life and sexual promiscuity, all the while destroying the black family; or by faith we can move forward towards the Promised Land, no matter how long it takes us to get there. </div><div>It would be foolish to not realize the urgency of our situation. At this moment we have more than 2 million of our fathers, brothers, and sons, in bondage because of their own sinful injustice. We have little black boys’ and girls’ vocabulary shrinking as their minds lose the very meaning of the terms father and daddy. We have black women who no longer know what it means to be a woman - herself too lost in an identity crisis - because of the absence of mature and worthy black men. This situation is becoming critical as media now profits off our despair, dismay, and damnation. This is not the way things should be.</div><div>This should be our consolation in the midst of our tribulation: there is a war being waged for the souls of black men. This war is being fought in heaven and on earth. It is being fought by every underpaid teacher that stays after school late until the beautiful black boy gets it. It is being fought by Cease Fire Chicago with each intervention that causes someone to put down the gun. It is being fought by every mother who prays for her son behind bars and it is being fought by every no-name inner city pastor who goes door to door seeking to share the good news. Most importantly, it is being fought by a wounded Jew who sits at the right hand of God, incessantly interceding for his wayward sheep to return to their shepherd.</div><div>The portrayals of media, the negative statistics, and even what we may see on our street corners should not lead us to believe that no progress is being made. On the contrary, we have come farther than we think. Much farther, as this is evidenced by our own President. But we must not become content or become satisfied so long as there is one child that does not have a father figure in their life, one black female does not know what real masculinity is, and so long as media seeks to feed an unborn generation the seeds of its own mass destruction. We must not become content until the journey is finished.</div><div>The journey is not over. We must continuing walking, no matter how slow or tedious the journey seems to be, we must continue. Revival is before us.</div><div>For those who wonder what this Promised Land will look like, according to the Prophet Malachi it will look like this:</div><div>“He [God] will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.&quot; It will be a land in which the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children will be changed forever. No longer will there be the sting of separation, abandonment, neglect…but this land will be rich with reconciliation, flowing with forgiveness, and showered by the springs of security.</div><div>In this Promised Land, the heart of the black father will no longer be able to turn away from his children or think that all is well because he sends a few dollars every other month. Yes, in this Promised Land, the heart of the black father will no longer be abusive. It will no longer force young sons to wear the cloak of false masculinity. It will no longer degrade his children’s mother, thus setting a pattern of misogyny in the child's life. No. In that day, the heart will be changed. It will not be frozen in the posture of apathy or indifference. It will no longer take out feelings of societal castration in the sexual abuse of our children. The father's heart will no longer find pleasure in the hedonistic sea of lust through pornography or degrading music that chokes out our care and concern for our children. It will no longer live vicariously through the enemies of black culture all because they are enslaved by the images of the same dead presidents that killed our ancestors.</div><div>Yes. This is what the Promised Land will look like. In this Promised Land, black children's hearts will give to their fathers trust and adoration. Gone will be the days of rebellious and disobedient children, acting out their parental discontent through violence, sexual promiscuity, and drug usage. The heart will be changed, no longer acting as an autonomous entity, convinced of the lie that they are the master of their fate and the captain of their salvation.</div><div>What about the hearts of those adult children? Will they still neglect their parents and grandparents of advanced age? It will not be so in the Promised Land. Tender mercy will be the fruit given to parents - even those who were the most egregious in the care of their children. This is what the Promised Land will look like.</div><div>There are some who have grown weary of rhetoric. Many speeches have been made, meetings have been called, and interventions have been done. Black America has become disenfranchised with their leaders - even the well-intended. There are some who have fought for progress in your communities, shouting from the rooftops for change. Some have fought with the ballot, believing that the right party or person could usher in a new era of hope for the black community. Others have stormed heaven with their prayers, fasting and weeping day and night, hoping that God might pour out the former and latter rain of revival upon a people so desperately parched by life's drought. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of these wounded warriors.</div><div>Soldiers, please do not stop the fight. You may be weary, but victory will be won. Though we are still far, we are closer than we have ever been. We will gain strength from looking back and seeing how far we have come. From the plantation, to the pulpit, to the presidency, we have come very far. The journey is not over. Not until every black man behind prison walls can look into the mirror and say &quot;I am free.&quot; The journey is not over, until our black women can proudly boast of their marriage to a man whose character is not defined by his color.</div><div>No it is not over until the house of God is filled with black men who love and obey God, and are able to sincerely pray,</div><div>“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallow be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth, as it is heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen”</div><div>This journey is not over. How do we get there? By faith. As Dr. King told us: &quot;With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.</div><div>With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.&quot; A change is going to come for black men. By faith in God, I believe it. But until then, the journey is not over.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My Cup Runneth Over: Grace For The Next Year of Church For Black Men</title><description><![CDATA[This weekend, I had the privilege of being able to go to the annual Luke 10 Christian ministry conference in Austin Texas. While I had taken Luke 10 Ministry courses and had spoken with John White on a semi-regular basis, I truly did not know what to expect. But I knew that simply being among Christian Believers who knew how to listen to the voice of Jesus would be powerful.THE LAST FEW MONTHSI have to confess, the last few month for me has been one of confusion and even perplexion. Apart from<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_5d3c38bf169d4e708ef7e4ddb961488d%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_306%2Ch_407/2352b6_5d3c38bf169d4e708ef7e4ddb961488d%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/09/05/My-Cup-Runneth-Over-Grace-For-The-Next-Year-of-Church-For-Black-Men</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/09/05/My-Cup-Runneth-Over-Grace-For-The-Next-Year-of-Church-For-Black-Men</guid><pubDate>Wed, 05 Sep 2018 21:30:06 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><div>This weekend, I had the privilege of being able to go to the annual <a href="https://lk10.com/event/lk10-leader-team-conference-2018/">Luke 10 Christian ministry conference in Austin Texas</a>. While I had taken Luke 10 Ministry courses and had spoken with John White on a semi-regular basis, I truly did not know what to expect. But I knew that simply being among Christian Believers who knew how to listen to the voice of Jesus would be powerful.</div><div>THE LAST FEW MONTHS</div><div>I have to confess, the last few month for me has been one of confusion and even perplexion. Apart from the work of ministry, I've battled extreme insomnia. The weekly meetings that I had established with a Black Community in DC had been reduced to monthly because of lack of funds and lack of consistent setting to meet at as the Library we were meeting at was being extremely strict about building usage. I usually had about 3-5 people contact me per month to learn more about how they could partner. But in the last two months, that had dwindled down to less than 2. And as my financial support began to become low, I had to consider the option of leaving DC and possibly return to full-time or part-time ministry to simply pay the bills. </div><div>EXPECTATION EXCEEDED</div><div>I entered the conference with the hope of simply being able to fellowship with Christian believers. But my expectations were exceeded as our fellowship was not centered around simply being together, but worshiping and listening to Jesus together. It was through the experience of the Immanuel Church, focused time of praying for one-another, and workshops that were focused on the heart, the gospel, and listening, that my heart began to melt in the love of God...again.</div><div><div>After attending <a href="https://deeperwalkinternational.org/journey/">Amy Brown's workshop</a><a href="https://deeperwalkinternational.org/journey/"></a></div>which spoke on relational skills, how our brains work, and how we can journey together with God in the stress and challenges of life, I went back to my room that night and prayed. I sensed the Lord speaking to me to surrender certain areas of my life in which the pain was most prevalent. After doing this, I sensed the presence of the Lord in a very special way.</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_5d3c38bf169d4e708ef7e4ddb961488d~mv2.jpg"/><div>Yet it was on the last day that God surprised me most. John White, one of the leaders of Luke 10, had been following my struggles in ministry the last year and had offered both encouragement and practical wisdom. But on this day, he offered me the opportunity to walk alongside the Luke 10 family to learn, grow, and be supported by the ministry. I was given the chance to take the <a href="https://designdiscovery.com/">Design Discovery</a> class designed by Tim Morris. This class is designed to help people understand the unique way God had designed them for service and purpose. After meeting Tim at the conference, I am convinced that this will help me better be able to understand God's purpose and design for how he desires to use me in ministry. </div><div>But this was not all. After being prayed for by the group and even having a public confession of sin of racism on behalf of the church, we rejoiced in the grace of God together knowing that he was in the midst. And when Luke 10 committed to financially contribute 1000$ a month to my living expenses, I was overwhelmed with joy knowing that my natural needs were being met by a supernatural God. Working with both Luke 10 and DC For Jesus, it is my goal to find stable housing in DC and help to establish one vibrant house church of Black men for Jesus. I now not only have the faith to do this, but the spiritual and family support of brothers and sisters to be able to do this work as well.</div><div>HEART OF GRATITUDE</div><div>I thank God for Luke 10 ministries, their staff, and supporters, and those who attended the conference for listening to Jesus and being such wonderful examples of ministry leaders. I want to thank Jorge Pina, Ashley Sill and the other leaders of DC for Jesus for allowing me be part of their team. Little does she know, but Ashley has been a regular pastor of me for the last 4 months since taking the Leader 101 classes. I also want to thank Matthew and Liz Porter for housing me for most of this year. I thank my brother Kevin Silva, who I met in a DC hostel after being assaulted. He has helped me cover financial costs, sent me care bags, and just been a great friend. I thank Ryan Purvis who has loved me and helped me since we met doing social justice work. And to anyone else who has either prayed or helped in any way...I am so grateful. May we continue the work...together.</div><div>CONCLUSION</div><div>I would like to invite you all to be part of a team that is committed to praying for this house church ministry to Black Families in DC. I plan on sending out a newsletter every 2 weeks, and would like to do a once a month prayer video call and update. I would love for everyone who receives this to be part of that. Also, if you know anyone who you believe would be interested in partnering to do Church 101 together for the purpose of launching a vibrant house church for Black families, please feel free to refer them.</div><div>Thank you all again.</div><div>Jomo K. Johnson</div><div>(912) 268-1890</div><div>www.BlackMen.church</div><div> Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,</div><div>21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Depression In The Midst of Victory...</title><description><![CDATA[(6/4/18 Monday House Church Meeting)The Lord is good and his mercy endureth forever. There is none like unto him, a God that is both blessed and beautiful. And a God that redeemeth sufferings that they might produce everlasting pleasure. May he be praised now and forevermore.Greetings All,I have started a regular Monday and Tuesday meeting at Shaw Library. During my time of staying in the Homeless Shelter for 3 weeks (Still there) I was able to build relationships with men and also received the<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_46fcd40cfaec498e9fe15243698baaa7%7Emv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_926%2Ch_521/2352b6_46fcd40cfaec498e9fe15243698baaa7%7Emv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/06/08/Depression-In-The-Midst-of-Victory</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/06/08/Depression-In-The-Midst-of-Victory</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Jun 2018 15:45:33 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_46fcd40cfaec498e9fe15243698baaa7~mv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg"/><div> (6/4/18 Monday House Church Meeting)</div><div>The Lord is good and his mercy endureth forever. There is none like unto him, a God that is both blessed and beautiful. And a God that redeemeth sufferings that they might produce everlasting pleasure. May he be praised now and forevermore.</div><div>Greetings All,</div><div>I have started a regular Monday and Tuesday meeting at Shaw Library. During my time of staying in the Homeless Shelter for 3 weeks (Still there) I was able to build relationships with men and also received the suggestion to reserve rooms in the library to meet. I followed this suggestions and committed to a regular Monday and Tuesday Meeting times. The first meeting was very good with about 15 men and Tuesday we had 7, with 6 men returning. </div><div>The first Monday I shared a message from Revelation 1:6 how God calls us to be Kings. I believe that this message is important for Black men because often times we are seen as second class citizens. But I sought to communicate that in Christ, we are called to be Kings. I also communicated how God redeems our sufferings for his glory and purpose to prepare us to be the kings that he desires us to be.</div><div>On Tuesday, I shared from Philippians 2:6-11 which discusses the humiliation of Christ. I show how if we are going to walk in the promise of God that we must first allow his humiliation in our lives. I communicated that the greatest humiliation that we must embrace is that it is Jesus who is Lord, and not we ourselves. This was very challenging to the men, as many of them are not Christians, and adhere to a Pan-African type theology objected to the Lordship of Christ. Yet, we were able to end the meeting cordially, and always conclude with a meal.</div><div>It is my hope to continue these meetings, get strong Black Christian men trained and involved, so that they can shepherd these small flocks while also reduplicating the model.</div><div>MY OWN CHALLENGES</div><div>I thought that I received good news from a church when they offered me housing and a non-profit director position. (I had been attending a small AME Church during my time in Gaithersburg and had shared with them my need of housing.) This seemed to be a blessing. Yet as of now, I have not heard back as to when or if this is going to happen for sure.</div><div>This has been challenging because staying in the emergency shelter is taking both a physical and emotional toll. I know that there has been good that has come out of it and I am thankful, but today, as I got ready to go back to the shelter I felt a deep sense of anxiety and dread. </div><div>Despite the success of the last week, I honestly and wrestling with giving up. I am struggling with the constant uncertainty of ministry, support, and I battle with being alone. Yet, despite this, I have seen God meet my needs. I wish that I was stronger but yet it seems as if my strength is tested more and more almost beyond what I can bare. I do pray for a season or rest and stability and hope that God word will be my power and help during this time.</div><div>I read 1st Kings today in which David, after having his city sacked and plundered and that his own men were discussing stoning him. Yet despite this, the passage says that he &quot;strengthened himself in the Lord.&quot; I looked up the phrase in the original language and saw that it meant that he &quot;held onto the Lord.&quot; I assume that David recalled both the character of God and the promises of God that he would reign over Israel. This passage gave me comfort and hope that God will see me through this deep season of depression.</div><div>Please pray for me and this work. </div><div>https://church4bm.wixsite.com/c4bm</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>DC Still...</title><description><![CDATA[Grace and greetings to you all.I rejoiced in the goodness of God as he allowed us to start a house church with a young man in April. We had 4 consecutive meetings with the last meeting hosting 15 people. Yet despite this apparent success, I was challenged when the committed co-host made the decision that he no longer wanted to host. This was difficult to hear, yet I was understanding that the gentlemen accepted the reality that although he had committed, that he had simply changed his mind.I was<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_329007172cf44737bbd455f6e9b112a4%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_306%2Ch_306/2352b6_329007172cf44737bbd455f6e9b112a4%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/05/21/DC-Still</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/05/21/DC-Still</guid><pubDate>Mon, 21 May 2018 19:38:05 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_329007172cf44737bbd455f6e9b112a4~mv2.jpg"/><div>Grace and greetings to you all.</div><div>I rejoiced in the goodness of God as he allowed us to start a house church with a young man in April. We had 4 consecutive meetings with the last meeting hosting 15 people. Yet despite this apparent success, I was challenged when the committed co-host made the decision that he no longer wanted to host. This was difficult to hear, yet I was understanding that the gentlemen accepted the reality that although he had committed, that he had simply changed his mind.</div><div>I was reminded of the Biblical account of the Apostle Paul's missionary work in which he traveled with Barnabas and John Mark. John Mark, after seeing the unique challenges of ministry, decided to abandon the work mid-stream to the dismay of Apostle Paul. A few months later, when Barnabas wanted to take John Mark on another mission trip, Paul adamantly said no to the young man coming. One could wonder whether the hurt that John Mark had brought to Paul might have caused Paul to become so bitter that his decision to deny John Mark was more so rooted in hurt and not protection of the ministry.</div><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jGTQE6Pioq0"/><div>There exists in my own mind the challenge to resist bitterness during this mission trip. Despite two failed attempts to sustain a small group with two different hosts, I have made up my mind to persevere in this work for the remainder of the year. And despite the challenges, I recognize that just my perseverance alone is a gift of God that should not be overlooked.</div><div>SHORT TERM PLANS</div><div>I had been staying with a wonderful family in Gaithersburg Maryland, but decided to leave. I felt a compulsion to be on the move, in the city, and meeting new people. I also felt somewhat of a complacency in the nice suburban area. This was especially true following the de-committal of the young man. Yet because I was unable to find housing in the area, I made the difficult choice to stay in a Men's Shelter in order to rub shoulders with the hurting, while seeking to form relationships with the same Black Men that I was seeking to reach.</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_82b11c114d8745999836749e248de5a8~mv2.png"/><div>The New York Emergency Men's Shelter houses about 300 men, (about 90% of who are black.) I have already connected with two ministers who come and a few brothers who I have been speaking to about Christ. I pray that God would redeem my time here.</div><div>I have 3 potential House Church hosts. There is a black family that I and another brother are meeting with on Thursday about launching House Church. There is a Black woman in Cleveland Park who has committed to be trained and be part of the work. There is a single gentlemen whom has expressed a desire to be trained. And there is an AME Church whom I've been communicating with that is still considering a partnership proposal. I am not sure what will come out of these meetings, yet I am committed to follow through and trust God for the results.</div><div>CONCLUSION</div><div>Thank you so much for your willingness to pray for this work. I am seeking the Lord everyday and waiting on him to reveal his plan and purpose. I also plan on reserving weekly rooms within the local DC libraries and having small groups meetings in the hope that discipleship can begin with men whom I'm meeting in the shelter. May the Lamb receive the full reward of his suffering. </div><div>JOMO</div><div>To Support: https://www.paypal.me/jkj99</div><div>Ps, I plan on finishing by book, &quot;365 Days Like Jesus&quot; next week. Feel free to check out a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k1gTGn7K3jk9BMbLiNR5LZCObxQ1bQQj/view?usp=sharing">Sample here</a>. Let me know if you want to get a copy of the book.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Mission Accomplished...But Now The Next Step...</title><description><![CDATA[It was just me and Bruke sitting in the confines of a 8 by 16 studio apartments. I had met the dear good brother through one of the online groups I had started. He was a 22-year old guy, pre-med student at Howard whose family, although was Ethiopia, he grew up in Canada. He became a Christian at 18 after realizing he needed to get serious about his relationship with God. I could tell that he was anxious as to whether people would actually come. We had just eaten a pizza in anticipation for<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_7658b563f2704a4d9373d0a3599974ad%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_320%2Ch_240/2352b6_7658b563f2704a4d9373d0a3599974ad%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/04/02/Mission-AccomplishedBut-Now-The-Next-Step</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/04/02/Mission-AccomplishedBut-Now-The-Next-Step</guid><pubDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2018 19:12:03 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_7658b563f2704a4d9373d0a3599974ad~mv2.jpg"/><div>It was just me and Bruke sitting in the confines of a 8 by 16 studio apartments. I had met the dear good brother through one of the online groups I had started. He was a 22-year old guy, pre-med student at Howard whose family, although was Ethiopia, he grew up in Canada. He became a Christian at 18 after realizing he needed to get serious about his relationship with God. I could tell that he was anxious as to whether people would actually come. We had just eaten a pizza in anticipation for anyone who might come. But while we waited, he asked Biblical questions with a zeal that reminded me of my young self. </div><div>This was our first house church meeting. After spending 8 weeks of toil and being made to feel like, &quot;Why God&quot; our heavenly Father has proven himself faithful in the fact that he has made possible the goal of creating a regular meeting of a Black few men on a regular bases in Washington DC.</div><div>We had passed out invitation cards to the entirety of the 400 rooms in the apartment. I even decided to spend the night at a homeless shelter to invite men to the house church. We had even had a female college student pass out cards at the entrance of the apartment complex. We hoped that maybe one would come but prepared if we got three. We got the ladder. Because besides the one guy who had texted but didn't confirm, the three that were there were the Blessed, The Father, Son, and Spirit. </div><div>I'm thankful and trustful to God that he will use this House Church Meeting as he chooses. It is our goal to provide friends and neighbors in the area to feel welcome to the gospel through the lens of Christ. We are still praying for a co-host that can help Bruke and also help in their own homes as well.</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_2240748b7924433185577d9a306e3f24~mv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg"/><div>AS FOR ME</div><div>Please keep me in prayer as I plan on going to another city in the next month. I would like to take a mission trip to <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/stephonclark">Sacramento</a>. The other choices are west cost, Nashville, or Savannah again. If you all know of any potential serving opportunities let me know. Or if you just want to say hello and support let me know as well. Thank you again.</div><div>PS</div><div>A Special thank you goes to the Matt and Lizz Porter Family. They supported me when I did not have a place to go. They treated me so well and I am so thankful for their support the last 6 weeks. They are a good and godly married couple with to kids Gracie and Beniniah. They made me feel like family everyday. Pray for them and encourage them as they have encouraged me.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Through Dangers, Toils, and Snares...I Continue.</title><description><![CDATA[(Taking kids from Shaw Community Center to see Black Panther Movie 3/29/18)By the grace of God, I continue. The last 2 weeks have been something that you only read about and never hope to experience. I was assaulted by someone who named the name of Jesus or as the scripture states, "a false brother." Despite this man being in church and seminary, he had another motive that was not that of Christ, but of self. And when that motive was revealed, his heart revealed itself in violence.When thinking<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_2240748b7924433185577d9a306e3f24%7Emv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/03/07/Through-Dangers-Toils-and-SnaresI-Continue</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/03/07/Through-Dangers-Toils-and-SnaresI-Continue</guid><pubDate>Wed, 07 Mar 2018 23:47:09 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_2240748b7924433185577d9a306e3f24~mv2_d_2560_1440_s_2.jpg"/><div> (Taking kids from Shaw Community Center to see Black Panther Movie 3/29/18)</div><div>By the grace of God, I continue. The last 2 weeks have been something that you only read about and never hope to experience. I was assaulted by someone who named the name of Jesus or as the scripture states, &quot;a false brother.&quot; Despite this man being in church and seminary, he had another motive that was not that of Christ, but of self. And when that motive was revealed, his heart revealed itself in violence.</div><div>When thinking about what happened 3 weeks ago, it has been common for me to think, &quot;what could I have done better or different.&quot; But the reality of this type of work is that serving Jesus is not always &quot;safe.&quot; I'm sure that some of the Apostle Paul's family and friends would have said, &quot;Paul, you've been stoned 3 times, beaten 5 times, and in prison more times that we can count. Maybe this Christianity thing isn't working.&quot; But Paul had a singular focus, serve God, testify of Jesus, and endure sufferings as a soldier of Jesus Christ.</div><div>Someone asked me, was I going to back home. My initial thought was, &quot;Home...I have no home except where Christ sends me.&quot; This is true. I left my home and decided that 2018 I would walk by faith, travel the country, and help Black Believers start house churches. I did this without a job, financial backing, or a team of supporters. But I had 3 people, Father, Son, and Spirit, whom I trusted. And thus far, they have not let me down. Because of the assault, I have received help and support from Christian brothers, Social justice warriors, and was even reconciled with a brother who discovered my need. God also provided housing from a wonderful Christian family free of charge. All of this occurred because what Satan thought for evil, God meant for good.</div><div>BEING VULNERABLE &amp; WEAK</div><div>I am learning the power of being vulnerable and weak. That God will not let those who are totally dependent upon him to ever be ashamed. As I pray that God will lead me to people and teach them to open up their homes for the sake of Christ, I've been amazed of how God answers prayer. God has connected me with believers here that are eager not only to open their homes, but their lives for the sake of the Gospel. I am just a co laborer with them, seeking to use what God has taught me to teach them. And I am learning that more vulnerable I am, before God and before others, the more vulnerable God is with me, in providing and supplying me with the knowledge of his will and the provision to do his will.</div><div>I am currently teaching a theology class - free of charge, seeking to pour into the lives of others as God has poured into my life freely. Through this class, I've met wonderful people who are growing in their faith. I have also started an evangelism team, a group of believers that pray together and will start doing evangelism 2 to 3 times a week. And I am still praying and seeking the Lord for the right person/family that is willing to open their homes and life to be part of small house community that can attract friends, families, and neighbors for Jesus. I trust God will provide.</div><div>MY GOAL</div><div>I have a goal of low expectation. The goal is to help create one spiritual home community in DC. After this one, my journey will be complete and I will go to the next location. It is my belief and hope that this one community, with prayer, training, and God's grace, can be so vibrant that it can duplicate itself within a year and also teach others to do the same.</div><div>But if I had to summarize my goal in this journey, it would be this: finish the race. I've fallen in love again with the book of 2nd Corinthians in which Paul details his missionary journey experiences. He speaks about the suffering, the loss, the hopes, and his pain. This is the book that contains the powerful passage:</div><div>…But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.</div><div>I am learning the power of weakness. And its weird because I am also learning that many of my past sins were a result of either hiding my weaknesses or overcompensating for them. This, in my opinion, was an indicator that I had not yet learned to rest in exposed vulnerability before God. But as I look at my Savior Jesus, exposed and naked on the cross, vulnerable before God and the world, for me - and how his vulnerability was built upon loving trust for God the Father, I too want to follow in that example. Because I am perfectly accepted in Christ before God, I can be weak, vulnerable, and needy, and my God will always see me through.</div><div>Praise God.</div><div>And to all the brothers, friends, supporters that helped me during my time of need. Thank you. You are the body of Christ and your hands have healed my wounds. </div><div>Please pray that God would lead me to the right people who would be committed to open their homes and lives. Please pray for my health, as I am still recovering from an ankle injury from the assault, and pray for my health as I believe I suffered a transient ischemic attack on Monday. (I began to feel extremely faint while on the DC train. I got off only to faint, hitting my head, nose, and lip.) I go to the doctor on Monday.</div><div>Jomo</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>I Was Assaulted on the Mission Field...Please Read.</title><description><![CDATA[As many of you know, I started out to travel the country in 2018 to help Black Christians start house churches. The first trainee was a 34 year old gentlemen named Marv. Marv was a former military officer, a current Shaw Seminary Student and a professing Christian. I had met him through his Washington Meetup ground and soon discovered that he hosted a large group of Single Black Christian Singles. After talking to him, it seem that we both had a passion for the Black community and Theology. I<img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/doJADQl86fY/mqdefault.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo K. Johnson</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/02/20/Assaulted-on-the-Mission-FieldPlease-read</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/02/20/Assaulted-on-the-Mission-FieldPlease-read</guid><pubDate>Tue, 20 Feb 2018 21:49:12 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/doJADQl86fY"/><div>As many of you know, I started out to travel the country in 2018 to help Black Christians start house churches. The first trainee was a 34 year old gentlemen named Marv. Marv was a former military officer, a current Shaw Seminary Student and a professing Christian. I had met him through his Washington Meetup ground and soon discovered that he hosted a large group of Single Black Christian Singles. After talking to him, it seem that we both had a passion for the Black community and Theology. I agreed to train him how to start a house church and I would help him with his community non-profit. Since he had a large home in DC, the plan was for me to stay at his place until the house church launched. (We had this in writing.)</div><div>During that time, I noticed strange things like his theology (kingdom now or dominionism) which is a known heresy. Also, he was aggressive and did not practice integrity with his non profit, asking people to open bank accounts in their name.</div><div>But the most evident thing was extreme narcissism and running his non profit almost like a cult, saying its the only one doing the work of God and that his voice was the ultimate authority.</div><div>I agreed to cease working with him and move out the first week of March. Marv's behavior became stranger. He began to ask people what I told about him, call impromptu house meetings and inquire on my thoughts about him, and begin to curse me out using the Bible. I could see that his heart was extremely dark and I sensed he was being oppressed by the devil. Once he began to curse me the second day, I told him, that I was going to my room. He followed me up and began to shout out my door for me to give him the key. After trying to reason him down, I decided the best way was to call the police. Once the police came, he left, only to come back later.</div><div>ASSAULTED</div><div>At 11pm, Marv broke into my room. He had cut the power off and turned the internet off thinking that I could not call the police. He demanded the key and attempted to force me out the house. When I called the cops, he tackled me, put me in a headlock. I attempted to get out the room, but he blocked me. When I made it out and attempted to run downstairs, he pushed me down one flight and I twisted my ankle.</div><div>I tried to get out the house, but he would not let me until he called the police from his phone. He grabbed my phone and took it from me. He called the cops and said that I had broke in and assaulted him. When the cops came, he ran downstairs and through my phone in the toilet so that the police could not see records of our agreement.</div><div>It was evident that he had broken in the room and that I had wounds, so he was charged with battery/assault. Because he would not disclose where my phone was, he was also charged with robbery. He was attempting to the lie the whole time to get out being arrested. It was then I could see truly for the first time, that Marv had an ulterior motive of using me, my contacts, and my influence to direct people towards his non-profit.</div><div>I'm sore, and walking with a limp, wrist is bruised and hands are cut, but I am okay. As of now, my phone does not work, but attempting to dry it out and see if it works tomorrow.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Word of Faith Movement: A Doctrinal Critique</title><description><![CDATA[Doctrine The Word of Faith movement may readily be identified by a number of doctrines that are formulated quite differently than orthodox hermeneutics would allow. The doctrines of the Word of Faith are typically derived either by taking biblical passages out of context or appealing to a “new revelation” from God that “clarifies” or expands what the Bible says. By taking verses out of context, the Word of Faith teachers are able to proof-text their doctrines and make them sound wholly biblical.<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_0533dba3951b4b7c8a8228fd6ecbd129%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Steve Curtis of Evangelical Reformed Fellowship</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/01/10/Word-of-Faith-Movement-A-Doctrinal-Critique</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/01/10/Word-of-Faith-Movement-A-Doctrinal-Critique</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Jan 2018 07:49:54 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><div>Doctrine The Word of Faith movement may readily be identified by a number of doctrines that are formulated quite differently than orthodox hermeneutics would allow. The doctrines of the Word of Faith are typically derived either by taking biblical passages out of context or appealing to a “new revelation” from God that “clarifies” or expands what the Bible says. By taking verses out of context, the Word of Faith teachers are able to proof-text their doctrines and make them sound wholly biblical. And when another text seems to contradict the doctrine they are espousing they reverse the analogy of Scripture and allow the obscure to interpret the clear. To say that the teachers are receiving new revelation (that is understood to be the direct word of God) is to infer that what they say, in turn, is as authoritative as the Bible. They usually (though not always) deny this when it is put to them, but they present these “truths” in this way, and their followers receive them in this way. The result is that people begin to look primarily to the teachers for Truth rather than searching the Word (as did the Bereans – Acts 17:11) to see if what is being taught is in fact true, or they read their Bibles only through the prism that their teachers have presented. This type of interpretation then colors the whole of the biblical message and redirects the focus from the glory of God to the glory of man. Following are eight key doctrinal perversions employed by Word of Faith teachers. Not all Word of Faith teachers use each of these in the same way, and, in many cases, the doctrines overlap; however, each reflects a fundamental departure from orthodoxy which, if carried out, renders the doctrine dangerous and heretical. God Word of Faith position God is subject to the authority of man on earth. In granting dominion to Adam over the earth, God abdicated His sole authority and willingly put Himself under the will and word of His creation. Further, Word of Faith teachers routinely speak of visions wherein they have seen God and describe Him as looking very much like a man. Error With this doctrine, God is reduced to a cosmic bellhop. Word of Faith teachers promote the idea that because God is bound by His Word, man can use God’s Word to “make” Him do things. This, obviously, denudes God of His kingship. Such a God is neither sovereign nor omnipotent. Further, to say that God has a physical form does violence to the biblical record of God as a Spirit (John 4:4) and contravenes the doctrine of God’s omnipresence, and to say that God the Father is made manifest in all of His glory before the eyes of man contradicts the passages where it is said that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 6:46) Scripture He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. (1 Timothy 6:15-16) Then Job answered the Lord and said, &quot;I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:1-2) But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. (Psalms 115:3) We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:11) So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, &quot;Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. &quot;Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. &quot;Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. (1 Chronicles 29:10-12) Man Word of Faith position Because man is created in the image of God, he is a “copy” of God. This means that Adam had a divine nature. With the Fall, however, Adam lost his divine nature and authority, losing it to Satan who now has dominion over the earth. After conversion, man regains that divine nature and, with it, a “creative power” that can be loosed with enough faith and an audible “positive confession.” Man is, therefore, described as a “little god.” Error This doctrine confuses the distinction between Creator and creation. Further, it suggests a “yin/yang” idea of equal and opposite powers, rather than the biblical idea of God as sovereign over all (the earth, humanity, Satan, etc.). The historic position of the church has understood the imago Dei to mean that man has a mind, emotions, and a will; that he is uniquely created, and that he is appointed as a “vice-regent,” having dominion over the earth. It has never been understood to mean that man has the nature of God, and it has certainly never been understood to mean that man has any authority whatsoever over God. Scripture &quot;This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) &quot;You are My witnesses,&quot; declares the Lord, &quot;And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.” (Isaiah 43:10) You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, &quot;He did not make me&quot;; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, &quot;He has no understanding&quot;? (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:21) The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. (Psalms 24:1) Revelation Word of Faith position “Anointed” pastors/teachers receive “revelation knowledge” that speaks directly to a doctrinal issue or to a person’s condition or situation. This revelation is the true and accurate Word of God. It is to be appropriated and obeyed. Error Word of Faith teachers often speak as if the “revelation knowledge” they have received is infallible. This results in two problems: first, it often leads them into a quagmire of conflicting and contrary statements that are impossible to unravel; and, second, it reveals a form of the Gnostic heresy – a special knowledge that others long for but never attain. It is often preceded by “God told me to tell you…” or some variation of that formula, the implication being that the teacher is more likely to hear from God than the one sitting under his teaching. Scripture “But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' &quot;When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:20-22) To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isaiah 8:20) Positive (and Negative) Confession Word of Faith position Speaking something audibly makes it so – whether for good or for ill. Words contain power: “What you confess, you possess.” Error This idea, drawn from the passages relating how God “spoke” creation into being, is another twist on the “we are gods” theme. It has the net result of crediting the believer for whatever is good in his or her life (healing, wealth, etc.) and blaming the believer for the bad (sickness, poverty, etc.) based solely on the words that they speak. It is known as Rhematology, or the “theology of the spoken word.” The fallacy of this doctrine is evident from Scripture where Job, Jeremiah, David, Jonah, and Elijah all made negative confessions that didn’t result in a negative reality. Scripture &quot;For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,&quot; declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, &quot;I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,&quot; we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. (2 Corinthians 4:13-14). [In context, Paul quotes Psalms 116:10 to indicate that, in the midst of hardships (4:7-12), “believing” and “speaking” are the pneuma tes pisteos – the spirit of faith: not to have the believing and speaking change the circumstances, but to evoke worship, devotion, and confidence in the sufficiency of the grace of God. The mouth speaks what fills the heart (Luke 6:45)] Faith Word of Faith position “Faith” is a “force” that, when sufficiently held, will bring to pass whatsoever is “believed” to be true (e.g. “I am healed”; “I have been promoted” when these things are not yet true). God created the world “by faith,” and endowed man with the same kind of faith that He has. This was corrupted in the Fall, but can be reclaimed by believers. Error This kind of faith requires the person to ignore the reality of the present and “see” the desired reality instead. Word of Faith proponents advocate putting faith in faith, whereas the Bible teaches that faith is “being sure” or confident that what God says is true, and that the object of faith is not the power of faith, but God. Further, this doctrine endues man with the creative ability that belongs to God Who alone speaks things into reality. In fact, Word of Faith teachers say that even non-believers can exercise faith and “will” things into existence. Finally, the Word of Faith movement hinges upon the misinterpretation of Mark 11:22 which they read as Jesus instructing His followers to have the “faith of God.” This faith of God theology drives much of the movement. God operated by faith in creation, they say, and we are instructed to have that same faith. However, that is a faulty translation of the text. The objective genitive construction of this phrase is most sensibly translated “have faith in God.” The preponderance of Scriptural evidence that supports this correct translation doctrinally is simply ignored by the Word of Faith movement. Scripture Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26) Poverty/Sickness/Failure Word of Faith position All bad things are directly brought about in the believer’s life by Satan due to either sin in the person’s life or a lack of faith. Error This doctrine denudes God of His sovereignty and elevates Satan to the sovereign ruler of all that is not “reclaimed” by believers. It further denies that God may sovereignly use means to mature, teach, or correct believers. Finally, it denies the reality that evil is present in a fallen world, and naturally occurs. Scripture Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, &quot;My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.&quot; Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. (Psalms 119:75) All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:11) No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. (1 Timothy 5:23) Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. (2 Timothy 4:20)</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_0533dba3951b4b7c8a8228fd6ecbd129~mv2.jpg"/><div> Health and Prosperity Word of Faith position 1) God never wills that we suffer physically or materially. The reference to “by His stripes we were healed” means that physical healing is always available if the believer has enough “faith” and makes a “positive confession” (i.e., “claim” it). 2) Jesus was wealthy (e.g., He needed a “treasurer”) and it is God’s will that we be wealthy, too. Error Apart from the bad exegesis of the first part and the ridiculousness of the second, this doctrine leads believers to hold to false hopes that, when unfulfilled, leave them worse off than they were before. Regarding the interpretation of Isaiah 53:5 (But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed), this verse is dealing with atonement, which is the healing of sin (“iniquities”; “transgressions”). The passage goes on to discuss the “guilt offering” (v. 10) of the Messiah and the fact that He would “bear the sins of many” (v. 12). In context, it is obvious that the subject of these verses is sin and not sickness and disease. Peter similarly makes reference to this verse: and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24) Again, this is an atonement verse, and the atonement is concerned with remedying the moral obstacle that separates man from God. That moral obstacle is not disease or sickness; it is sin. While Scripture (both in narrative and didactic passages) does indicate that God can and does affect physical healing, it never makes universal claims to this effect, and the verses above, which form the foundation for the Word of Faith doctrine that it does, are misinterpreted. Regarding the idea that Jesus was wealthy, and that it is God’s will that all believers be wealthy, Scripture clearly refutes this. As to the material station of Jesus, Scripture offers the following information:</div><div><div>Jesus was born in lowly conditions, in a manger in a stable. (Luke 2:7) Jesus used a borrowed room for the Last Supper. (Mark 14:13-14)</div>Jesus rode on a borrowed colt. (Mark 11:1-6)Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. (Matthew 27:57-60)</div><div> And, in Jesus’ own words: &quot;The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.&quot; (Luke 9:58) As to whether God wills that all believers be wealthy, we have a number of examples of godly men who were not. Discussing the conditions he and Apollos endured, Paul wrote: To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. (1 Corinthians 4:10-13) Likewise, many of the Old Testament saints lived lives hardly exemplifying the prosperity promoted by the Word of Faith teachers: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. (Hebrews 11:37) It becomes quite apparent, therefore, that the Word of Faith strays far from the Word of God when claiming that all believers are to have health and wealth. Scripture Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? (James 2:5) Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. (Philippians 4:11-12) And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.&quot;Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” (Luke 6:20-21) But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” (Acts 3:6) Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:7-9) The Atonement While some Word of Faith teachers have backed away from this doctrine, it has long been a hallmark of the movement to teach that 1) Christ died spiritually on the cross; 2) Christ took on the nature of Satan; and 3) the atonement was won because Satan took Christ to Hell “illegally,” thus nullifying the power of death. Consequently, after the third day, Jesus was “born again.” Thus, believers, upon being born again, are made like Christ. Error The errors in this doctrine are many and serious. Christ always was and always will be fully God. Thus, He eternally retained and retains all of the attributes of God. [Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)]. Jesus said, “It [the atonement] is finished,” as He breathed His last. The payment for sins was accomplished. There was nothing further to be extracted from Him, and certainly not by Satan. Word of Faith teachers say that the plan of redemption just got started when Jesus died on the cross, and that if His death on the cross was enough, anyone could have died for our sins. They restate the Nestorian heresy that said that the God-Jesus watched as the Man-Jesus was tormented in Hell, which violates the doctrine of the hypostatic union of Christ. This historic and orthodox doctrine states that the second Person of the Godhead, God the Son, took on a human nature in the Incarnation that was then inseparably united with His divine nature forever. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man in one Person. The Nestorian belief that the two natures could be and were divided was rejected and condemned by the early church. This modern restatement of the ancient heresy diminishes Jesus precisely so that the Word of Faith teachers can imply that we are just like Him. After we are reborn, they argue, we are just as Jesus was after He was reborn. Further, if Jesus took on the nature of Satan, then one member of the Godhead was satanic. And, for that time, the second Person in the Godhead was separated from God and was, thus, unholy. Again, regarding the deity of Christ, this doctrine would have Jesus not being God for a time (for God could not take on the nature of Satan). In every respect, this must be rejected. Finally, the doctrine that Jesus died spiritually (this is so pervasive it is often simply called “JDS”) is a heresy that has been refuted time and time again throughout the history of the church. Jesus commended His spirit into His Father’s hands – not Satan’s. Jesus died in the flesh for our atonement, but God didn’t die. Scripture For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; (1 Peter 3:18) Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:18-19) And they sang a new song, saying, &quot;Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (Revelation 5:9) For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach (Colossians 1:19-22) Conclusion Each of these doctrines represent a significant departure from historic orthodoxy, and each may well be seen to be a violation of the “Essentials of the Faith” in varying degrees. Each is certain to result in confusion and an obstruction to spiritual maturi</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Lion-God: Examining Jesus in the Book of Revelation</title><description><![CDATA[The most common difference that many people invoke in subject of the Old and New Testament is the great contrast between God’s Judgment and His mercy. The Old Testament is widely seen as the God of Israel’s strict legalistic laws which required swift retribution on anyone who transgressed. The New Testament is viewed through the lens of Christ and therefore perceived as the Son of God’s sacrifice of love aimed at pacifying the anger of his furious Father.Any such slanted view should be<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_bfd1ca7fa4ee458aaf2f7fb6051ac0c0%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo Kenyatta</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/01/10/The-Lion-God-Examining-Jesus-in-the-Book-of-Revelation</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2018/01/10/The-Lion-God-Examining-Jesus-in-the-Book-of-Revelation</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Jan 2018 07:22:09 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/2352b6_bfd1ca7fa4ee458aaf2f7fb6051ac0c0~mv2.jpg"/><div>The most common difference that many people invoke in subject of the Old and New Testament is the great contrast between God’s Judgment and His mercy. The Old Testament is widely seen as the God of Israel’s strict legalistic laws which required swift retribution on anyone who transgressed. The New Testament is viewed through the lens of Christ and therefore perceived as the Son of God’s sacrifice of love aimed at pacifying the anger of his furious Father.</div><div>Any such slanted view should be immediately discarded when one encounters the Risen Christ of the Book of Revelation. This New Testament book is so parallel with the Old Testament apocalyptic writings of Zechariah and Daniel, that Biblical Scholars might have difficulty knowing its place in the canon if it were not for its mentions of Jesus.</div><div>It should be no surprise that in this book the language of Christ is so judgmental that it might be mistaken for an Old Testament declaration. During his time on Earth, Christ repeatedly made reference to his oneness/union with the God of the Old Testament saying “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” (John 8:19) and “I do nothing of myself; but as the Father taught me.” (v28) And then finally Jesus makes the statement, “I do always those things that please him.” It would be unnatural and impossible for the Son who always pleased the Father to not display the same sternness, fury, and anger concerning those things which are not acceptable in his sight.</div><div>Henceforth we examine the exalted Savior. Following his resurrection Jesus confided to his disciples that, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” After accomplishing his purpose on earth Christ is then received by Heaven until the times of restitution of all things. It is here, on high where we first witness his splendor of his of fully glorified appearance.</div><div>In his vision, the Beloved Disciple John describes Jesus saying, “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about pops with a golden girdle. His head and hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and is feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and last; I am he that liveth, and was dead, I am alive for evermore.&quot; (Rev 1:13-18)</div><div>Verse 17. The reaction of John the Disciple to Christ is almost as stricken as the appearance itself. This is because if there was anyone who most easily recognize the humble Savior it would be him. Three time in in his gospel he referred to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. (John 19:26, 21:7, 21:20) He was the same John whom we read “lied on Christ’s breast” during the Last Supper. But by his own testimony ho confides that when he saw the One whom he had spent countless hours, that he “fell at his feet as dead, from fear”</div><div>This image of Jesus is not likely to be seen on our annual holiday greeting cards. Nor is it likely that this is the usual mental picture that we conjure up when giving thought to the Man of Galilee. But it should be known and understood that this fearful Christ, not the weak Servant, is the one in which all men must give an account to.</div><div>(Chp 1 v13) Here we have a gloriously arrayed Christ in apparel somewhat similar to the Old Testament priests. While it cannot be verified that he is in Priestly apparel attire it can be certain he is responsible for priestly duties. One of the most clear prophecies of the OT of the Messiah was Psalm 110, in which God speaks saying, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizidek.” The book of Isaiah states, “(He) made intercession for the transgressors.”</div><div>(V14) This description is unmistakably similar to what we read in the OT prophet Daniel. He wrote concerning his vision, ”I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.&quot; In Jewish culture and scripture, the aging of ones hair was a sign of beauty, glory, and righteousness. This would appear exceedingly so for one as the eternal Christ whose locks are now whiter than snow or wool.</div><div>Probably the most penetrable traits of Jesus in this description is these eyes are described as “flames of fire.” Fire has always been used throughout scripture to denote judgment, refining, and consummation. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Baptizer proclaimed, &quot;he that cometh after me is mightier than I; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (3:11) Using that same reference in the subject of purification, he goes on to say in the next verse, ‘he (Jesus) will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Christ’s/God’s fire is able to refine and/or consume. In this context these eyes of fire will be used in judgment by he whom will search and try the reigns of the heart.</div><div>(V15) The same feet that were pierced now are said to be like fine brass burned in a furnace. As discussed in the previous topic fire is revealing judgment. In this passage John uses the language of furnace. Jesus himself implied the meaning when explaining the parable of the wheat and tares. He said, “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do not iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gashing of teeth.” (Mat 13:41-42) We gain a fuller understanding when we read the OT prophet Zechariah (14: 3-4) which wrote, “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations; and his feet shall stand in that day.” Christ in this appearance is ready to stand for judgment. “Woe to the World, the Lord will come! Let earth bereave and weep!” </div><div>(V16) The emphasis in this verse is found in the sword which proceeds out of Christ’s mouth. In the first recorded song of the Bible, Moses sung and wrote, “The Lord is a man of war.” (Ex. 15:3) Why would Jesus be only different than his Father?</div><div>We discover in numerous places that the sword that Christ’s holds is the word of God. This same word that is able to convict, condemn, cut asunder the soul that despises God’s grace.</div><div>The second most poignant appearance of the Christ is found in Revelation chapter 19. This description is the only one in the subtext of his second coming. We read, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but himself. (13) And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God. (14) And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (15) And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fineness and wrath of the Almighty God.&quot;</div><div>In this we see much of the same language as from the first appearance. But we also see the vengeful nature of Jesus much more. We read that he is coming to judge and make war. As discussed earlier such characteristics are contrary to the mental Jesus that unbelievers and even many in the church associate. The same Lord who once told his disciples; &quot;All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword,&quot; is now brandishing weaponry himself which he is said to be used to “smite the nations”</div><div>Even more profound is the vesture of Jesus which is said to be “dipped in blood.’ Whose blood is this? Such a rhetorical question was asked in the prophecy of Isaiah; “Why is his clothing so red; The Lord answers, “I have trampled the nations like grapes, and no one came to help me. I trampled them in my anger, and their blood has stained my clothing; (For the day of vengeance is in my heart.&quot; (63:2-4) The merciful Jesus who shed his blood for the sake of redemption will now mercilessly shed blood for the sake of his wrath. How terrible is this Savior?</div><div>Much too can be gleaned by a sufficient study of Christ’s message to the 7 churches. In these not only are we given the specific words of Jesus concerning his person, but his gentle words of commendation, fiery discourse of rebuke, and the loving promises to the obedient. These declaration truly reveal how absolutely jealous for his sake Jesus is for those whom belong to him.</div><div>To the messenger of the church of Pergamos, Jesus familiarly introduces himself as “he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.” As we know, the reference to the sword is an allusion to the word of God in judgment. It is interesting why Christ would use this language to believers. It would take an unlearned man in the things of scripture to know; just as the disciple Peter spoke, “judgment must begin at the house of God.” As long as the church exists on earth Christ will always purify, chastise, and rebuke those in his own house.</div><div>We go on to verse 13 in which we find this church’s commendation. Jesus says, “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith.” Even though this church was directly in the midst of the anti-Christ, the omniscient eyes of Christ beheld their good works and faithfulness. The loving Savior overlooks no righteous deeds done through love for him.</div><div>Though just as sure as his exhortation is his rebuke. He says in verse 14, “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam; v15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolations, which thing I hate.” Just as today false teaching which were leading true believers into sin had infiltrated this church. Christ was adamant about his intolerance and hatred of the presence of false teachings. He goes on in verse 16 to declare a fearful ultimatum which was to be immediately obeyed: “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” God’s judgment upon believers has always come in one of four divine chastisements; sickness, tribulation, death, and loss of reward.</div><div>The church of Thyatira encounters Christ as, “The Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.” The description of Christ remains fearful even for the elect messenger of the church. Our stained-glass images of Gentle Jesus holding a lamb in our churches are not present in this book. It’s very important that we realign our perception of Christ with scripture and nothing else.</div><div>Possibly the greatest commendation come to this church. In verse 19, Jesus states, “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last be more than the first.&quot; Unlike the church of Ephesus which had left their first love, Thyratira had exceeded even their initial fervency for faith and good works. This was extremely pleasing to the Lord.</div><div>Though again, we discover blemishes in this church body. Verse 20 reads, “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” V21 Again the problem is false teaching. This repeat offence and its rebuke confirm how disheartening wrong doctrine is to the heart of Christ. Its detriment is even more apparent in his warning. V22 &quot;Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.” Jesus tells his own that he will bring great affliction upon those who continue in their wrong practice. This orthodox/strict Christ is less likely to be recognized as his erected pacifist persona.</div><div>The most gregarious statement is found in the following verse. The same Jesus who told his disciples; “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, “ now states in verse 23, “I will kill her children with death.“ It is difficult to interpret whether this is a spiritual in which Christ refers to or a literal death. But in any case these words only reinforce this unseen nature of Christ. The One who wept over the death of a friend is the one who inflicts the same upon his enemies.</div><div>“He that hath the seven Spirits of God; and the seven stars” is the introduction to the Church of Sardis. Seven being a biblical digit denoting perfection and completion throughout this book, Christ reveals introduces himself as fully divine and fully sovereign over the body’s affairs.</div><div>Sardis is the 1st of only two churches which receive no commendation. Jesus says, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” This church apparently was naming the blessed name externally but internally was begetting no spiritual life.” After commanding a repentance-watching doctrine practice-unto the things in which the church has received, Christ then warns the church in verse 3 saying, “if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”</div><div>Jesus spoke on this same topic as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. He urged his disciples to faithfully and patiently watch (for) and be prepared for his return. In chp. 12 v 43-46, he says….” These words reveal that many souls in the congregation but outside the true church body (will) be found spiritually dead on the day of his second coming.</div><div>The second/other church to receive no commendation is that of Laodicea. Jesus Christ refers to himself as “ the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” In the first two descriptions/titles, Jesus gives assurance as to his perfect and absolute testimony concerning all things. In the reference of, “the beginning of creation of God,” he infers his inherited right/privileges over all creations.</div><div>Christ diagnosis the spiritual condition of the church in verse 16 as “lukewarm.” He says “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out my mouth.” I interpret this lukewarm of the church as being neither zealous or refreshing as a church which believes in the living water should be. Such a condition results in Jesus using (distasteful) imagery as spew to illustrate discontent.</div><div>The cause of Laodicea’s apathy is revealed in verse 17. Jesus says, “Because thou says, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” It has been documented that Christ in the Gospels spoke more about money than either heaven or hell. Purposely, he knew what the effect of covetousness would have had on his church body. He goes on to fiercely condemn the believers in this matter stating, “Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.” Such a sharp rebuke should instantly cause all who call upon his name to tremble in self-examination. </div><div>Finally we document the church in Ephesus. Likewise. Similar to the Church of Sardis, Jesus is abdicated as “he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand.” He then furthers this description by adding, “Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.” Not only is Christ sovereign over the church but He is also ever-present in the body. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus spoke, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This truth can be comforting and comfortless simultaneously. The Christ is always in the presence of of his people in both perfect grace in affliction and perfect accountability in their transgressions.</div><div>The list of things in which this church is commended for abounds. Verse two reveals the labors, patience, and intolerance of false apostles that the church has diligently practiced to the approval of Jesus their Lord. Jesus says in verse three, “(thou) hast patience, and for my name sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.” It would seem, to the carnal eye that all these works would be without rebuke. But unto him with eyes of fire, we discover this is not so.</div><div>The churches spot is detailed in verse 4. The words of Christ state, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” The church who is the Bride of Christ is found by her bridegroom as performing all the wifely duties, but not with the same passion that she once had. This is unacceptable to a husband that “loved the church and gave himself for it.” He requires not only faithfulness but fervor. Anything less can be considered adultery. This thing is so serious that Christ threatens to remove the church out of its place v5, if the command of repentance is not obeyed. (Jesus the Merciless Holy King and Envious Lover)</div><div>There exist two churches that in their (spiritual) check-up, receive no rebuke. The church of Philadelphia and Smyrna are lauded by their Savior for their faithfulness and works in the midst of tribulation. To the church of Smyra, Jesus encourages the believers that despite their physical poverty they were spiritually rich. This church also was exhorted to remain steadfast despite great persecution which would include imprisonment and possible death.</div><div>Christ told the church in Philadelphia, “I have loved thee.” For a church that was said to have little strength, Jesus approved/commended them for keeping his word and not denying his name. He also promised to set an open door before them that no man would be able to shut. The door (being also himself) would minister the entrance into his external kingdom.</div><div>As discussed earlier, each discourse to the church is concluded with a beautiful promise. The Savior who wounds with his words is also able to heal with them as well. The churches of Laodicea and Sardis were found completely void of commendable works. But Christ in his passion promises, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” To Sardis he says, “The same shall be clothed in white raiment, I will confess his name before my Father.”</div><div>The final analogy of this study concerning this is Christ furious over the church’s sanctity, jealous over it’s faithfulness, and steadfast in his love for those whom he called to himself.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>#PrayForMeekMill #FreeMeekMill</title><description><![CDATA[In 2012, I was pastoring a small church in North Philadelphia when I heard Meek Mill's song Amen. Even though I was a huge rap fan, I felt like the song was disrespectful to Christians. When I was asked to share my thoughts on the radio I had no idea that the host had gotten Meek Mill on the line. What ensued was a heated debate that became viral.For the last 2 years I've worked with Black Lives Matter Savannah and recently to speak out against harsh and illegal treatment in Chatham County Jail.<img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/mF1V2veV23A/mqdefault.jpg"/>]]></description><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2017/12/20/PrayForMeekMill-FreeMeekMill</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2017/12/20/PrayForMeekMill-FreeMeekMill</guid><pubDate>Thu, 21 Dec 2017 03:56:03 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mF1V2veV23A"/><div>In 2012, I was pastoring a small church in North Philadelphia when I heard Meek Mill's song Amen. Even though I was a huge rap fan, I felt like the song was disrespectful to Christians. When I was asked to share my thoughts on the radio I had no idea that the host had gotten Meek Mill on the line. What ensued was a heated debate that became viral.</div><div>For the last 2 years I've worked with Black Lives Matter Savannah and recently to speak out against harsh and illegal treatment in <a href="http://savannahnow.com/crime-courts/news/2017-10-06/black-lives-matter-savannah-chatham-county-sheriff-clash-over-jail">Chatham County Jail</a>. I know that it is hard for inmates during the holidays and I wanted to send a message to Meek Mill.</div><div>Meek,</div><div>I believe your sentence was harsh and unfair and I am praying for him. It is my hope that you can get out soon and continuing chasing you dreams. I also ask for apologies because it was never my intention for the interview to go the way it did. As a fellow Black brother, I'm in your corner and want God's best for you. Amen.</div><div>Jomo Kenyatta</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Gospel For Black Men - Chosen To Be Kings</title><description><![CDATA[I believed that I would never go back to ministry. It was my belief that after being forced to resign from my last ministry call in 2016 that ministry was over for me. I remembered hearing in Seminary that most ministers did not last five years. I had made it five on the dot.When a minister loses his calling, he or she faces an ontological crisis. 'Who am I and what I am I supposed to do' are just a few of the questions that one has to ask themselves. The feeling that I had blown it - were<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/0099c8011e4e48e6bc767d751e2841b9.jpg/v1/fill/w_626%2Ch_417/0099c8011e4e48e6bc767d751e2841b9.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Jomo Kenyatta</dc:creator><link>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2016/05/03/Modern-minimalism-one-artists-journey</link><guid>https://www.blackmen.church/single-post/2016/05/03/Modern-minimalism-one-artists-journey</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:35:00 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><div>I believed that I would never go back to ministry. It was my belief that after being forced to resign from my last ministry call in 2016 that ministry was over for me. I remembered hearing in Seminary that most ministers did not last five years. I had made it five on the dot.</div><div>When a minister loses his calling, he or she faces an ontological crisis. 'Who am I and what I am I supposed to do' are just a few of the questions that one has to ask themselves. The feeling that I had blown it - were always present with me. I struggled so much with the feelings of shame about my past, my mistakes, and my sins. And quietly, I began to force myself to imagine a life apart from ministry.</div><div>But despite the depression and the fear of not knowing what direction life would take me, I persisted. Or should I say, God persisted. (Philippians 1:6) I knew that I wanted to help people, whether it was in a church or for a salary or not. It was here, that working with Black Lives Matter opened my eyes in ways that were never opened despite working five years in pastoral ministry.</div><div>I allowed myself to be exposed to the racial suffering that I had unknowingly hid myself from by working in White Evangelical churches. I began to rub shoulders and share tears with those in the LGBT community, something that I wouldn't do within the traditional Black church. And I met Jesus - again - as I was deeply convicted with the knowledge of not only my own personal sins, but my sins of ignorance of failing to care for those who were outside of my Christian bubble.</div><div>FORK IN THE ROAD</div><div>In the summer of 2017, I was in Colorado and felt like I was at a crossroads. I was 37 years old with nothing much to show for my life except two expensive college degrees and my faith. By worldly standards I was a failure. (No wife, no kids, no home, etc.) It was here that I embarked on a 20-day fast from food in order to pray. In that fast I began to pray so fervently that tears would stain my pillow. &quot;Lord, show me your will, show me your will,&quot; I cried. I had the hope that Colorado might be a good place just to settle down and live a quiet life of monotony. (At least I could smoke trees legally to escape my pain.) But pretty soon, even the monotony became unbearable. &quot;Lord show me your will,&quot; I began to pray more fervently. </div><div>I remember it was day 13 of the fast. I hadn't eaten anything for two weeks and was feeling extreme cramps in my body. &quot;Lord, show me your will!&quot; I cried alone on my bed. That is when I sensed the Lord speaking to me more clearly than I had ever heard. &quot;I have called you to preach and teach. I have broken you that you might heal others.&quot; I was shaken to my core. But I had no doubt what I heard. </div><div>CHURCH FOR BLACK MEN</div><div>For the next 2 months I began to seek how I might serve the Lord again. My thoughts immediately rushed to apply for as many ministry jobs that I could find online. I had graduated from Westminster Seminary - the top Religious school in the country. How hard could it be to find another job? But after a two-month search, each door was closed. This is when I began to look deeper into myself and my experience. My heart had a passion for Black Men like myself. Black men whom my last church did not want. Black men that the evangelical church looked past or avoided all together. And my study and research showed me that Black men were both the least reached for Christ in America and also the most disenchanted with the church. I prayerfully considered how I might bridge the gap between these 2 gulfs. This is when I decided to launch Church for Black Men.</div><div>OBJECTIONS TO CHURCH FOR BLACK MEN</div><div>Some people who have heard the vision have commented that the Gospel of Jesus does not divide, but unites. But even Scripture itself testifies that God uses division for his divine purpose. (1st Corinthians 11:19) There also exists a language barrier between Black men in America and the church. For someone who has wondered why so few Black men attend church, seek the truths of Christianity, or apply Biblical answers to their life - I have come to this conclusion: the American church, by in large, does not speak the language of Black men. It would be foolish to expect Korean speakers who could not understand English to attend an English speaking church when they can't understand a word that is being said. In a similar way, it would be just as foolish to expect most Black men to attend churches in which our language is not being spoken. And what is that language: Black suffering.</div><div>It is mainly because of this language barrier that I have decided to devote 2018 to travel the country to launch house churches across America for Black men and their families. I do this with no financial backing, no mission organization, or any ecclesiastical endorsement. I do this by faith and faith alone.</div><div>THE GOSPEL FOR BLACK MEN</div><div>It is my hope to establish House Churches where Black men can learn the Gospel in our language. This Gospel is so much more vibrant and beautiful than simply telling us that we are sinners. The Gospel is telling us that we are Kings. (Revelation 1:6) Black men were chosen by God to be Kings in the Lord Jesus Christ before the world ever began. And as a foreshadow of the eternal kingship we were chosen for, Black men were Kings in their own nations before they were exploited, stolen, and scattered to other nations as slaves. (Acts 17:26) They became slaves not only to other nations, including America, but slaves to Black suffering. </div><div>But it was this very suffering, whether through slavery or subjection, incarceration or degradation, racial profiling or isolation, that was to fulfill God's plan in making us worthy of the crowns that he chose us for. (2nd Thessalonians 1:5) And it is when we are able to face the depths of our suffering - and find in our sufferings the true King - a wounded, whipped, and crucified Christ, that like this Christ, we shall be raised from the death this world is guaranteed to give, and rule and reign with Christ...now and forevermore. It will be then and only then that we can experience true reconciliation and fellowship with all races, including those races that have oppressed us. </div><div>This is what I hope Church For Black Men will communicate. And in this communication it is my prayer and hope that a community of Black Kings will be formed. Kings that are so grateful for the suffering of the true King, that we will place our crowns at his feet...to the Glory of God. (Revelation 7:9)</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/0099c8011e4e48e6bc767d751e2841b9.jpg"/></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>